When is a final issue not a final issue? When you’re a six-issue mini-series that gets extended to nine due to sales and critical reception. The announcement came after a couple of issues, so it’s likely the creative team knew before they put this chapter to bed. Will that good news have affected the ending? Let’s take a look at the issue…
The final (or not) chapter begins with Professor Martin Stein confronting the rogue Firestorm.
With the sentient Firestorm Matrix distracted, Martin is able to press a button, bringing about a moment that recalls the beginnings of the original Firestorm.
The real world fades and we’re with Lorraine and Ronnie, glowing after a night together, but they’re quickly interrupted.
They confront Bolt and Plastique as Firehawk and Firestorm, but when Bolt throws his lightning at the merged Ronnie and Stein, his reaction isn’t as expected.
A massive blast from Ronnie and the scene changes again.
The nostalgic adventure is gone, replaced by the reality of the mindspace that’s been keeping Ronnie prisoner since the Firestorm Matrix gained sentience. Seeing the Professor for the first time since learning he groomed him to become half of a hero created as part of a sinister government project, Ronnie loses it, attacking his former friend and mentor.
Alone, kept distracted, Ronnie’s been unable to find the heart of the prison, the place he might confront the Firestorm creature, but together with Lorraine and Martin, he manages it.
The fury of Firehawk is formidable, but she can’t win alone. She needs Ronnie and Martin to come together
Angry as Ronnie is, he knows Martin is right.
And with that, Ronnie and Martin are back in control, and the restored Firestorm’s first act is to thank the woman who has fought so hard for him.
Martin agrees that a sacrifice must be made.
Firestorm flies into the sun, but would that destroy a nuclear man?
Apparently.
And that’s how a six-issue mini-series might end, with Firestorm gone until someone brings him back.
But we have another three issues! Turn the page…
The Firestorm elemental. That’s enough to keep this series going for another three issues.
Except – yesterday’s news:
I wonder if issue 9 will end with yet another version of Firestorm showing up.
While I’ve had my problems with aspects of this series – the Doomsday Clock reimagining of Firestorm’s origin, particularly the blackening of Martin Stein’s character – I’ve never undersold the craft on display. Jeff Lemire knows how to put together a story, giving us compelling characters and events.
The new relationship between Martin and Ronnie is painful to acknowledge, but made for some poignant moments this issue, and I’m keen to see how things develop as this series runs… and runs? I can’t see Ronnie and the Professor ever regaining the trust they had, but Martin seems to have changed from the manipulative scientist we’ve seen in flashbacks, and Ronnie doesn’t deny their closeness, so maybe something good can grow.
And the maturity of the Ronnie and Lorraine farewell is lovely.
(And yeah, of course I’m assuming Ronnie and Martin will be back.)
Rafael De Latorre’s compositions and characters are never less than compelling, the emotions are always clear. Add in the work of colourist Marcelo Maiolo and the results are magical. The Bronze Age-style pages have me smiling with nostalgia, while the dreamscape is creepily wonderful. The dynamism and fieryness of the opening scene is a great way into the comic. And the artists’ take on Firehawk is nothing but win – can’t DC at least give Lorraine a one-shot after her strong showing in this series?
De Latorre and Maiolo’s cover is fabulous in concept and execution.
As for the lettering, the differing treatments of Lucas Gattoni are cracking.
The way the creative team uses the comics medium to expose the unreality of the mindscape is clever in concept and great to look at, this is the kind of innovation that means we’re getting more Fury of Firestorm.
And what a nice tip of the hat to longtime Firestorm writer John Ostrander on the final page.
Were this the end of the planned six-issue mini, I’d be applauding the creators for making a kind of lemonade from some very bitter lemons. So I shall, well done everyone involved. See you in issue 7!
Anj here.
Great review!
I was a huge fan of the Conway/Broderick Firestorm series. I was not a fan of the Doomsday Clock insertion into Firestorm’s history. But this series, aided greatly by the wonderful art and the strength of Firehawk in this book, really reminded me why I love the character.
And that cliffhanger! I didn’t buy a lot of the Elemental Nuclear Man. But I love the idea that Lemire is probably trying to smooth out all the wrinkles and get us a Firestorm back in the DCU!
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It’s amazing to see Firestorm have some heat, isn’t it? I read all the issues and wasn’t thrilled at the change to the Firestorm elemental, but the book was always compelling.
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It amazes me that the man who did one of my least favorite JSA runs would give me my favorite Firestorm run since they switched Ronnie with Jason. (I think my personal record with the Jason version was one arc. It just felt like a downgrade. Jason might have been a better character all around by design but he was never written as being as purely heroic as Ronnie). The return of the Elemental in a town named after his creator was great too. If nothing else, it will excuse it if OG Firestorm isn’t ostracized or blamed for the Matrix’s actions.
Your ‘The fury of Firehawk’, BTW.
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in my head canon, Jason and Ronnie/Martin would be different firestorms. One the original and the other one with control over something like electromagnetism, another fundamental force.
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I always liked Jason, but it always felt like he was a placeholder for Ronnie. I enjoyed the Elemental as a plotline, the Fire Elemental bit felt very post-Swampy Forced, and the powers were very dull compared to the original Firestorms. The lion’s mane sucked. Anyway, I’m intrigued to see what’s in there this time.
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i love this series and I hope they keep extending it. Firestorm is one of my favorite characters and I think eventually we will see that the sentient matrix is the underlying elemental aspect of Firestorm that is ignored when the human minds take control and that eventually Martin and Ronnie will have to accept and incorporate it into their Firestorm form in order to prevent another incident like this one.
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That’s an interesting idea, Hector. At some point someone might decide he’s the Earth 1 Johnny Quick genie (Ys?). Oh hang on, Earth One is gone.
Dang.
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Earth-One is NOT gone. It’s still out there somewhere! It’s just hard to find and return to when so many other parallel universes are being discovered and explored.
I’m really glad this series was extended. I would not have been satisfied with this issue’s ending being it. Like most, I don’t for one second think Ronnie & Martin are gone. Maybe they are just “burning off” the unwanted equation in the Firestorm Matrix or something? Sort of a phoenix rising from the ashes.
I would like to see Ronnie come back and restore those that were killed. Another thing I feel like was left unresolved.
I never really read a lot of the elemental Firestorm stuff. I was at the mercy of the grocery store’s comic rack at that point, and in general that wasn’t there. I only know what I gleaned from crossovers, Who’s Who, and flashbacks in later stories.
Are the elementals still a thing? At one point it was Swamp Thing (plants), Red Tornado (air), Firestorm (fire), and Naiad (water). Corona took over for Firestorm after his series ended. Then they added Animal Man (animals) and Solomon Grundy (fungi). Right now Aquaman is the water elemental (I think. It’s tied in with DC KO and Absolute Crisis). Plus Tefe, Animal Girl, Freedom Beast, Vixen, Poison Ivy, Swamp Thing (Levi), etc. are all connected in one way or another. Not to mention all the various Parliaments. I really am not a fan of that level of organization for supernatural things. The whole point is that they are supposed to be beyond classification and compartmentalization.
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Was it Convergence that returned Earths 1and so on to the multiverse?
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I think it was more-or-less Dark Crisis (though Doomsday Clock and Death Metal played a part. Something good had to come out of those, right?). That established that all previously known Earths are out there. Its just that some are easier to get to than others because of proximity – i.e. the local multiverse vs the overall omniverse.
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