The Ray is a comic that I initially had low expectations on. It’s by one of my favorite writing teams Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, yet I didn’t have a connection to the character. I don’t think I was alone in this thought as Gray and Palmiotti are a great writing team, The Ray hasn’t had a spotlight series in a long time. As pages from this series started to appear and I learned more about this limited series, I couldn’t help but get more excited. It’s really when I saw that extra push with Jamal Igle being the artist on this series and seeing his initial pages, that’s what sold me on the comic. It’s off on the right foot so far, let’s see if it stays that way the entire issue.
The start of The Ray is the beginning of one of the most fun origin stories I’ve seen for a character as of late. Lucien Gates becomes The Ray via a particle beam going haywire, bringing everything to life that it touches and hits him directly. One of my new personal favorite origin stories. It doesn’t hurt that as this story comes together his supporting cast is so immensely likable. The extra bonus of his cast being as likable at it is, they also all know his secret identity. Each of them trying to help him with his newly found powers as the comic goes along. Lucien is already likable but the cast that Gray and Palmiotti have come up with for this comic is just phenomenal.
With a story this good, that you have art to match it is even better. Jamal Igle’s work is dare I say some of the best work I have seen of his to date. His facial expressions bring each character to
life with his storytelling being top notch. Gray and Palmiotti gave Igle an impressive script in just the amount of fun situations for The Ray to be in within this issue. From the Ray fighting gigantic telepathic jellyfish to the quiet yet hilarious moments with his girlfriend Chanti, every last bit of this issue fits together to make a great comic. The last pages of the issue get a bit darker from the fun tone of the rest of this issue, but that doesn’t really bother me. I want to see just how the new villain fits into the Ray’s world.
Yes this comic is one of the best first issues I’ve seen out of the New DCU. I know this is a limited series but it counts. Lucien Gates makes for a fun new character and how he embraces being a hero is refreshing. Even better that his supporting cast knows who he is, makes this such a nice change of pace. I could easily find myself handing this to a new comic reader and using it as an example of why comic books are great. It’s sad that this is only a limited series since if this issue is any indication, this should have been set up as an ongoing series. Don’t miss out on this series, The Ray is truly off to an excellent start.
