Stealing an idea from my buddy Rob at The Aquaman Shrine, here are some of the more popular posts from FIRESTORM FAN in 2011:

• Ethan Van Sciver Exclusive Interview with FIRESTORM FAN
• Gail Simone Interview with FIRESTORM FAN
• Brian Clevinger: Exclusive Interview about Firestorm
• Gerry Conway & Al Milgrom Exclusive Interview
• John Ostrander: Exclusive Interview with FIRESTORM FAN
• Stuart Moore: Exclusive Interview with FIRESTORM FAN
• McDonalds Happy Meal Toy for Firestorm! & McDonalds Happy Meal Firestorm Toy: The Low Down
• Firestorm in the New Justice League?
• Blackest Night to Brightest Day: What a Long Strange Trip
• OFFICIAL: New Firestorm Series by Van Sciver, Simone, and Cinar
• B’wana Beast Cosplay – Traffic to that post is being driven by the woman cosplaying the Goblin Queen. 

To close out the year, enjoy Jason’s New Year’s Eve celebration as he rang in 2007. Story by Stuart Moore with art by Jamal Igle. I’ll talk with ya again next year!

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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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In Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol. III #27 (Sept. 2006) by Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle, Mikhail Arkadin returned to comics after a more than fifteen year absence.  Some time prior to his reappearance, Mikhail was exposed to plutonium from a dirty bomb while inspecting a former Soviet power plant in Lithuania.  This resulted in Mikhail gaining his new powers.  He adopted a new costume and began calling himself Firestorm.  Since then he’d been operating in Eastern Europe trying to prevent nuclear disasters.  Once Firehawk informed Mikhail of Jason’s role as Firestorm, he re-adopted to his Pozhar codename.  Sadly, we also discovered that his wife Nina had left him some time ago.  When Jason first met Mikhail in issue #28, a battle nearly erupted between the two of them (in classic superhero team-up fashion).

Next, our heroes were ambushed by some atomically-powered Dolly cyborgs. In his Pozhar identity, Mikhail helped Firestorm and Firehawk defeat the man-machines.

Y’know, I really dig Pozhar’s symbol on this costume.  It’s like a zoomed-in version of the classic Firestorm symbol.  If you look, you can clearly make out the edge of the sun symbol, along with the three electron paths.  Nice attention to detail, Mr. Igle!

Then, in an effort to trace the origins of the Dolly attackers, our favorite Nuclear heroes freed the Pionic Man (a former Firestorm foe) from his containment at S.T.A.R. Labs.  This lead to Hewitt Enterprises, the place where Lorraine first became Firehawk against her will (in Fury of Firestorm #17, way back in Oct. 1983).  Mikhail joined Lorraine and Professor Stein in their investigation at Hewitt Enterprises.  There they met Victor Hewitt, CEO of the company and son of Henry Hewitt.

Later, Jason discovered that Victor Hewitt was actually Henry Hewitt (a.k.a. former Firestorm villain Tokomak).  After being defeated by Firestorm way back in Fury of Firestorm Annual #1 (1983), Henry merged with a clone of himself taking on the role of his own son, Victor Hewitt.  Victor had been manipulating events in Firestorm’s life for quite some time, including directing the actions of: the Pupil, the Pionic Man, the Dollies, and even Jason’s girlfriend Gehenna (who turned out to be another altered clone of Henry Hewitt – awkward!).  Victor explained his imminent plan for causing numerous nuclear disasters around the world, while at the same time making himself invincible. Jason, Professor Stein, Firehawk, the Pionic Man, and Pozhar put a stop to Tokomak before he could realize his mad scheme.  During the final battle, Jason unintentionally caused Tokomak’s death.

With the world saved, our heroes took some time to catch their breath.  When we last saw Mikhail, he and Lorraine were ringing in 2007 with a New Year’s Eve kiss.

