The person behind Ronnie – Probably supposed to be Ronnie’s dad. He’s at the top, so he’s amongst the “allies” part of the drawing, yet he looks disapproving. So being Ronnie’s dad seems logical. He doesn’t look a lot like Ed Raymond, but Broderick may not have drawn Ed yet at this point. Alternatively, I’d go with the basketball coach or Prof Stein’s boss.

The black woman behind Martin Stein – Gotta be Jefferson’s girlfriend.

Evil looking dude behind Martin’s left ear – I’ve always wondered this too. He’s up with the “allies”, so he’s probably not a villain. I’ve always guessed that was Prof Stein’s co-worker who stole the origin of Firestorm recording. In the early days, he seemed like he was going to be important. So I can see why he merited the cover at that point. Also, since he stole the recording, he was on his way to being somewhat of an antagonist (that would explain the expression). Alternatively, he could be someone like the Pied Piper.

Man behind Killer Frost’s right ear – No idea. He looks a lot like Ronnie’s dad, but why would he be down with the villains?

Doreen – I really like that she’s down with the villains.

It’s possible my theory about allies at the top and villains at the bottom is completely wrong. If so, that could change the hard-to-identify characters.

Thanks again! Great questions!

And believe me, I am *not* a snooty no-comic-art-is-ever-good-enough critic. I think most comic art criticism goes way over the top, and most of it just to even be published at all has to achieve some level of competence, so most of it looks pretty good to me. It’s just for the life of me I cannot identify some of the people on this cover.