The Fury of Firestorm #45

TITLE: The Fury Of Firestorm #45

PUBLISHER: DC

COVER DATE: March 1986

COVER PRICE: $0.75

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

The only thing I really remember about this book originally, is that it was one of the first DC books that I tried following regularly. It didn't last long, but I do recall giving it a chance.

When I first started collecting, Secret Wars was just finishing and Crisis On Infinite Earths was just starting up. Between the two, Secret Wars hit the sweet spot and is probably one of the reasons that I was a hardcore Marvel zombie for the first five years or so of my comic book reading. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy Crisis On Infinite Earths, as it was (and still is) a title that I enjoy rereading on a regular basis. I couldn't tell you the last time I read Secret Wars.

I bought a lot of the Crisis tie-ins too, Firestorm included, and kept reading it for a couple of months afterward. I remember looking for a DC book to read, and thought that Firestorm could be it. Alas, it wasn't to be, as I only have one more issue after this one in my collection, and it wouldn't be until the Death of Superman before I was a regular DC reader again.

So let's relive those glory days, and see just what it was about this title that didn't hook me.

A gathering of hate!

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Penciller: George Tuska
• Inker: Mike Gustovich
• Letterer: Carrie Spiegle
• Colorist: Nansi Hoolahan
• Editor: Janice Race

The issues opens up with a unkempt patron being thrown out of a bar. The owner of the bar has had it with his wild, drunken tales of being a mob enforcer who used to go by the name Slipknot. Just as the owner is about to go back inside his bar, he's interrupted by a pair of voices.

The voices belong to Multiplex, and he/they have come to recruit Slipknot to their cause. They soon turn the tables on the bar owner and he ends up being thrown into a nearby dumpster.

So what exactly does Multiplex want with Slipknot? Well, they have a common enemy in Firestorm, so I'm sure it spells trouble for him.

Back at Vandemeer University, Ronnie Raymond is in the middle of football practice when he is visited by his father and his fiancee, and Ronnie's friend Doreen. While he practices, the two ladies have a talk and we find out that Doreen really has a thing for Ronnie, but she suspects that Ronnie is hiding something.

Elsewhere on campus, we catch up with the other half of Firestorm, Professor Martin Stein. In between classes, he is approached by the dean of the university, Emily Rice. She asks him to be her escort to a symphony/fund raiser, and he willingly agrees. It's not until he gets back to his office and is talking to a fellow faculty member that he learns that she's quite the barracuda, and could be more woman than the reserved professor could handle.

I think we've discovered the kryptonite for Firestorm...women and relationships! Both halves of the merged superhero identity have issues.

Meanwhile, back in New York, Multiplex and Slipknot are recruiting the next person to join their group. This particular villain is kept in a maximum security unit in a convalescent home. I wasn't aware that convalescent home's had maximum security wings, and apparently neither was the convalescent home as they soon make short work of the two orderlies and nurse who are guarding the patient.

Ronnie and Martin take note, as here Slipknot demonstrates his way of dealing with lady troubles.

They soon have their next recruit, the Hyena, who they find shackled to a wall in her padded room.

After football practice, Ronnie is having dinner with his dad, Felicity, and Doreen. There he listens to Felicity tell of how she is a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Firestorm, as he has destroyed her business in the process of superheroing about town.

Read my in-depth analysis of this exchange here, if you missed it yesterday.

Their dinner is soon cut short, as Doreen receives a note that her sister has broke out of the hospital that she was in. Yep, that's right, her sister is the Hyena! You gotta love these small social circles that superheroes run in, as it always seems like there is less than three degrees of seperation in any relationship before you run into another superhero. I wonder how many the DC version of Kevin Bacon knows?

While Doreen calls her folks, we find out that Ronnie has taken off. Everyone seems to think it strange that he would leave at a time when his girlfriend needs him the most. Another school mate who is there comforting Doreen begins to speculate that maybe Ronnie's weird behavior is because he's doing drugs.

We all know it's not drugs that has Ronnie so distracted these days, it's sharing his body with another man that has him all discombobulated. We'll let Freud analyze that sentence, while we get back to the story.

The real reason that Ronnie has disappeared is to change into Firestorm of course, so he can track down the Hyena before she hurts herself or anyone else. The change to Firestorm pulls Professor Stein from his date with the overly friendly dean, to which he is eternally grateful.

That's actually a nice shot of Firestorm by George Tuska, and it needs to be as this is really the only time in this whole issue where we see Firestorm.

While we leave Firestorm behind this issue, we have time to see Multiplex recruit one more villain for his cause. This time it's Mindboggler, who has just used her mental powers to take down an overly amorous suitor she ran into at the bar.

A book that begins and ends in a bar...I feel like I'm reading an issue of Hitman.

