Firestorm: The Nuclear Man

Comic Info

Firestorm #1

Reprints Firestorm #1-5, Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #1, and Flash (1) #289-293 (March 1978-January 1981).  Ronnie Raymond is out to impress Doreen Day when he accidentally joins forces with a terrorist group out to stop a nuclear experiment by Professor Martin Stein.  When the experiment goes horribly wrong, Professor Stein and Ronnie find themselves transformed into the superhuman being known as Firestorm:  The Nuclear Man!

Written by Gerry Conway with art by both Allen Milgrom and George Perez, Firestorm:  The Nuclear Man collects the first appearances of Firestorm in his first series which ran from March 1978 to November 1978 and the follow-up appearances in the Flash.

Firestorm was one of my favorite characters as a kid.  For me (as many kids), he was introduced to Super Friends in Super Friends:  The Legendary Super Powers Show in 1984 as “the new kid”.  I didn’t like him as much as the Wonder Twins, but I did like him more than many of the adult superheroes.  When I got into comics, Firestorm became a favorite.

Firestorm #2

The Firestorm series was a good introduction but suffered a problem.  It became a victim of the “DC Implosion” which saw the cancellation of twelve series…including Firestorm.  It is too bad because the Firestorm series wasn’t that bad and a bit better than some of the other rival titles.  The collection also featured the black-and-white Firestorm #7 which was finally printed in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade (this story also was merged into Typhoon’s first appearance in Flash (1) #294).

I actually always thought Firestorm was one of the better designed characters.  I loved Allen Milgrom’s look for the character (which he of course got stuck with due for years due to the fact he didn’t choose his costume).  I hated when the character was finally redesigned, and I think that the look should remain like it did here.

Firestorm was just an interesting story.  The character had a lot of depth with a different type of power and with the paranoia about nuclear energy when he was released, it provided room for exploration…unfortunately, Firestorm never got the chance to explore it (to see where Firestorm could have gone, check out Nuke’s story in Squadron Supreme for a real downer).  Though the volume feels incomplete due to the circumstances of the comic’s cancellation, check out Firestorm:  The Nuclear Man for an odd and unusual character.

Related Links:

The Fury of Firestorm:  The Nuclear Men 1:  The God Particle

The Fury of Firestorm:  The Nuclear Men 2:  The Firestorm Protocols

The Fury of Firestorm:  The Nuclear Man 3:  Takeover