The Elemental Firestorm was a fascinating character and a tremendous departure from what had come before.  Two years prior writer John Ostrander had changed Firestorm from the classic Ronnie Raymond/Professor Stein combination to the more complex “Blank Slate” incarnation.  Not content to rest on his laurels, Ostrander continued to evolve the character by revealing that Firestorm was actually a fire elemental.  This new Elemental Firestorm was detached from human emotions and an environmental crusader.  This was a new direction for the series and artist Tom Mandrake brought an entirely new look as well.

What a great time to be collecting the character!  I love me some Elemental Firestorm! Ostrander was pushing this book in different and thought-provoking directions, while Mandrake’s art created a unique mood to the series. This wasn’t just a straightforward superhero comic, this series had depth and substance.  The elemental era of Firestorm walked the line between standard superhero comics and the mature supernatural titles of the time like Sandman and Swamp Thing (keep in mind this was before Vertigo).

This new elemental incarnation first appeared in the final pages of Firestorm #85.  The letters page of that issue carried the following advertisement boldly declaring that Firestorm would never be the same.

While Tom Mandrake didn’t draw issue #85, this advertisement within the issue marks his first published work on the character.  In addition to house ads, DC was getting the word out to retailers about this dramatic change for Firestorm. Special preview copies of issue #86 were sent to retailers along with a letter from Bob Wayne, then Retail Promotions Manager.  Below is the text from the letter.

Dear Retailer:

We’ve got a brand-new look for FIRESTORM.  A look so different that we want you to take an advance peek at it!  Writer John Ostrander has reunited with his former Grimjack collaborator, artist Tom Mandrake.  Together, Ostrander and Mandrake will show you a new FIRESTORM… not just a superhero… but a force of nature!  Will he remain mankind’s protector… or will he become its destroyer?

An ongoing series in the DC Comics Standard Format (and part of The Janus Directive sequence), FIRESTORM #86 ships April 11 from Spartan Printing.

Enjoy this preview of FIRESTORM #86.

Best,

Bob Wayne
Retail Promotions Manager

Click here to read the preview copy of Firestorm #86 (PDF Format, 5.3 MB), including the letter from Bob Wayne.  My thanks to Jon over at the Fizzit blog for supplying the preview copy.  Thanks Jon!

I’m pretty impressed at the efforts DC went to attract attention to this new Firestorm.  Today’s post was solely about the promotions surrounding the launch of the Elemental Firestorm.  Sooner or later I’ll dedicate some posts detailing this fantastic era.  It really was an amazing run and well worth your time if you’ve never read it.

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Here is the recently-released Firestorm action figure from the DC Universe Infinite Heroes line (#58 in the series).  This is the Ronnie Raymond/Professor Martin Stein Firestorm.   Like the other Infinite Heroes figures, Firestorm has been done in the 3-3/4″ scale, so he’s considerably smaller than his DC Direct and DC Universe Classics counterparts.  It’s about the size of a Star Wars figure.  With flaming hair, he’s only four inches tall.

It’s interesting that this Firestorm figure-design reflects bits and pieces of the Jason Firestorm costume.  If you look closely, you’ll see this Ronnie Raymond Firestorm has Jason’s collar, gloves, and pattern on his back.   Perhaps they are planning a Jason figure for the Infinite Heroes line and wanted to be able to re-use some of the molds.

One thing that bothers me about the figure-design is the chest emblem.  If you look on the right-hand side of the emblem (the left-hand side from Ronnie’s perspective), there are only two white lines coming out of the large red circle.  These white lines represent the orbits of the electrons and the large red circle represents the nucleus.  You’ve got three orbits on left-side of the red nucleus and only two orbits on the right-side?  What happened to the third electron?  Do we need to call Bill Nye to figure this out?!?!

Overall this is a nice figure.  I like the smaller size and they put a good amount of detail into the costume.  Unfortunately mine has a minor paint defect on the right temple, but it’s not terrible.  This is definitely a figure I’d recommend to fans of the Ronnie Raymond/Professor Martin Stein Firestorm. The figure came out recently, so you might still find it in stores.  I was unsuccessful in locating one myself and had to order it from eBay.

