"The Nuclear Man" FIRESTORM appreciation

[Maven]

Firestorm is easily, EASILY one of my two utmost favorite non-Batman DC characters (the other being Swamp Thing). Ever since my first glimpse of the character on Superfriends reruns, of all things (and I was only twelve and had just gotten Boomerang), I've always royally dug Firestorm's voice of reason/physical form tandem...a quite unique concept that had not been seen often, if ever before, and still is not seen too much outside of the character.

firestorm is set to appear in the flash at cw.

ronnie raymond will be played by robbie amell



and dr martin stein will be played by victor garber



awesome

I will DEFINITELY have to check out that episode...thanks for the heads-up!

[Cold Water]

firestorm is set to appear in the flash at cw.

ronnie raymond will be played by robbie amell



and dr martin stein will be played by victor garber



awesome

I have only seen maybe half an episode of this show, but I am going to see if it's on On Demand and watch the entire thing (maybe), because if Firestorm will be in it, I'm going to be watching it.

[liwanag]

[Starchild]

I may be in the minority, but I did like the fact that Ronnie and Jason were two separate Firestorms, with different abilities. Hopefully the producers don't downplay Firestorm's powers on The Flash, I already have people telling me that he's a Human Torch ripoff.

[rightsuperhero]

I wonder how Jason is going to fit in when he comes along since they already have Ronnie and Martin Stein?

[Montressor]

I'd never heard of a character who was actually composed of two people, and that's what initially attracted me to Firestorm. I love how his powers have evolved and been more defined over the years--I even got into the Ostrander run, wherein he attempted to 'Alan Moore' Firestorm with the elemental stuff and the introduction of 'Rasputin', the Russian counterpart to Constantine. Firestorm is just a fascinating and powerful character with loads of potential--I'd love to see what Morrison would do with him.

As a kid I hated his rogue's gallery--well, I hated the Hyena more than anything. During recent years I really liked Gehenna and was disappointed with her final fate. The 'Fury' stuff was just godawful, in my opinion, and I'm glad it was eventually scrapped. Hopefully DC will realize the great potential Firestorm has and do more with him in terms of a new book with a solid creative team.

[hitokiri_]

this look reminds me of lightray.

[liwanag]

the look kinda reminds of (a reddish) dr manhattan.

[liwanag]

[Slaughter]

Here's what I think Firestorm needs to have fixed to become more viable:

1. Less bickering between Firestorm matrix members. That's way trite already. Ronnie and Stein had a serious split like once during Legends. Seriously, drop it. Jason/Ronnie worked great during Ronnie's brief return in Jason's series.

2. Firestorm needs to be written by someone with a grasp of physics and chemistry. Killer Frost to me is the best ice user ever because she makes awesome scientific sense - She doesn't shoot ice, she drains heat, so fire is useless against her. Which is awesome. The inability of Firestorm to transmutate organic matter makes sense - organic molecules are generally more complex (I think Firestorm's inability to do organic transmutation is actually a inability to transmute carbon atoms in complex molecules, but that's my theory), and often belong to living beings.


3. Who's going to be on the Firestorm matrix? I feel like the only reason Jason is around these days is diversity, not because they like him at DC (I liked Jason as Firestorm, he eventually came into his own, especially after getting good ol' Stein back into the game). I also feel sorta sad every time I read something with Ronnie on it between his title's cancelation and Jason's title, because Ronnie was flanderized into a total numb nuts during that period - granted, no Stein to smart it up, but part of the point of his series is that Ronnie was NOT a jumb jock, just like the point of Jason's run was becoming more than a young blerd with daddy issues. Loved how during Ronnie's brief return in Jason title he was a total pro.

