7. Metamorpho

Stop what you are doing right now. Do you already own the Showcase Presents: Metamorpho collection that DC put out a while back? No? Buy that. Buy that thing right flippin’ now. Some of the best late silver age comics I’ve ever read. Incredible. And they left me with a burning love for Rex Mason.

Mason was a globe trotting adventurer who encountered the Orb of Ra on one of his journeys. The orb mutated him horribly, but gave him the power to convert his body into any element. Using this power, he became a hero, while trying to gage the motives of his possibly villainous boss, Simon Stagg, and winning over the affection of his daughter, Sapphire.

Rex has gone through long lists of horrible things, and has died multiple times, but he always comes out okay. After a time, he gained a position with the Justice League International’s across-the-pond expansion, the Justice League Europe. Heck, he was half the reason I picked up the first JLE issue when I found it (Rocket Red was the other half).

Metamorpho, may you eventually find peace.

6. The Ray

MY BOY!

Sorry, sorry, I just love The Ray. There’s a small group of DC characters who I love, but no one really gives any respect to, and The Ray is one of those. Raymond Terrill was born with a condition that didn’t allow him any exposure to sunlight. Or so he thought. Turns out, he’d been lied to. His real father was World War II hero The Ray, and Raymond was born with tremendous superpowers that would only awaken with light exposure.

Upon discovering his new powers, Ray decided to follow in his father’s footsteps as…The Ray! Not…uh, not much room for a secret identity there, huh? But whatever, The Ray was inducted into the Justice League after Superman’s death, and stayed with the team on and off for a while. He would later join the super-90s incarnation known as the Justice League Task Force, but hey, everyone has an embarrassing teenage phase.

Plus, the Ray has just been announced as a member of the Brand new JLA team, so I’m psyched!