This was Mikhail’s last appearance before the New 52.  I gotta say, there are certainly worse ways to go out.  Way to go, Mikhail!

That’s it for today! Come back tomorrow as we wrap-up our look at Pozhar!

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When we first met Mikhail Arkadin (the man who would become Pozhar), it was after the Chernobyl accident.  The majority of his skin had been burned off and he continued to burn uncontrollably; miraculously he survived.  Below is the first shot we ever saw of Mikhail taken from Fury of Firestorm vol. II #62 (Aug. 1987), drawn by Joe Brozowski and Dick Giordano.

After being recruited by Major Zastrow, Mikhail was fitted with a Rocket Red suit of armor.  Around this time he was assigned the codename “Pozhar”, meaning “destructive fire”.  Below you see Mikhail testing his powers taken from Fury of Firestorm vol. II #63 (Sept. 1987), drawn by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la Rosa.

After surviving the blast of a nuclear missile, Pozhar and Firestorm were fused into one single entity.  This merged being became the new Firestorm; an incarnation I refer to as the “blank slate” Firestorm.  Below is the first image we ever saw of this new Firestorm taken from Firestorm the Nuclear Man Annual vol. II #5 (1987), drawn by Joe Brozowski and Alfredo Alcala.

When not Firestorm, Mikhail was returned to his Russian home.  His body had returned to normal and his Pozhar powers were only present when he was part of Firestorm.  Below is a shot of Mikhail Arkadin looking quite normal taken from Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol. II #80 (Dec. 1988), drawn by Tom Grindberg and Sam de la Rosa.

In Firestorm vol. II #85 (May 1989), Ronnie Raymond and Mikhail Arkadin were permanently absorbed (or so we thought) into the Firestorm entity.  The resulting merger created the Firestorm Elemental incarnation.  Below is the cover to Firestorm vol. II #92 (Dec. 1989) featuring the Elemental Firestorm drawn by Tom Mandrake.

In Firestorm vol. II #100 (Aug. 1990), the Elemental Firestorm released Mikhail and Ronnie.  Mikhail was joyously reunited with his wife and children.  This was the last time we’d see Mikhail for a long while.

More than fifteen years later, Mikhail returned in Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol. III #27 (Sept. 2006).  Mikhail had regained his Pozhar powers after being exposed to plutonium released by a dirty bomb.  Mikhail resumed being a superhero, and even teamed up with Firestorm again during the Jason Rusch/Professor Stein era.  Below you’ll find an image of Mikhail’s new Pozhar costume taken from Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol. III #27 (Sept. 2006) drawn by Jamal Igle and Keith Champagne.

Finally, below is the cover from The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men vol. IV #4 drawn by Ethan Van Sciver.  It features a character we believe to be the New 52 incarnation of Pozhar.  We don’t know much about this new Pozhar other than he’s Russian.  Hopefully some semblance of the fantastic character of Mikhail Arkadin will remain within the reimagined Pozhar.

That’s it for today!  Come back tomorrow as we continue our look at Pozhar!

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Below you’ll find the uninhibited cover art.  Click the image to enlarge.

Below is the cover including the trade dress noting the connection to Infinite Crisis.

Did I mention Donna Troy is super-hot?  Okay, just wanted to be sure.

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Stuart Moore wrote FIRESTORM vol III for 19 issues from 2005 through 2007.  Thanks to the length of his run, Stuart has written Jason Rusch more than any other writer.  Stuart’s run brought dramatic changes for the FIRESTORM title, including: the return of Professor Martin Stein and Mikhail Arkadin, Firehawk joined the Firestorm matrix, incredible growth in Jason’s character, the introduction of Gehenna, and much more!

