Here is the description from the TwoMorrows website:

Back Issue! #112
Hunker down in your fallout shelter with Back Issue #112’s explosive “Nuclear Issue,” starring the Fury of Firestorm! Also: Dr. Manhattan, a DAVE GIBBONS Marvel UK Hulk interview, villain histories of Radioactive Man and Microwave Man, Bongo’s Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy, and the one-shot wonder, Holo-Man! With CARY BATES, PAT BRODERICK, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, RAFAEL KAYANAN, BILL MORRISON, FABIAN NICIEZA, JOHN OSTRANDER, ROY THOMAS, and more! Featuring a Firestorm cover by Pat Broderick. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.
84 Full-color pages
$8.95
Ships May 8, 2019

Get out there and pick up your copy!

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Shag’s Answer #1: From Firestorm the Nuclear Man #3 (May 1978), by Gerry Conway, Al Milgrom, and Bob Mcleod. Firestorm is kissed by Killer Frost. Her ability to absorb heat from living beings resulted in Firestorm’s flaming hair being extinguished. Once the fire goes out, you can see Ronnie’s hair underneath! I believe this is the only time we see normal hair on Firestorm. A fun gem from the formative days of our favorite Nuclear Man! Possible answer to Luke’s question: Sufficient cold may extinguish Firestorm’s flaming hair.

Shag’s Answer #2: From The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #16 (March 2013) by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, and Ray McCarthy. In this example, Firestorm’s flaming hair continues to burn even though he’s submerged in cold water. Possible answer to Luke’s question: Cold water would not extinguish Firestorm’s flaming hair.

Definitive Answer: While the question was being debated among the fans, Firestorm writer and artist Dan Jurgens himself chimed in! Dan’s answer was, “Given the science of how his power works, I don’t see anyway the ‘fire’ gets snuffed out. It’s generated from with in and isn’t really fire anyway.” Given Dan’s tenure with DC Comics and writing the Firestorm title, I consider that pretty definitive! Thanks, Dan!

For more ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Firestorm related items, check out the following:

• Robbie Amell (Ronnie Raymond on CW’s The Flash) Ice Bucket Challenge video
• Bland DC Comics Headcannon’s Tumblr Firestorm Ice Bucket Challenge speculation
• Shag’s (yes, that’s me) Ice Bucket Challenge at Dragon Con 2014

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Congratulations on being cast as Ronnie Raymond in the upcoming CW show, THE FLASH! I wanted to send a note welcoming you to the wonderful world of Firestorm the Nuclear Man! Reaction to your casting from fans of Firestorm (affectionately known as “Match-heads”) has been incredibly positive! Everyone is excited by the news and your joining the show. I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to research Firestorm, but I thought providing a high-level overview might be helpful to you and folks unfamiliar with the character.

You’re the third actor to tackle the role of Ronnie Raymond, but the first in live action. Previous actors who voiced Ronnie Raymond in animation were Marc L. Taylor and Bill Fagerbakke, so you’re in good company.

Firestorm was created by Gerry Conway (writer) and Al Milgrom (artist) and first appeared on comic book shelves in December 1977. In addition to creating Firestorm, Conway is also known for creating Marvel’s Punisher & Batman’s foe Killer Croc, a lengthy and popular stint writing Spider-Man comics, and several writing and producing credits for TV & film. Firestorm went on to join the Justice League of America in March 1980, a tale also written by Conway.

As originally conceived, the character of Firestorm (and thus Ronnie Raymond) was similar to Marvel’s Spider-Man. An impulsive teenager with fantastic powers, an upbeat attitude, quick with the snappy banter, and adventures full of personal drama. The primary difference between Ronnie Raymond and Peter Parker (Spider-Man), was that Ronnie is more of a “dumb jock” than a brainy nerd. Ronnie’s heart was in the right place, but he didn’t always make the best decisions. The descriptive word most often associated with those early Firestorm adventures is, “Fun.” Firestorm was a fun comic to read and fun character to cheer for. This translated into success for the character and was one of DC Comics bestsellers in the early 1980s.

One of the unique aspects of Firestorm is that he’s a composite being. At will, two people fuse together to form the “nuclear man” Firestorm. While there have been several variations on the character over the years, typically Firestorm is formed by the merging of Ronnie Raymond and either Martin Stein or Jason Rusch. Originally Ronnie partnered with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Professor Martin Stein through the late-1980s. In more recent years, Ronnie has been partnered with the scientifically-gifted teenager Jason Rusch. Ronnie is prominently in command of the Firestorm form with the second person acting as a voice of reason inside his mind. Banter between the two individuals making up Firestorm is a hallmark of their adventures. Below you’ll find Firestorm’s Who’s Who entry from 1985 detailing the characters origin and powers, followed by his more recent Who’s Who in the New 52 entry from 2012. Click the images to enlarge.

