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The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men (Collected Editions) #1
The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men, Volume 1: God Particle
As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics - The New 52 event of September 2011, two high school students worlds apart, Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond, are drawn into a conspiracy of super-science that bonds them forever in a way they can't explain or control. As the two boys become caught in the crosshairs of an international special forces team with orders to capture or kill them, Ronnie and Jason seek to discover the secrets behind what has happened to them. What they find will shed light on the secret history of Firestorm! This major new vision of nuclear terror is brought to you by writers Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone with astonishing art by Yildiray Cinar! Do not miss this disturbing look into the future of super powers in the DC Universe!
Collecting: 1-6
Collecting: 1-6
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2012
6 people are currently reading
333 people want to read
About the author
Ethan Van Sciver
424 books69 followersVan Sciver first caught the comic world's eye with his irreverent indie title CYBERFROG and stints on NEW X-MEN and THE FLASH: IRON HEIGHTS, but it was the landmark GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH mini-series with writer Geoff Johns that put him permanently at the top of fans' list.
No longer working for DC, in 2018 Van Sciver announced that he would instead produce his own comics, beginning with a crowdfunded comic entitled CYBERFROG: BLOODHONEY featuring his early character CyberFrog, for which he raised over $1,000,000 on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.
No longer working for DC, in 2018 Van Sciver announced that he would instead produce his own comics, beginning with a crowdfunded comic entitled CYBERFROG: BLOODHONEY featuring his early character CyberFrog, for which he raised over $1,000,000 on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
April 28, 2021
Professor Stein has created Firestorm as a weapon for every nuclear weapon owning country to have as a threat deterrent of mutual destruction. Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. Anyway, there's an insanely violent group of mercenaries rounding up the Firestorm canisters and straight up murdering everyone that was even in the general vicinity. Jason (a high school nerd) opens up the canister and turns Ronnie (high school jock) and himself into Firestorms. They get away from the mercenaries who are forgotten about (along with some dangling plot threads) and come into contact with Zithertech. The company who's behind the mercenaries but comes across as altruistic to Ronnie and Jason. Meanwhile, there's a gazillion other Firestorms out there doing confusing stuff with unclear motivations. Because it's Firestorm (one of the better but underused characters in DC's arsenal), I'll give the next book another shot (even though this one is pretty iffy).
August 15, 2013
I’m going to be straight with my opinion. No pussy-footing around. I didn’t like this. I thought it was angst driven and boring. I didn’t like either of the main characters because they were both asses in their own way. Jason was a smart ass. He could have been likable except that he thought he was better than everyone else. Ronnie was just a boring jock. They tried to make him a little more likeable when they pointed out that he didn’t bully the geeky kids because he knew that they would someday be running the world.
I did, however, like the art. I thought it all looked great and I really liked their character designs. But the pretty pictures couldn’t make up for the struggling story.
I will not be continuing this one.
I did, however, like the art. I thought it all looked great and I really liked their character designs. But the pretty pictures couldn’t make up for the struggling story.
I will not be continuing this one.
July 30, 2014
I always remember Firestorm from the old DC comics I got from the late 80's when I was a kid. Firestorm was always a D-list hero with very vibrant, colorful, and surreal art and physic/particle splash pages. I know next to nothing about the character or his history though, so this New 52 reboot should have been a great jumping off point for me.
Unfortunately the Fury of Firestorm introductory arc felt like a bunch of really good ideas half executed. Although I liked the idea of an international coalition of Firestorms, the writers used it as an opportunity to give us gratuitously violent generic mercenaries and middle eastern suicide bombers. It tries to be current; both in setting and with the use of the 'God Particle' that out twin Firestorms now have control over. Did I mention we have two different Firestorms as our hero? Two high school kids with no chemistry individually or with each other. Both are relatively interchangeable for one another until they (nuclear) fusion dance into some mysterious being called Fury who no one bothers to explain. I will admit I really liked the Zither Corp and their masked leader (who reminds me of a female version of Char Aznable for the Gundam anime) pulling the strings of both our heroes, turning them into public media figures/puppets. I also really enjoyed the last issue (#6) as it finally starts turning the series in a more interesting direction with our heroes having to cope with essentially being a walking nuclear bomb (and the repercussions and damage that could potentially cause). Sadly most of the interesting elements of this initial collection came too little too late for me.
The art isn't very stellar. It's rather plain for a run of the mill DC comic, but not bad by any means. This whole collection just reeks in mediocrity which is a bummer because there were some cool things running through the book that just need more time and attention. Not the worst comic you'll ever read, but no where near close to being the best. Two stars.
