Editing Lightray (character) (section)

==Characterization==
For the fourth volume of ''New Gods'' created in 1995, [[Rachel Pollack]] and [[Tom Peyer]] discussed with ''Back Issue'' magazine how Lightray changed after Orion kills [[Darkseid]] in issue #2:

{{quote|The most telling effect of this event is that it drives many of the residents of New Genesis slightly insane, none more so than Lightray, who becomes extremely violent and seems to enjoy cruelty. In their first issue, the writing duo had emphasized Lightray's... lightness, if you will, making him a very jovial, happy character. As it turns out, this was not an accident. "To me, Lightray is not so much childish as innocent. He sees only the light", Pollack tells ''Back Issue''. "That's why he was so easily corrupted". Tom Peyer agrees, feeling: "I think the main purpose Kirby gave Lightray was to make Orion seem grim and dark by comparison. So we probably played Lightray's notes loudly to make the contrast obvious".<ref name=BI-104/>}}

''Orion'' writer [[Walt Simonson]] said that his conception of Lightray and Orion was based on the relationship that Kirby established in ''New Gods'' volume 1. In 2018, Simonson said: "I saw Lightray as a strategist, whereas Orion is more a tactician. Jack actually had Orion refer to Lightray as a planner at the climax of the Deep Six story, "The Glory Boat!" (''New Gods'' #6, Jan. 1972). I tried basing my notions of Lightray primarily on that story".<ref name=BI-104/>

In ''Superheroes of the Round Table'', Jason Tondro characterizes Lightray's place in Kirby's ''New Gods'' work: "We have characters like... the amazing Lightray, a denizen of [[New Genesis]] who embodies light with all of its creativity, bright humor, and intelligence... Lightray embodies illumination". Tondro says Lightray "and other characters, both good and evil, hint at the full dimensions of Kirby's epic pantheon".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tondro |first1=Jason |title=Superheroes of the Round Table: Comics Connections to Medieval and Renaissance Literature |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=978-0786460687 |page=77}}</ref>