As they wander off, leaving the man lying unconscious in the street, we notice that they were being watched by another villain. The Bolt has been eavesdropping on their conversation and has decided to leave Blue Devil alone for a bit to see what these two are up to, as he smells the opportunity to make a little dough.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

Firestorm's got problems.

He's got lady problems, family problems, lawyer problems, school problems...

The biggest problem, however, was that his book was kind of boring. Let's just keep that between you and me, as I don't need to unleash the fury of Firestorm on me.

This issue wasn't bad, far from it, as Gerry Conway wrote a technically entertaining issue with some clever dialogue and characterizations. It moved the story along and did everything it needed to to set up the story. The only strike against it was that there was no action. Granted, it's the first part of a three-part story, but if I had my druthers I would have liked to have seen just a little excitement with Firestorm.

All of the non-talky scenes were with Multiplex gathering his compatriots, and while fun, it did seem a little anti-climactic as none of them are even close to b-level villains. My apologies to the Multiplex fans out there, wherever you are. The only one of them I was familiar with was Bolt, and he doesn't show up until the last two panels.

The art of this issue is by George Tuska. He has just recently passed away, so it was a nice treat to see some of his work again. It has a great old-school style to it that I really like, but it does make an 80's comic seem a little more dated than usual. Alas, he was only on for this issue to fill in between an art roster change.

I can see why I sampled this book as an early entry into DC comics, as it definitely has a Marvel style hero with his collection of Marvel style problems. At the end of the day, however, I guess Marvel was just doing that better in the 80's than DC was and my flirtation with DC was shortlived.

Don't feel too bad for them however, as that would change in a big way over the course of the 90's.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) DC Comics

Related links for your surfing pleasure...

• Head to Firestorm Fan for all of your nuclear man needs
• Gerry Conway's personal blog

Odds and sods

• George Tuska dead at 93. The Random Longbox encountered him only once so far, and it was an issue that meant a lot to me. Thanks George.



• Joe Rosen has also passed away, sadly none of his lettering art has made it's way through our website...yet.



• Posting has been light lately, my apologies. I made the decision to get caught up on a bunch of reading after the RL headquarters was quarantined with the croup. Expect regular posting to resume shortly.



• While rereading the Conan issue, I found the Stan's Soapbox column to be kind of entertaining. In it, he's crowing about how James Cameron has just signed on to do the new Spider-Man movie, as well as spearhead the X-Men cartoon franchise. I know that Stan tended to get carried away on his soapbox, but he even teases that when Cameron finishes all of that, he's going to do the live action X-Men film as well. Ahhhh, we were such naive film-loving, comic book fans in the early 90's.



• During my aforementioned reading marathon, I read the first six issues of The Unwritten, and damn if that wasn't the best kickoff to a series that I've read in a long time. Carey, Gross, and Vertigo have another solid title on their hands. Let's just hope it keeps an audience.

Comic Book Review: Avengers #138

TITLE: Avengers #138

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: August 1975

COVER PRICE: 25 cents

18 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

I actually don't remember too much about the actual content of this issue. What I remember most is the situation surrounding the purchase of this issue, which was revealed in the previous post as the very first back issue I ever bought.

FUN FACT: I bought this issue for a buck and a quarter. According to the 38th Edition of The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, it's now worth about 12 or 13 dollars. A tenfold increase, and it only took 24 years! So let's see...my son will be going to college in about 15 years, so if this book appreciates at the same rate...hopefully he'll be able to fill up his tank with the profits from this issue. Although that's assuming gas doesn't rise. Of course, by that time we should all have flying cars or jet packs. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll use old comic books for their fuel source.

So yeah, I don't actually remember a whole lot about what happens in the actual issue. I think Wasp gets injured in this issue? I seem to recall a bedside fight in a hospital with a tornado-like villain around this time. The Beast had just joined the team as well, if I remember correctly.

"Stranger In A Strange Man!"

• Story: Steve Englehart
• Pencils: George Tuska
• Inks: Vinnie C.
• Lettering: Charlotte J.
• Colorist: G. Roussos
• Editor: Len Wein

I wonder why so many initials in the credits? Is this issue so bad, that they don't want full credit attributed to them? Let's find out.

We open with The Avengers leaving a hospital in a torrential downpour where a gravely injured Jan Pym, a.k.a. The Wasp, lies near death. She was apparently injured doing battle with The Stranger from the previous issue. See, my memory isn't so bad after all.

A crowd of reporters and onlookers await outside as Thor, Iron Man, Moondragon, and The Beast emerge from the hospital.

Half of the crowd is fawning over Thor, while some ne'er-do-wells complain about the "freaks" on the team. That would be the bald woman and the gorilla, for all of you keeping score at home.

