The Fury of Firestorm #3 review

Firestorm is out of control, experimenting on the folk of a small town. It makes sense that the Justice League would intervene.

It doesn’t make sense that despite having known various versions of Firestorm for years, the heroes come in without a plan.

The voiceover belongs to Martin Stein, the original other half of the Firestorm Matrix with Ronnie Raymond. But Martin, we learn, has been locked out of the equation by Ronnie after he learned Everything He Thought He Knew Was Wrong. A flashback makes Martin’s betrayal clear.

We see scenes from last issue’s reframed, making it clear Martin really did use Ronnie, blasting him to atoms and merging with him to make something new, something he could control.

Well, that was the idea. As the League falls before the fury of Firestorm, independent nuclear heroine Firehawk tracks down present-day Martin, hoping he can stop the terrifying creature.

Lorraine found Martin with the help of another old friend.

Former Firestorm participant Jason Rusch, we learn, has a very good reason to avoid risking being crispy fried beyond, you know, not wanting to be crispy fried.

So, last month I noted the nods to the Doomsday Clock maxi-series of a few years ago, and hoped Lemire was going to zag rather than zig.

Apparently not.

And that’s depressing. It’s not even original, Grant Morrison decided decades ago that The Chief was behind the accidents that created his Doom Patrol members and Doomsday Clock writer Geoff Johns chose to taint other favourite DC boffins in 2019.

Things I did enjoy in this issue’s story would be the determination of Firehawk and return of Jason. I wasn’t keen on the conversation between Martin and the eminently sensible new character Nancy being a post-coital moment, it seems a tad forced… hey, scientists have sex too!

And it’s weird that while the Firestorm thing was careless with human life in the first issue, here he doesn’t kill a single superhero, even though they’re active aggressors. Could it be that locked-in Ronnie is exerting some influence on the pure Firestorm?

There’s no denying Lemire’s craft is high level, it’s the choices I’m not keen on. Is anybody?

Artist Rafael De Latorre gifts us another 20 pages of superb storytelling, with sharp compositions and character work. The rogue Firestorm is eerie, scary, while Firehawk looks magnificent, burning with spirit. Martin veers between professional when he’s before a panel of politicians, to smug after his liaison with Nancy, to basic Ben Gunn. Jason Rusch looks odd with glasses, when did that become a thing? As for the Leaguers, they look good, but lost.

Colourist Marcelo Maiolo more than pulls his weight, controlling the mood of the various scenes and settings. As with last issue, I especially like the occasional Bronze Age comic page effects, right down to the off-white around the panels. And Lucas Gattoni’s understated letters fit the quiet horror of the issue.

De Latorre and Maiolo perfectly predict the interiors with their gloomy cover,

And that pretty much sums up this issue – it’s a well-done comic, but who buys a Firestorm comic to be depressed?

Last issue’s credits page managed to call co-creator Gerry Conway, who died recently, ‘Gary’ Conway. This time the credit page at least gets his name right.

But I’m not sure this is the best issue to dedicate to the man who wrote the most joyful young hero in comics.