Stuart Moore has been a writer, a book editor, and an award-winning comics editor. He’s written many titles, such as: NAMOR: THE FIRST MUTANT, CLOAK & DAGGER, WOLVERINE NOIR, THE 99, DETECTIVE COMICS, EARTHLIGHT, PARA, SHADRACH STONE, and much more!  Before turning to writing, Stuart was a book editor at St. Martin’s Press, publishing a wide variety of science fiction and pop culture books. More recently he served as editor of the Virgin Comics / SciFi Channel comics line, and of the bestselling Marvel Knights imprint, where his credits included Brian Michael Bendis’s ALIAS and DAREDEVIL and the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon PUNISHER. At DC Comics, Stuart was a founding editor of the acclaimed Vertigo imprint, where he won the Will Eisner award for Best Editor 1996 and the Don Thompson Award for Favorite Editor 1999. His editorial credits there include PREACHER, THE INVISIBLES, SWAMP THING, HELLBLAZER, THE BOOKS OF MAGIC, TRANSMETROPOLITAN, and too many others to mention.

Stuart was kind enough to spend some time discussing his run on Firestorm with FIRESTORM FAN.

BACKGROUND

FIRESTORM FAN: How did you first get interested in reading comics and what were some of your favorites?

STUART MOORE: Most people I know either liked DC or Marvel growing up…I have a slightly different story. When I was young, I only read DC Comics; I think I still have a copy of ACTION from when I was five years old. Then, when I was in high school, a friend sat me down with huge piles of Marvel comics — this was before trade paperbacks, but it was the same effect, just enormously long, sprawling runs of stories. And it completely changed me, opened up my mind to all this great, crazy stuff. So to me, DC Comics are the books I loved as a kid, but Marvel are the really exciting, dangerous ones.

FF: What attracted you to writing comics and how did you break into the business?

SM: I’d always done some writing, but I started out as a book editor, then a comics editor. When I was at DC/Vertigo, DC wasn’t really encouraging staff people to write anymore, which I understood — there’s a lot of potential for conflicts of interest there. Though I’ve come around a bit to thinking it can be managed, and that some of the best work of the ’70s and ’80s was done by writer/editors.

Anyway, I left DC in 1999 and had a short stint at Marvel Knights, then started writing full time. I wrote everything — indy stuff, my own work, short stories for anthologies. I still do, actually. Jumping around between genres, styles, and companies keeps me fresh.

FF: What do you find are the major influences on your work?

SM: There are a hell of a lot of them, actually. In comics: Alan Moore, Steve Gerber, Howard Chaykin. In books: Philip K. Dick, Charles Willeford, Cordwainer Smith, recently Rick Moody. A lot of film, too, particularly the work of Alex Cox.

FF: Who would win in a fight – Willie Lumpkin or Doiby Dickles?

SM: Bet on the mailman. He’s got all the keys.

FIRESTORM

FF: How did you get the Firestorm assignment?

SM: I’d written some JLA ADVENTURES stories for Steve Wacker, who fled to Marvel after almost a year editing the monstrous 52. At that time, Steve had recently inherited FIRESTORM, which was going through a gradual but full creative team changeover. Steve knew I had a background in science fiction and thought that would work for the character.

FF: You incorporated lots of Firestorm history into your run (i.e. Firehawk, Pozhar, Tokamak).Were you familiar with the character before taking the job? If so, do you have any favorite issues, storylines, or characters?

SM: I love the character…I actually got hooked in the first few issues of the very first run, when it was abruptly canceled in the middle of a storyline. It was the purest example of a Marvel-style character in the middle of the DC Universe, which was pretty cool at the time. Firestorm also had a great rogues’ gallery, and Firehawk was a volatile, exciting supporting character.

FF: What aspects of Firestorm did you enjoy writing the most? What aspects did you find the most challenging to write?

SM: I really liked Jason, the character. It was very important to me to deal with his relationship with his father and his mother, whom I introduced. The stuff with the father was tricky because the book had been written into a corner: In the very first issue, before I came onboard, we’d seen Jason’s father hitting him. To my mind, once you do that, the character either has to fight back directly or else he has to roll out a series of complex, difficult distancing techniques, which people in abusive relationships do all the time. I worked pretty hard on that aspect of the story.

