This next Darryl Banks piece was drawn for Roland Reedy back in 2002. Personally I love the joyous expression on Firestorm’s face and the crackling energy! Fun drawing!

Here is one final Darryl Banks drawing of Firestorm. This was done in 2005 for Robert Pozzi.  My only issue with this drawing is it identifies Robert as Firestorm’s biggest fan. Ahem, really?!?!? 

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That’s so friggin’ cool! As a mid-transformation piece, this is Firestorm’s equivalent of Clark Kent ripping open his shirt to reveal the “S”. Nice!

As reported previously, Fury of Firestorm co-plotter and cover artist Ethan Van Sciver has been spending time over on the DC Comics Message Board in the Firestorm forum. He’s been popping into numerous threads, in addition to his own dedicated thread, “FIRESTORM QUESTIONS FOR ETHAN VAN SCIVER! Ask here!”  You should really visit the message board and check out his comments. He’s been very open with the fans and has shared quite a lot!  We’ve posted some previously and today we’re going to look at some more!

Here are some enlightening comments regarding Fury:

• Ethan: Fury isn’t a character. It’s something else. Just let me and Joe Harris show you.
• Ethan: Not an entity either. I have to say, Fury isn’t supposed to speak. Gail made him talk. He’ll never utter another word from here on out.

Here is a comment about further international Firestorms:

• skaddix: So will see an Indian, Pakistani, and Israeli Firestorms?
• Ethan:  Yep. You’ll see one of those in #9.

Here is an exciting comment about a possible crossover:

• mhm22264: An Iranian Firestorm as well as a North Korean Firestorm would make for a great JLI crossover. The concepts of rogue nations making knock off Firestorms is scary as well. This concept has great potential to entertain and put underoos in a twist.
• Ethan:  We’re down to crossover with JLI! That’s almost definitely happening now. Stay tuned.

Here is a comment in response to a question about the Firestorm costumes:

• Ethan:  Costume changes are coming!

Finally, here is a revealing post by Ethan about the genesis of the new series:

Martin:

I’d respond to everyone if I didn’t think it wouldn’t be annoying. Sometimes I feel the need to respond, and other times I just don’t. I’m very shy and retiring, you see.

But it’s a good question, although one that I’m not sure you’ll like the answer to. I’ll tell you anyhow.

Dan Didio offered me Superman. He didn’t specify the capacity in which I’d work on Superman, but he said that’s where he wanted me. I love Superman, but I don’t think I draw him better than most artists. I like to read about him, not draw him. Dan asked what I wanted to do, and I told him I would love to draw FIRESTORM covers. He told Geoff Johns that, and then both of them told me that I should take the entire book. I declined, because I didn’t have an idea at that moment, and really wasn’t inspired by Brightest Day’s treatment of the character. I’m sorry, that’s just true.

But then I thought about it. I love the Cold War, and always thought that what made Firestorm unique wasn’t utilized properly in the series. Nuclear energy, radiation…it’s been frightening Americans (and the rest of the world) for 60 years. The idea that nations have been scrambling to gain control, power, and respect from each other by acquiring nuclear weapons interests me.

Also, the fact that Firestorm’s powers are what I refer to as an “applied power”, meaning that it’s the type of superhero fantasy that can happen to you or I, rather than Superman or Batman’s “powers”, opens up a very broad, very interesting opportunity. While riding in a taxi with Bob McLeod, we started talking about Firestorm, and I told him what I was thinking. And then it hit me, “What if Iran was trying to make a Firestorm?” And it was unstable and dangerous because it was bootleg technology, not to mention the fact that it was in the hands of a nation America doesn’t trust.

I talked to DC and asked about Martin Stein. They told me that he was dead, and that we couldn’t use him, except to refer to him in the past tense. So there was that slight obstacle to work with, although I had an idea for working around that.

