Firestorm (comics)

Firestorm the Nuclear Man is a DC Comics-owned super-hero, created in 1978 by writer Gerry Conway and artist Allen Milgrom. He starred in two monthly series, Firestorm running for five months in 1978, the other (The Fury of Firestorm) running 100 issues and running from 1982 to 1990. A new Firestorm began in 2004.

What distinguished Firestorm most of his career was his unique dual identity. The hero was actually two men, high school student Ronnie Raymond and Nobel Prize winning physicist Martin Stein. Caught in a nuclear accident, the two were fused together, with Raymond (awake at the time of the accident) in command of the Firestorm form and with Stein as a voice of advice inside Firestorm's mind. As befits a "nuclear man," Firestorm possessed great powers, including flight, strength, the ability to adjust his molecular density, and the ability to alter matter itself. He also stood out visually, with flaming hair and a distinctive red and yellow costume.

Using these powers, Firestorm took to defending New York from such threats as Multiplex - created in the same nuclear accident that produced Firestorm - and Killer Frost. The 1978 series was cancelled in a company-wide cutback after reaching only 5 issues (in fact, issue 5 was to be the first part of a multiple-issue story), but writer Conway added Firestorm to the roster of DC's Justice League of America. This led to a series of 8-page stories in the back of The Flash (with art by George Perez), and a revival of a monthly Firestorm comic in 1982.

The monthly series, written initially by Conway and drawn mainly by Pat Broderick and Rafael Kayanan, slowly developed the lives of Raymond and Stein, as the teenager struggled with high school and moved towards graduation and the scientist found a life outside the lab. A second nuclear hero, Firehawk, was added as a love interest for Firestorm in 1984. The series also tried to create a sense of fun, something that Conway felt was missing during his years writing Spider-Man; the banter between Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein contributed to this. Upon graduation from high school, Raymond entered college in Pittsburgh, where Stein had been hired as a professor.

Firestorm's list of enemies included such generally forgotten foes as the Hyena, Typhoon, and Black Bison. One Firestorm enemy, Plastique, would later play a major role in DC's Captain Atom; she later reformed and married him.

In 1986, Conway abruptly left the series, and John Ostrander (with artist Joe Brozowski) took over the reins. Ostrander, a more politically aware writer, sought to make Firestorm more relevant to the world and a good deal grittier. His first major story arc pitted Firestorm against the world as the hero - acting on a suggestion from a terminally ill Prof. Stein - demanded the US and the Soviet Union destroy all of their nuclear weapons. After tussles with the Justice League and most of his enemies, Firestorm faced off against a Russian nuclear man in the Nevada desert, where both had an atomic bomb dropped on them.

When the smoke cleared, a new Firestorm was created who was made up of Raymond and the Russian, Mikhail Arkadin, but controlled by the disembodied amnesiac mind of Prof. Stein. The stories featuring this version of the hero were highly political, with a good deal of action taking place in Gorbachev's Moscow. This, however, was a transitional phase, as Ostrander revealed the true nature of Firestorm: he was a fire elemental.

Taking his cue from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing - a plant elemental - Firestorm now became something of an environmental crusader, formed from Raymond, Arkadin and a Soviet clone of the previous Firestorm, but with a new mind. Prof. Stein, no long part of the composite at all, continued to play a role but the focus was on this radically different character. New artist Tom Mandrake would create a new look to match.

The series ran out of steam at its one hundredth issue, and at this point the Firestorm "matrix" changed again, as Stein learned that he was destined to be the true fire elemental. Raymond and Arkadin were returned to their old lives, and Stein, now Firestorm, was accidentally exiled to deep space in the process of saving the Earth.

Firestorm vanished from the comics for some time after the cancellation (except for a brief cameo in the "War of the Gods" crossover event), but Ronnie Raymond returned in the pages of the JLA spinoff, Extreme Justice. Raymond regained his original powers and costume, and started to appear regularly in a number of DC titles, though lacking the guidance and knowledge necessary to use his skills wisely. He would play a role in several company-wide crossovers, and in 2002 returned to active duty with the Justice League and also appeared briefly in Kurt Busiek's heroes-for-hire comic, The Power Company.

In 2004, DC revived the Firestorm comic for a third time, but writer Dan Jolley and artist Chris Cross abandoned Ronnie Raymond entirely for a new teenaged protagonist, Jason Rusch. To explain this, DC killed off Raymond during the Identity Crisis minseries. It was revealed in Identity Crisis #5 and Firestorm #6 that during a battle with a villain called the Shadow Thief, the original Firestorm was impaled by the Shining Knight's sword, which the Shadow Thief had stolen. The magical sword ruptured the nuclear man's containment field, resulting in his body exploding, and his residual essence funneling into Jason Rusch's body, perhaps activating a dormant meta-gene. Martian Manhunter explained in the latter issue that he examined the new Firestorm's mind telepathically for any trace of Ronnie Raymond, but could not find any, which would have seemed to indicate that Raymond is indeed gone. However, death often tends not to be permanent within comic book universes, and Ronnie Raymond returned within the Firestorm matrix in Firestorm #9, and remained with Jason as part of Firestorm until he appeared to disappate in Firestorm #13 (the most recent issue as of this writing). It is unknown whether Raymond truly gone, or if Martin Stein will react to the death of his partner at any point.

Firestorm appeared in the last two seasons of ABC's SuperFriends series, and is reportedly slated to be among the many guest stars in Cartoon Network' upcoming Justice League Unlimited series. While never particularly popular, Firestorm has had a vocal and loyal following among those who grew up reading the second series. The decision to replace the original character in 2004 generated something of a uproar among these fans. Whether a new Firestorm will be embraced by contemporary comic book readers is yet to be determined, and although initial sales have been less than promising, current writer Stuart Moore has assured readers that the current series will continue at least through issue #20.