Unfortunately the Fury of Firestorm introductory arc felt like a bunch of really good ideas half executed. Although I liked the idea of an international coalition of Firestorms, the writers used it as an opportunity to give us gratuitously violent generic mercenaries and middle eastern suicide bombers. It tries to be current; both in setting and with the use of the 'God Particle' that out twin Firestorms now have control over. Did I mention we have two different Firestorms as our hero? Two high school kids with no chemistry individually or with each other. Both are relatively interchangeable for one another until they (nuclear) fusion dance into some mysterious being called Fury who no one bothers to explain. I will admit I really liked the Zither Corp and their masked leader (who reminds me of a female version of Char Aznable for the Gundam anime) pulling the strings of both our heroes, turning them into public media figures/puppets. I also really enjoyed the last issue (#6) as it finally starts turning the series in a more interesting direction with our heroes having to cope with essentially being a walking nuclear bomb (and the repercussions and damage that could potentially cause). Sadly most of the interesting elements of this initial collection came too little too late for me.
The art isn't very stellar. It's rather plain for a run of the mill DC comic, but not bad by any means. This whole collection just reeks in mediocrity which is a bummer because there were some cool things running through the book that just need more time and attention. Not the worst comic you'll ever read, but no where near close to being the best. Two stars.
January 7, 2021
A bunch of REALLY cool ideas crippled by a bad plot. I love the idea of Firestorm being the new nuclear weapon other countries want their hands on, and I actually like that Firestorm is a duo now and not 2 people merged together. Unfortunately the plot is a mess, the violence is pretty extreme, and topics like racism are brought up but never expanded on. Lots of great ingredients, but all that came out was a giant mess.
September 5, 2012
One of the worst books from the "New 52", DC took a great character and created an abomination to everything that he was.
August 19, 2019
My reaction to this title was: Meh. I knew about the Firestorm hero from a few cameos in other comics, but what really got me interested in him was, believe it or not, the cartoon "Justice League Action" (which was surprisingly, kind of a gem. I mean, it wasn't "Batman: The Animated Series," but if you want fun, quick adventures that are kid-friendly while also having nice nods to the overall canon that adult fans can enjoy... well, it pretty much perfectly fits the bill). But I digress. The Firestorm in the cartoon was a fun, wise-cracking character with a nice duality since he shared a mind with the much more serious Professor Stein. I saw the cartoon, and thought, "Hey, I bet that's pretty cool in comic book form, where things don't have to be played quite as 'safe.'" Well, they definitely didn't play it safe with this graphic. But they also took out all of the fun. I get that this was supposed to be a modern update, but the Firestorm character, in its essence (two different people forced to share one mind and save the world) is a really fun concept. What we get instead is this gritty remake that, while not inherently bad, definitely feels rushed in terms of character development and also plays into the "DC is always dark" stereotype. Again, I'm not saying this is a bad idea. As far as updates go, this one is perfectly serviceable. It just bums me out that a character that could be fun is turned into... the complete opposite of that. As I've said before, I love my dark heroes--Batman, Red Hood, etc.--but those fun heroes are a breath of fresh air in the stereotypically dark DC Universe. DC has its fair share of fun heroes... they just don't highlight them. (Or in this case, they completely change them.) All in all, I may continue reading this series out of curiosity, but it's definitely not on my "must-read" list.
April 3, 2016
Remember the exciting conclusion of Brightest Day, when Ronnie returned, but then learned that Firestorm was going to explode in 90 days. Cue an exciting new Firestorm series? Well, this isn't it. In fact, it ignores that major plotline totally thanks to the reboot of the DC universe.
With that snark aside, the Nu52 reinvention of Firestorm is actually interesting. Simone correctly puts Rusch and Raymond front and center, offering the comic two strong protagonists and an interesting rivalry. Sure, the idea of Firestorm is vastly different: there's no true combination of two people, and there are Firestorms all over the world. But the use of two protagonists offsets the first issue, while the global Firestorms are used to good effect here. (They could get overused in the future, but not yet.) I'm less thrilled by the lackluster reinvention of Hyena as drugged-up merc company; it feels a little bit like the comic pushed too hard on reinventing everything about the original Firestorm. Still, there's plenty to like here.
And the overall plot ... well, I'm not exactly sure what it is because we bounce between a few different ideas. But the comic keeps moving (as was typical for the house-style-burdened Nu52 comics), and it remains exciting (which wasn't always true for the Nu52, which too often went super-decompressed).
Overall, a definite win.