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This first piece from 1977 consists of early character designs Al worked on for Ronnie Raymond and Doreen Day prior to Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #1.  Ronnie looks a little like Snapper Carr and Rick Jones in these early rough sketches. The rough sketch of Doreen in the winter clothes is pretty consistent with the way she was dressed in #1.

Here are some early character designs for Professor Martin Stein and Cliff Carmichael.  The Professor is pretty much spot-on for his final look.  For Cliff, I love that shot of him in the wife-beater smoking a cigarette.  It shows his nerdy side, but also demonstrates that he can be a wiry tough guy.

Next up are the first three pages from the unpublished Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #7.  You may recall we displayed the unpublished cover to Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #6 a while back.  Additionally, you can read the entire unpublished issue #6 online.  However, very little is known about Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #7.  The end of issue #6 boldly proclaimed, “Next Issue: The Reptile Man!”  From the FIRESTORM FAN interview with Gerry Conway we know that “The Reptile Man” was most likely intended to be Killer Croc.  However, since that issue was never published, Gerry instead introduced the character as a Batman villain.

The first page below was published previously in Back Issue Magazine #20.  This was the splash page for Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #7.  The subsequent two pages are being presented for the first time ever here at FIRESTORM FAN.  In these pages you can see Professor Martin Stein’s subconscious is haunting him with images of Firestorm.  At this time the Professor was unaware of the part he played in the Firestorm composite being.  He simply thought he was suffering from blackouts.  I love page three especially!  The art is so amazing you don’t require any dialogue or narration to understand it perfectly.  Click pages 2 & 3 to enlarge.

Finally, we’ve got one more never-before-seen piece.  This is a great general image of Firestorm.  Al wasn’t sure if this was originally intended as a rough design for the cover of Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #1, a Who’s Who entry, or possibly an in-house ad.  Regardless, it’s a great looking piece of Ronnie, the Professor, and Firestorm!

My thanks again to Al for this wonderful opportunity!

In addition to co-creating Firestorm, Al Milgrom is well known for his ten-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciller, and inker on Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciller; his long stint as the inker of X-Factor; and much, much more.  For a complete list of his works, visit the Comic Book DB.  Al has created an amazing volume of work and stays busy even nowadays.  If you are a fan of Al Milgrom’s work, there are opportunities for commissions.  Be sure to check out THE ARTISTS CHOICE for all the details on Al Milgrom commissioned sketches.

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As discussed here previously, Firestorm is used in a couple scenes of the film. He is a minor character and primarily appears during a large fight scene in which he battles the evil version of Captain Marvel Jr.  This is the Jason Rusch version of Firestorm and he’s from the “good” Earth. Firestorm is voiced by Cedric Yarbrough and his costume is based upon the Jamal Igle version from Firestorm vol III.  Dwayne McDuffie wrote the story for this movie; McDuffie wrote a few issues of Firestorm vol III and a JLA run with Jason.  Below is a still of Firestorm using his transmutation powers during the large battle. Click here to see how Firestorm handles himself during the fight.

If you’re like me, you were wondering if there was an evil Crime Syndicate doppelganger of Firestorm.  Well for those eagle-eyed viewers, or those that thought to pause, there was a very brief appearance.  The shot below reveals several of Super-Woman’s henchmen.  Among them on the bottom row towards the center is clearly an evil parallel to Firestorm.  Rather than a red headpiece, his is green and features a radioactive symbol.  I can’t help but wonder what his name is.  Meltdown?  Fallout?  Nuclear Winter?

Even though Firestorm’s part is minor, the film is definitely worth checking out.

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I contacted Al and commissioned an original drawing of our favorite hot-head for FIRESTORM FAN.  Al not only accepted the commission, he also provided me with scans of some exclusive and rarely-seen Firestorm artwork.  One of those images was the cover for the unpublished Firestorm the Nuclear Man #6.  Keep watching FIRESTORM FAN in the near future for further Al Milgrom gems.

Here is Al Milgrom’s original Firestorm drawing done especially for FIRESTORM FAN…

It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it.  Al did an amazing job on this drawing.  Everything looks perfect: the costume, the face, the motion of flying, the rich shadows… it’s just awesome.  Over 30 years since he helped create the character and he still draws it gorgeously.  Thanks, Al!

