Comments on: Doomsday Clock #8 & #9 – Reaction from a Firestorm Fan SPOILERS

By: Mark Belktron

Mark Belktron — Wed, 15 May 2019 03:47:38 +0000

OMG. So much anxiety from these two issues. Im not happy with Stein being an agent of the Superman Theory, but what if Manhattan was creating a fake reality to manipulate the heroes a certain way? I dont know. But I will say, for the first time in who knows how long, I am seriously wondering where this all goes .

By: Anj

Anj — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 19:57:29 +0000

I feel your pain.

I was there for the Conway/Broderick run and have been a fan of Firestorm for a long time.

This Stein reveal (or is it reveals) come way out of left field. Unless Stein dies and we get a new half, this feels like an albatross. And it still wouldn’t wipe away the stain of nearly 50 years of history of Martin being a stand up guy./

Can only hope this is timey-wimey/hypertime nonsense.

By: Mike Reinhardt

Mike Reinhardt — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 11:57:07 +0000

Wow, I really took this as Firestorm being played the entire time. I hope you are incorrect and this is a massive overreaction on your part, because it does make things dicey for Firestorm. But I think it is much more likely the character is having his strings pulled, so to speak. Great synopsis anyway, I enjoyed the different perspective as to what you think is going to happen.

By: Adam Crouch

Adam Crouch — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 07:55:27 +0000

The development was surprising. Perhaps mostly because I believe Johns is the one that recently mended DCs relationship with Conway and Conway just ousted Rusch to return Stein. I think this be a result of manipulation, but I also think it will be permanent. I think it could also be a sign of Johns having bigger plans for the character, and would be good for Firestorm overall. But it sucks that it would alienate long term fans. That said, personally I love the book, and found the development intriguing.

By: Martin Gray

Martin Gray — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 07:04:57 +0000

I’m firmly in the ‘not buying it’ camp. There are so many outs, and as you say, we’ve seen so much evidence to the contrary as to the nature of Martin Stein’s character… and I’m taking it this is the pre-New 52 version, because so much of that history is back in play.

By: Craig MacDonald

Craig MacDonald — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 01:57:13 +0000

As much as I’d like to give Geoff Johns the benefit of the doubt there, I’m afraid this might be permament. Johns (and Dan Didio) has long held on to a belief that the best heroes are born from tragedy. Look at The Flash. Barry Allen was a pretty whitebread character. Then Grant Morrison brought him back (probably because Didio asked him to) and when Johns wrote The Flash: Rebirth mini-series he changed Barry’s origin to make it more tragic by having the Reverse-Flash go back in time and murder Barry’s mother.

To this day it’s a story decision that I disagree with, but I can’t argue that they didn’t get some good stories out of it for The Flash television show. Johns also turned “Superboy Prime” into a murderous brat of a villain and turned Atom-Smasher and Obsidian into villains in JSA. He’s responsible for some of the best stories in comic book history but he also has a history of taking characters that haven’t been used in a while and putting them through some serious trauma. I think there are 3 (?) issues of Doomsday Clock left, so maybe Firestorm will come out of this a bigger hero than before or maybe Ronnie Raymond will have to find a new partner for the Firestorm matrix (maybe Jason Rusch again?) and Professor Martin Stein will retroactively become a villain/anti-hero along the lines of Niles Caulder (the Chief) from Doom Patrol.