With that snark aside, the Nu52 reinvention of Firestorm is actually interesting. Simone correctly puts Rusch and Raymond front and center, offering the comic two strong protagonists and an interesting rivalry. Sure, the idea of Firestorm is vastly different: there's no true combination of two people, and there are Firestorms all over the world. But the use of two protagonists offsets the first issue, while the global Firestorms are used to good effect here. (They could get overused in the future, but not yet.) I'm less thrilled by the lackluster reinvention of Hyena as drugged-up merc company; it feels a little bit like the comic pushed too hard on reinventing everything about the original Firestorm. Still, there's plenty to like here.
And the overall plot ... well, I'm not exactly sure what it is because we bounce between a few different ideas. But the comic keeps moving (as was typical for the house-style-burdened Nu52 comics), and it remains exciting (which wasn't always true for the Nu52, which too often went super-decompressed).
Overall, a definite win.
April 2, 2017
"Well America says screw you."
At the end of reading volume one of firestorm, I still do not have much idea what the powers of this hero(s?) is/are. This is bad story telling all around. Firestorm and firestorm have to fight firestorm who killed firestorm. There are a lot of firestorms, but none of them are any fun. Our main heroes hate each other because one isa nerd and one is a jock and they are both stereotypes. They get to fight an elite military unit of meth heads.
Terrible choices include, but are not limited to: using yellow text on a red background and red text on yellow background, letting the dictionary randomly fall open to come up with the Villian's name (zither), and assorted inconsistent power nonsense.
Here are what a firestorm can do based on my guess after reading this book: turn guns into brooms, balloons ( but not bullets which still scare them) flame resistant head, change of clothes when ever they say their super person name, flying, and sometimes becoming a zombie voltron when they get too close to each other.
I chose to read this because my brother had an action figure of this fella in the eighties. I now know that is not a good way to choose reading material. Lessons learned!
At the end of reading volume one of firestorm, I still do not have much idea what the powers of this hero(s?) is/are. This is bad story telling all around. Firestorm and firestorm have to fight firestorm who killed firestorm. There are a lot of firestorms, but none of them are any fun. Our main heroes hate each other because one isa nerd and one is a jock and they are both stereotypes. They get to fight an elite military unit of meth heads.
Terrible choices include, but are not limited to: using yellow text on a red background and red text on yellow background, letting the dictionary randomly fall open to come up with the Villian's name (zither), and assorted inconsistent power nonsense.
Here are what a firestorm can do based on my guess after reading this book: turn guns into brooms, balloons ( but not bullets which still scare them) flame resistant head, change of clothes when ever they say their super person name, flying, and sometimes becoming a zombie voltron when they get too close to each other.
I chose to read this because my brother had an action figure of this fella in the eighties. I now know that is not a good way to choose reading material. Lessons learned!
June 13, 2013
When I reviewed Static Shock last night, I said there were plenty of worse New 52 books, and this is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind. The basic idea is sound-ish: foreground the odd couple dynamic which I vaguely know was always part of the character by having a jock and a nerd each able to become Firestorms, and then combine into a ruddy great mega-Firestorm. But this is almost immediately diluted by having a seemingly endless supply of other Firestorm variants pop up within a mere six issues. Besides which, characters are prone to forgetting their powers and/or motivation at convenient moments, just to enable the (lazy, generic) plot to progress without disturbance. Put it this way: at one stage we even get a double-page spread of a Firestorm standing in a blast crater, arms spread, yelling 'WHHHHYYYY?' (I can't promise to have the number of Hs and Ys exact). Abysmal.
February 24, 2014
Man, this was a tough one to get through.
This book has a lot of interesting components, but the ingredients just don't go well together. I really like the idea of multiple Firestorms, each representing a different country. Even more than that, I like the fact that they are powered by the God Particle.
This book though, is excessively violent in certain points, and nonsensical in many points. One of the reviews in the book call Firestorm a B list character. I would have to disagree. Green Arrow is like a C list character. Firestorm is D list. Sad, this book had potential, just needed better dialogue and sharper focus.
This book has a lot of interesting components, but the ingredients just don't go well together. I really like the idea of multiple Firestorms, each representing a different country. Even more than that, I like the fact that they are powered by the God Particle.
This book though, is excessively violent in certain points, and nonsensical in many points. One of the reviews in the book call Firestorm a B list character. I would have to disagree. Green Arrow is like a C list character. Firestorm is D list. Sad, this book had potential, just needed better dialogue and sharper focus.
August 26, 2013
Two high school students who dislike each other get caught up in the aftermath of a science experiment. Everyone wants the experiment and are prepared to kill for it. This has some very good character moments even though the plot is a bit predictable. It could become a good series. A good read.
May 26, 2015
The various Firestorm costumes still look great, but that's about all it's got going for it. The idea of multiple firestorms doesn't really work, the character interactions don't seem real at all, and the story is pretty boring.