One of the greatest rewards of doing this blog has been reaching out to the writers and artists that have worked on Firestorm.  Everyone has been so friendly and generous with their time.  Finding out how cool these folks are makes me proud to be promoting their creative work and reaffirms my love for Firestorm comics.

In addition to co-creating Firestorm, Al Milgrom is well known for his ten-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciller, and inker on Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciller; his long stint as the inker of X-Factor; and much, much more.  For a complete list of his works, visit the Comic Book DB.  Al has created an amazing volume of work and stays busy even nowadays.  If you are a fan of Al Milgrom’s work, there are opportunities for commissions.  Be sure to check out THE ARTISTS CHOICE for all the details on Al Milgrom commissioned sketches.

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• We’ve got a sneak peek of Firestorm from the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths DVD scheduled for release next Tuesday, February 23. These photos confirm that the Firestorm that appears in the movie is the Jason Rusch version and he’s from the “good” Earth.  I guess in hindsight it’s not too surprising that it’s the Jason Firestorm since Dwayne McDuffie wrote the story for this movie; McDuffie wrote a few issues of Firestorm vol III and a JLA run with Jason.  It’ll be interesting to see if there is an “evil” counterpart to Firestorm within the Crime Syndicate.  Firestorm will apparently have a speaking part as Cedric Yarbrough has been identified as doing the voice of Firestorm in this film.  Also worth noting is that Firestorm’s costume is based upon the Jamal Igle version from Firestorm vol III.  Huge thanks to Rob over at the Aquaman Shrine for granting me permission to republish these images here.  Also, my thanks to Joshua Wolf for directing me towards this news.

• Comic Book Resources had some great coverage of the New York Toy Fair earlier this week.  They managed to get some amazing shots of upcoming DC figures from Mattel.  Below are the images they ran of Firestorm from the Justice League Unlimited line.  This figure is due out sometime in 2010 and will be available online and at Target.  Check out the Comic Book Resources article for pictures of other fantastic figures on the horizon (i.e. Blue Devil, several Aquaman figures, Blue Beetle, Ultra-Humanite, and more.  They’ve even got Cyclotron?!?!)

• I just stumbled across a nice blog post about Shadowstorm, the evil Firestorm doppleganger from the Elemental-era.  The post was written by NicodemusLegend for his Transforming Seminarian blog.  Click here to read the Shadowstorm post.  Additionally, NicodemusLegend did a thorough three-part series on “The Hard Life of Professor Martin Stein”.  Check out that series by clicking on the following links: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

• Steward Cook (a.k.a. bricolage) laid out his Firestorm: Rebirth proposal that he pitched to DC back in the 1990s.  Sounds like it would have been interesting.  Check it out by clicking here.
• The episode of Batman: The Brave & the Bold that featured Firestorm is now available to view online.  Click here to be watch.  My thanks to Jerrod Porter for sending this link my way.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths DVD this coming Tuesday!

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While working as a nuclear scientist at the “Atomic Institute”, Barry Dale absorbs the “power of the atom” through unconscious exposure to nuclear materials and gains superpowers as a result. As described by Barry himself: “Evidently my body is so geared as a result of working on radium and uranium that it can explode atoms and give me atomic strength.” He uses his new abilities — such as super strength, flight, speed, invulnerability, “atomic vision”, and the ability to heat his body so that he can weld metal with his hands — to fight crime.

Atoman was created by Golden Age writer Jerry Robinson and artists Mort Meskin for Spark Publications in 1946.  He managed to last a whole two issues in his own series before vanishing.  He reappeared in 1950 as the recolored Atomaster in one issue of New World Comics from Metropolitan Publishing Company.

After reading through this you gotta ask yourself, was the creation of Firestorm influenced by Atoman?  Personally, I think not.  If you listen to Gerry Conway’s thoughts on creating Firestorm, there is really no connection to a character like Atoman.  Firestorm’s ancestry lies more with Spider-Man than it does with a forgotten Golden Age hero. Also, Atoman is just one of a large number of atomic-based heroes from the Golden Age (i.e. Atomic Man, Atomic Thunderbolt, etc).

