Firestorm The Nuclear Man

I first started reading comics when I was around eight years old and Firestorm was one of the few titles that I collected back then. I guess the main appeal was probably his appearance. The flaming scalp/head and the amazing costume certainly caught my eye. It's still a little unbelievable to this day, that the character is still quite popular and has his own New 52 series as well.  No matter what changes and transformations he's been through, the Ronnie Raymond/Martin Stein era of the character still remains a favorite.

Firestorm was created by acclaimed writer Gerry Conway and artist Al Milgrom in the late 1970s.  He made his debut with a short lived series.  However, he made his triumphant return in the early 1980s with his own series again and as a member of the Justice League of America.  It's with that revival of his own series, that I "discovered" Firestorm thanks in part to Conway's captivating stories and the remarkable artwork by Pat Broderick.

Fighting the Black Bison

The Firestorm character was made up of two different people, Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein. As the origin goes, both were caught in a nuclear accident which allowed both of them to form the main character.  Raymond was the physical essence and Stein provided mental help and advise. Of course, the individual characters of Raymond (a high-school student) and Stein (a professor) were equally appealing in exploring the teen angst at the time as well.

The first issues featured a tussle with a Native American teacher, John Ravenhair, who had become possessed by his grandfather's spirit and given powers through an amulet.  Known as the Black Bison, Ravenhair battled Firestorm in those early issues and it was issue 2 that really caught my eye and got me hooked on the character.  Further in the series Firestorm fought with many other villains such as the Pied Piper, Multiplex, Typhoon and Killer Frost. Of course, most fans will remember Killer Frost as both she and Firestorm had starring roles in the classic Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries.  During the miniseries, Killer Frost was tricked into developing an attraction for Firestorm.




The character had a dramatic change later in the series as writer John Ostrander introduced a new element if you will, to the mythos.  After battling a Russian nuclear hero, both are fused together into the new Firestorm after a nuclear bomb is lobbed at them during their fight.  However, another change occurred with the character as he was now transformed into an earth elemental. At some point, Ronnie Raymond is eventually killed off by DC Comics in a company wide crossover miniseries.  A new Firestorm character is revised again with a new character Jason Rush taking the helm and with the New 52 initiative, the Firestorm saga began anew with the character's history completely erased and starting clean.

DC Comics hasn't republished Firestorm's adventures during the 1980s but if you'd like to order his first and early appearances order below:



Images courtesy DC Wikia