#they were ostensibly about the superhero shenanigans but actually were telling far more character-driven tales

[isfjmel-phleg]

I love the letter pages in the back of many 1990s comics, not only because of the glimpse it gives us of fan reactions, but also because it often gave editors and writers an outlet for their passion for the stories they were telling, and you can really tell when a lot of thought and love went into a book.

For instance, here's Brian Augustyn, editor of The Ray 1994, on the themes of that series:

I'll let you in on a little secret: THE RAY is not a book about superhero battles, or stopping world-beating villains, or even about time travel. It has that stuff and more, but it isn't about that stuff. THE RAY is about a boy trying to get his father's approval. That's it.

And he's right. Ray's relationship with his father (as well as his family in general) is at the heart of the narrative. Even if the two of them are never quite reconciled. Ray also has to face how he has the potential to become like his father, how easy it is for him to become something that he hates, something that compromises his morals and priorities. And in the end, he'll need to make right what his father did wrong.

Augustyn also provides a less serious discussion of the themes through a conversation he had with the series' writer Christopher Priest.

So, Jim Owsley [i.e. Priest] says to me, "Ray Terrill wants to buy a refrigerator, but doesn't know how to interact with the real world. So what does he do, where does he go? This is what THE RAY is all about." I say, "Wait, I thought THE RAY was a comic about nothing..." After a pause fraught with scorn and pity Jim say, "Heh. That's Seinfeld." Jim's the only guy I know who says, "Heh," exactly like that Hawk guy on TV's Spenser for Hire and for that reason alone, I tend to listen a bit harder. Jim continued, "Seinfeld is a television show about nothing, THE RAY is a comic book about something--about a guy who needs to buy a refrigerator." Because I figured I owed him one, I say, "Oh, there's a great idea...but aren't we going to wind up competing for an audience with all those Image comics about guys buying refrigerators--you know, Deathfridge: Harvest Gold and Deathfridge: Avocado, like that?" Again that dramatic, drippingly disdainful pause, then Jim says, "Ah...funny. No, you're not following me. That's what the book is about, but that's not what it's about." Summoning a heaping dollop of disdain of my own I say, "Oh, that's much clearer, thanks." Perhaps feeling a tiny bit defensive now, Jim says, "I mean, that's what it's about in concept; the adolescent coming of age in a troubled modern world, having to deal with all the baggage of dysfunctional family life, you know. The readers will really identify." I say, "So will everyone here at the office, great. So, okay, if that's what THE RAY is about, what's it...about?" Again with the pity, Jim says, "It's about everything else that happens when he goes to get his fridge." I say, "You mean...?" Jim says, "Right...lots of fight scenes!" I say, "Cool!"

There actually is never a scene in the series in which Ray actively tries to purchase a refrigerator, something his squalid studio apartment conspicuously lacks, but his need for a refrigerator is a running theme throughout the series. It typifies the adulting struggles that ground the series; Ray is a nineteen-year-old with zero real-world experience having to live on his own for the first time, and it's quite a struggle. As liberating as his powers are in many ways, being The Ray doesn't pay the bills and provide for food and household needs. He may be a superhero, but the sum total of his furniture is currently a bed, a card table, and a folding chair.

So far will he go to get that refrigerator, metaphorically? At what cost? He does eventually get one--but it comes with an apartment that comes with a job in a company run by Vandal Savage. Ray in a desperate situation is willing to sell out for the help of someone extremely morally questionable, but is it worth it?

Spoilers: by the end of the series...he still has no refrigerator.

#comicsposting again #RT: born with the light #I'll jaw more about these themes later #but I wanted to share these because they address what made this book and others like it from this time so effective: #they were ostensibly about the superhero shenanigans but actually were telling far more character-driven tales