Have you listened to the SECRET ORIGINS PODCAST? If not, you are missing something really special! Each week Ryan Daly is joined by a different guest for in-depth coverage of one issue of this classic 1980s series! Ryan has done a fantastic job with the series and each episode is chock-full of fascinating information.
This week, Ryan invited The Irredeemable Shag (hey, that’s me!) to cover Secret Origins #4 staring Firestorm the Nuclear Man! This issue was written by Gerry Conway with art by George Tuska and Pablo Marcos, and a cover by Al Milgrom. This issue tells the story of Professor Martin Stein’s journey to becoming one half of Firestorm. Click here for this episode!
My thanks to Ryan for having me on his show! After listening to this episode, be sure to check out the other episodes of this outstanding podcast!
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You know what this issue really is? All authors have a one-act play in their hip pocket that they want to get produced on Broadway. This was Gerry Conway’s one-act play, and he shoehorned it into Firestorm’s story via Prof. Stein. Take away the Firestorm bit, and it’s a great little one-act play about an academic overcoming alcoholism and workaholism.
Ryan’s observation about how/when Crystal met Martin was something I noticed even back then when the issue came out. Now that I’ve actually spent some time in academia, my no-prize explanation is this: they started out as undergrads together. But because Martin did an accelerated program where he received his Masters and doctorate together in one lump sum (which is occasionally done in some programs), he got onto the tenure track and became a professor well ahead of Crystal, who was probably doing a traditional Masters-then-doctorate path. So by the time she’s stalking him in Firestorm Original Series #3, she remembers him as an undergraduate crush, but he’s just that far ahead of the game academically because he’s just so brilliant.