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How Ronnie Re-Joined the JLA – 2002

TEAM WEEK continues here at FIRESTORM FAN! Since his days of playing high school basketball, Ronnie Raymond has been a team player. Perhaps that is why he’s joined so many superhero teams! This week we’re looking at several of the teams he’s joined since becoming Firestorm!

In 2002, after 18 years away, Firestorm finally re-joined the JLA! Sure he’d joined Extreme Justice and Justice League Europe, but this is the JLA… the Big Leagues! This is where Ronnie belonged!

In the storyline “The Obsidian Age”, the JLA were transported to the distant past. This left the Earth sorely under-protected. Prior to this Batman had put in place some automatic protocols if such an event were ever to occur (of course he had a contingency plan, he’s Batman). This led to the formation of a new Justice League in JLA #69 (Oct. 2002) by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst.

JLA #69 cover by Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen

The issue started by showing numerous emergencies with everyone asking where was the Justice League. Next we saw the scene below on the Watchtower…

JLA #69 by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst

JLA #69 by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst

Next we saw several of the new members being recruited.

JLA #69 by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst

JLA #69 by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst

Apparently Ronnie’s bout with alcoholism wasn’t enough to deter him completely from the occasional drink. Next we return to the Watchtower, the previous scene already in progress…

JLA #69 by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst

JLA #69 by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst

JLA #69 by Joe Kelly, Yvel Guichet, and Mark Propst

And with that, Firestorm was back in the Justice League! Hooray! Once “The Obsidian Age” concluded and the regular JLA members returned, Firestorm remained a member of the team. He was active with the team for about a year. Technically he never quit this incarnation of the team, he just appeared less and less. The beginning of the end was in JLA #84 (Oct. 2003), “Trial By Fire – Part 1″, by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen.

JLA #84 by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

JLA #84 by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

JLA #84 by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

What an ending!!! Near as I can figure this cliffhanger was supposed to launch a brand-new ongoing series for Firestorm, but it was canceled before the first issue ever got published. So instead the creative team on JLA worked this into their own story. Up next are the follow-up pages from JLA #85 (Oct. 2003), “Trial By Fire – Part 2″, by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen.

JLA #85 by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

JLA #85 by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

Very cool scenes! That rescue by Superman was awesome! I also love Batman acknowledging that Ronnie is still a member of the team, powers or no powers. Firestorm may have been injured, but those are some really nice JLA moments for him. Ronnie sat out the rest of the “Trial By Fire” crossover, only appearing in one panel at the end in JLA #89 (Dec. 2003) by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen.

JLA #89 by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

After that Firestorm made only a handful of appearances with the JLA, all of which were minor appearances. Technically he was still a member of the team, but we never really saw much of him anymore. Around this same time he appeared in a few issues of Power Company. Beyond that, the next major appearance for Ronnie Raymond was in Identity Crisis, and we all know how that ended for him.

In the spirit of TEAM WEEK, below are links to previous FIRESTORM FAN posts regarding various teams Firestorm has joined:

See you back here tomorrow for the conclusion of TEAM WEEK!

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3 Comments

  1. Charlemagne says:

    Did you catch Firestorm getting mentioned at the beginning of the last episode of ComicBook Men on AMC? The pre-show bumper had them discussing favorite JLA era’s or something and one guy said Satellite Era with Firestorm. Then they made fun of Firestorm…a student with a teacher inside him. Yes…wish he hadn’t been made fun of but excited he got mentioned none the less!

  2. Shag says:

    @Charlemagne – I heard about that, but haven’t seen it yet. I’ll be looking for it definitely! Thanks!

  3. Frank says:

    Probably the only instance of a development being written off in dialogue as an hallucination, only to have it actually turn out to be an hallucination.

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