We open with a cracking cover from illustrator Rafael De Latorre and colourist Marcelo Maiolo, with the Firestorm of different time periods facing two of his staunchest allies.
On the left, Hawkman, his onetime Justice League of America colleague. And on the right, Firehawk, Ronnie Raymond’s former girlfriend. Previous issues of this mini-series have set up a conflict with Firehawk Lorraine Reilly, but when did Hawkman attack the nuclear man?
The book opens with a look back to the day Firestorm joined the League I remember JLA #179 well, the in-control Ronnie couldn’t contain his excitement at being invited into the ranks of the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes.
Here’s the 2026 version of the occasion.
Oh the gloom, it’s almost laughable, but this is where we are. This series is expanding the ‘should’ve been immediately forgotten’ notion that kindly Professor Martin Stein actually groomed student Ronnie Raymond and blew them both up to create Firestorm. The only way I can deal with the glow-down for DC’s happiest hero is to assume this isn’t a tweak to Earth One Firestorm’s origins, it’s a complete rewrite.
And with that, I can indeed appreciate the comic’s good points. Such as the feeling of foreboding as we segue from the memories of Ronnie and Martin’s first League mission to present day Pittsburgh. There the brooding Firestorm Matrix, fresh from experimenting on human beings, sits within a crystal, as Lorraine and Martin look on.
The plan is for Lorraine to distract the being long enough for Martin to use a machine he’s cobbled together to extract Ronnie from the Matrix.
Lorraine transforms into Firehawk, and receives a second harsh judgment.
But while the Matrix attacks, the subsumed Ronnie is responding…
Once again, Lorraine is the star of the show, with her determination to save Ronnie and anger at Martin. As he waits for his ‘decoupling’ machine to boot up, there is a sign he has regrets about his actions.
He seems genuine, but the climax of the issue really makes you wonder. And that’s a testament to the skill of writer Jeff Lemire, whose story direction isn’t easy to predict.
Before we get to the final page there’s the entirety of the sequence with Lorraine, the Matrix and… Ronnie. As our viewpoint character for the Firestorm series’ golden years, Ronnie is someone I really miss. Hopefully he’ll soon escape and give the Matrix – and more importantly. Martin – a piece of his mind.
Or rather, take it back.
De Latorres and Maiolo continue to impress with their switching back and forth between ‘Today’ and ‘Then’; the only thing stopping the Bronze Age sequences looking authentic is the choice to tone down the primary colours. The clarity of storytelling is undeniable, straightforward yet stylish, with occasional flourishes. Such as this.
Maiolo’s saturated colours for the modern scenes add intensity, deepening the drama, while Lucas Gattoni’s lettering reveals different voices.
Oh, and why did Firestorm and Hawkman fight? Well, if we could see the other side of Carter Hall’s face the reason would be evident – Eclipso!
This mini-series is such an odd experience for me; I don’t just admire the craft, I enjoy the results. And yet, it saddens me.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Yeah, heroes we enjoy heroing are targets these days of writers thinking they need to spoil that. I’m hoping we’re misinterpreting the last page but I don’t trust Lemire. My hope is the professor is the insane one and all his exposition has been delusions and he’s just turned the matrix on everything to fit the delusions. (I can dream!) TBH though, I probably won’t read anything by Lemire ever again. He’s shat on two propertie I love, this one at least very very well done with excellent art but still.
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Now, I don’t like the idea of Martin being mad, but that would be a great way of explaining things away. And I think he’s been a tad nutso previously, and got over it.
You are a genius!
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“Almost” laughable? I did laugh out loud at your juxtaposition of the two scenes of Firestorm joining the League. The difference between the two eras encapsulated in two pages.
I do hope that the art team on this book gets another assignment on something a little brighter. The scenes set in the past here look so striking. I generally like Lemire’s work, particularly his Black Hammer-verse and his New 52 Animal Man, but this reads like he’s trying to do his best Tom King imitation.
Super Captain
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I can’t disagree, Super Captain. What a weird thing to try when he has his own skill set.
I can’t figure out who the audience for this series is meant to be, longtime fans will be raising eyebrows, at best, while new fans… are there any?
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I really am struggling to figure out what track Lemire is taking. We seem to be swinging back and forth between a Stein that is a master manipulator and one that is a broken man.
I don’t dislike this series, but it isn’t grabbing me like Lemire’s other stories often do.
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At this point I want Cliff Carmichael to show up and give the Professor what for. Wonder if he’s still dead.
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Does it matter? Anyone can be brought back. Except Uncle Ben.
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Until Brevoort retires at least…
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“kindly Professor Martin Stein actually groomed student Ronnie Raymond and blew them both up to create Firestorm”
Oh, no, this series is really going with that idea? I’ve very much grown to hate “everything you know is wrong” retcons. Too many people took the wrong lessons from Alan Moore’s revamp of Swamp Thing’s origins. (Then again, too many people took the wrong lessons from Alan Moore in general.) And in this case, if this is really what writer Jeff Lemire is doing, it’s not even an original idea, since Grant Morrison did pretty much the exact same thing over 30 years ago on Doom Patrol.