Yellowjacket storms out of the hospital in a rage, and in my favorite part of the issue, he hails a cab for the Avengers to take back to the mansion. Forget the fact that Iron Man's suit probably weighs several tons, and that Thor's cape probably takes up the whole back seat itself...I wonder who drew the short straw and had to sit next to the Beast. I'm sure all that fur smells real nice up close and personal after standing out in the rain for the last three pages. Alas, we'll never know as George Tuska only draws a close-up of Yellowjacket inside the taxi.

You gotta love New York City taxi drivers, as this one even hassles Yellowjacket.

Back at the Avenger's mansion, they are assaulted once again by the mind blasts of The Stranger. They manage to deduce that The Stranger is trying to find out the location of the Scarlet Witch, who is off on a secret honeymoon with The Vision.

They devise a plan to split up to try to draw out The Stranger into a physical confrontation. After arguing about which team gets Moondragon (who knew that both Iron Man and Thor had a thing for bald ladies), it is decided she will go with Thor while everyone else waits back at the mansion.

At least Moondragon has the good sense to speak up for herself, only to be blown off by Thor who dismisses away the chauvinism. Welcome to The Avengers, Moondragon...may you never tire of the "sport" between comrades.

Thor and Moondragon are successful in drawing The Stranger into another mental confrontation. This allows Iron Man to track and locate its source. They decide to take a quinjet this time around, instead of a taxi, and are off to confront the real Stranger.

Thor and Moondragon continue to fight the phantom Strangers, with Moondragon showing that she's not to be trifled with. This scene includes one of my favorite lines of the issue as her power is described as

Raw, raging energies ripple from her shaven skull--

Apparently George Tuska wasn't reading the script too closely as all of the raw, raging energy appears to be coming from her hands.

Meanwhile, the other Avengers catch up to The Stranger's ship and board it, only to be met with lasers that criss-cross the breadth of the interior of the ship, just four feet from the floor. You gotta love those old villainous booby traps. So specific, yet so random. I'm assuming that the measurement of four feet will be significant later on somehow.

The Stranger (the real one this time) attacks as the Avengers are paralyzed by the four foot high lasers. Lucky for them that The Beast is agile and dexterous enough to jump over and dodge the lasers. He ducks around the corner with The Stranger in pursuit.

The Stranger catches up to him, only to be confronted by the gangster John Santo (as played by Edward G. Robinson in the 1940 Warner Brothers Classic movie Brother Orchid). How The Beast knew that using his image inducer in this fashion would startle the Stranger enough into dropping his mental projections, I can't quite figure out.


But startle him he does, and he drops his thought form to reveal the real mastermind behind this whole affair...The Toad!

Really? The Toad? I guess they thought they'd bring an X-Man villain to play off of The Beast, since this is his maiden adventure with the team, but that's the best they could come up with? At least the four foot high lasers of death make perfect sense now!


The Toad then manages to play punching back over the next two pages while throwing a temper tantrum. Yellowjacket really tears into him, taking out all of his frustrations over the grave condition of his wife. Reading Yellowjacket's dialogue in that panel makes me wonder why none of the other Avengers ever held an intervention for his anger issues. That would've saved Jan from alot of trauma a couple of years down the road.

In fairness, I'm giving The Toad the short shrift as it is revealed in short order that The Toad has used Arkon's technology when he was stranded on his planet to build a ship to fly "cross distance and dimensions". He returned to the prison planet of The Stranger. Breaching the planet's defenses he plundered it of all of his machinery and installed it on his ship, boasting that the "thought form" was the easiest of all to master. All of this he did for one reason...to ask for The Scarlet Witch's hand in marriage, as he has had a crush on her since their early days in The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Who knew that The Toad had the intellectual heft to build dimension crossing spaceships and equipping them with technology that alters mental perceptions? You learn something new every day.


The Avengers then head back to the mansion with The Toad as their prisoner, throwing another tantrum.

Relax little guy, I'm sure someone of your talents will be able to break out of whatever prison they hold you in so you can steal Tony Stark's technology and maybe build a time machine to woo The Scarlet Witch before she got married!

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

I think the main thing to take away from this issue is one of two things. Either the Toad was way smarter than I ever gave him credit for, or he was written way out of character here.

I think I'm going to go with the latter on this one.

Overall, this wasn't one of the strongest Avenger issues I've ever read, but this title ended up being the first one that I seriously collected, so there must've been something there that the 15 year old version of me found entertaining.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the other Avengers book I bought that day (#265) was the one that hooked me. I wonder how long it will take the allmighty randomizer to pick that one for me to review.

Until then, have fun reading...

Related links for your surfing pleasure

• Steve Englehart's official website
• Marvel's official Avengers site
  
  All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel Comics