Firestorm. The Nuclear Man. Since 1978, this fiery fury had been bringing the heat to the bad guys. The people using the mantle may change, but there was always one constant: The Nuclear Man would always burn brightly. The character was rather unique for one thing: Firestorm was actually two people who would merge into one being. One was the body, and the other would take the form of a spectral head. The most iconic combination is high school/college student Ronnie Raymond and physicist Martin Stein. Over the years, other people would combine to form Firestorm, most notably Jason Rusch.
The character would go on to appear in various media outside of comics, mainly focusing on the Raymond/Stein combination. The character first appeared outside of comics in the final two incarnations of the long-running
Superfriends cartoon series. He was intended to be the focus character of the
Justice League Unlimited episode "The Greatest Story Never Told", but got changed to Booster Gold. Sadly, the creatives of that story could not come up with a story starring the character that they liked. I think he did appear in the comic tie-in, though. Incarnations of Firestorm would continue to appear in other cartoons and animated movies, as well as in the Arrowverse family of TV shows.
But how did the character get his start? Well, that's what we're going to look at here. Let's take a look at the beginnings of the original Firestorm
in Firestorm the Nuclear Man #1!
The cover is pretty cool. It showcases the big unique gimmick of Firestorm: That the Nuclear Man is actually two people in one superpowered body. The cover promises an explosive first issue, and it's not kidding about that. You'll see what I mean. I also love seeing Firestorm fly out at the reader, and I have noticed there's something rather Kirby-esque about it. Maybe Al Milgrom was feeling the desire to channel his inner Jack Kirby when drawing this.
"Make Way for Firestorm!"
Writers: Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom
Artist: Al Milgrom
Inkers: Klaus Janson and Josef Rubinstein
Letterer: Todd Klein
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Editor: Jack C. Harris
Executive Editor: Joe Orlando
The story begins with Firestorm flying through the sky.
He's feeling pretty good. He can fly, and he is just enjoying it so much. A two-page spread then is used to show off his powers as he is flying the friendly skies over New York City. He stops a car accident by turning a taxi into water with his power to alter atoms, flies right through a police helicopter to show his intangibility, and the like. A voice in his head reminds him of more serious matters they have to attend to. And that serious matter? One Eddie Earhart, the man who made Firestorm what he is today.
The scene then shifts to a classroom, presumably earlier in the day. A teacher asks when
Charles I of England was beheaded. Ronnie Raymond thinks he's got this nailed, but his classmate and
future Thinker Cliff Carmichael is quicker on the draw.
Carmichael gets his hand up first again with the next question. With the third question, a frustrated Ronnie yells he knows the answer, but is admonished for being rude.
At the cafeteria, Ronnie is having lunch with a girl named Doreen. Ronnie wonders why Cliff acts the way he does, but Doreen thinks he's just jealous. Ronnie can't see why Cliff would be jealous of him, as he is a "B- Average" student, but Cliff is a genius. Really, it's because Ronnie had a bit of a thing for Doreen, and Cliff makes him feel like an idiot. Cliff taunts Ronnie about his supposed stupidity. Ronnie angrily leaps up to confront the future Thinker, but accidentally causes his lunch to be spilled all over Doreen.
Cliff has some laughs about it, but Doreen thinks he's being a jerk. A depressed Ronnie decides to go take a walk on the school grounds. He was hoping that after all the constant moving thanks to his father's newspaper job, he could finally put down roots. But it does fell like nothing is going right for him lately. The principal, Dr. Wallace Hapgood, notices Ronnie walking around and figures maybe the kid could use a friendly ear.
Meanwhile, at the new experimental Hudson Nuclear Power Plant, we meet one Professor Martin Stein.
A Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Stein was the man who designed and built this plant. Fully automated and foolproof, it's the first plant of its kind. He notices the protesters outside on a screen, worried about the plant's safety. A bit ahead of its time, considering this comic did come out a year before
the accident at Three Mile Island. However, Stein isn't worried about this plant becoming a prelude to it because of all the fail-safes he put in. He then gets a visitor.
The visitor's name is Danton Black, and he's got a bit of a beef with Stein. He claims that Stein stole his plans for the plant during his time as Stein's assistant, but Stein angrily denies it. Black has a representative of the Nuclear Regulations Council with him. The rep states that the Council will have to deny him permission to start the plant until they can investigate this. Stein is furious, claiming that he fired Black because he stole equipment from him.
As they leave, Stein goes into a panic. He fears that if the public learns that this plant was ordered to shut down, they'll believe it was due to a fault in the plant's design. And since people are a bit skittish about nuclear power, they'll fight to
keep the plant closed...and all of Stein's work will be for nothing. Stein decides that he's not going to listen to the Council. The plant is going online tonight!
Back at the Raymond home, Ronnie is making himself some dinner when he gets a call from his father. He's working late, so he can't join his son for dinner. Ronnie is watching TV alone, when he sees news report about the protests at Stein's plant. They're led by a man named Edward "Eddie" Earhart. This gives Ronnie an idea. To prove to Doreen that he's not an idiot, he's going to join the protest. Uh, Ronnie? I don't think Doreen minds that you're not as smart as Cliff Carmichael. You could just work on improving your study habits. That would be more helpful. Doreen tries to convince him that this was a bad idea, but Ronnie hangs up and heads out. He arrives at Earhart's group's HQ.
