In this first panel, Jason gets busted by Dick Grayson (a.k.a. Night-Stick-in-the-Mud-Wing) for trying to liven up the party.

In this next panel, Jason keeps the fun going by using his atomic restructuring powers to play DJ!  And he’s apparently got a special message just for me!  Seriously folks, this is an unaltered panel.

Thanks, Jason! You know I’m rockin’ it! … and is that Wonder Woman grinding on the Shaggy Man?!?!? That’s some wild party!

Don’t forget to pick up The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #4 on sale this Wednesday!

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Happy holidays to the readers of FIRESTORM FAN! It’s been a fantastic year here and I sincerely appreciate all the support and comments! Y’all are the best! Ho Ho Ho!

Have a very happy holidays!

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Right out of the gate I wanted to tackle one of DC’s biggest, baddest villains of all – DARKSEID!  Believe it or not, Firestorm has gone toe-to-toe with Darkseid on a few occasions and somehow managed to survive!

First up is a scene from Justice League of America #185 (Dec 1980) written by Gerry Conway and drawn by George Perez & Frank McLaughlin.  In this scene Firestorm gives Darkseid a taste of his own medicine!

Now admittedly, the comic above was published back before Darkseid was THE big bad of the DC Universe.  Nowadays, Firestorm probably wouldn’t be able to pull off such a simple stunt against Darkseid.  In fact, the next time Firestorm was face-to-face with Darkseid, things went very differently.  Below is a scene from Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol III #35 (June 2007) written by Dwayne McDuffie and drawn by Pop Mhan & Steve Bird.

Yeah, that’s right.  Darkseid just showed up and literally ripped Firestorm apart.  Wow.  That’s serious power!

Let’s tally up the two battles… looks like the final scores between Firestorm and Darkseid were: One victory each!  I don’t know about you, but I’d gladly accept a tie with Darkseid.  Heck, I’d gladly accept just surviving against Darkseid!

Watch for more UNUSUAL SUSPECTS in the weeks to come!

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Below is a little Thanksgiving fun from the 2003 JSA/JLA Thanksgiving get-together in JSA #54.  This issue featured Ronnie when he was operating solo as Firestorm.

Firestorm and Doctor Fate together!  Two of my favorites!  And poor Ronnie, he never seems to say the right thing around women.

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You can find the seventh episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST on iTunes. While you’re there, please drop us a review on the iTunes page. Every comment helps! Alternatively, you may download the podcast by right-clicking here, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (52 MB).

Thanks again to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on these episodes! Additionally, special thanks to Daniel Adams and his band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our super-cool outro theme!

Thanks for listening! Send your feedback to: firewaterpodcast@comcast.net

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Justice League of America #179 – “The Siren Song of the Satin Satan” (June 1980)
Justice League of America #180 – “A Beautiful Evil” (July 1980)
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Dick Dillin
Inks: Frank McLaughlin
Covers: Jim Starlin

JLA #179 was Firestorm’s induction into the League, so technically this was his first case as a JLA member. For your first JLA case, you’d hope to fight a really well-known villain, right? Like Amazo, Despero, Kanjar Ro, or even the Shaggy Man. Well, sorry Ronnie, you got … The Satin Satan.

The Satin Satan was also known as Sabrina Sultress, a high paid fashion model. Check out that cool hair!

In addition to being a fashion model, we discovered she was also a sorceress! Prowling popular New York discotheques (yes, that’s right discotheques), the Satin Satan looked for young men to bewitch and steal away for her own nefarious purposes. She had the ability to control the minds of young men and transform humans into animated mannequins.

She made the mistake of abducting Rosco Remington, the brother of one of Ronnie Raymond’s friends. Firestorm investigated and of course got himself captured by the Satin Satan. Oh, Ronnie, always a fool for the ladies. Thankfully, Firestorm did manage to activate his JLA emergency signal. The Justice League of America responded and confronted the Satin Satan at a roller disco called Hell on Wheels (a roller disco!!!)! It was revealed that Sabrina Sultress was the host for an evil demon called Sataroth, the daughter of Satanni (whoever that is).

The battle concluded with Zatanna casting the demon Sataroth out of Sabrina Sultress. We’re left thinking Sabrina was just an innocent victim in all this, until the final panel…

Shockingly, Firestorm never encountered the Satin Satan again. Given Sabrina’s devious smile at the end, perhaps she’s still out there preying on young men at modern-day raves. Watch yourself boys…

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When Firestorm premiered his cowl featured pointed temples. While this feature wasn’t critical to his overall costume, it was an interesting accent. See the red angled points near his eyes in the image below from FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #1 (Mar. 1978) drawn by Al Milgrom, Klaus Janson, and Joe Rubinstein.

Interestingly enough, while the pointed temples appeared inside the comic, they were slightly different on the cover. Below is an image from the cover of FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #1 (Mar. 1978) drawn by Al Milgrom. Notice the pointed temples have been replaced by a angled corner. I’m guessing the cover was done while they were still finalizing the interiors, which would explain the inconsistency. I believe this is the only time Al Milgrom drew the angled corner instead of the pointed temples.

Below you can see Al Milgrom’s Firestorm from the cover of FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #4 (Sept. 1978). Pointed temples present and accounted for!