The pseudo-science was fun too. And the racial undertones, which were mostly in the background but very, very important to who the character was.

The challenging part was that the editorial mandates about the character changed frequently. That’s part of working on a company-owned book, and I think we rolled with it all pretty gracefully.

FF: Were there any situations where editorial or company-wide events impacted your plans? Did the Infinite Crisis, Villains United, and OMAC Project tie-in stories come naturally or did they create challenges for you?

SM: Oh, that was part of the game from day one. FIRESTORM was a borderline-selling book when I came on; we knew we had to take every opportunity offered to keep sales up. And I liked the idea of Jason, who had just graduated from high school, being the young guy thrown into the middle of the DCU, almost like an identification character for the reader. “That’s Donna Troy! She looks like a goddess!” That sort of thing.

FF: What would you say are some elements that make a story a “Firestorm story”, rather than just any other superhero story?

SM: There have been several different takes on the character, so I don’t know if you can generalize too much. But to me, it’s the interplay between the two people making up the persona. We dealt with that in a lot of different combinations. I initially resisted bringing Professor Stein back into the book, but I will say that once it was him and Jason, the character just MOVED. It shows that Gerry Conway knew what he was doing — the young kid, all energy and impulse, combined with the older man who knew the science. They’re doing a variant on that now, with Jason as the science-savvy half.

FF: While working on Firestorm, you had the opportunity to work with Jamal Igle on interiors, and Matt Haley & Brian Stelfreeze on covers. What were some characteristics these artists brought to your stories? Did you write full-script or plot-first, and how collaborative were your relationships?

SM: Full script, as I write just about everything. Jamal was a great collaborator…he’s very underrated; he can draw anything, and when you give him a little room, there’s an amazing power to his action sequences. I had a storyline in mind that we didn’t get to, a racially sensitive story about Jason’s mother, and I probably would have asked Jamal to be a more active co-plotter on that.

As for the covers, both artists were just great. I didn’t have much direct interaction with Matt or Brian, but they did superlative work.

FF: You created some interesting supporting characters for the Firestorm title. Were there any you enjoyed writing more than others?

SM: Gehenna was a lot of fun…her directness, her lack of tact. I thought Professor Stein would be a drag, but I kind of liked him as the shell-shocked older guy among all these young people. And Lorraine, Firehawk, was great to write. I loved that she had a whole career, a calling that was important to her and that had nothing to do with being a superhero. Sometimes she seemed like the only adult in the whole book.

FF: Just to satisfy my fanboy curiosity, I always had the sense you were leading up to Jason and Doctor Otaki merging to become Firestorm. Was that ever part of your plans?

SM: No, that was never the plan. I can’t remember exactly how she fit in…I think she was just there as one of Jason’s many mentors, somebody who’d been through real bad shit on a level he’d hopefully never know.

FF: Any thoughts about what happened to Gehenna after your Firestorm run and in Blackest Night?

SM: It wasn’t what I’d have done, but that’s fine. When you create characters for company-owned books, they always live on (or die, in this case) after you’re done with them.

FF: In the climatic battle with Tokamak, he said to Jason, “I know why you’re Firestorm”. Jason never uncovered what that meant. Can you tell us anything about that cryptic message?

SM: I did have something in mind for that…after all, it was never really explained why the Firestorm energy chose Jason when Ron Raymond died, though the Earth-8 thing provides a certain justification, now. Anyway, I had an idea for an extended story involving Jason’s ancestry and the origins of life on Earth, little stuff like that. I’m sure there are notes for it around somewhere, which I’ll use for something else. But I deliberately wrote the ending so it could also be read just as Tokamak screwing with him, giving him one final jab.

FF: Why did you leave the Firestorm book?