In regard to the costume, I think it’s the same as the similarities between Firestorm’s and Iron Man’s costume.  Given that red and yellow are primary colors, it’s not surprising to find costumes using these colors in similar ways. There are only so many combinations and in comics it’s quite common to see the torso piece of a superhero suit contrast with the leggings and sleeves.  Interestingly enough yellow and red was apparently the standard uniform for nuclear-powered heroes back in the day: Atoman, Firestorm, Captain Atom (during his original Charlton years), Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom (from Gold Key in the 1960s), and  Nukla (from Dell comics in the 1960s).

In conclusion, I think this is an interesting coincidence but nothing more.  We Firestorm Fans should honor Atoman as an atomic hero that came before, but not as a direct ancestor of our favorite nuclear man.  My thanks to Bob from UnderMountain for sending me information recently on Atoman.

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Weird little figures.  They’re smaller than I expected.  This figure is only 3.75″ including flaming hair, 2.5″ without.  It’s an adorable figure and I appreciate that ole match-head was included in the first wave, but they are peculiar.  I think the word that best describes BLAMMOIDS is “cute”.  I’ve included six shots below, including one with several other Firestorm action figures for size comparison.

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Over a year ago it was announced that Firestorm would appear on the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon.  This past Friday, the Nuclear Man finally graced our screens in his first animated appearance in nearly 25 years.  Was it worth the wait?  That really depends upon your perspective.

The episode teaser featured Booster Gold and Batman at the mercy of the Riddler.  After some wacky hijinks, they dispatched the Riddler and his goons.  In the episode proper, we’re introduced to high school coach Ronnie Raymond and science whiz kid Jason Rusch on a school field trip touring a nuclear testing facility.  Unbeknown to the students, the supervillain Dr. Double X was attempting to cause a nuclear accident in order to super-charge his powers.  Batman arrived to stop Dr. Double X and all heck broke loose.  A massive nuclear explosion triggered the fusion of Rusch and Raymond into one being, while Batman was fissioned into three separate beings.  Rusch and Raymond found themselves sharing a nuclear-charged body, but had to figure out a way to work together.  Rusch controlled the body, while Raymond could advise as a voice only Rusch could hear. The bulk of the episode explored the combination of Rusch and Raymond, while the three different Batman personalities were for laughs (logical Batman, violent Batman, and slacker Batman).  In the end Dr. Double-X was defeated, Batman was reintegrated into one body, and Firestorm came into his own as a superhero.  For a more detailed recap, visit TV.com by clicking here.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode for what it was – a kids cartoon. Normally I have no problem watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold, but this time my wife (a non-geek) watched it with me. Having her there made me more self-conscious than usual and helped me to realize the target market for this cartoon was probably 10 year old kids. Funny how having her around makes me act more mature.   Speaking of 10 year olds, my step-son watched the episode and declared it “AWESOME!”

Seeing Firestorm on the small screen was a blast.  Rusch’s interaction with Raymond’s floating head was well done throughout the episode and often funny.  The show creators managed to demonstrate the majority of Firestorm’s powers, including his energy blasts, transmutation of non-organic objects, and flight.  The transmutation was explored during a fun montage, but was also utilized in combat.  The costume, which was provided by Batman to dampen the radiation Firestorm was exuding, was basically Ronnie’s classic costume with Jason’s chest emblem and collar.  I was totally jazzed that the flaming hair looked so great!  The fire was in constant motion (unlike Firestorm’s first season on Super Friends) and there were “Kirby Dots” at the base of the flame.  Loved it!  Interestingly enough Firestorm did quite a bit of punching in this episode,  not something normally associated with the character (outside of the Super Powers action figure).  There were also some funny gags, like suggesting Firestorm adopt the superhero name, “Flame Dude”.

There were a few great Firestorm moments worth mentioning.  Early on we got a quick glimpse of a Professor Martin Stein look-a-like at the nuclear testing facility.  That made me smile.  In another scene, Raymond influenced the body creating havoc on the merged body’s balance as Rusch and Raymond fought to go in different directions.  That’s not something often explored in the comics.  The credits at the end of the show stated, “Firestorm created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom”.  I was very happy to see credit given to Gerry and Al.  They deserve it.  Finally, the best Firestorm-related laugh of the show was when slacker Batman referred to Firestorm as, “Our little schizophrenic candlestick.”  LOL!!!