Earhart has much darker plans than a simple protest. He doesn't just plan to keep the plant from activating, he wants to make sure the plant no longer
exists. Earhart and his group, with Ronnie in tow, heads to the plant and sneaks inside. Ronnie understandably is not comfortable with this. Protesting is fine, but what Earhart plans to do is illegal. Ronnie refuses to go along with blowing up the plant, as it could kill someone. Earhart is understanding of this, and shows that he has considered Ronnie's point by giving him a Mighty Punch to the jaw.
Martin Stein is watching this from a screen, and goes to stop this. Because the plant has no guards. Because guards would TOTALLY not be needed in a situation like this.
Sheesh. Anyway, Stein also eats a Mighty Punch from Earhart. Earhart decides that he'd better get rid of these two. So he figures, "Hey, put them near the atomic pile. When we blow it up, it'll rid us of them, too!" Earhart and his men flee, as they have another plant to blow up. Ronnie slowly wakes up.
As this is going down, Danton Black arrives at the plant. He's snuck in to copy some plans from the plant's computers. He noticed that the plant had already had been broken into. Ronnie tries to get Stein out before the pile explodes, but...
Ronald Raymond and Martin Stein should be dead. But fate had other plans. Danton Black also ends up eating a blast of radiation from the explosion. Ronnie and Stein seem to merge together, forming a brand new being.
This new combined being discovers he can read the atomic structure of the broken wall. Not just that, he can alter the molecular structure of the air to repair the wall. He also discovers that he needs a pair of pants. Clearly. No problem! He makes himself a fancy new costume.
He also decides to call himself Firestorm, because that's what you get after a nuclear explosion. Okay. Ronnie then hears an odd voice in his head. It's Martin Stein, allowing the two to actually "meet" for the first time. Ronnie has general control over the combined body, as Stein was unconscious during the explosion. The first thing the two decide to do is get Eddie Earhart, as he's got plans to destroy an atomic plant in Jersey. But first, they have to test out their new powers. Unknown to either Ronnie or Martin, Danton Black is still in the plant's remains, and his body is starting to glow.
But that was all in the past. Let's go to the present. Firestorm is thrashing Eddie's gang. Which is not surprising as he can make himself transparent and can turn their weapons into cucumbers. Earhart hears police sirens, and panics. He's not going to be caught. After all the failures in his life, he's not going to suffer being taken by the police. He tries to use his explosives to kill himself, but Firestorm is able to absorb the blast while leaving Eddie unhurt.
Firestorm gives Earhart a Mighty Punch, and flies off. A little payback from Ronnie Raymond. He flies off and heads to Manhattan. There, he catches sight of his reflection in a store window. He freaks out for some reason. Seriously, did Ronnie expect to not have changed in appearance at all after the explosion? Well, his freaking out triggers another transformation.
Ronnie and Martin split back into their normal selves. This leaves Ronnie wondering if this is permanent...or only temporary. Martin Stein is confused, as he has no memory of his time as Firestorm. Evidently, this can be presumed to be another effect of his being unconscious when Firestorm was created. The story ends with Ronnie helping Martin to his feet, and introducing himself as his friend.
This story was quite enjoyable. It's pretty obvious that Gerry Conway was trying to basically repeat the formula of the sadly late Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's work on Spider-Man. The average teenager with the alliterative name, the high school drama, all reminiscent of Spider-Man. I guess that's why I like this issue.
Firestorm's first solo series would not last very long, only about five issues. This was due to an event known as the "
DC Implosion". In 1978, due to poor sales in the winter of 1977, DC cancelled 40 percent of its books and laid off some of its staff. Al Milgrom, who did the art for this comic, was one of the people who got axed. Firestorm's story would not end, though. Gerry Conway would bring the character into the Justice League title, where he was portrayed as the rookie hero learning the ropes of heroism from the best.
His sixth issue would be adapted into backup stories in the Flash's solo title [Issues #289-304 (September 1980 - December 1981)]. He also would get a second solo series:
The Fury of Firestorm. This series would last from 1982 until 1990. Ronnie Raymond would get killed off in the
Identity Crisis mini-series in 2004, and a third series would arrive that same year, focusing on a new Firestorm: Jason Rusch. That series would last for thirty issues, and Ronnie Raymond would return in the
Blackest Night event.
With DC semi-rebooting its universe in the wake of
Flashpoint in 2011, a fourth series was started that focused on Raymond and Rusch as Firestorm. This one lasted about twenty issues. If you want to read this issue yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2011 trade paperback
Firestorm: The Nuclear Man. It collects Firestorm's original five-issue series, and it also has the sixth issue in its original form. It also has the backup tales from the Flash solo series.
Next time...well, this is it. After one whole year, it finally comes to an end. Next time, we take a look at the final issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths....
