An EYE for an EYE

In time for Convergence, Eye finally caught up with DC Comics' weekly series New 52: Futures End that ended with #48.  Sadly, Eye was underwhelmed.  The series ended with a whimper, not a bang. 

It felt like the series had some direction at the beginning but then the creators and/or execs decided to just say "fuck it" and move on to the Next Big Thing (i.e., Convergence.)   It didn't even offer much of a lead-in to Convergence.  Brainiac started to come collect cities...but then they defeated him?   And pretty quickly, too.  Eye was quite confused.

Eye think what the series was also missing was interesting characters.  Or maybe they just weren't used properly.  Included were Batman Beyond, Shazam as Superman, Amethyst, Frankenstein, Grifter, Mister Terrific, Tim Drake (retired), and a new female Firestorm.  Meh.  Eye think DC did a much better job of using secondary characters in their 2006 weekly series 52.  Eye was invested in the 52 characters, not so much in the New 52 Futures End ones.

Eye wasted about $150 and who knows how many hours of my time waiting for something exciting and big to happen, but it never did.  And the series didn't even matter in the course of things. 

Move along, folks, there's nothing to see here...

Firestorm Burns and Fizzles

I was going to write about the comics that I read last night and then I realized that, for the life of me, I couldn't remember what they were.  Obviously, that was a telltale sign of how interminably unmemorable they were.  I knew it was two consecutive issues from one of DC Comics' New 52 series, but I could not remember which one.  After going down the list of titles two or three times to see if something would jar my memory, I finally remembered that it was The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #s 4 and 5. 

In the 1980s, I really loved the character Firestorm (aka Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein).  In fact, I even liked the Jason Rusch Firestorm series from 2004.  I cannot, though, get into this new series with the idea of multiple Firestorms.  It's too reminiscent of the Green Lanterns.  What's next?  The Firestorm Corps?  When someone in need yells out, "Help me, Firestorm!", twenty heads shouldn't turn.  

Not only is the concept unappealing to me, but the first five issues of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men have been complete snoozers.  Unfortunately, I can't even recall what has happened so far in the series; that's how boring it's been to me.  I guess with the revival of Ronnie Raymond as Firestorm, I expected MUCH better.  I also expected better from the high-quality writers of this series.  Silly me.   

HOT for Firestorm

Yes, I know it's been 6 years now since the new Jason Rusch Firestorm made his debut in Firestorm #1 (vol 3). But give me a break; I'm still playing catch-up with what's happened in the DC Universe since I stopped reading in 1994. Firestorm (aka, the Ronnie Raymond version) was always one of my favorite characters back in the 1980s. I'm not really sure why. He just was. Maybe because he was a teenager still trying to find his way and was thrust into this position of great power (sound familiar, Spidey fans?). Or maybe I liked him because his stories were self-contained. He didn't bleed over regularly into the other DC comics series and had his own cast of supporting characters and villains, including a love interest, Firehawk.

I've seen the new Firestorm (aka Jason Rusch) scattered throughout recent stories I've read in the modern DC Universe in the past couple of years. I haven't been that crazy about him, mostly because I didn't feel he had much depth to him and felt that the only reason that DC Comics chose the new Firestorm to be an African-American was to add some diversity to their superhero base. Plus, he seemed really cocky, which is an unattractive trait in a superhero, unless his name is Booster Gold. Booster's character was built on cockiness, and it suits him.

However, after picking up the third volume of the Firestorm series (#s 1-35) in an eBay auction, I'm really excited about this new Firestorm. Or maybe it's just the writing that excites me. The writer of the first thirteen issues, Dan Jolley, creates Jason Rusch with depth. He doesn't focus so much on action scenes. What he focuses on is character development and does it superbly. We're introduced to Jason, Jason's father, his best friend Mick, and assorted people Jason comes into contact with, both as Jason and as Firestorm. Jason has a job. Or...jobs. Not great ones; he is only a teenager, after all. So dressing in a chicken suit doesn't feel weird to him. Jason is also trying to get into college to make something of himself. Jason is REAL. He's a real teenager, trying to survive an abusive father, crappy jobs, and the seedy world around him.

When Jason meets Green Lantern and is given a Justice League signal device, he is overwhelmed with excitement. When he meets Superman, he's nervous and intimated to be in the presence of greatness. Jolley, by no means, creates this new Firestorm with any form of cockiness.

Lastly, Jolley does a fantastic job of intriguing the reader. He grabs their interest by throwing out question after question without providing answers right away. He keeps the reader begging for more and hooks them into picking up the next issue. To me, that's the sign of a great writer. Always leave them wanting more... (I guess that also applies to the dating world.)

I breezed through Jolley's thirteen issues of Firestorm in no time. His stories (and the superb artwork) tell so much, yet keep us guessing. How did Jason get the Firestorm power? Why did it (if it did) pick him? Why is Jason's dad so abusive toward him? Why is his dad missing a hand? Will Jason get out of the Detroit ghetto and into college?

I look forward to reading the rest of the series of Firestorm's volume 3, but sad that Dan Jolley didn't write it. It won't be nearly as exciting. Here's hoping Jolley returns to DC Comics' mainstream comics soon. I'd love to see what magic he can create with other characters. Look out, Geoff Johns -- you've got some competition!

p.s. Totally off topic, when I searched Google for Firestorm images, the below one popped up. Is this for the new upcoming DC Comics' series, "Superhero Playgirl?"