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The Elemental War: Firestorm meets the Soul of the Earth

We’re continuing our coverage of “The Elemental War” from Firestorm #90-93!  Yesterday we gave an overview of the entire storyline and highlighted some fantastic Tom Mandrake artwork.  Today we’re going to focus on one particular scene from this adventure.

Before we get started, I want to give a shout-out to Doug with Red Tornado’s Path! Doug has joined us in our coverage of “The Elemental War” this week, tackling some of Red Tornado’s activities during this storyline.  Click here to visit the Red Tornado’s Path blog where you can read several more pages of “The Elemental War”! Also, don’t miss his insightful comments regarding the coloring on these issues.  My thanks to Doug for sharing in our coverage!

Today we’ll be looking at a scene from Firestorm #92 which chronicles our favorite fire Elemental’s vision quest and first meeting with Maya.  The scene only lasted seven pages, but it helped answer some of the questions that had been surrounding Firestorm for the previous six months.

In Firestorm #91, our hero was knocked unconscious and trapped at the bottom of the sea by his fellow water and air Elementals.  This is where issue #92 picks up…

Firestorm #92 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Firestorm #92 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Firestorm #92 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Firestorm #92 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Firestorm #92 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Firestorm #92 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Firestorm #92 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

Wow!  That’s deep stuff for a superhero comic!  There are some seriously cool mythology-building moments in the panels above.  I really enjoy John Ostrander’s take on the Elementals.  It was purposefully different from what we’d seen previously in Swamp Thing, yet still managed to work (as we’ll discuss tomorrow).  Did you take time to appreciate the gorgeous Tom Mandrake storytelling going on above?  Some were full splash pages while others were six panels.  This is how comics should be done!   Another win for Ostrander and Mandrake!

Check back here tomorrow as we conclude our look at “The Elemental War”!

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One Comment

  1. Greg says:

    Great review! Thanks for putting up all the scans!
    It is indeed a rare appearance of Swampy outside his own title.
    You should also mention Firestorm’s brief appearance in Swamp Thing Annual #5 (page 5). You can find detailed analysis of Swamp Things from the Alan Moore/Rick Veitch era at http://www.tinyurl.com/readswampthing
    I have posted a link to your site there.

    I am working on including a page about Firestorm and other characters that built upon the elemental concept.

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