After the DC Implosion and the cancellation of his series, Firestorm disappeared for a year or so. Our favorite Nuclear Man didn’t resurface until DC COMICS PRESENTS #17 (Jan. 1980). Below you can see Firestorm on the cover of that comic drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Steve Mitchell. Pointed temples? Check!

After that, Firestorm was a regular in the JLA. Below is an interior page from JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #179 (June 1980) drawn by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. Notice Firestorm’s cowl features the angled corner instead of the pointed temples. I’m guessing Dick Dillin used the cover of FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #1 as a reference.

Next Firestorm had his own back-up feature in several issues of THE FLASH.  Below is a close-up from an interior page of THE FLASH #292 (Dec. 1980) drawn by George Perez and Bob Smith. Nice job George including the pointed temples! By the way, it’s worth noting that George still draws Firestorm with the pointed temples! Click here to see a George Perez Firestorm sketch from 2009! Amazing attention to detail, George!

The pointed temples continued to appear in THE FLASH back-up stories for a while longer. Below is a image from THE FLASH #302 (Oct. 1981) drawn by Denys Cowan and Rodin Rodriguez.

Notice below the pointed temples in THE FLASH #302 (Oct. 1981) drawn by Denys Cowan and Rodin Rodriguez. Here you can see Firestorm floating unconscious with a garbage scow closing in on him.

In the very next issue the pointed temples are nowhere to be seen. Below you’ll see an image from THE FLASH #303 (Nov. 1981) picking up where the image above left off. The scene is set the same, just without the attractive temple accents. It’s worth noting this issue was the first time Firestorm was drawn by Pat Broderick. The inker for this issue was Adrian Gonzales. This was the only issue of THE FLASH Adrian Gonzales inked. It’s possible the change in artists resulted in the loss of the pointed temples (whether accidentally or purposefully). Perhaps the loss of the pointed temples was so overwhelming to Firestorm, he passed out in the river. I know I would have been depressed to lose such rockin’ cowl accents.

The pointed temples returned one last time in THE FLASH #304 (Dec. 1981) drawn by Pat Broderick and Rodin Rodriguez as you can see below. The primary difference between issues #303 (above) and #304 (below) was the inker. Rodin Rodriguez, the inker for #304, had been inking the Firestorm back-up features for some time. It’s possible Rodriguez added the pointed temples to issue #304 since he would have been aware of them from inking previous issues. This would be the final regular appearance of the pointed temples. After this they would only show up once in a blue moon, but they were always a fluke rather than a regular cosmetic feature.

Below is an interior panel from THE FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #1 (June 1982) drawn by Pat Broderick and Rodin Rodriguez. This representation of Firestorm’s cowl became the standard look for our favorite Nuclear Man going forward.

It’s worth noting down the line Firestorm featured other cowl accents. Below you’ll see the cowl-sideburns which premiered in FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #65 (November 1987) drawn by Ross Andru. The cowl-sideburns were a distinct feature of the “Blank Slate” Firestorm and hung around until FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #85 (May 1989).

Finally, Ronnie Raymond is currently sporting a unique cowl accent. See an example below drawn by Ethan Van Sciver. I’m not sure exactly what to call them; maybe cheek-bone tips? It would be interesting to find out if Ronnie’s current cowl accents were inspired by the pointed temples, the cowl-sideburns, or some new idea all together.

Rounding back to or original question… who is responsible for the disappearance of the pointed temples? We may never know. However, my instinct tells me it was Pat Broderick who did away with the pointed temples (whether accidentally or purposefully). Broderick became the regular artist of Firestorm beginning with THE FLASH #303 and the pointed temples only appeared once more. Now keep in mind that’s my own speculation. We may never know the truth…

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To view all 104 covers to Justice League of America #50, please visit the Hero Initiative website. Below you’ll find a few Firestorm-related covers…

 Below is a cover by Firestorm co-creator Al Milgrom! This is one of the few covers to feature Firestorm. Click the cover to enlarge.

Below is a cover by Scott Koblish (inker of O.M.A.C.). Not only does the cover include Firestorm, but also Aquaman, Doctor Fate, Flash, Vibe, and so many other favorites! I couldn’t resist posting it! Click the cover to enlarge.

Below is a cover by current Firestorm artist Yildiray Cinar! It doesn’t include Firestorm, but it’s gorgeous! Click the cover to enlarge.

Finally, below is a cover by future Firestorm inker Norm Rapmund! Again, no Firestorm, but beautiful line work! Click the cover to enlarge.

To check out all 104 covers to Justice League of America #50, please visit the Hero Initiative website.

Special thanks to our buddy liquidcross (of The Indigo Tribe and Text and Violence) for the heads-up on these covers! Thanks, liquidcross!

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I love the reference to Rick Springfield! So does anyone remember why Superman wanted Firestorm to create that transparent sphere?

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If you look closely, each hero has been placed so they have a counterpart on the other side.  For example, Superman (JLA) has Superman (JSA) as his counterpart;  Snapper Carr (JLA) has Johnny Thunder (JSA) as his counterpart.  Firestorm’s counterpart is the Atom, which makes sense as the Atom was nuclear-powered during that time period.

Such a beautiful piece by George Perez!  I wish it was a poster!

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