In terms of voice acting, Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick on SpongeBob SquarePants, and Dauber on Coach) was wonderful as the dim-witted version of Ronnie Raymond.  While this isn’t my favorite interpretation of Ronnie, Fagerbakke did a great job given how the character was written.  Tyler James Williams (Chris on Everybody Hates Chris) did a really good job switching between geeky teenager Jason Rusch and more confident Firestorm.  Again, given how these characters were written, I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone that could have done better than these guys.

I enjoyed this version of Firestorm for the purposes of the cartoon, but it also made me realize from a storytelling perspective that Jason doesn’t need Ronnie. If Jason had been more timid, I could see how the more aggressive Ronnie would be of benefit. Since Jason didn’t have any trepidation and already had the science knowledge, I’m not sure what Ronnie brought to the matrix besides fun “buddy movie” interaction. This same logic might apply to the comics too.  Now I’m left wondering what the ideal matrix would be after Blackest Night. Maybe Ronnie in control of the body with Jason as the scientific adviser? That works, but doesn’t seem fair to Jason who has earned his place at the JLA table.

While Batman and Firestorm shared equal screen time, my review has focused on Firestorm for obvious reasons.   The episode was fun and I’ll take this version of Firestorm for what it’s worth, but I keep hoping that someday we’ll get a serious animated version of Firestorm more inline with the comics.  I’ll finish with the absolute funniest quote of the show; violent Batman shouting in a rage, “Batman does not eat nachos!”  … Maybe you had to be there.

What did you think of the episode?

For further discussion, check out the following sites:

• DC Comics Message Board – Firestorm Forum
• Comic Book Resources Forum – Batman: Brave and the Bold thread
• Bat-Blog posts about Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon
• Review at the Mail it to Team-up blog
• Discussion at rec.arts.comics.dc.universe
• Comic Bloc forum (at Geoff John’s web site) – Brave and the Bold thread
• Review at Replublibot

My thanks to Tommy over at the Bat-Blog for sending me so many great screen shots and the video clip!

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• Cartoon Network has posted a sneak peek of this week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode.  The clip is nearly six minutes long and features High School Coach Ronnie Raymond and High School student Jason Rusch.  My thanks to Max Henderson for sending this my way.  Click here to be taken to the clip.
• Below is Comics Continuum’s interview with Michael Jelenic, Producer and Story Editor for Batman: The Brave and the Bold, about Firestorm’s appearance on the show.  Click here if you can’t see the embedded video below.

• It’s been announced that Firestorm will appear in the upcoming direct-to-video animated feature, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.  Firestorm will be voiced by Cedric Yarbrough.  At this time it’s not clear if the Firestorm in the feature will be from the “good” Earth of the Justice League, or the “evil” Earth of the Crime Syndicate.  World’s Finest Online has the cast rundown for the feature.  My thanks to Joshua Wolf and Max Henderson for sending this information my way.
• The Ronnie Raymond Firestorm DC Universe Infinite Heroes figure has started appearing in stores.  Keep your eyes out for this figure.  Get it before it disappears.  My thanks to CJ/Outburst for the heads-up on this.

• Kurt Harris put together a fun line-drawing showing what a Firestorm Lego figure might look like.  You can find Kurt Harris’ work on Flickr.

• Over at the Favorite Fiction blog, Marcus McElhaney has put together another Firestorm battle using the customized Capcom fighting game.  This time out it’s Firestorm versus Marvel’s Quasar from the 1990s. If you can’t view the embedded video below, please click here.

• Finally, Ninjabot1000 on YouTube has put together a review of the DC Universe Classics Worlds Greatest Superheroes Firestorm action figure. It’s about 7 minutes long and goes into great detail about the figure.  If you can’t view the embedded video below, please click here.

Don’t forget to watch Firestorm on Batman: The Brave and the Bold this Friday, February 5 at 7:30pm (ET)!

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