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LIGHTRAY

Real Name: Sollis

Class: God (New Gods)

Occupation: Adventurer

Group Affiliation: Justice League America

Known Relatives: Arkal (brother, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Supertown, New Genesis

First Appearance: New Gods I #1 (February-March 1971)

Powers: Lightray could project solar energy; creating brilliant light and extraordinary levels of heat. He could focus his solar energy into beams of laser-like intensity, or use light to create lifelike illusions. He could fly at tremendous speeds rivaling the speed of light itself. Lightray carried a Mother Box, a sentient computer that could perform a wide variety of functions, including rearranging the structure of matter, teleportation and computation.

History: (New Gods III #9) - Sollis was one of the New Gods living on New Genesis. Sollis and his older brother Arkel became friends with Orion, with Sollis’ peaceful nature was a natural foil for Orion's sudden fits of rage. Bugs slaughtered Arkel, and Orion avenged him. The experience led Sollis to mourn and turn inward, but the older Orion was only filled with hate.

One day Orion and Sollis discovered a large hole on the surface of New Genesis which turned out to be an outpost of soldiers from the planet Apokolips. These soldiers had been transformed by an energy bomb into beings composed entirely of solar energy. They bombarded Sollis with energy blasts, but Orion was able to fight them off with the aid of his mentor Metron. Sollis lay in a coma for a month, but upon recovering realized that he had somehow gained solar energy powers. Sollis mastered these abilities and renamed himself Lightray.

(New Gods I #3) - The Black Racer, the Source’s personification of death,  chose Lightray as his target, and they battled across space until Metron appeared and used a Boom Tube to redirect the Racer to Earth. Metron told Lightray to think logically when his life was at stake, and he hoped his experience with the Racer humbled him.

(New Gods I #9, 10) - The dawn broke, and Lightray tried to convince Orion that the new day was filled with hope, though Orion’s mind was still focused on war. Playwright Eve Donner offered them hospitality, and she was equally fascinated and repulsed by Orion. Orion raged that Darkseid would not face him one-on-one and Lightray warned Eve that he was the personification or destruction. Orion told her he’d seek her out after his final battle and see if she thought he was worth her pity. Orion and Lincoln checked in on Orion’s friend Dave Lincoln, and found the Metropolis police waiting for them. Metropolis D.A. J. Mason Hartwell told Orion and Lightray they’d be held accountable for the property damage they’d caused during their fight with Kalibak, but Dave Lincoln pointed out that they’d helped to defeat Kalibak and prevented any loss of life. Forager of the New Genesis Bugs found the New Gods and warned them that Mantis was planning an invasion of Earth. Orion hoped that all of Earth would aid the New Gods of New Genesis in their war against Darkseid, because their preservation depended on it, and departed. Orion fought Mantis’ Bug horde fiercely, and Lightray convinced Sonic Research and Development to lend him a transmitter, which he used to focus sound and light to drive off the Bugs, and send them scurrying back to New Genesis.

(DC Graphic Novel #4) - Darkseid destroyed New Genesis with Micro-Mark tech, forcing Highfather and the New Gods to flee to a satellite city. Lightray wanted the nobility of the New Gods to live on even if they died, so he traveled to Apokolips and helped Orion destroy a Mekkanoid production center, giving hope to the lowly Hunger Dogs.

(New Gods III #1-3) - Darkseid sent Kalibak and a horde of Para-Demons to Earth to retrieve Eve Donner, Dave Lincoln and Wilson Gillmore, three Earthlings that held a part of the anti-life equation. Lightray and a host of New Genesis gods resisted them, forcing them to flee, but not before activating a Morrow Block that sapped the lifeforce of Earth. The Morrow Block killed a number of New Genesis gods, including Jezebelle, before Orion destroyed it. A lull in the war between New Genesis and Apokolips granted Lightray the opportunity to spend more time on Earth. He stayed with Eve Donner, playing the harp for her and admiring her beauty. He told her the war with Apokolips made him sick, but it was his destiny and responsibility to safeguard New Genesis, and nothing could change that.