SM: I left because it was canceled. Then they decided to extend it for three more issues, tying it heavily into some New Gods continuity, and they brought the late, much-missed Dwayne McDuffie on to do those. But the book was already dead.

AFTER YOUR FIRESTORM RUN

FF: You recently had the opportunity to write the Ronnie Raymond/Jason Rusch incarnation of Firestorm in JLA/The 99. What differences did you find writing Firestorm for that mini-series versus your previous Firestorm experience?

SM: I originally thought I’d stay away from that character, leaving those scenes to Fabian (my cowriter), precisely because it WAS so different from the character I’d written. But through circumstance, I wound up writing a lot of those scenes, and I really enjoyed it. Firestorm’s role in JLA/99 kept growing because of his powers — he’s a great team-up player because he’s very mobile, and because he can actually draw members of the other team inside himself.

FF: You’ve written more Jason Rusch stories than any other writer. Any words of advice for Gail Simone, Ethan Van Sciver, and Yildiray Cinar as they relaunch Firestorm?

SM: Oh god, I wouldn’t presume to give advice. Those guys know what they’re doing. The initial graphics look fantastic.

FF: What comic books are you reading nowadays?

SM: Most of my mainstream work is at Marvel these days, and I read basically everything there by Bendis, Fraction, Millar, lots of other guys I don’t want to offend by forgetting to mention. I’ll read anything by Grant Morrison, whom I’ve known forever. I’ve recently been catching up on SCALPED, THE BOYS, and SCOTT PILGRIM, all of which are absolutely amazing in completely different ways. But I read a lot more prose these days.

FF: Looking back at all the work you’ve amassed during your career, what are you most proud of? What do you consider a high point both personally and creatively?

SM: FIRESTORM is the longest run I’ve had on a company-owned book, and I’m still proud of the character work in particular on that book. My original graphic novels PARA and EARTHLIGHT are both very personal works that I like quite a bit. I also really like the Wolverine stories I’ve written, particularly WOLVERINE #41 (“The Package”), WOLVERINE NOIR, and the UNDER THE BOARDWALK special. But the answer to that question changes every day. I wrote some STARGATE ATLANTIS comics that absolutely no one read — I have scientific proof — but that came out really nicely.

FF: Are there any projects you are currently working on or have coming up?

SM: I’ve just finished up NAMOR at Marvel, which finished off pretty strong, I think. Since then I’ve written a bit of SPIDER-MAN and I’m currently adapting the upcoming JOHN CARTER film into a young adult novel for Disney. In July, I had a WOLVERINE/DEADPOOL: THE DECOY one-shot,  from Marvel, and a sort-of adaptation of the new CONAN film, THE MASK OF ACHERON, from Dark Horse. I have a few original comics projects in development, and I also run a small graphic-novel packaging partnership called Botfriend. I like to keep busy.

FF: What would your dream comic book project be?

SM: I don’t think in terms of ultimates and dreams; but a long-form, creator-owned monthly would be great. Other than that, I’m happy bouncing around.

Thanks to Stuart Moore for generously donating his time to this interview! To keep up with Stuart, check out on his blog, Pensive Mischief, and follow him on Twitter. Be sure to tell him FIRESTORM FAN sent you!  For more on Stuart’s era of Firestorm, click here for a FIRESTORM FAN interview with artist Jamal Igle!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the interview!

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I love this new logo! The notches in the thick block letters and the hypnotic circles look fantastic.  If you keep staring at the circles, you’d swear they are moving or three-dimensional.

I figured this was a good opportunity to display all the various Firestorm logos over the years.  I’ve been meaning to post these for ages, today just gave me an excuse.

Below is the original Firestorm logo that appeared on Firestorm vol 1 #1-5.
It still appears on merchandise from time to time.

The logo below appeared on The Fury of Firestorm vol 2 #1-12

The logo below appeared on The Fury of Firestorm vol 2 #13-49.
For me, this is the classic Fury of Firestorm logo.