December 13, 2012
Another stinker. Unconvincing jock/geek interaction, unconvincing super-smart geek, boring hero, stupendously-sad-moment that was neither sad nor a moment, etc. Ugh.
November 27, 2016
2.5 Stars
December 31, 2017
An interesting premise to relaunch a not so known hero (at the time) in the New52 initiative by DC Comics. Taking the concept of the Firestorm and making it a protocol for a living weapon for every country that can achieve its creation, but missing some of the elements that niche fans might hold dear. Cinar's art is good and Simone script is competent enough, only let down by some of the teenage drama around the two leads. For new readers, its a good starting point for new readers, and for longtime fans, the concept is at least interesting to give it a try, counting that it may not be the status quo for long.
February 22, 2020
This could have been fantastic - wonderful art, a good basic concept from Ethan van Sciver... but then Gail Simone turned it into a horrible mess.
I normally like Simone's writing, but this was largely awful. She clearly had a message she was trying to get out, but damned if I can work out what it is. It all just turned into a horrible mess of "And then this happened!" "And then this happened!" and everyone seemed to forget about other things and other characters.
The whole story appears to have happened over 48 hours, but the two main characters seem to quickly forget what happened an hour ago.
I normally like Simone's writing, but this was largely awful. She clearly had a message she was trying to get out, but damned if I can work out what it is. It all just turned into a horrible mess of "And then this happened!" "And then this happened!" and everyone seemed to forget about other things and other characters.
The whole story appears to have happened over 48 hours, but the two main characters seem to quickly forget what happened an hour ago.
August 28, 2018
Here's another collection of stuff from the New 52 series, this time gathering stories from the "Fury of Firestorm" series. The story involves two young guys inadvertently gaining the power to turn into a sort of flaming nuclear character. If you've seen the Flash TV series, this tells the story of the Ronnie character (though in this collection, it has nothing to do with the Flash).
The stories are okay, though nothing special. It's hard to introduce non-mainstream super heroes and have them "stick".
The stories are okay, though nothing special. It's hard to introduce non-mainstream super heroes and have them "stick".
February 22, 2017
I saw this only got mediocre reviews, so I was surprised that I actually liked it quite a bit. I've never heard of Firestorm before so this was my introduction.Two kids get zapped and become nuclear Firestorms but when they get mad at each other they meld into a super nuclear guy called Fury, so kind of like a nuclear Incredible Hulk. The story involves underground governments, big corporation, and terrorists with lots of action. The dialogue is pretty cheesy, but the art is good.
March 24, 2025
Yuck
Cheesy trash with offensive Christian overtones,
And of course "evil arabs" to fit our new,
Right wing Christian hate machine,
Book should be banned everywhere but Florida and Oklahoma.
To bad the paper is to slippery to use as toilet paper.
Shocked that Simone's name is on it, usually a pretty good writer,
Decent art,
O well back to something good like Bomb Queen or anything by Ellis..
Cheesy trash with offensive Christian overtones,
And of course "evil arabs" to fit our new,
Right wing Christian hate machine,
Book should be banned everywhere but Florida and Oklahoma.
To bad the paper is to slippery to use as toilet paper.
Shocked that Simone's name is on it, usually a pretty good writer,
Decent art,
O well back to something good like Bomb Queen or anything by Ellis..
February 10, 2026
Que coñazo de comic la verdad.
El protagonista es un capullo de manual que se cree muy superior a su compañero y siempre tiene que demostrar que es súperlisto.
Y la villana es infumable también.
El protagonista es un capullo de manual que se cree muy superior a su compañero y siempre tiene que demostrar que es súperlisto.
Y la villana es infumable también.
August 14, 2019
This comic was actually amazing
July 13, 2021
I am watching the Arrowverse on CW and thought I would read up more on this character, but I found the issue uninspiring and partially confusing. It was a chore to plow through.
July 3, 2024
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Fury is a cool concept. Helix is a cool baddie. The multiple Firestorms and Firestorm hunters are a great way to expand the mythos, almost like a Green Lantern Corps vibe.
October 15, 2025
4,08
Not terrible, not great
too many Firestorms though
Not terrible, not great
too many Firestorms though
November 7, 2015
I'm still on a streak of tearing through stuff on my friend's Comixology account. 90% of what I've read on there has been stuff from DC Comics New 52 lineup. Since the New 52 came out in 2011, this is the 19th of their relaunch titles that I have read. It is also the 20th New 52 title because one of the books I read came from the 2nd wave.
