Back in the mid-90s I was, without a doubt, a Marvel Zombie.   Spider-man and X-fan all the way.  But though Marvel was where the action was, all the cool kids had their own books with DC.

Sure, the Young Avengers may have been the talk of the town most recently, but DC has always had the edge when it came to teen comics.   And in the 90s, DC had the market cornered when it came to teen superheroes.   Robin, Superboy, Damage, and Anima. It was a pretty hot time for teen capes.

But as great as some of those books were, one stood tall among them as the best.

The Ray is a hero with light based powers unmatched in the DCU due to contact with a being called The Light Entity.  He can create light constructs similar to a GreenLantern, fly faster than light, become invisible and even use a method of communication similar to telepathy.

The character of Happy Terrill was one of DC’s many acquisitions, like Captain Atom, Blue Beetle and the Marvel Family.   The Ray was originally a part of the Quality Comics character roster.  While many of the Quality characters had been part of the DC Universe for years, Terrill was a virtual unknown, a relic of a bygone era of WW2 comic characters.

Still, the character had a pretty interesting power set and potential to be mined.   A mini-series was written to debut the character to modern audiences.   Unfortunately Happy didn’t make the cut.  The new Ray (whose name is actually Ray) was Happy’s teenage son.   Spinning off from the mini was regular series helmed by writer Christopher Priest and drawn by a then-unknown artist named Howard Porter.

I never read the mini, but the regular series was nothing short of fantastic.  First, Howard Porter’s artwork was just as good then as it is now, if not better.  Secondly, Priest was an incredible writer who has sadly not been used to the best of his abilities since then.   He took what could have been a simple “son inherits father’s powers and mantle” story and turns it into something out of Jerrry Springer.   Happy Terrill faked Ray’s death as a baby and gave him to his brother, a priest who ran an orphanage, to “protect” him.  Happy believed Ray’s powers would kill him sooner than later and thought it best to never get to know his son.   Ray grows up being told that he is allergic to sunlight and is kept indoors at all times so his powers don’t emerge.

Then one day his Uncle tells him the truth, and for the first time Ray steps out of the dark and into the light.  From there his life takes some strange turns. He meets his father who turns out to be a lying sleeze-bag. Vandal Savage and Martian Manhunter begin a vicious tug of war for Ray’s future (which Savage wins).  He has a one night stand with Black Canary (I wonder if Ollie knows about that one?).  He accidentally creates an Artificial Intelligence who murders the conniving Happy Terrill and takes his place (and later conquers a small middle eastern nation).  Oh, and he makes out with a girl who turns out to be the devil (and a dude).

The series is one of the best I was reading at the time (yes, I know it was a 90s comic).   Since then, the Ray has fallen on hard times.  DC combined all their best teen heroes into one comic, Young Justice.   Ray played a small role in that series until it was cancelled and reborn as the much better Teen Titans series penned by Geoff Johns.   After Infinite crisis, Ray Terrill was pushed aside for a new character, Stan Silver who starred in the Freedom Fighters mini-series.  Yes really.   Things have looked bad for the Ray for a while now.  But with a starring role in (UGH) FInal Crisis, I think the character is ripe for a revamp.

REVAMP THIS:

THE WRITER:

I want Priest back in the limelight.   I’m told that he quit comics because they only gave him books that revolved around being black. That’s just stupid.  Give him a check and turn this man loose.

THE ARTIST:

I’ve been a big fan of Wildstorm’s  Carlos D’anda for a while now, but he’s never been given a chance to shine in his own series.   He’s a tad ink heavy, but his style is fresh and edgy.  Let’s see what he can do.

THE CHARACTER:

Ray Terrill, of course!  Happy’s dead, and I could care less about Stan Silver, except as a potential enemy of Ray’s.

THE PITCH:

The original series was about growing up.  Ray had never been allowed to be part of the world before.  It was his chance to– shine.   Since then Ray has been through quite a bit, not the least of which includes being kidnapped be Alexander Luthor and hooked up to the —Anti-Monitor corpse machine thingy.  Ray is a hero in his own right, and one of the most powerful beings on Earth.  He’s all alone and on his own now, not a kid playing hero.  So what does he do with that?  Does he try to join the Titans?  The JLA?  Or does he try to make it as his own man?   Your twenties is about deciding who you’re supposed to be.  Your thirties is about trying to find out where you fit.  I wouldn’t mind seeing Ray searching the world for a place to be for a while.

So what do you think?

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