We’re left with Ronnie and Jason. Instead of having them merge to become a superhero, making them each half of a superhero, with the awkwardness of whose face was the face being shown at any given time, I liked the idea of each boy being a Firestorm, but, to begin with, discovering that they could merge and become a very dangerous super-Firestorm.

Now, why did I feel free to make the change? Because DC told me I could. Because I spent the year touring and doing DC panels where Dan asked the audience which characters in Brightest Day were the most interesting, and time after time, no one clapped for Firestorm except for me. And because I think this idea, when it’s being done correctly, is far more compelling.

Moment of extreme truth: We got off to a rough start. I’m very shy when in a new collaboration. I didn’t speak up until issue #4, which I plotted entirely by myself, trying to steer the book into the direction that it was meant to go. There was messiness behind the scenes, obviously, and a new writer was brought on board to put the train squarely on the rails that follows my original proposal.

DC knows what’s going on, obviously. There’s a lot of buzz about Joe Harris and issue #7 at the office. We’re asking for a second chance. I think you’ll be amazed.

Ethan Van Sciver

PS, I love the letters columns too.

Wow! That really puts a lot of the new series in perspective. I really appreciate Ethan letting us know all these background details in the development of the new series. I can’t wait to read more, especially the Joe Harris issues!

Keep up with Ethan’s thoughts on Firestorm by visiting the DC Comics Message Board!

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Here are Andy Trabbold’s thoughts on his design:

My first thoughts on redesigning Firestorm was to un-busy his costume. I pared it way down, reversing the colors and leaving the white out. I also wanted to re-imagine his chest symbol as built into his frame. He’s a walking reactor now, barely containing the energy inside of him. He’s a nuclear man after all- a total powerhouse, and I wanted him to portray that message in a simple, succinct way.

My thanks to Michael Kaiser for the heads-up about this cool design!

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First up we have Firestorm by Terry Huddleston (Thuddleston on deviantART).

Terry drew this Firestorm back in 2008.  While I like this Firestorm, I’m even more impressed with his recent work. Terry has been doing a series of fantastic head-shots and full-body poses of various Marvel and DC characters.  Click here for Terry’s DC head-shots and click here for his DC full-body poses.  So cool!

Next up we have Killer Frost by Alessandro (AlexMax on deviantART).

I love the stylized look!  This is actually just one section of a larger drawing featuring seven members of the Secret Society.  Click here to see the entire piece also featuring: Clayface, Giganta, Gorilla Grodd, Deathstroke, Fatality, and Ocean Master.

My thanks to Dan from the It’s a Dan’s World blog for leading me to Terry Huddleston’s work. My thanks to Frank Lee Delano for leading me to Alessandro’s work. Check out Frank’s Power of the Atom blog for a great Hawkman by Alessandro, then follow the links for four more cool pieces by the same artist! Finally, check out Once Upon a Geek today as I’ve got artwork of Doctor Fate by both Terry Huddleston and Alessandro!

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We’ve now seen a few Brightest Day Firestorm sketches by Yildiray Cinar.  You can check out other Brightest Day Firestorm artwork by Yildiray by clicking here, clicking here, or clicking here.  Awesome stuff!  Sort of makes me sad he never got a chance to draw a post-Brightest Day Firestorm comic.

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Wild drawing!  A few interesting things to notice…

• Ronnie appears to be wearing his Firestorm costume, yet his head isn’t on fire and he doesn’t have the black eye liner.
• The Firestorm-ish guy tormenting Ronnie looks a lot like one of the Firestorms we got a sneak peek of in issue #1.
• I count three or four Firestorm-looking dudes tormenting Ronnie. From the parts we can see, each of them looks identical. Hmmm… nuclear powers… identical copies… Could this be The New 52 variation of Multiplex?  Probably not, but that would rock!

What are your thoughts?

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Man, I love the way Yildiray draws the Brightest Day Firestorm, Ronnie and Jason! You can check out other Brightest Day Firestorm artwork by Yildiray by clicking here and clicking here.

