Mysterious, Nostalgic And Intriguing: ‘The Fury Of The Firestorm’ #1 Review
by Olly MacNamee
Summary
The Fury of the Firestorm #1 sees everyone’s favourite nuclear-powered superhero possessed. Or at least lacking in the humanity that both Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein once brought to the character. And with an out-of-control Firestorm lording it over a small town in America, you know that’s going to lead to fireworks, as the US government tries to help alleviate the situation by recruiting an familar face from Firestorm’s past.
Overall
8.5/10To me, Firestorm was always a fun character who I could once relate to when I first read his antics way, way back in the 1982 series of a similar name to this new series. The fusion of this young hothead with the wiser mind of Professor Martin Stein was also something novel, too. But behind all that was a hero who had the potential to be one of the most powerful superheroes in the DC Universe. And now, writer Jeff Lemire gives us just that in The Fury of the Firestorm #1.
Firestorm is a metahuman who, in the first few pages of this new series, shows his god-like powers in transforming a whole town into his own twisted reality. And with the appropriate Biblical verse-like prose to go with it. A genesis of sorts, but not in a good way. Something is surely up with Firestorm, and that is the premise of this issue and the opening story arc that draws you in from the get-go. What is driving Firestorm to behave in this unhinged, maniacal way? Well, the Department of Defence want to know and to help achieve their mission objective, they call in a little help from an old flame (pardon the pun), one Lorraine Reilly. And if I wasn’t intrigued already, playing on my nostalgia for the ‘80s series I loved so much really helped seal the deal.
Like so much of DC’s All-In output, the best of a character’s past is included in the new look of many a DC hero we are being reintroduced to in this latest DC relaunch/reboot. A way, I suspect, of keeping older fans onboard and possibly appealing to nw readers too. But, as one of those older fans, I’m already hoping Ronnie and Lorraine get back together again, once all of this has been sorted. That, and I still think he has one of the coolest costumes in comics ever. Even with the “puffy sleeves”.
Artist Rafael De Latorre has an art style not too dissimilar to Lemire’s own, but he also shows he isn’t too slack on mimicking the style of art of the ’80s in a sequence that seems to be ripped straight out of an old newspaper print comic of that era. It’s a style that’s predominantly clean lines with very little cross-hatching, more in keeping with a lot of today’s comic book aesthetics.
The Fury of the Firestorm #1 is a strong opening issue with an intriguing and mysterious central plot that can only lead to interesting developments for both the character of Firestorm as well as for Ronnie, Martin and Lorraine. A good start and a solid all-around performance for this new creative team and out now from DC Comics.