My solution would be to make the Matrix more versatile and with more (optional) users and a minimum of two, so we can get Ronnie/Stein Firestorm, Ronnie/Jason Firestorm, Jason/Stein Firestorm or even other Firestorm fusions like Ronni/Lorraine and Jason/Gehenna or even weirder stuff - Pohzar! Every fuse and turn into Firestorm One Man Army Corps (capitals intentional)! Madson/Jason in main continuity! Deathstorm! Possessing Evil Mobster Ghosts from hell! THE ENTIRE JUSTICE LEAGUE - ok, maybe not the last one (Justice League of A... tomic?).
(Yes, there was actually a history where Firestorm was taken over by a evil ghost mobster from hell, look it up Firestorm Fans!)

The idea would be to make it more flexible and allow writers to tell the story they want (want to write classic-style Firestorm? Go for it. Want to write a modern Ronnie/Jason firestorm? Have fun! Want to write something romantic with Jason/Gehenna? Fine!) while not discarding any elements of all ages. A holistic Firestorm, if you will. No more Jason/Ronnie disputes, you can now have it ALL! Not to mention, I like the idea of having multiple people fusing alternatively, I could see lots of great cast dynamics and secret identity dynamics!

(maybe Firestorm should be able to do something extra cool if everyone is fused together?)

As a kid I hated his rogue's gallery--well, I hated the Hyena more than anything. During recent years I really liked Gehenna and was disappointed with her final fate. The 'Fury' stuff was just godawful, in my opinion, and I'm glad it was eventually scrapped. Hopefully DC will realize the great potential Firestorm has and do more with him in terms of a new book with a solid creative team.

I actually quite appreaciate his rogue gallery, they just need to be used better and given clear places. Also, place a Suicide Squad embargo on them. My favorites are Killer Frost, Tokamak and Multiplex.

Hyena needs to be better explored.

Killer Frost was always a classic but she needs better motivation, the new one thinks she can become normal with Firestorm's help, that's nice. She needs to return to her maximum epic levels too, anyone remember when Crystal Frost enslaved Superman, or the time she froze New York? Same goes for Black Bison, who's a nice thematic match with Firestorm (Magic vs Science!).

Multiplex was cool but I always had the idea of getting him less into thuggery and more into mad scientistry. Yes, a evil mad scientist - that multiplies. Dr. Stein can outsmart one Danton Black, but can he outsmart five? Ten? Imagine having, say, twelve interlinked maniacal thinking mad scientists minds working together, plotting, preparing, planning... Then they can show up and rather than just wiggle his hands while his minions do the work, he gets his multiple hands dirty!

Tokamak was great in the new Firestorm series in the "My Father's House" arc, he was not only the menace he was back then but even greater, a devious mastermind capable of harnessing Firestorm-like powers and super-tech into a great plan of power and control. Tokamak was also a nice plotter type, a epic mastermind/gangster villain, he should be able to hit into the big (Justice) League levels and match wits with Luthor. Can Luthor atomize people with a wave of his hands? No? Thought so.

Thinker (Cliff Carmichael) was also a nice match - Literal Matter vs Mind conflict!

There's also the new Doctor Polaris from Future's End, matching Dr. Polaris against Firestorm is a good idea.

I mean, let's do a check list:

Killer Frost - Thermodynamics.
Multiplex - Egoistic One-Man Nuclear Fission (vs Autruistic Nuclear Fusion of two people or more)
Black Bison (and Silver Deer too) - Magic vs Science
Hyena - (magical) disease (or curse), deception, animalistic urges (vs a calm scientific hero)
Tokamak - Magnetic Confinement of Plasma (vs a nuclear fusion hero, so one could say Tokamak "contains" Firestorm)
Thinker - Mind Over Matter
Dr. Polaris - Eletromagnetism
Deathstorm (Firestorm-like powers turned to mayhem and molecular multilation by Black Lantern/Evil alternate universe doppelganger)

There's also another element I would like to see more - The Firestorm Family (any idea for a cool physics related name for them?). There was a nice Firestorm Family in Jason's old title as we saw Pohzar, Firehawk, Gehenna and the hilarious Pionic Man.

