Color Kid is one of those characters that probably has one of the dumbest powers of all. It was originally stated he could change the color of any object. That's it. However, Color Kid has been known to do some tricks regarding Kryptonite that have helped keep things safe for Superboy. I don't know quite how this is possible as I would assume the radiation given by Kryptonite dictates its color, not the other way around. He was able to use his powers to change the color of the sky from blue to black which caused ships to crash. I guess they didn't know how to fly at night.
At some point though, it appeared that he could generate light. Here's where I'm going to nitpick and say he can not generate darkness, because darkness is an absence of light. So no, he can not power up Night Girl. And he's not generating black light because that's not really a thing. Those items you see on the crime dramas generate UV-A light, not "black" light. So, could he generate UV-A light? Can he sense infra-red patterns? I guess this depends on how much control he has of the total E-M spectrum. He must have some control to change the radiation properties of Kryptonite. Maybe he doesn't realize the extent of his control and is only doing it subconsciously. Surely Brainy would have figured that out.
But let's get back to visible light generation. Color Kid has been shown to project beams directly into his opponents eyes or light up a dark space. In the 5YL saga, he could create gigantic, blinding color shows that could fill up outer space. Let's face it, this power is just as useful as Shadow Lass and her darkness.
A writer could potentially do more with his powers. Without going overboard, there are two directions they could take him: keep him with more defensive powers and have his light cause a mesmerizing or emotional effect; or, actually allow him to focus his light into a laser. We don't see emotional manipulation powers much in any of the telepaths so that could be a good choice, as the offensive laser blast would make him very similar to Sun Boy. It is nice to have more male characters with defensive powers to help balance out the Legion. I would refrain from creating illusions or holograms though as that would take away from a character like Projectra/Sensor Girl. The only concern with Color Kid, and the reason why I think Johns had him blinded for the Earth Man story, was to give some room to expand Rainbow Girl into the Subs, leaving Ulu out. Not that Rainbow Girl in the Subs was a bad thing (that's another story), however, tying a mood/emotional component to his powers would also seem very similar to Rainbow Girl's powers if a future writer decided to expand on her.
Regardless, I think Color Kid has potential if some writer just wanted to explore it.
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