(New Gods III #4, 5) - Eve started resenting Lightray's joy of life and the fact that he was unphased by all his problems. She told him she wished the world would go away, and it looked like her wish could come true when Mantis built an insect colony around a nuclear missile silo in Tulsis, Nevada, planning to bombard Earth with a nuclear attack. Lightray knew he had to intervene, and Eve, secretly pleased with the chaos, demanded he take her along. Orion and Forager invaded the colony, slaughtering Mantis’ horde of Bugs, but their efforts to stop Mantis from firing off six nuclear missiles failed. Mantis seemingly killed Forager and in his rage at losing a woman he felt connected too Orion killed Mantis. With Lightray’s help he caught up to the missiles and opened a Boom Tube to the insect colonies of New Genesis, destroying their civilization. Orion felt no joy, but thought the Bugs deserved what they got. Lightray and Highfather were worried about Orion turning to the dark side, and consulted the Source. If Orion was turned to evil by Darkseid, than the war against Apokolips was lost.

(New Gods III #6) - Orion talked with his friend Dave Lincoln about how they viewed conflict. Dave firmly believed in Earth law and order, but Orion saw things more back and white, the enemy should always be exterminated, not given a trial. Lightray arrived to tell Orion Eve Donner had been kidnapped by Darkseid, and they made their way to Apokolips, with Dave yelling that Orion should focus of saving the girl, not meting out punishment to Darkseid, and Lightray affirmed that this was solid advice. Darkseid wanted to lure Orion into killing Eve, but his plans fell apart when the Dreggs, the undead Old Gods, invaded Apokolips. In his conflict with them Darkseid’s Omega-Beams struck Orion, Lightray and Eve, sending them all off-planet.

(New Gods III #7-10, 12) - Lightray found himself separated from Eve near an Apokoliptan citadel, but was recalled to New Genesis by one of Highfather’s alpha bullets. Highfather had summoned him to give spiritual support, because the people of Genesis were growing more divided in loyalty between Highfather and Commander. Highfather returned Lightray to Apokolips to find Orion. Lightray found himself in the lair of the Dreggs, and two ghostly figures showed him images of Darkseid’s past, and the death of his first wife Suli, when he lost any compassion in his heart. Metron appeared and used the Dregg’s archive to show him Orion’s life story, and warned him that Orion’s unthinking love of war could bring him to the dark side. Lightray scoured Apokolips, but couldn’t find his friend. Kalibak, rebelling against his father, used astral transfer to send Lightray to the citadel he’d first arrived at when Darkseid hit him with the omega beams. Lightray joined Orion on his trip to Section Zero, but when Orion found Tiggra she refused to be rescued. She told him she’d be a prisoner no matter where she went because of what she knew and had seen. She also affirmed for Orion that he was just like his father, and he left Section Zero in disgust.

(New Gods II #13, 14) - Lightray took Orion to Earth for peace and tranquility. Lightray visited Eve Donner, who’d been safely returned to Earth by a benevolent force. She confessed love for him, and he told her he loved her as much as he loved everything else in creation, because all his being was filled with love. She wanted to make him understand that she wanted him romantically, and they kissed. Orion met Dave Lincoln, and after watching him avert a hostage situation without violence, he reflected on the nature of heroics and the use of power. Orion and Lightray’s reveries were cut short when a Reflektorr that’d followed Eve from Apokolips terrorized North Shore Park, but Eve made Lightray take her along for the battle. It fed on fear, and Orion was confident in confronting it, but it turned into the one thing he feared, a monstrous version of himself. Orion battled the Reflektorr, but his heedless rage against himself caused great amounts of destruction. The Reflektorr fled and hitched a ride on a subway, making its way to the Habitat of the Hairies. It confronted a Hairie with his fear of the city, and he would have burned the habitat to the ground if not for the intervention of Lightray and Orion. Reflektorr retreated through a Boom Tube back to Apokolips. Eve Donner told Lightray the Reflektorr made her confront her fear of losing him, and she realized that he represented true freedom and could never be tied only to her.

(New Gods III #16) - On one of his flights Lightray saw Fastbak down on Apokolips. He revived his friend and took him back to New Genesis, where he explained that he found a powerful relic of the Old Gods, and threw it through a Boom Tube to Earth to keep Darkseid’s minion Infernus from claiming it. Highfather opened a Boom Tube to Earth, and claimed it from John Hedley, who was using its’ power inappropriately.

(New Gods III #17) - Orion stopped bank robbers, but Lieutenant Marvin Jones, made it clear that he didn’t want Orion’s help. Orion put on a display of power to remind Jones what a god was. Lightray thought Orion was being far too serious, and after mussing his hair and scowling, performed a very good imitation of his friend. Orion was pleased, and actually laughed at himself. In the Promethian Galaxy Yuga Khan broke his bonds, and his return to existence constituted a greater threat to life than either Darkseid.

