DC Comics reviews 1/18/17 – Superman, Batman, Green Arrow
Justice League Rebirth: The Ray #1
Justice League Rebirth: The Ray is the first of the one-shots that doesn’t click.
The Ray is one of the more blank slate type characters that should be an easy fit in the brighter, more cheery DC Rebirth era. Instead, writer Steve Orlando goes a surprisingly darker route. Ray Terrell is a brooding and isolated child forced to live in low light due to some potentially fatal abnormality.
Orlando has a clever metaphor of Ray as a gay teenager forced to stay closeted in the most literal sense — trapped inside the house unable to interacting with anyone. But in establishing Ray’s loner outsider status for so long, Orlando has to rush through key aspects of this origin tale.
How Ray gained his powers, why his mother kept him trapped inside for years and what drove Ray to be a hero don’t nearly get enough time, which is doubly frustrating in an origin story.
This choppy style of storytelling also makes Ray come off too moody and unlikeable. Orlando hastily tries to get Ray ‘back on track’ in the final few pages, but it doesn’t flow with the issue’s overall more deliberate pace. Clearly the issue had to end with Ray in costume, but the journey getting there wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it was with Atom and Vixen.
Fortunately, the art is a bright spot. Stephen Byrne, who’s proving to be one of DC’s go-to artists, handles the art and colors. His warm, animated style isn’t the best fit for the bulk of the darker story, but it looks great regardless.
With a new TV series on CW Seed and a prominent spot on Justice League, The Ray’s stock is on the rise. This issue didn’t do a lot to cast him as an enjoyable character, but I’m hopeful he’ll fare better in his regular role on Justice League.
Rating: 6 out of 10