Ronnie Raymond has an interesting and surprising history in the comics with the character of Felicity Smoak, a regular on Arrow played by Emily Bett Rickards. In the comics, Firestorm’s super-heroic actions caused 8 million dollars worth of damage to Felicity’s software company. Her response was to sue Firestorm for negligence! Meanwhile Felicity had fallen in love with Ronnie’s father, eventually marrying him and becoming Ronnie’s step-mother. I suspect that same story won’t play out between Arrow and The Flash. Another character from the comics connected to Firestorm is Caitlin Snow, a regular on The Flash played by Danielle Panabaker. In the comics, Caitlin is the latest incarnation of Killer Frost, Firestorm’s arch-nemesis. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out on The Flash given the announcement that Caitlin Snow will be Ronnie Raymond’s fiancee. Exciting!

If you are interested in reading more about Ronnie Raymond and Firestorm, I recommend two collected editions of his adventures. Firestorm: The Nuclear Man features the earliest adventures of Ronnie Raymond & Professor Martin Stein (comics from 1977-1980). While The Fury of Firestorm, The Nuclear Man Vol. 3: Takeover collects the more recent adventures of Ronnie Raymond & Jason Rusch (comics from 2012-2013).

Ronnie Raymond has a substantial fan base. Beyond those reading his adventures today, there are many people who fondly remember his appearances on the Super Friends cartoon and his 1980s comics. I started this FIRESTORM FAN blog back in 2009 as a way to celebrate all aspects of the character. With over half a million visitors, more than 900 posts, writer and artist interviews, and lots of followers on social media, I’m proud this site has become the primary source for Firestorm fandom. 

I think I speak for most Match-heads when I say we’re excited to finally see this character come to life! Whatever direction the writers, producers, directors or you take the character, we’ll be supporting you in this role and watching every week!

Sincerely,

Shag Matthews (a.k.a. The Irredeemable Shag)

PS: Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!

There is some dispute as to the exact release date of Firestorm’s first issue. The house ad above identifies the release date as December 6, 1977, however, Mike’s Amazing World of DC Comics (a fantastic and almost always accurate database) indicates the release date was December 5, 1977. Personally, I choose to go with December 6 because it appears on this really nifty advertisement. Somewhat frivolous logic, but that describes my typical judgement anyway.

Happy Birthday to the Nuclear Man! Enjoy a big slice of cake today! My thanks to Gerry Conway, Al Milgrom, and Jack C. Harris for bringing you into this world!

My thanks to Lil’ Chad Bokelman for reminding me of Match-head’s birthday today! Thanks, Chad!

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For comparison, Firestorm The Nuclear Man vol 1 #2 cover by Al Milgrom and Bob McLeod

Follow Indigo Kelleigh’s artwork on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and his website! Also, for more information on Superdickery, please click here.

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The twelfth episode of our WHO’S WHO podcast is now available — the show that dares to tackle one of DC Comics’ greatest publications! Each episode Rob and I cover a single issue of the legendary 1980s series, Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe. This time around we chat about WHO’S WHO: Volume XII, discussing characters such as Jonny Double, Jor-El, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, Kamandi, Kid Flash, Killer Frost, King Faraday, Kobra, and many more! We wrap up the show with Who’s Who Listener Feedback! This episode sponsored in part by InStockTrades.com!

Be sure to check out our Tumblr site for several pages from this Who’s Who issue: FireandWaterPodcast.Tumblr.com!

Have a question or comment? Send us an e-mail at: firewaterpodcast@comcast.net

You can find the twelfth episode of WHO’S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE PODCAST OF THE DC UNIVERSE on iTunes. Each episode is released as part of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST feed. While you’re on iTunes, please drop us a review. Alternatively, you may download the podcast by right-clicking here, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (75 MB).

Thanks to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on this episode! Special thanks to Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our fantastic Who’s Who theme song!

One of the coolest aspects of each Who’s Who issue was the amazing wrap-around cover! Check out this impressive Paris Cullins and Dick Giordano cover for Volume XII! Click the image to enlarge.

Here are your Firestorm-related Who’s Who entries from this issue…

Killer Frost, arguably Firestorm’s most well-known adversary, drawn by the co-creator of the character Al Milgrom!

Justice League of America, featuring our favorite hot-head, by Luke McDonnell & Bill Wray. In retrospect, probably should have gone with Perez for an entry this important. Before anyone comments, I realize Luke McDonnell was drawing the JLA at the time. I’m just sayin’, such a high profile entry with this art…   Click to enlarge.

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Also worth noting, last week we published a promotional piece from Nov. 1977 hyping the upcoming release of Firestorm #1. In that article, Professor Martin Stein is referred to as “Charles” Stein. Well, turns out Martin wasn’t the only one back then with an Identity Crisis (yes, pun intended). Throughout the letter column below Ronnie Raymond is referred to as “Robby” Raymond. I can understand the fan letter misidentifying him as “Robby”, but editor Jack C. Harris too? Makes you wonder if this was simply an error, or if the character was actually named “Robby” at some point prior to the release of the first issue (a possibility Gerry Conway recently suggested).

Check out the letters page below. Click to enlarge!

Not sure how the mix-up occurred with Ronnie’s name, but certainly makes for an interesting time capsule.