This series wasn't even on my radar until I found a list of all of the New 52 books that told how many issues each series had, which wave they were released in, and when/if they had been canceled. Firestorm has never been one of my favorite characters (I haven't read one of his comics since the 1980's) and only know a little bit about the original version of the character from a few cartoons and cameo/guest appearances in other titles. If I had known Gail Simone was writing this series, I probably would have gotten to it sooner.
Since I mentioned Simone, I'll start with the writing first this time. I'm a big Gail Simone fan, but the only stuff of hers that I've ever read has been Batgirl and Birds of Prey. I've been wanting to branch out and check out some more of her stories about other characters. When I saw that she was working with Ethan Van Sciver on this series, that made me really want to read this particular book. I have fond memories of Van Sciver's art from a few books and thought a Gail Simone story drawn by him would be awesome. Alas, he didn't draw the series. He only helped her plot out the story and he has a story credit on the title and not an art one.
As far as I know, I've never read anything written by Ethan or if he has actually ever even had a solo writing credit. I don't know how much of this story is his, but I can definitely see Simone's fingerprints all over this book. After reading Gail's run on the New 52 Batgirl and seeing the how she put Babs through the wringer, the atrocities committed in this series seem familiar. I can also see her in the dialogue of the characters.
A lot of people said that they didn't like the tension between the 2 main Firestorms in the book because of one being a nerd and the other a jock. I have to admit that it is pretty cliché seeing two completely different people that hate each other being forced to work together. Simone went the extra step and had Ronnie, a white guy jock, turn into a Firestorm in a red suit and Jason , a black nerdy guy, turn into a Firestorm in a yellow suit. I have no idea when they created more than one Firestorm, My knowledge of Firestorm is that Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein fuse together to become Firestorm with Ronnie serving as the body and Stein acting as his conscience in his head. The fact that there are 2 Firestorm main characters kind of threw me for a loop. I don't know if this is something they changed for the New 52 or if the last iterations of the character(s) was this way. Whenever the changed happened, I wish it had not. I think the Firestorm character was better when the 2 guys fused to become one superhero.
They did keep some element of the fused Firestorm in this story. Instead of 2 normal guys fusing to become Firestorm, in this, there are 2 Firestorms that fuse to become this huge, mega Firestorm creature called the Fury. At least I now know where that part of the title comes from. The 2 Firestorms fusing together made me think Gail and Ethan had been watching some Dragon Ball Z together whilst stoned and came up with this story. Then they added a whole bunch of other Firestorms. Some of those were sanctioned by different governments. Others were rogues. Some aspects of this story really worked. The ginormous Fury character and there being more than one Firestorm did not. All in all, this is definitely not Gail Simone's best work. Story gets 3 stars which is the lowest score that I've ever given her.
The art for this book is provide by Yildiray Cinar. His Firestorms, the flame effects, and the lead villain lady all look pretty good. The rest of the content, not so much. If he had only been tasked with drawing panels that contained the 3 things previously mentioned and let someone else draw the rest, the art score would be a lot better than the 2.5 stars it is gonna get.
My overall score for this 2.75 stars. I'm surprised this book was not one of the first books canceled by DC in the New 52 lineup. My friend doesn't have volume 2 of this, and I am definitely not seeking it out. I can't really recommend this book to anyone.
This series wasn't even on my radar until I found a list of all of the New 52 books that told how many issues each series had, which wave they were released in, and when/if they had been canceled. Firestorm has never been one of my favorite characters (I haven't read one of his comics since the 1980's) and only know a little bit about the original version of the character from a few cartoons and cameo/guest appearances in other titles. If I had known Gail Simone was writing this series, I probably would have gotten to it sooner.
Since I mentioned Simone, I'll start with the writing first this time. I'm a big Gail Simone fan, but the only stuff of hers that I've ever read has been Batgirl and Birds of Prey. I've been wanting to branch out and check out some more of her stories about other characters. When I saw that she was working with Ethan Van Sciver on this series, that made me really want to read this particular book. I have fond memories of Van Sciver's art from a few books and thought a Gail Simone story drawn by him would be awesome. Alas, he didn't draw the series. He only helped her plot out the story and he has a story credit on the title and not an art one.
As far as I know, I've never read anything written by Ethan or if he has actually ever even had a solo writing credit. I don't know how much of this story is his, but I can definitely see Simone's fingerprints all over this book. After reading Gail's run on the New 52 Batgirl and seeing the how she put Babs through the wringer, the atrocities committed in this series seem familiar. I can also see her in the dialogue of the characters.
