The Death-Ray
Graphic novel
The Death Ray is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Daniel Clowes. It first appeared in 2004, in issue #23 of Clowes's comic book Eightball, and then as a standalone book in 2011.
Plot
The story, which flashes back and forth from the 1970s and present day, revolves around a man Andy who reflects upon his childhood and the events that led to him living a life alone, with no friends or loved ones. Raised by his grandfather after his parents both died (mother from a blood clot in the brain, his father from cancer) when he was young, Andy is bullied by his classmates and dominated by his obnoxious best friend Louie. When he turns seventeen, Andy (who is weak and skinny) begins smoking and suddenly experiences short bursts of what appear, to him, as being super strength. Shortly afterwards, Andy's grandfather provides him with a box containing belongings of his father that he had kept secret. These include a journal, that explain that as a kid, Andy was exposed to experimental hormones by his father to ensure that his son would not be frail and weak like he was. This causes Louie to believe that smoking causes Andy to become super strong. Louie then convinces him to become an amateur super-hero with Louie as his sidekick.
Seeking to find out more about his father, Andy requests that his aunt send him anything that she might have that belonged to his father.
“The Death-Ray” enters the record as graphic novel. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Death-Ray, Graphic and novel can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Death-Ray” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Death-Ray, Graphic and novel provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18389544. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004 and 2011.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Death-Ray” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.