History: (Flash I #286) - Roy was a child prodigy, a painter of great artistic genius. Unfortunately, he was born color-blind and could never realize his full potential. Roy's father, a world-renowned optometrist, spent his life trying to create an optical device that would allow Roy to see in full color. On his deathbed he gave Roy a pair of “prisma-goggles” that he hoped would compensate for his son’s handicap. Roy found that his color blindness was still uncured, but he now had incredible powers over colored light. He resented the fact that his vision prevented him from fully appreciating great works of art, so he created the identity of the Rainbow Raider and used his powers to steal paintings so no one else would be able to appreciate them either. He made his debut robbing the Centrex Museum, disabling the security guards with a burst of blue light that left them sobbing uncontrollably. Flash (Barry Allen) responded to the robbery, and the Raider was elated that his debut was attracting so much attention. He hit Flash with black light, draining all the color from his body and enervating him. Rainbow Raider was convinced he’d already hit the big-time since he got away from the Flash. Back at home Barry did some research on the nature of color and light and realized Rainbow Raider’s black light saturated him with radiation that prevented him from reflecting light. Barry was late to work, and got reprimanded by his superior Darryl Frye, but when he saw a news story about the opening of the Skytop Art Gallery he left work and changed into the Flash, betting the Raider couldn’t pass up the opportunity to rob another art gallery. Raider used red light to turn the soirée into a brawl, and flew off on his rainbow. Flash ran up his rainbow, but Raider blinded him with light, causing him to fall to the city streets. Flash vibrated his molecules so the impact wouldn’t hurt him when he landed on a car below, and passing through the green car turned him green. Flash sped through a junkyard, vibrating through a number of objects until all his colors returned to him. Raider confronted him, but Flash kicked up dust into his eyes and stole his goggles, leaving him powerless and defeated.

(Flash vol. 1 #298, 299)-Rainbow Raider’s next plot involved draining the color from Central City, but his equipment exploded in his face. This accident somehow allowed him to start using his powers without using his prisma-goggles. Despite these advances Flash once again bested him.