The logo below appeared on The Fury of Firestorm vol 2 #50-54. This logo was pretty much despised by everyone and was quickly replaced.  From issue #50-64, DC seemed uncertain what logo they wanted to go with for this book.

The logo below, really just a stripped-down version of an earlier logo,
appeared on The Fury of Firestorm vol 2 #55-58, and 64

The logo below appeared on The Fury of Firestorm vol 2 #59-63

The logo below appeared on Firestorm The Nuclear Man vol 2 #65-82.
This was the basic design for the logo throughout the “Blank Slate” era.

The logo below appeared on Firestorm The Nuclear Man vol 2 #83-85

The hideous logo below appeared on Firestorm The Nuclear Man vol 2 #86.
They basically took the logo above and broke each letter apart,
and set them on fire.  Thankfully it lasted exactly one issue.

The logo below appeared on Firestorm The Nuclear Man vol 2 #87-88.
I love this logo.  Really gorgeous and conveyed the new spirit of the book
as the Elemental Firestorm took over.

The logo below appeared on Firestorm vol 2 #89-100

The logo below appeared on Firestorm vol 3 #1-22.
This was the first Jason Rusch Firestorm logo.

The logo below appeared on Firestorm The Nuclear Man vol 3 #23-35

There you have it!  All the Firestorm logos.  Which is your favorite?

My thanks to Joe Slab from The Aquaman Shrine for the heads-up about the new logo!

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From Firestorm vol 3 #1 ~ written by Dan Jolley, pencils by ChrisCross, and inks by John Dell
Notice Jason’s black eye? Guess who gave that to him…

From Firestorm vol 3 #3 ~ written by Dan Jolley, pencils by ChrisCross, and inks by Rob Stull

From Firestorm vol 3 #6 ~ written by Dan Jolley, pencils by Chris Batista,
and inks by Dan Green

To be fair, I should mention that Alvin became a better person as the series went on.  But still, he’s not winning any Father of the Year awards.

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Dwayne McDuffie passed away due to complications following a surgical procedure he underwent Monday evening. McDuffie wrote the final three issues of the Jason Rusch Firestorm series (Firestorm vol III #33-35).  Additionally, McDuffie wrote nearly all of Jason’s appearances in the Justice League of America series.

To identify Dwayne McDuffie simply as a Firestorm writer is a huge disservice.  McDuffie had a very long and prosperous career in comics and animation.  He was co-founder and editor-in-chief of Milestone Media, for which he created or co-created many characters, including Static, the basis of the animated series Static Shock.   McDuffie’s television credits, in addition to Static Shock, include Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, and What’s New, Scooby-Doo?.   McDuffie also wrote the story for Justice League Heroes video game.

McDuffie was a pioneer and well-respected industry veteran. Comic Book Resources reached out to a number of McDuffie’s friends and colleagues who shared their thoughts about McDuffie and his passing.

I interacted with Dwayne a handful of times on his message board.  He was always very kind and took the time to answer just about any question.  While I didn’t know him well, I was impressed with his work and his passion.  He will be missed.

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First up is page by Ken Lashley and Rob Stull from Firestorm volume III #33.  There is some really nice New God action going on here.  Click the image to enlarge.

Below you’ll find a convention sketch of Firestorm by Darick Robertson (The Boys and Transmetropolitan).  Knowing Darick was a Firestorm fan, Jon asked him to sketch this at the recent Armageddon Expo in Auckland, New Zealand.

Jon also got this Firestorm and Firehawk sketch by James Tucker (producer of Legion of Super Heroes and Batman: The Brave and the Bold) at the recent Armageddon Expo in Auckland, New Zealand.

Finally, Jon got this headshot from Georges Jeanty (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 8 ) also while at the Armageddon Expo.

My thanks again to Jon at the Fizzit Firestorm-themed blog for providing me with theses scans to publish!

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