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At the New York Comic Con last week, our good friend Rob from THE AQUAMAN SHRINE had an opportunity to chat with Fury of Firestorm artist Yildiray Cinar. Rob was kind enough to get me a copy of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #1 signed by Yildiray! Thanks, Rob! That was incredibly generous of you!

While visiting with Yildiray, Rob mentioned that he and I have a podcast dedicated to Firestorm and Aquaman, THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST. Beyond all belief, Yildiray not only had heard of our show, but he said he just recently downloaded our latest episode! Yildiray then took out a sketch pad and spent about 10 minutes drawing this gorgeous piece for me!

OMG! Rob told me the sketch was entirely Yildiray’s idea. I’m completely stunned! Yildiray drew this sketch unsolicited and free of charge, FOR ME?!?!? Thanks, Yildiray! And my thanks to Rob for taking the time to talk with Yildiray, and for mailing the sketch to me. Like most artists, Yildiray normally charges folks for sketches. It’s just normal practice for an artist to charge for a sketch at a convention. The fact that Yildiray took ten minutes out of his busy schedule to draw this for me… I’m blown away!

It’s such a beautiful sketch of Ronnie Raymond as the new Firestorm! Well, it’s not really fair to call it a sketch. “Sketch” doesn’t do justice to this piece of art. You can see the pencil outline Yildiray started with. Then he inked the piece using his marker technique. Finally, he finished the piece using inkwash for the flames! Clearly this is much more than just a “sketch”! This is a full-blown work of art! I especially love the Kirby Dots, the wicked-cool cowl, and the hint of the chest emblem! Such attention to detail!

THANK YOU, YILDIRAY! This incredibly generous gift is sincerely appreciated. It means a lot that the creators behind the new Firestorm series have been so supportive of the FIRESTORM FAN site! Yildiray, Ethan, Gail… y’all rock!

You can keep up with Yildiray through his website, deviantART, Twitter, and Facebook! Be sure to tell him FIRESTORM FAN sent you!

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I didn’t even know this piece of artwork existed! Thankfully fellow match-head Philip Rutledge directed me to Heritage Auctions where it was being sold.  The auction ended on September 11 with a final sale price of $537.75.  Congrats to whoever picked up this beautiful piece!  Such a great piece of art with amazing line work! Click the image below for a much larger version (1.78 MB).

Below you’ll find the description from the Heritage Auctions website of the artwork above.

Pat Broderick The Fury of Firestorm #1 Alternative Unused Cover Original Art (DC, 1982). Firestorm busts a nuclear move on what we believe to be a preliminary cover design for The Fury of Firestorm #1, as it’s similar to that issue’s cover. The art has an image area of 10″ x 15″. Aside from some light paper tanning and light edge wear (well outside the image area), the condition is Very Good.

For comparison purposes, below you’ll find the published cover to THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #1 (1982).  I’m a little torn which would have made the better cover to issue #1.  My gut tells me the published artwork was the better choice, but I keep looking at the unpublished piece and finding more things I like about it.

For more Firestorm original artwork by Pat Broderick on Heritage Auctions, please click here.  If you like Firestorm original artwork, click here for a cool collection of scans assembled by Philip Rutledge.  In case you’re wondering, he doesn’t own all this original artwork, he just assembled the scans into one cool package.  Thanks, Phil!

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First up is the cover to his fourth sketchbook which he posted on his website.  According to Yildiray, this 28-page sketchbook features lots of behind-the-scenes stuff from Firestorm!  If you’re heading to the New York Comic Con October 13 – 16, check out Yildiray in Artist Alley at table V 18.  He’ll be selling signed sketchbooks for $10.  After the con, check with The Art of Comics for details on how to order a sketchbook.

Next up is the uncolored page 17 from THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #1.  Yildiray posted this to Twitter and Facebook.  Without the colors, you can clearly see the marker and inkwashes on this page.  Simply gorgeous!

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