(New Gods III #18, 20, 21) - Highfather contacted Mister Miracle, Orion and Lightray on Earth, his image dominating the NYC skyline. He let them know that he needed them for the upcoming threat of Yuga Khan, and warned them that they might have to lay down their lives. Miracle refused because he was still trying to build a normal life on Earth with Barda, but Orion and Lightray pledged to help. Orion was abducted to Apokolips by Darkseid’s forces, but Khan soon deposed Darkseid. Lightray showed uncharacteristic fear over Khan’s rule, and tried to use a Boom Tube to go from Earth to New Genesis, but Khan had cut off the Source, making Boom Tubes and Mother Boxes inoperative. The threat ended when Khan tried to pierce the Source, and became a prisoner of the Promethian Galaxy.

(New Gods III #22) -Metron made his yearly sabbatical to the memorial for the children killed by Steppenwolf, a tragedy he played a part in. Lightray was curious about Metron’s activities, but he sent Lightray away, afraid to display emotion.

(New Gods III #23, 24) - Darkseid and Desaad found that Ellis Ames, a man with a terminal disease, possessed a piece of the anti-life equation. Darkseid sent his warrior Agogg after him, and while Orion and Lightray initially took him to safety Agogg used his psychic profile to track down the last places Ames had been, including a music publishing company, one of many that found Ames’ work sub par, and Royer’s Children’s Hospital, where Ames played before he contracted his disease and was banned from the premises by an overly fearful nurse. Ames told Lightray how he envied him, and that how all he ever wanted was to make the world a better place than if he’d never been born. Agogg defeated Orion and Lightray in combat, and when he attacked the hospital Ames gave himself over to keep his beloved children from harm. On Apokolips he was brought before Darkseid, and when Darkseid turned his back he claimed he’d already given the anti-life equation to Agogg, and tossed himself out a window, acting like Agogg was the perpetrator. Darkseid believed the ruse and killed Agogg with the omega effect. In honor of his sacrifice Orion and Lightray gave Ames a heroes’ funeral.  Ames death struck Lightray hard, and when he and Orion returned to Earth he told his friend he was not in a good mood and needed time to himself. Orion reflected that someone who spent so much time in the light was unprepared for darkness.

(New Gods III #26) - Orion relentlessly tracked Tyrus to avenge Rodman’s death while Lightray tried to convince him not to turn into the relentless killing machine his enemy was. Desaad, again acting under the false guise of Darkseid’s authority, told Tyrus to bring Rodman’s nephew Randy to Apokolips, because he possessed a piece of the anti-life equation. Orion and Lightray saved the boy, and opened a Boom Tube to Armagetto, where they had another confrontation with Tyrus, who promised to kill the boy if he couldn’t have him. In the Dreggs’ Cavern Metron and Necromina witnessed the rebirth of one of the Old Gods, who used his hammer to restore the Cavern to its old glory and to save Lightray from a blast of Tyrus’ gun. Tyrus initially thought he’d killed Lightray and was ashamed of himself for bringing nothing but pain into the world. When Lightray revived he felt different, he felt hope, and he switched his allegiances to New Genesis.

(New Gods III #27, 28) - Darkseid became aware of Earthwoman Anne Flaherty, who possessed part of the anti-lie equation, and sent his ruthless soldier Dispatcher to retrieve her. Highfather sent Orion and Lightray to stop him, but by the time they reached her she was dead, killed by drunk driver John Elliot. Lightray was shocked that Elliot showed no remorse for taking the life of a woman highly regarded by her friends for charity. In an effort to understand he sought out Metron, who let him touch the liferock that contained the memories of everyone on Earth, and he later attended her funeral. Disarmed by all the good she’d done in her life he asked if Metron understood the technology Darkseid used to resurrect his minions. Metron did, and although it was forbidden to use it on New Genesis he thought it would be an interesting experiment. Dispatcher determined to let Lightray resurrect her and bring her to Darkseid. Highfather brought Orion to the Source Wall so he could explain why Darkseid never really resurrected anyone, and it wrote out “There is no anti –life…There is only life.” and sent Orion to stop Lightray. Lightray had a change of heart, realizing he was only trying to bring back Anne to satisfy his own desires, so Dispatcher took the Mortis Mark tech from him, and used it on Anne. Anne knew the value of life, and didn’t want to return to it in an unnatural state, so she willed herself to dust. In a last-ditch effort of redemption Dispatcher attacked Orion, but was killed by his own raygun, that John Elliot had found. Elliot had touched Lightray’s liferock, and living the lives of others he realized how much Anne’s life had mattered.