[Cold Water]

I haven't read new/recent Firestorm.
I'm still working on his 1982 series, and I am loving it.

Someone here recommended reading his stuff about a year ago, and I picked up the first four issues, read them, and knew I needed more.
I think it's Gerry Conway's way of writing him that has me sucked in, though, I do find it neat that Ronnie Raymond has to (or had to) be connected to Stein to be Firestorm.

I am excited to watch him in The Flash, but really hoping they don't mess the character up.

[ultimate jezebel]

I haven't read new/recent Firestorm.
I'm still working on his 1982 series, and I am loving it.

Someone here recommended reading his stuff about a year ago, and I picked up the first four issues, read them, and knew I needed more.
I think it's Gerry Conway's way of writing him that has me sucked in, though, I do find it neat that Ronnie Raymond has to (or had to) be connected to Stein to be Firestorm.

I am excited to watch him in The Flash, but really hoping they don't mess the character up.

Although I'm familiar with the 80 series, I don't own them but I seem to like him more when he's in a team, which is why this one came to mind (as I love all Superman books).

DC Comics Presents 17

[Nix Uotan]

Here's what I think Firestorm needs to have fixed to become more viable:

1. Less bickering between Firestorm matrix members. That's way trite already. Ronnie and Stein had a serious split like once during Legends. Seriously, drop it. Jason/Ronnie worked great during Ronnie's brief return in Jason's series.

2. Firestorm needs to be written by someone with a grasp of physics and chemistry. Killer Frost to me is the best ice user ever because she makes awesome scientific sense - She doesn't shoot ice, she drains heat, so fire is useless against her. Which is awesome. The inability of Firestorm to transmutate organic matter makes sense - organic molecules are generally more complex (I think Firestorm's inability to do organic transmutation is actually a inability to transmute carbon atoms in complex molecules, but that's my theory), and often belong to living beings.


3. Who's going to be on the Firestorm matrix? I feel like the only reason Jason is around these days is diversity, not because they like him at DC (I liked Jason as Firestorm, he eventually came into his own, especially after getting good ol' Stein back into the game). I also feel sorta sad every time I read something with Ronnie on it between his title's cancelation and Jason's title, because Ronnie was flanderized into a total numb nuts during that period - granted, no Stein to smart it up, but part of the point of his series is that Ronnie was NOT a jumb jock, just like the point of Jason's run was becoming more than a young blerd with daddy issues. Loved how during Ronnie's brief return in Jason title he was a total pro.

My solution would be to make the Matrix more versatile and with more (optional) users and a minimum of two, so we can get Ronnie/Stein Firestorm, Ronnie/Jason Firestorm, Jason/Stein Firestorm or even other Firestorm fusions like Ronni/Lorraine and Jason/Gehenna or even weirder stuff - Pohzar! Every fuse and turn into Firestorm One Man Army Corps (capitals intentional)! Madson/Jason in main continuity! Deathstorm! Possessing Evil Mobster Ghosts from hell! THE ENTIRE JUSTICE LEAGUE - ok, maybe not the last one (Justice League of A... tomic?).
(Yes, there was actually a history where Firestorm was taken over by a evil ghost mobster from hell, look it up Firestorm Fans!)

The idea would be to make it more flexible and allow writers to tell the story they want (want to write classic-style Firestorm? Go for it. Want to write a modern Ronnie/Jason firestorm? Have fun! Want to write something romantic with Jason/Gehenna? Fine!) while not discarding any elements of all ages. A holistic Firestorm, if you will. No more Jason/Ronnie disputes, you can now have it ALL! Not to mention, I like the idea of having multiple people fusing alternatively, I could see lots of great cast dynamics and secret identity dynamics!

(maybe Firestorm should be able to do something extra cool if everyone is fused together?)




I actually quite appreaciate his rogue gallery, they just need to be used better and given clear places. Also, place a Suicide Squad embargo on them. My favorites are Killer Frost, Tokamak and Multiplex.

