Firestorm the Nuclear Man #3 (June 1978)

With the passing of Gerry Conway, I thought a good way to honor him would be to look at something he wrote this week. Now, Conway left behind a rather extensive body of work, not just in comics, but also in television. And since I wanted to look at more DC stuff, I decided to look at something Conway wrote for DC. And it was an opportunity for me to revisit a character we haven't seen much of in this blog: Firestorm. 

Conway created the character alongside another name familiar to Marvel fans: artist/inker/writer/editor Al Milgrom. Conway wanted to bring some of that Marvel energy to DC and write a youthful Spider-Man like teenage character. Firestorm's flaming head design came from Conway's love of the whole "hair on fire" thing. Firestorm was also unique as the hero was two people merged into one, mainly the iconic combination of teenage Ronnie Raymond and middle-aged scientist. This came about as Conway had wanted to not only play about with the trope of the teenage hero getting powers. His idea was to portray the teenager as not the sharpest guy around and ending up sharing the powers with an older person who would understand the power. Hence why Firestorm is two people fused into one.

Al Milgrom, Firestorm's other creator, also took inspiration from Jack Kirby when it comes to the character's design, in particular the character of Lightray. Mainly, in the headpiece he wears. 

As I have said before, this ongoing series ended up not lasting long thanks to the "DC Implosion" of the late 1970s. It seemed as if Firestorm would be doomed to obscurity...thankfully, Conway was also writing the Justice League book, and brought Firestorm into the group, making him one of DC's icons. I can't help but wonder if Firestorm stayed on the team during the Detroit Era, how would his interactions have gone with Vibe, Steel, Vixen, and Cyndi Reynolds? I think he would have been a great mentor to them. Missed opportunity there. Anyway, let's take a look once again at the early days of Firestorm in Firestorm the Nuclear Man #3!

The cover is an Al Milgrom piece. It's pretty good, depicting the newest member of Firestorm's rogues gallery, Killer Frost, giving our hero a big ol' freezing smooch. Behind her is a group of frozen skeletons. This lady has a weird sense of aesthetics. 

"Kiss Not the Lips of Killer Frost!"
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciller: Al Milgrom
Inker: Bob McLeod
Letterer: Ben Oda
Colorist: Mario Sen
Editors: Gerry Conway, Jack C. Harris
Executive Editor: Joe Orlando

The story begins with Firestorm arriving at Bradley High School. Is he there to give a pep talk to the student body? Well...sort of.

"Where's my money, Carmichael?!"

If you've looked at my past reviews of Firestorm issues, you may be familiar with Mr. Clifford "Cliff" Carmichael, years before he'd become an incarnation of the Thinker. Firestorm threatens Cliff that if he starts making cracks about anyone in the school, he'll put him six feet under. Martin Stein, the elder half of Firestorm, is naturally rather annoyed by this. It's bad enough that Ronnie can drag him into becoming Firestorm any time he wants (remember, he was unconscious when he and Ronnie were merged), but now he's just going around threatening people. Ronnie's irresponsibility is hurting him as well. 

The Nuclear Man splits back into his dual identities, Martin having no memory of his time being merged. Again, this is due to him being unconscious when he and Ronnie were merged. Ronnie does feel lousy about the whole thing. He heads to school, noticing Cliff walk by, making no smarmy comments. He is so overjoyed by this he fails to notice Doreen Day trying to get his attention so she can ask him out.

Elsewhere, Stein is taken to the Arctic. You see, there's a geothermal plant being constructed there called Project Mohole in response to the energy crisis (remember, this is the late 70s). Stein is there because he had developed a condensing device that'll help the plant work. It's here he reunites with an old student of his.

"SHUT UP GUYS HE'S MINE!"

Meet Crystal Frost, the only woman on this project, but she was the designer of the plant, and she 2recommended Stein be here. The other scientists all crowd around him, much to Frost's fury. She feels they're ignoring her because she's a woman. Uh, Dr. Frost? I don't doubt you had to deal with sexist BS from insecure manchildren (it was the 70s), and that is really not cool, but I think your reaction is a 2bit...much here.

Frost shows Stein around, while being overjoyed to see him again after all these years. You see, when she studied under Stein in college, she was thrilled that he wasn't bothered by her gender but accepted her mind and skills. She ended falling in love with Stein, and she believes he felt the same way. No other man in the college compared to him as far as she's concerned. She found them all boorish, patronizing, and aggressive. Her words, not mine. They gave her a nickname: the Ice Maiden. 

She goes up to Stein and hugs him while diagnosing her problem. She confesses her feelings to him, but he only saw her as a fellow scientist. He never felt the way towards her that she did towards him. Thing is, I can imagine that Stein does have a lot of respect for Frost, considering what she has achieved. I can imagine he would have had nothing but good things to say about her as a student. Heck, I can imagine he'd have no issue with having Frost as a friend. But he never looked at her in the romantic sense. 

Thing is, Stein is being a bit overly brusque about brushing off her feelings. This infuriates Frost, and she tells him to go laugh it up with the other men. She stomps away feeling angry and bitter when she notices that the thermofrost unit (basically a big super-fridge) was left open.

Indeed, it's not. It's always supposed to be closed. For some bizarre reason, she goes inside the unit and ends up knocking the door closed, trapping her inside. 