A lot of people said that they didn't like the tension between the 2 main Firestorms in the book because of one being a nerd and the other a jock. I have to admit that it is pretty cliché seeing two completely different people that hate each other being forced to work together. Simone went the extra step and had Ronnie, a white guy jock, turn into a Firestorm in a red suit and Jason , a black nerdy guy, turn into a Firestorm in a yellow suit. I have no idea when they created more than one Firestorm, My knowledge of Firestorm is that Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein fuse together to become Firestorm with Ronnie serving as the body and Stein acting as his conscience in his head. The fact that there are 2 Firestorm main characters kind of threw me for a loop. I don't know if this is something they changed for the New 52 or if the last iterations of the character(s) was this way. Whenever the changed happened, I wish it had not. I think the Firestorm character was better when the 2 guys fused to become one superhero.
They did keep some element of the fused Firestorm in this story. Instead of 2 normal guys fusing to become Firestorm, in this, there are 2 Firestorms that fuse to become this huge, mega Firestorm creature called the Fury. At least I now know where that part of the title comes from. The 2 Firestorms fusing together made me think Gail and Ethan had been watching some Dragon Ball Z together whilst stoned and came up with this story. Then they added a whole bunch of other Firestorms. Some of those were sanctioned by different governments. Others were rogues. Some aspects of this story really worked. The ginormous Fury character and there being more than one Firestorm did not. All in all, this is definitely not Gail Simone's best work. Story gets 3 stars which is the lowest score that I've ever given her.
The art for this book is provide by Yildiray Cinar. His Firestorms, the flame effects, and the lead villain lady all look pretty good. The rest of the content, not so much. If he had only been tasked with drawing panels that contained the 3 things previously mentioned and let someone else draw the rest, the art score would be a lot better than the 2.5 stars it is gonna get.
My overall score for this 2.75 stars. I'm surprised this book was not one of the first books canceled by DC in the New 52 lineup. My friend doesn't have volume 2 of this, and I am definitely not seeking it out. I can't really recommend this book to anyone.
June 30, 2013
The first time I ever saw Firestorm in a comic was probably 1981 or 82 in one of the few random Justice League comics I got as a small kid. The second time I saw Firestorm in a comic was September 2011 with DC’s New 52 reboots. What I’m saying is, Firestorm always seemed, to me, to be one of those characters they just didn’t know what to do with. I was looking forward to finally checking him out proper when the first issue of THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN and its first story arc “The God Particle” hit the stands. Unfortunately, I soon realized why the character never seemed to be the big deal many of his contemporaries were.
The version of Firestorm I knew was high school kid Ronnie Raymond has some kind on connection with Professor Stein and when Ronnie becomes Firestorm, he’s psychically linked to the Professor who talks him through whatever mission he’s on. In this new version Professor Stein is the discoverer of the god particle which can create Firestorm characters. Two high school students, Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch are exposed to the particle when a team of mercenaries come to their school looking for it. They become Firestorms individually, Ronnie in a version of his original red costume with Jason in a yellow version of the same costume. And when they get angry, the two combine to form one giant Firestorm called Fury.
The Firestorm powers include flight and transmutation. In one scene Jason turns a team of assassins’ weapons into balloons, then later turns a bullet lodged in the brain of a girl he likes into oxygen.
The backstory is there was a plan, supposedly, for every country to have its own sanctioned Firestorm. This was supposed to ease tensions and put an end to war, because every country would then have godlike nuclear capabilities. But something happened and now there’s a shadowy government conspiracy type agency trying to track down and destroy the Firestorms. Ronnie and Jason were never supposed to have these powers and at first this secret organization plans to make them surrender by threatening their families, then later it decides to take a different approach and set them up in new homes with new cars and jobs and steaks and everything else if the boys just agree to a few PR appearances in order to prove the Firestorms are the good guys. Their first mission goes south, though, when the gunmen turn out to be suicide bombers and 2000 people are incinerated.
Honestly, it all sounds a lot more exciting than it really is. I wish that were the truth because there was no one more disappointed in how lackluster Firestorm was than me. Okay, that’s not true; I’m sure plotters and writer Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone probably wish it had come across better. I like Simone’s work, but, I don’t know, there was just something about this book that didn’t gel. Maybe it was the warring personalities of its main heroes--they don’t like each other at all. Maybe it’s that we’ve got this really interesting idea in the global Firestorm program, but instead we get maybe 10 pages of that, a whole lot of pages of anonymous, annoying covert operatives, and the rest is 90% teen drama. See, I never went in for the teen angst angle, and at 40 it interests me even less.
Visually the book is ok. Yildiray Cinar is the artist and as long as Firestorm is on the page, the work is beautiful and action packed. It’s in the other panels, especially the mercenary scenes, where things feel half-hearted and boring.