I recently contacted the letter writer above, Mitch Senft, and asked for any additional feedback on his encounter with the first issue prior to publication. He responded with:

About all I remember was being at a small convention around Ithaca where Milgrom and Nasser/Netzer appeared. Milgrom had a B&W copy of Firestorm #1, and I was intrigued, intrigued enough to send off a LoC [letter of comment] — which is something I did few enough times to count on the fingers of one hand. The book came out, you might note, during the brief time Gerry Conway was editing at DC. Can’t remember if this was immediately before or after his eight minutes as Marvel EIC [Editor-in-Chief]. In any case, part of his job, I believe, was to create a bunch of books that were Marvel-like — of which Firestorm was very clearly one.

My thanks to Mitch for responding to my request and providing feedback on a letter he wrote over 35 years ago! Thanks, Mitch! Also, my thanks to fellow blogger Anj for digging up this letter and sending me a scan! You can check out Anj’s fantastic Supergirl blog by clicking here!

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]]> http://firestormfan.com/2013/06/18/firestorm-letters-02/feed/ 5 http://firestormfan.com/2013/06/11/daily-planet/ http://firestormfan.com/2013/06/11/daily-planet/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:30:53 +0000 http://firestormfan.com/?p=8074 Firestorm made the front page of the Daily Planet! .. Well, sort of.

During the Bronze Age, each issue of DC Comics contained an in-house promotional page called “Daily Planet”. The modern equivalent would be the Channel 52 strips or the DC Comics All Access pages. Each “Daily Planet” included information on upcoming releases and the ever-popular “Answer Man” column. The November 28, 1977 edition prominently featured our favorite Nuclear Man! This would have hit the shelves exactly one week before Firestorm #1 arrived.

Click the image below to enlarge.

Did you notice the Professor Charles Stein comment above?!??! Believe it or not, this is the second reference to Charles Stein. The first appeared a week prior to this “Daily Planet” edition in an editorial by Jenette Kahn. The editorial appeared November 21, 1977 in Teen Titans #53 (and possibly other comics as well).  Click here to read that editorial.

Either Martin’s name changed sometime prior to the first issue hitting the shelves, or this error just kept popping up. Either way, it’s an interesting peek into the promotional launch for the original series!

I came across this on Count Comics Tumblr, so my thanks to him!

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If you aren’t familiar with Direct Currents, they were a free, promotional magazine containing approximately 8 pages, that solicited the titles being released by DC Comics that month. It was sort of like a monthly version of the DC Sampler that we discussed on the latest FIRE & WATER PODCAST. My local comic shop didn’t typically carry Direct Currents, so it was always a treat to find one in other shops. Just for fun, below is the cover to Direct Currents #16 promoting comics shipping in May 1989!

My thanks to Rob Kelly of The Aquaman Shrine for sending this my way! Thanks, Rob!

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FINALLY… Firestorm in WHO’S WHO!!! The eighth episode of our WHO’S WHO podcast is now available — the show that dares to tackle one of DC Comics’ greatest publications! Each episode Rob and I cover a single issue of the legendary 1980s series, Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe. This time around we chat about WHO’S WHO: Volume VIII, discussing characters such as Firestorm, Firehawk, Fisherman, Flash, Forgotten Heroes, Firebrand, Force of July, and many more! We wrap up the show with Who’s Who Listener Feedback!

Click here to read Jerry Ordway’s blog post discussed in this episode.

Be sure to check out our Tumblr site for a few pages from this Who’s Who issue: FireandWaterPodcast.Tumblr.com!

You can find the eighth episode of WHO’S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE PODCAST OF THE DC UNIVERSE on iTunes. Each episode is released as part of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST feed. While you’re on iTunes, please drop us a review. Alternatively, you may download the podcast by right-clicking here, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (69 MB).

Thanks to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on this episode! Special thanks to Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our fantastic Who’s Who theme song!

Have a question or comment? Send us an e-mail at: firewaterpodcast@comcast.net

One of the coolest aspects of each Who’s Who issue was the amazing wrap-around cover! Check out this impressive Paris Cullins and Dick Giordano cover for Volume VIII! Click the image to enlarge.

Here are your Firestorm-related Who’s Who entries from this issue…

Of course we’re going to feature Firestorm himself! Below is the entry drawn by co-creator Al Milgrom! We’ve featured it here previously on FIRESTORM FAN, but it’s worth checking out again! Click the image to enlarge!

And you know we’re not going to skip Firehawk! Below is the entry drawn by Fury of Firestorm artist Rafael Kayanan and inked by Dick Giordano! We’ve featured this one here previously also, but it’s certainly worth repeating! Click the image to enlarge!

This issue also included Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson. Firestorm appeared as a back-up strip in his series for several months, so I figured it merited including here.  Click to enlarge!

Finally, I wanted to include Firebrand from All-Star Squadron by Rich Buckler and Mike DeCarlo! While Firestorm only encountered her a couple times, I’ve always really liked the character. … and she’s fire-related … and she’s reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaallllllly cute.    Click to enlarge!

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