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MORE NEWS: More Rumors About Gail Leaving & Firestorm #6 Solicit

Alright match-heads, I know just yesterday I reported that Gail Simone was staying on the Firestorm book.  Well… another rumor has popped up that Gail is leaving Firestorm.  According to Bleeding Cool, Gail Simone will be leaving The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men in March.  That translates to issue #7.  As we saw yesterday, while talking specifically about issue #7 Ethan Van Sciver confirmed that Gail Simone is still co-writing Firestorm.  Since we haven’t heard anything about issue #8, I suppose it’s possible this particular rumor could be true.  However, I’m going to wait for confirmation from DC or Gail before I put any faith into this rumor.  I panicked a month ago when Bleeding Cool stated that Gail had “walked off the comic”.  Clearly that wasn’t true as she continued to script issues #6 and #7 after that rumor broke.  I’m okay with waiting for the truth this time around.  My thanks to match-heads Keith G. Baker and liquidcross for the heads-up about this rumor.

On a more positive note, the solicitation was released this week for The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #6 scheduled for February!  Check out the solicitation and the gorgeous cover below!  Click the image to enlarge.

Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #6 cover by Ethan Van Sciver

Written by GAIL SIMONE and ETHAN VAN SCIVER
Art by YILDIRAY CINAR and NORM RAPMUND
Cover by ETHAN VAN SCIVER

In the blink of an eye, Ronnie and Jason witness a horror so gruesome, the two young Firestorms will question their entire futures as Super Heroes. As if that wasn’t enough, Pozhar, the Russian Firestorm, shows the two boys exactly how dangerous their world has become.

DC Universe | 32pg. | Color | $2.99 US

On Sale February 22, 2012

First, what an amazing cover by Ethan Van Sciver! This may be my favorite yet! The cover really conveys the enormity of whatever terrible situation Jason and Ronnie have found themselves in. Also, I love how the craters form the Firestorm symbol! So cool!

Second, did you read the solicitation verbiage? Did you notice… Pozhar?  Oh yeah!  It’s POZHAR!  That’s right, the alter-ego of Mikhail Arkadin (at least, in the previous continuity)!  For you newer readers, Mikhail Arkadin used to be a major part of the Firestorm matrix.  From 1987 through 1990, Firestorm was composed of Ronnie Raymond and Mikhail Arkadin (along with Professor Stein’s subconscious, but we didn’t know that at the time). Mikhail was a very active part of the “Blank Slate” era of Firestorm, and a passive part of the Elemental Firestorm era.  Personally, I consider Mikhail the forgotten hero of Firestorm.  He doesn’t come up often in Firestorm discussions nowadays.  Most people focus on Ronnie, Professor Stein, or Jason (myself included).  However, I gotta tell ya, Mikhail deserves to be lauded as a core Firestorm cast member.

Keep in mind, all of that was in the previous continuity.  In The New 52, Pozhar will obviously be different.  He might turn out to be a hero or a villain; or he might not even be Mikhail Arkadin.  Only time will tell.  I don’t know for a fact, but I suspect that was Pozhar on the cover of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #4.

This solicitation has inspired me to put together a Mikhail Arkadin/Pozhar entry here at FIRESTORM FAN within the next few weeks.  In the meantime, click here for my thoughts on the “Blank Slate” Firestorm.  My thanks to match-head Brandon Leonard for the heads-up about this solicitation.

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8 Comments

  1. Keith G. Baker says:

    Man, what an incredibly rockin’ cover! Love it!

  2. liquidcross says:

    “Uh…Jason? Do you remember where we parked?”

  3. Robert Gross says:

    Hm. They’re really committed to two great tastes that taste great together, I see. I was hoping it was more a temporary situation. I like my Firestorms merged, and not into Hulks on Fire but into a real superhero. As someone on DC Comics Message Boards pointed out, having them have to be together, and as teenagers to boot, just reeks of Wonder Twin Powers Activate! Not that that’s a bad thing, but it’s not Firestorm.

    Your comments are spot on about Mikhail Arkadin, though. I loved the blank-slate Firestorm phase— FOF from #65 through #85. I thought it had logical international intrigue, and reflected the hopes of an end to the Cold War (which, as it happens, was right around the corner). I thought John Ostrander was an astute observer of the politics of the day.

    I’m ambivalent about the Elemental Firestorm to this day. I listened to your positive comments about it on the podcast. I’m inclined to agree that these were interesting and worthwhile stories… but I never really thought it fit Firestorm. The phrase is “Firestorm the Nuclear Man,” not “Firestorm the Fire Elemental.” I always thought Ostrander was trying to work in a brand-new character he *wanted* to write but couldn’t get green-lighted, so he instead was using Firestorm as his vehicle to do it. I also hated having Firestorm’s powerset downsized to fire-related only. He became, essentially, the Human Torch with an attitude problem. Again, to reuse a phrase: not that that’s a bad thing, but it’s not Firestorm.

    There were still touching moments, though. I really liked the antagonism between the Fire Elemental and the Raymonds, versus the friendships he forged with Martin Stein and Nina Arkadin. That was deft.

  4. Michael says:

    Actually the elemental Firestorm did have transmutation powers. He cured Mihkail’s daughter’s cancer. Swamp Thing told him using that power disrupted the balance of nature. As I tped this I realised now how Jason’s organic power disryptions to nature came about in that volume.

  5. Robert Gross says:

    Well, I realize he *had* transmutation powers, but he swore them off. So in effect, he was downsized in power for whatever reason. He only used his fire-wielding powers for the most part during the run, and I don’t think fire-wielding is nearly as interesting or imaginative as transmutation.

  6. Patrick says:

    I guess I fall in the camp of preferring two (or more) separate Firestorms. I don’t have the same history with the character in any of his other alterations as most of you do, and I may just not be respecting the tradition of his development. I like the thought of two independent Firestorms like this — maybe even explore how their own background might develop into how they fight, the powers they focus on.

  7. “I panicked a month ago when Bleeding Cool stated that Gail had “walked off the comic”. Clearly that wasn’t true as she continued to script issues #6 and #7 after that rumor broke”

    Clearly.

  8. Shag says:

    @Rich – Thanks for the comment. I appreciate the information your site shares and the support you’ve shown FIRESTORM FAN over the past couple years.

    Sorry if you took my comment as snarky. That was not my intention. I was simply commenting on whether Gail “walked off the comic”. Since Gail continued to promote the book and work on subsequent scripts after the rumor broke, it just felt like she might not have walked off the comic. “Walking off” implies she quit, never to look back. We know now she’s definitely resigned from the book. So we’re just talking about whether she walked off or resigned.

    We’re deep into the semantics of words here. Bottom line, sorry if my comment offended you. That wasn’t the intention.

    Keep up the great work over on BLEEDING COOL!

    Thanks,
    Shag

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