I think in the end there were enough subplots set up to interest someone in what happens next, but obviously I wasn’t one of those someones; I stopped collecting FIRESTORM 2 issues later. Granted, I stopped collecting ALL of the New 52 titles 2 issues later ($3.99 a month gets expensive when there are so many books you want to keep reading), but this was one of the ones I probably never gave a second thought to nor ever found myself thinking, “I wonder whatever happened.” I just never thought about it. “The God Particle” was a good story, but it was, essentially, forgettable.
The version of Firestorm I knew was high school kid Ronnie Raymond has some kind on connection with Professor Stein and when Ronnie becomes Firestorm, he’s psychically linked to the Professor who talks him through whatever mission he’s on. In this new version Professor Stein is the discoverer of the god particle which can create Firestorm characters. Two high school students, Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch are exposed to the particle when a team of mercenaries come to their school looking for it. They become Firestorms individually, Ronnie in a version of his original red costume with Jason in a yellow version of the same costume. And when they get angry, the two combine to form one giant Firestorm called Fury.
The Firestorm powers include flight and transmutation. In one scene Jason turns a team of assassins’ weapons into balloons, then later turns a bullet lodged in the brain of a girl he likes into oxygen.
The backstory is there was a plan, supposedly, for every country to have its own sanctioned Firestorm. This was supposed to ease tensions and put an end to war, because every country would then have godlike nuclear capabilities. But something happened and now there’s a shadowy government conspiracy type agency trying to track down and destroy the Firestorms. Ronnie and Jason were never supposed to have these powers and at first this secret organization plans to make them surrender by threatening their families, then later it decides to take a different approach and set them up in new homes with new cars and jobs and steaks and everything else if the boys just agree to a few PR appearances in order to prove the Firestorms are the good guys. Their first mission goes south, though, when the gunmen turn out to be suicide bombers and 2000 people are incinerated.
Honestly, it all sounds a lot more exciting than it really is. I wish that were the truth because there was no one more disappointed in how lackluster Firestorm was than me. Okay, that’s not true; I’m sure plotters and writer Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone probably wish it had come across better. I like Simone’s work, but, I don’t know, there was just something about this book that didn’t gel. Maybe it was the warring personalities of its main heroes--they don’t like each other at all. Maybe it’s that we’ve got this really interesting idea in the global Firestorm program, but instead we get maybe 10 pages of that, a whole lot of pages of anonymous, annoying covert operatives, and the rest is 90% teen drama. See, I never went in for the teen angst angle, and at 40 it interests me even less.
Visually the book is ok. Yildiray Cinar is the artist and as long as Firestorm is on the page, the work is beautiful and action packed. It’s in the other panels, especially the mercenary scenes, where things feel half-hearted and boring.
I think in the end there were enough subplots set up to interest someone in what happens next, but obviously I wasn’t one of those someones; I stopped collecting FIRESTORM 2 issues later. Granted, I stopped collecting ALL of the New 52 titles 2 issues later ($3.99 a month gets expensive when there are so many books you want to keep reading), but this was one of the ones I probably never gave a second thought to nor ever found myself thinking, “I wonder whatever happened.” I just never thought about it. “The God Particle” was a good story, but it was, essentially, forgettable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2016
Reprints The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #1-6 (November 2011-April 2012). The Firestorm Protocol is a new form of weapon that gives its user with extreme power. When classmates Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond are forced to activate the Firestorm Protocol when their school is attacked by men searching for the Protocol, the two must find a way to work together despite their differences. Being Firestorm is harder than it appears, and Jason, Ronnie and their friend Tonya are now accused terrorists…and more and more Firestorms are popping up all over the world.
Co-plotted by Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone and penned by Gail Simone, The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men 1: God Particle collects the first story arc of the New 52 reboot of the series after the monumental events of Flashpoint. The series received so-so reviews and was one of the weaker selling comics of the relaunch.
Firestorm has always been a tricky character. The character premiered in his own short lived series with Firestorm #1 (March 1978), but gained more popularity when he was introduced on the Super Friends: Legendary Super Powers Show in September of 1984 as a new member of the Super Friends. His character has gone through many changes and in the most recent series replaced longtime Firestorm Ronnie Raymond with Jason Rusch. Here Simone blends a lot of these aspects of the story into one tale (and tries to appease Jason and Ronnie fans).
The story however just misses the mark. Gail Simone has proven herself to be one of comics’ best writers and an original voice, but the series (especially the first issue) has poorly scripted characters and a rather confusing plotline. An example would be the “heartfelt” question by Ronnie “Mom…why don’t we have any black friends?” This would be a legitimate question for maybe a six or seven year old, but it sounds like poor cliché writing coming from a character who is supposed to be in high school. It is writing like this which weakens the series.
