The Pull List 4: Ninety Days to Figure Out Your Powers

The Fury of Firestorm
Writer: Gail Simone/Ethan van Sciver
Artist: Yildiray Ciner

Information:

Welcome to a major new vision of the Nuclear Man as writers Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone team up with artist Yildiray Cinar to deliver THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #1. Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond are two high school students, worlds apart – and now they’re drawn into a conspiracy of super science that bonds them forever in a way they can’t explain or control. The cover to issue #1 is by Ed Benes.

When Gail Simone said she and Ethan van Sciver had a project they were doing together, I figured he would be drawing and they would be doing Plastic Man.

This...is far, far better. I'm loving the way they've put a completely different spin on how Firestorm works--WITHOUT getting rid of Ronnie Raymond. There are a whole bunch of people that, no doubt, dislike "Jasonstorm" (which I honestly can't hear without it sounding a tad racist, but whatever), but I'm not one of them.

I just wasn't sold on how rapidly they got rid of Ronnie Raymond, who was never a "bad" character to begin with. For those who don't know, Firestorm is a character who is actually two beings in one. Originally, it was college student Ronnie Raymond and college professor Martin Stein. Once merged, the two could alter the chemical make-up of anything non-organic into whatever they wanted. The character Jason Rusch somehow got the nuclear matrix that gives Firestorm his powers after the original Firestorm died, only he could fuse with whomever he wanted and it worked.

To me, that was always an AWESOME power and Firestorm always had a neat design. That said, aside from the look of their "fused" form, I like the new costumes Ethan's made for Ronnie and Jason, and I'm hoping they both look different depending on who's "in control" of their physical form.

Gail proved years ago she could write young characters AND do comic book science when All-New Atom came out featuring the young college professor Ryan Choi. I can only imagine this book being just as, if not MORE awesome, than that one. Why Ethan's a co-writer rather than artist I cannot tell you, but I will say I'm equally happy with the artist choice as well. Cinar knows his way around a pencil.

Looking forward to this as much, if not more than, some of the rest of these projects. Congrats to DC on keeping the dichotomy of Firestorm almost perfectly, by the way. (I liked the Professor, but being the brains AND being in a position of power could be a bit much.) Now we just need a Firestorm cartoon, DC. Seriously--get on that. It'll sell.