The Fury of Firestorm #1-6

The Fury of Firestorm #1-6

Originally released in 1982

Written by Gerry Conway

Art by Pat Broderick

I've been meaning to look into a Firestorm comic for a while, so today seems like a good day to do that.  Firestorm, the Nuclear Man, is a character who is a fusion between two (or occasionally more) people.  In this case, it's high school jock Ronnie Raymond and renowned professor Martin Stein.

The more that I read of the series, the more that I understood the dynamic between the two and what made it interesting.  Ronnie is the controlling personality of Firestorm, meaning that he's the one who Firestorm resembles, and he's in charge of when they transform, while Stein is a voice in Ronnie's head and the source of a lot of the chemical know-how that allows Firestorm to alter the chemical properties of just about anything. (Firestorm's name is misleading - rather than just having fire powers, his abilities are closer to alchemy, being able to change the atomic structure of anything, such as turning lead into gold, though he's limited to the amount of mass of the object that he has to work with)

However, when they transform into Firestorm, both of them disappear, and Stein is unaware of what happens when they're Firestorm until Ronnie fills him in.  Unfortunately, Ronnie tends to be impulsive, transforming into Firestorm at a moment's notice (and for short-sighted reasons, like trying to get a date with the senator's daughter after his girlfriend dumps him) and leaving Dr. Stein to hastily come up with an excuse to leave when he feels the change happening.

Ronnie seems to have some overlap with Peter Parker, dealing with the troubles that come with high school, while Martin Stein kind of feels like Clark Kent without the benefits that come with being Superman - he's constantly disappearing under mysterious circumstances, but outside of his costumed identity, he's completely vulnerable, and when the two of them become Firestorm, he can only advise but is otherwise forced to be completely passive.

Ronnie's home life doesn't seem great (his father seems absent at best and abusive at worst, smacking Ronnie across the face when Ronnie gets suspended from the basketball team), and Dr. Stein comes across as a much better father figure by comparison, though it likely helps that he's aware of Ronnie's troubles.

At Stein's work, a fellow researcher, Harold Carew, comes close to learning Firestorm's secret.  Dr. Stein started to record his backstory (seemingly as a way for new readers to learn about how Firestorm came to be), only to think better of it and erase the tape.  Carew knows how to reconstruct the tape when he finds it, though it's unclear where this is going, and if he'll become a supervillain or decide against following through with the reconstruction.

Firestorm's rogues gallery is a little limited in these early issues, though part of that owes to the fact that each storyline takes up two issues.  Ronnie's teacher, a Native American man with a grandfather who's bitter and close-minded, is possessed by his grandfather, becoming a villain called Black Bison. The possession is undone by the end, though it's unclear if it could happen again.

Killer Frost, seemingly the closest thing that he has to an arch-enemy, shows up to freeze New York City, where Firestorm operates out of.  The Justice League tries to help - Firestorm (in a bit of youthful stubbornness) initially turns them down, though they eventually convince him to let them lend a hand.

Also, this story reminded me of the problems with making modern pop culture references in media like comics.  Once Killer Frost is defeated, Firestorm tells the mayor that he and Red Tornado are "two wild an' crazy guys" in an apparent reference to a recurring Steve Martin skit from Saturday Night Live.  I recognized it since I've watched some older SNL episodes, but I feel like a lot of people would have no idea what they're talking about forty years later. (though some pop culture references, like Star Wars or the Muppets, are timeless)

Issues five and six start out involving the Flash villain the Pied Piper, only for Firestorm to get caught up in a plot involving the Greek god Pan.  Throughout this, Dr. Stein's career and Ronnie's education (and his place on the basketball team) are constantly at risk, with their mysterious disappearances only making things worse.  It raises the question of why they continue to be Firestorm, though it's understandable that they're often the only people who can save New York City from its superpowered threats - unlike Marvel's version of the Big Apple, there doesn't seem to be any other superheroes who operate out of DC's New York City.

I can see what makes Firestorm appealing as a character; even if it sometimes feels like it borrows elements from other series, it twists things enough to keep it feeling unique.  (though there was one part, where a guard who's watching over the Pied Piper is reading comics, which feels like a dig at people like me who write a lot about comics)

I liked the two part storylines that these first few issues had; it gives the stories room to breathe and develop their characters without dragging on like modern six part stories can sometimes do. I'm glad I gave the character a chance; he definitely seems like the type of character who'd stick out a lot more in a solo series compared to a team-up book. (I'm guessing he's toned down for his Justice League appearances, since otherwise, there'd be nothing stopping him from turning Lex Luthor's latest superweapon into a useless chunk of metal or making it so the inevitable yellow beings/objects/projectiles that negate Green Lantern's powers aren't yellow any more)