The art by Yildiray Cinar is interesting, and quite good, but I don’t know if it works well with the story. I loved the original Firestorm costume design and there are allusions to it within the Firestorm Protocol characters, but there is also the problem of all the characters kind of looking alike because Firestorm is a brand instead of an individual. Cinar’s art is good with the fire and explosions, but it also doesn’t do enough to distinguish the already indistinguishable multiple Firestorms.
The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men is one of the New 52’s weakest titles. DC hasn’t known what to do with Firestorm for years and this is not the answer. Gail Simone is a much better writer than this, and I have to question what is involved in the “co-plotting” with Ethan Van Sciver. The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men 1: God Particle is followed by The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men 2: The Firestorm Protocols.
Co-plotted by Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone and penned by Gail Simone, The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men 1: God Particle collects the first story arc of the New 52 reboot of the series after the monumental events of Flashpoint. The series received so-so reviews and was one of the weaker selling comics of the relaunch.
Firestorm has always been a tricky character. The character premiered in his own short lived series with Firestorm #1 (March 1978), but gained more popularity when he was introduced on the Super Friends: Legendary Super Powers Show in September of 1984 as a new member of the Super Friends. His character has gone through many changes and in the most recent series replaced longtime Firestorm Ronnie Raymond with Jason Rusch. Here Simone blends a lot of these aspects of the story into one tale (and tries to appease Jason and Ronnie fans).
The story however just misses the mark. Gail Simone has proven herself to be one of comics’ best writers and an original voice, but the series (especially the first issue) has poorly scripted characters and a rather confusing plotline. An example would be the “heartfelt” question by Ronnie “Mom…why don’t we have any black friends?” This would be a legitimate question for maybe a six or seven year old, but it sounds like poor cliché writing coming from a character who is supposed to be in high school. It is writing like this which weakens the series.
The art by Yildiray Cinar is interesting, and quite good, but I don’t know if it works well with the story. I loved the original Firestorm costume design and there are allusions to it within the Firestorm Protocol characters, but there is also the problem of all the characters kind of looking alike because Firestorm is a brand instead of an individual. Cinar’s art is good with the fire and explosions, but it also doesn’t do enough to distinguish the already indistinguishable multiple Firestorms.
The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men is one of the New 52’s weakest titles. DC hasn’t known what to do with Firestorm for years and this is not the answer. Gail Simone is a much better writer than this, and I have to question what is involved in the “co-plotting” with Ethan Van Sciver. The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men 1: God Particle is followed by The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men 2: The Firestorm Protocols.
August 2, 2013
The big flaw of this book is the plotting and pacing. Each single issue reads fine on its own. Read as a whole, it does not work to tell a coherent story. New characters are constantly introduced, and many only appear in a single issue. New readers get almost no explanation of how any of Firestorm's powers work, despite being an origin story. In what seems like an effort to avoid the sillier aspects of comics, this one leaned into being incomprehensible.
Very little time is spent with the teens that are intended to be the main characters of the book. They are both annoyingly cranky. Their antagonistic relationship isn't remotely organic. They come across as the angriest characters to appear in an after-school special. Their characterization is pretty different from what fans of the characters might have been expecting, considering quite a bit of their background seems to have been changed.
The majority of this volume is about the villains, but the villains are completely boring and generic. While each issue devotes a considerable number of pages to the shadowy government and military figures that make up the supporting cast, I was only actually interested in these characters for one scene. The cast is just massive.
The art isn't necessarily something special, but I didn't dislike it. The costume designs are all distinct enough to tell the difference between the unreasonable number of characters with Firestorm powers that are introduced. Outside of costume, the characters are generally indistinguishable from one another. I did really like the colorist, and I thought the style worked well with the story.
Very little time is spent with the teens that are intended to be the main characters of the book. They are both annoyingly cranky. Their antagonistic relationship isn't remotely organic. They come across as the angriest characters to appear in an after-school special. Their characterization is pretty different from what fans of the characters might have been expecting, considering quite a bit of their background seems to have been changed.
The majority of this volume is about the villains, but the villains are completely boring and generic. While each issue devotes a considerable number of pages to the shadowy government and military figures that make up the supporting cast, I was only actually interested in these characters for one scene. The cast is just massive.
The art isn't necessarily something special, but I didn't dislike it. The costume designs are all distinct enough to tell the difference between the unreasonable number of characters with Firestorm powers that are introduced. Outside of costume, the characters are generally indistinguishable from one another. I did really like the colorist, and I thought the style worked well with the story.
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