Frosty, you couldn't close the door from the outside?! Really?! She ends up trapped in there for two hours. Welp, nice knowing you, Frosty! The other men search for her. Stein can't help but feel this is his fault. he tells the others that Frost was a very withdrawn student. He tried to get her to open up. Come out of her shell, as it were. From his perspective, she always seemed to be...at war with herself mentally, and he hoped that helping her open up would, well, help her find some kind of peace. But she clearly misinterpreted his motives, and he didn't realize it. This helps the others discover where she's at. One of the men tries to unlock the door, but a blast of cold air forces it open. Crystal Frost has been reborn.

"Am I pretty now, Ma?! AM I PRETTY NOW?!"

Evidently the transformation also gave Frosty a haircut and a new outfit. I also think it screwed up her brain. She kisses one of the men, freezing him solid. A group of security men arrive, and they become human icebergs as well. She has one main target: Martin Stein. 

Over at Bradley High in Manhattan, Ronnie Raymond is playing basketball. He shoots, and he SCORES! The Bradley High basketball team (I'm calling them the Atoms. Get it? Because Firestorm the Nuclear Man?) is now twelve points in the lead. Ronnie is thrilled as his girl Doreen is there. He also notices someone talking to Principal Hapgood, and it's gotten him concerned. 

"I'm sorry, but you have to know this: your refrigerator is running."

Back in the Arctic, Killer Frost has cornered Stein and gives him her freezing kiss. Ronnie feels the chill and realizes that Stein's in trouble. He races off in the middle of the game and transforms into Firestorm...ending up in Frost's arms.

"Thanks for helping me try this new lipstick, Firestorm!"

I can imagine Frost is a bit weirded out right now.

The kiss traps Firestorm and causes him to become frozen as well. He manages to break out of the ice. He starts to apply a bit of Pokémon logic. Killer Frost is an Ice-Type, he's a Fire-type. Fire beats Ice, right?

2Blasting Frost with fire only seems to make her stronger somehow. She freezes the ceiling, causing it to come down on our heroes. Firestorm turns the ceiling shards into harmless snowflakes. Ronnie tries to use his matter alteration power on her. Stein warns him that he's never used the power on living beings. It could cause a disaster. And he's right.

"AH, THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY ACTIONS!"

Our hero recovers quickly, and pursues Frost, only for her to seemingly crush him with a piece of wall. However, as part of his power set, Firestorm can pass through solid matter, so it doesn't hurt him. He goes through the floor, Frost in hot pursuit. Stein then has a moment of inspiration.

Frost is now a heat vampire. If she needs heat, then what happens if she is trapped in somewhere cold? That gives Ronnie his own idea, using his power to surround Frost and trap her in a refrigeration unit. As the temperature drops, she slowly becomes immobile. She pleads with Firestorm to let her out but then turns around and screams that she'll kill him. The issue ends with her being frozen solid, and Ronnie lamenting the situation. 

This was an... alright issue. I do think that Killer Frost being a heat vampire and using it to fuel her powers is a neat twist on how cryokinetic powers work. Other adaptations tend to ignore this aspect of her powers, and I think it's a shame. But I can understand why. Adaptations like to simplify where possible, after all.  

Honestly, I think Frost's transformation would have had more impact had we gotten to know the character a bit more when she was still human. Also, she talks about how she is treated with disrespect by her male co-workers, I would have liked to have seen more of that here. I also liked the tragic nature of Crystal's story. She thought she had found love with Stein, but he just saw her as a good student who needed a mentor and a friend. If Stein wasn't so brusque towards her, maybe things would have been different. 

I did like the scene where Stein and Ronnie were arguing early on about Ronnie misusing his powers, and how becoming Firestorm upends his own life. It makes sense there'd be friction between the two over being Firestorm. Remember, at this time, Stein has no control over the Firestorm Matrix. It's all Ronnie in the driver's seat. And even worse? At the time, Stein would have no memory of being Firestorm. So yeah, his life gets wrecked because Ronnie is high on being Firestorm. It's a shame this issue doesn't really resolve it or set up some way of resolving it in the future. I do get the intention of the ending, I just think the execution could be better. 

Al Milgrom is a fine artist. His work isn't unique like a Byrne or a Kirby or a Perez, or even the Buscemas, but the man does great artwork in his own right. It does the job just fine. 

Crystal Frost was the first Killer Frost, but she's arguably the most obscure of the Killer Frosts. That's because she didn't stick around too long. In Firestorm #21 (March 1984), it was discovered that her mutation was deteriorating her body, slowly killing her. Firestorm tried to give her his power in order to help sustain her, but her body couldn't handle it and she, well, blew up real good. But it would not be the end for Killer Frost.

Frost had a friend named Louise Lincoln. In her grief and desiring revenge against Firestorm over Crystal's death, she recreated the experiment that transformed Frost and became the second Killer Frost in Firestorm #34 (April 1985). She would be the current Killer Frost until the New 52 reboot.

With the New 52, a new Killer Frost was introduced: Caitlin Snow. First appearing in Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #19 (June 2013), she would be a member of the Suicide Squad and the Justice League. Now, I'm not sure if she was created for the CW Flash series and then brought into the comics, or it was the reverse like it was for the Ava Ayala incarnation of the White Tiger. Based on what I could figure out, she did come from the comics originally, but don't quote me on that. And since the DCU's been through at least twenty thousand continuity reboots since then, Killer Frost's history in the DCU now is basically just...who knows. 

To Gerry Conway, I say this: Thank you. Thank you for all your contributions to comics and television. Rest well. You earned it.

If you want to read this story for yourself, I suggest tracking down the 2011 trade paperback Firestorm: The Nuclear Man. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give my blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!