JEFF RAYE

Real Name: Jeff Raye

Identity/Class: Human technology user (Pre-Modern era)

Occupation: Scientist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Butch

Enemies: Rojans (specifically the Rojan leader and Noki)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: His lab, somewhere on Earth; briefly transported to the homeworld of the Rojans

First Appearance: Strange Tales I#67/1 (February, 1959)

Powers/Abilities: A normal human with no paranormal abilities, Jeff Raye was an inventive genius who created a matter transporter; he was temporarily transported to a planet in another galaxy.

Height: 5'10" (by approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Strange Tales I#67/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Jeff Raye is largely unrevealed, but he built a small prototype of a matter transporter machine.

(Strange Tales I#67/1) - After successfully testing his prototype by sending his cat Butch on a short trip across his lab, Raye began work on a larger version of the transporter--he planned to set up a receiving unit about 200 miles away.

   But while Raye was working on the transporter, Butch playfully swatted at a fly and stepped on the machine's activation switch--Raye found himself sent through space to the planet of the war-like Rojans in a distant galaxy.

   Raye partially materialized in an alien laboratory where (as fate would have it) the Rojan scientist Noki was apparently conducting a similar experiment for the Rojan leader, and Noki's device acted as a receiving station for Raye.

   Suspended in mid-air between two energy poles and trapped between two worlds, Raye sensed the thoughts of the two Rojans as they communicated telepathically with him; the Rojan leader wanted to learn the secrets of Raye's transporter so he could use it for an invasion of Earth. But Raye refused to cooperate with the two Rojans, so they used a thought machine on him--despite Raye's resistance, Noki and the Rojan leader recorded all his knowledge on a tape, then they took the tape away to process.

   The entrapped Raye was determined to stop the Rojans from learning the secret of his transporter, and he saw one slim chance to escape--on one of the energy poles was an exposed power grid. Figuring if he could short-circuit it, he would either fully materialize and be freed, or be sent back to Earth. Raye took a gamble. He used some of the items he had on him--a pen, a pencil, a wristwatch--and threw them one at a time at the grid in order to short it out; he finally hit the grid on the third attempt with his wristwatch, and the power that had him trapped was cut off.

   Now fully materialized and free in Noki's lab, Raye ran to the area where the two Rojans were processing the tape with the secrets of his matter transporter; Raye grabbed the tape from them and ran back to Noki's matter transporter, then he activated the switch to reverse maximum power and jumped back into the space-warp, just as Noki's transporter exploded.

   Raye was transported back to Earth, and he materialized back in his own lab. Grabbing a crowbar, Raye smashed his own transporter machine, vowing to take its secret to his grave, all while the curious Butch just stood and watched.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Steve Ditko.

And a big THANK YOU to Dennis Giansante for originally scanning this story for John Kaminski!

Profile by John Kaminski. Expanded by Ron Fredricks.









CLARIFICATIONS:
Jeff Raye has no known connections to:

Butch the cat has no known connection to:

Noki has no known connection to:

Butch the cat

Jeff Raye's pet, he was used by Raye as a test-subject when Raye experimented with a smaller prototype of his matter transporter; Butch was successfully transported across the lab, leaving him a bit confused, but nonetheless uninjured.

Butch later returned the "favor"--while playfully swatting at a fly, the feline accidentally (...or maybe it was on purpose--you know how cats are) stepped on the activation switch of Raye's larger matter transporter while Raye was working on it, and Raye was sent to a planet in another galaxy.

When Raye returned back to Earth, Butch stood and watched as Raye destroyed his matter transporter with a crowbar.

--Strange Tales I#67/1

Jeff Raye's matter transporter prototype

Seeking to construct a matter transporter, Jeff Raye first built a smaller prototype of the device and ran a series of experiments to test it.

To prove that his machine could even transport living matter, Raye successfully tested it with his cat, Butch.

--Strange Tales I#67/1

Jeff Raye's matter transporter

After successfully testing a small prototype of his matter transporter, Jeff Raye built a larger version of the device. In addition to a control panel and background supporting machinery, the matter transporter consisted of two poles which seemed to generate a space-warp.

When Raye had finished wiring the poles, his cat Butch accidentally activated the machine's control panel, and Raye was transported to the planet of the war-like Rojans in another galaxy.

After he managed to transport himself back to Earth, Raye smashed his matter transporter with a crowbar to prevent an invasion by the hostile aliens.

--Strange Tales I#67/1

The Rojans

An aggressive militaristic race of orange-skinned, humanoids, they lived on a planet in a distant galaxy; they could communicate with each other by mental telepathy.

--Strange Tales I#67/1

The Rojan leader and Noki

Two members of the extraterrestrial Rojan race, they could communicate telepathically.

In his lab, Noki (the Rojans' greatest scientist) was apparently demonstrating his matter transporter to the Rojan leader; they were surprised when Jeff Raye partially materialized in Noki's laboratory--Raye had accidentally been sent there from Earth while working on his own matter transporter.

The Rojan leader wanted to use Raye's matter transporter as a receiving station, for his scheme to invade other worlds; Noki operated a thought machine to record Raye's knowledge on a tape, then he and the Rojan leader stepped away to process the tape.

But Raye later escaped and took the tape while they were working on it; Raye then set Noki's transporter machine to overload and explode after he used it to send himself back to Earth.

--Strange Tales I#67/1

Rojan thought machine

Used by the Rojan scientist Noki to learn the secret of Jeff Raye's matter transporter, this device extracted the knowledge in Raye's mind while he was suspended between two energy poles in Noki's lab; the machine transferred Raye's thought patterns to a reel of recording tape.

But Raye managed to escape entrapment while Noki and the Rojan leader were processing the tape; Raye grabbed the tape, then used Noki's own matter transporter to return to Earth.

--Strange Tales I#67/1

images: (without ads)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p3, pan3 (Main Image - Jeff Raye, partially materialized between energy poles in Noki's lab)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p4, pan1 (Jeff Raye)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p2, pan5 (Jeff Raye transported through intergalactic space)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p6, pan11 (Jeff Raye destroys his own matter transporter with a crowbar; Butch (foreground) )
Strange Tales I#67/1, p2, pan2 (Butch swats at fly and activates matter transporter; Jeff Raye (background))
Strange Tales I#67/1, p1, pan2 (Jeff Raye places Butch on one platform of prototype matter transporter)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p1, pan3 (prototype matter transporter activated, Butch transported to other platform)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p2, pan1 (Jeff Raye working on full-size matter transporter)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p2, pan3-4 (Butch watches as Jeff Raye disappears in activated matter transporter)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p2, pan7 (Rojan military on their homeworld)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p3, pan5 (Jeff Raye partially materializes before Noki and Rojan leader)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p3, pan6 (Rojan leader (left) and Loki (right))
Strange Tales I#67/1, p4, pan2 (Noki operates thought machine; Rojan leader (background))
Strange Tales I#67/1, p4, pan3 (Rojan thought machine aimed at trapped Jeff Raye)
Strange Tales I#67/1, p4, pan5 (Noki's hand holding recorded tape of Jeff Raye's knowledge; Rojan leader (background))

Appearances:
Strange Tales I#67/1 (February, 1959) - unidentified writer, Steve Ditko (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 07/26/2006
Last updated 06/17/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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