'The Ray' Writers Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti Discuss the New Version

Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti helmed Jonah Hex and DC Comics' "All-Star Western" with the reboot of the whole universe with the New 52. Their newest project, "The Ray," is hitting comic book stores this week. Issue #1 kicks off a four-part miniseries they hope might become a monthly title. I had the opportunity to talk to the two writers about relaunching The Ray for a new and old audience.

You work on "All-Star Western" and now "The Ray." Do you find it hard sometimes to switch back and forth from the different titles you work on?

Palmiotti: I don't think so. We've been working on Jonah [Hex] for almost six years now. Writing his book is a pretty natural thing at this point. It's no big deal switching gears to superheroes. We're not just comic writers. We're huge comic fans. We grew up with these books. We grew up with the style and the storytelling.

If I have any problem, it's that I sometimes forget the characters' names. I have to write them down on a piece of paper next to the computer because my brain is just so scrambled. We love working on different characters, worlds, and situations. It's not tough to switch gears. We're open to trying anything.

Gray: If you run into a roadblock with one thing, then you can jump over to something different with a fresh perspective. It's easier to make those transitions. It's fun to be doing different things with different characters. It's so much fun to be able to say, "Okay, now let's do something completely different. Here's a different way of looking at something. Here's a different kind of storytelling." That's the way we approach every project. We try to make every title stand on its own.

What would you say to old fans of The Ray and people who have never read the adventures of the character before to get them to give the new version a chance?

Gray: If you're interested in superhero comics and looking for something different from the themes that are taking place across the board then this is for you. It's lighter but it's not silly. It's got a joy to it. There's a certain pleasure in it. It carries that old school feeling of, "It's fun to be a superhero!"

It's actually something that many people fantasize about. You would like to have powers. You would like to have that aspect of your life. We really push that in the front end of the book. The backend of the book is really about the relationship between the superhero and his girlfriend. How that kind of relationship can often be more complicated than actually fighting monsters, villains, or other people with superpowers. Instead of the sort of dynamic where the superhero world invades the personal life, we've taken the other route where the personal life is affecting the superhero world. In addition, the art is amazing.

Palmiotti: We have some of the same powers as the original Ray character. We have many cool situations for even an established reader to grab onto. If you're a new reader, this is a great book to pick up because there's no intimidation factor. It's all brand new. You're there from the ground floor and it's probably a lot more than you might expect for a super hero book. There's definitely a very positive and very charming quality to it. Again, Jamal Igle's artwork is just beautiful. If you don't like us, just pick it up for the art.

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Eric Shirey is the founder and editor of Rondo Award nominated movie and comic book news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other national entertainment websites. Besides his three decades long obsession with everything sci-fi, horror, and fantasy related in TV and movies, Eric has what some would call an unhealthy love for comic books. This has led him to interviewing and covering legendary writers and artists in the medium like Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson, and Howard Chaykin.