It is so sad. All that power, all that ability... and no capacity to enjoy the simple pleasure of being alive... 
- — Lightray
New Gods (Volume 3) #23 is an issue of the series New Gods (Volume 3) with a cover date of February, 1991.
Synopsis for "Lingering Melody"
Darkseid and the again resurrected DeSaad find that Ellis Ames, a musician with a terminal disease, possesses a piece of the Anti-Life Equation, and Darkseid sends his warrior Agogg after him. The brute crashes into Ames' apartment, and Orion faces Agogg while Lightray takes Ames to safety. However, the Apokoliptian defeats Orion in battle and uses a psychic profile of his target to follow his trail, which leads him to a music publishing company that continually rejected Ames' songs. The next place on the trail is the Royer Children's Hospital, where Ames' played his music for the kids until an overly fearful nurse banned him after he contracted the disease. Orion follows the brute and finds him on a rampage inside the hospital and they have a rematch inside the building.
At a distance, Lightray and Ames have a chat on top of the World Trade Center. Ames tells Lightray how he envies him, and that how all he ever wanted was to make the world a better place than if he'd never been born. Lightray wants to give him hope that the illness won't last forever, and even when Ames tells him it is a terminal disease, he insists that death is not the end of everything either, at least on his world. However, Ames doesn't believe what he says, saying that there's not such resurrections on Earth. Their conversation is interrupted when Ames spots a smoke of cloud from the direction of the children's hospital, and asks Lightray to take him there.
In the hospital, Ellis jumps in front of Agogg and convinces him to take him and spare the lives of Orion, Lightray, and the innocent caught in the middle. Agogg accepts and takes him to Apokolips.
In the citadel, Ames is brought in front of Darkseid, and he lies saying he'll write the Equation for him. When Darkseid turns his back to leave the room, Ames starts screaming to Agogg, telling him to take his hands off him and that he already gave the Equation, but this is another lie, as Agogg hadn't even touched him. Finally, Ames jumps off the building and screams Darkseid to help him. Darkseid believes his bluff, and kills Agogg with the Omega Beams.
Lightray and Orion find Ellis' corpse in Apokolips, and they bury him as a hero, with the writing "Here lies Ellis Ames, who left the world a little better than if he had never lived" in his grave.
Appearing in "Lingering Melody"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Ellis Ames (Single appearance; dies)
Locations:
- Apokolips
- New York City
- Royer Children's Hospital
Items:
- Mother Box
- Anti-Life Equation (Mentioned only)
- Boom Tube
Vehicles:
Trivia
- There are two instances where Darkseid is compared to Hitler. First, when Agogg makes the Nazi salute in front of him. Then when Ellis Ames meets Darkseid and, seeing the tiranny in his eyes, calls him a "cosmic Hitler."
See Also