Hyena needs to be better explored.

Killer Frost was always a classic but she needs better motivation, the new one thinks she can become normal with Firestorm's help, that's nice. She needs to return to her maximum epic levels too, anyone remember when Crystal Frost enslaved Superman, or the time she froze New York? Same goes for Black Bison, who's a nice thematic match with Firestorm (Magic vs Science!).

Multiplex was cool but I always had the idea of getting him less into thuggery and more into mad scientistry. Yes, a evil mad scientist - that multiplies. Dr. Stein can outsmart one Danton Black, but can he outsmart five? Ten? Imagine having, say, twelve interlinked maniacal thinking mad scientists minds working together, plotting, preparing, planning... Then they can show up and rather than just wiggle his hands while his minions do the work, he gets his multiple hands dirty!

Tokamak was great in the new Firestorm series in the "My Father's House" arc, he was not only the menace he was back then but even greater, a devious mastermind capable of harnessing Firestorm-like powers and super-tech into a great plan of power and control. Tokamak was also a nice plotter type, a epic mastermind/gangster villain, he should be able to hit into the big (Justice) League levels and match wits with Luthor. Can Luthor atomize people with a wave of his hands? No? Thought so.

Thinker (Cliff Carmichael) was also a nice match - Literal Matter vs Mind conflict!

There's also the new Doctor Polaris from Future's End, matching Dr. Polaris against Firestorm is a good idea.

I mean, let's do a check list:

Killer Frost - Thermodynamics.
Multiplex - Egoistic One-Man Nuclear Fission (vs Autruistic Nuclear Fusion of two people or more)
Black Bison (and Silver Deer too) - Magic vs Science
Hyena - (magical) disease (or curse), deception, animalistic urges (vs a calm scientific hero)
Tokamak - Magnetic Confinement of Plasma (vs a nuclear fusion hero, so one could say Tokamak "contains" Firestorm)
Thinker - Mind Over Matter
Dr. Polaris - Eletromagnetism
Deathstorm (Firestorm-like powers turned to mayhem and molecular multilation by Black Lantern/Evil alternate universe doppelganger)

There's also another element I would like to see more - The Firestorm Family (any idea for a cool physics related name for them?). There was a nice Firestorm Family in Jason's old title as we saw Pohzar, Firehawk, Gehenna and the hilarious Pionic Man.

I liked this post... generally, I felt the Fury of Firestorm was kind of developing a mythology and supporting cast. Ronnie and Jason also each became separate allowing them to develop independently. The concept was poorly executed but conceptually I thought it was good. Like Stein and Pozhar being work colleagues and Pozhar being more of an anti-hero with an agenda. And Firehawk being a French Firestorm. Again, just my opinion, might be an unpopular one even among Firestorm fans. Did think there was some potential with Ashra Khan as a villain also but that flopped badly... the guy never appeared.

But I do think there is much potential for Firestorm villains to be much more dangerous if used well.

[Cold Water]

Although I'm familiar with the 80 series, I don't own them but I seem to like him more when he's in a team, which is why this one came to mind (as I love all Superman books).

DC Comics Presents 17

I want this.

[Zero Hunter]

I liked this post... generally, I felt the Fury of Firestorm was kind of developing a mythology and supporting cast. Ronnie and Jason also each became separate allowing them to develop independently. The concept was poorly executed but conceptually I thought it was good. Like Stein and Pozhar being work colleagues and Pozhar being more of an anti-hero with an agenda. And Firehawk being a French Firestorm. Again, just my opinion, might be an unpopular one even among Firestorm fans. Did think there was some potential with Ashra Khan as a villain also but that flopped badly... the guy never appeared.

But I do think there is much potential for Firestorm villains to be much more dangerous if used well.

I liked the new concept they came up with too. It added alot to the mythos. If nothing else I would like in the future that when Jason and Ronnie do become Firestorm that whoever is in charge is random and switch back and forth often.