Oh, well, nice artwork, at least.
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The business with Niles has been referenced, Ben, supposedly he, Stein. Simon Stagg and Will Magnus were in a secret cabal creating superheroes for the government.
Just awful.
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And Edwin Alva, with the Milestone characters. He’s also in the group.
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You aren’t wrong about people copying the wrong things from Moore (and Frank Miller). It’s how we had series like Emerald Dawn where Hal Jordan was a drunk, Aquaman with a harpoon for a hand, Identity Crisis, Cry for Justice, etc. I don’t think it falls squarely on the various creative teams: editorial has a huge part to play in what story directions the characters go in. And in that case, it’s all about the money. Swamp Thing is dark, so we give them more dark! Batman has trauma, lets give everyone trauma. Watchmen made heroes imperfect, so let’s make everyone an a-hole with powers.
I do think we have moved past a lot of that. We have heroes who are bright – even when fighting darkness. I hope the pendulum stays on this arc for a while before swinging back.
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Harpoon Hand Artie was one of the few times I enjoyed the character but TBH, PAD could have had him and Mera open a New England B&B and solve cozy mysteries every issue and I’d have loved it.
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Ditto, let the darkness be something the heroes fight against. And let’s let villains be villains. Well, most of them, anyway.
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I loved Harpoon Hand Orin, too. That was the series that made me get how awesome Aquaman is. But there is little doubt the concept was informed by an editor meeting where it was said, ” we need to make Aquaman more edgy.” I give props to PAD for taking that directive literally.
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Darn WordPress. The above was me: it didn’t log me in…
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Exciting times, though I hated that David tried to make Orin happen. Glad it never stuck.
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I had no problem with Orin. what I didn’t like was the erasure of Arthur Curry. That could have still been honored more while understanding that Orin was his Atlantean name.
What I wasn’t a fan of was the whole raised by dolphins part. It was too Tarzan or Jungle Book for me. Although it did lead to that one great moment when Lobo finds out that Aquaman was raised by dolphins: “Aw, frag! Now I gotta be civil!”
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Anj here.
I am a big fan of the ‘Fury of’ book in the 80s and also remember the joyous early JLA adventures. But those are Bronze Age at its best. And this whole book, I think, is trying to reconcile a classic feel for the character in the context of the Doomsday Clock nonsense.
Love Lorraine in this. Glad Martin said he was sorry. And wondering if this will somehow end up with Ronny/Prof again and a Firestorm that can support a solo ongoing and not just this mini.
I am really liking this series as Lemire tries to untie this continuity Gordian knot.
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I definitely see good work, but it all just reminds me of that time Joe Kelly or someone told us Supergirl had been sent to Earth not to protect her cousin, but to kill him. Just unnecessary, horrible stuff crying out for a quick retcon (ret-retcon?).
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Retrocon!
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Retro-Re-Retcon?
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This just popped onto DCUI, and I read it immediately. One thing I can say about this book: I’m INVOLVED.
Martin, you wondered if there are new fans for this book, since it seems to be doing its best to alienate the old ones. My guess is there are. The Absolute books are the current stars of comics, but a rising tide lifts all boats, and DC is doing well with its Next Level books, too. I don’t know if there are more people unfamiliar with Firestorm reading this than who are not… but I’d guess there are more people reading this who haven’t read the original two Firestorm series, in the 70s and 80s, at least. I mean… those were made 40-50 years ago, and are largely out of print. So I’m thinking most readers’ Firestorm experience is secondhand — either guest appearances, Legends of Tomorrow, or one of the later revivals with Jason Rusch. This series is likely most irritating to people in their mid-50s or so, like us.
And just as an aside, I liked the issue. The contrast between the JLA panel you posted and Ronnie’s talk with Stein on the way to the meeting room didn’t seem that marked to me — one is a public display of excitement, another is a private expression of doubt. They don’t seem incompatible, so much as complementing one another and deepening each scene by the contrast. (And, of course, these scenes aren’t necessarily true memories, but matrix-created constructs to keep the Ronnie personality occupied. They’re built on Ronnie’s memories, but that doesn’t mean they’re faithful to the truth.)
As for Martin — well, I think we can trust whispered apology. He’s not performing there, it’s said for himself alone. His heart is with Ronnie, and he regrets what he’s done. But then those last pages? Father/Son, and “Let us begin”? He’s talking to the Matrix there, and if you want to manipulate a being of such power, you address it on its own terms, and see if you can ease the dialogue into something beneficial.
In short — too late! — I don’t expect Martin to be absolved by whatever he does in the next few issues. I think he did what we’re told he did, at least in the broad strokes. But I do think he’ll get some measure of redemption for what he does in the next few issues.
Then again, issue 6 is on the stands now, and I have no idea what’s happening in that. See you in a month!
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Cheers Rob, well-considered thoughts as always. I guess you have to be correct about the sales being good given the two extensions the run has had. And I really hope Firestorm is finding new fans, I just don’t understand why DC don’t always at least have Firestorm on a team book, he such a brilliant concept with such a fantastic visual.
I’m so looking forward to your thoughts on the latest issue.
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