FIRESTORM FAN meets TV’s FIRESTORM!

Robbie Amell (who portrays Ronnie Raymond & Firestorm on CW’s The Flash) was a guest at the con this year! On Friday, I caught the panel he shared with John Wesley Shipp. They had great chemistry, making for a fun hour! Then, I was fortunate to meet Robbie himself! It was a quick photo-op, but he took the time to compliment my shirt!

Next, I visited with Robbie at “The Walk of Fame” and got his autograph. We had the opportunity to chat one-on-one for a few minutes. I mentioned FIRESTORM FAN.com and he expressed his appreciation to all the Firestorm fans for their support! Such a nice guy!

FIRESTORM FAN meets TV’s KILLER FROST!

On Saturday afternoon, I visited with Danielle Panabaker (who portrays Caitlin Snow, and someday Killer Frost, on CW’s The Flash)! Such a nice lady!! We chatted one-on-one for a few minutes about my nine-year-old daughter who idolizes her character. Later that night, Danielle sent me a thoughtful Tweet suggesting I bring my daughter to meet her next time!

To be completely honest, that Tweet was the highlight of the entire convention for me. My kids mean everything to me. Seven hours later, and after meeting hundreds of other folks that day, Danielle still remembered my daughter’s name and took the time to send a message about her. I can’t express how happy that made me! Such a fantastic lady!! When I told my daughter she was absolutely ecstatic!

FIRESTORM COSPLAY!

While waiting in line for Robbie Amell, I met Firestorm cosplayer John Penland! John built this replica of the quantum splicer himself, using some direction from folks working on the actual show! Later in the convention, John gave his replica splicer to Robbie Amell! Very thoughtful gift! Be sure to check out John’s cosplay page over on Facebook!

Later I met Killer Frost cosplayer Brandy Gibson! She was cosplaying Killer Frost as the character appeared on the animated DVD, Batman: Assault on Arkham! Follow Brandy’s cosplay over on Facebook!

Finally, I came across this unique Firestorm cosplay, seen here with Vixen! His uniform is an interesting design that I don’t recognize. There is a hint of Superman’s “S Shield” behind the atomic insignia. Fascinating outfit! I didn’t catch the gentleman’s name, so if anyone can identify this person (or the origin of his costume) please let me know!

UPDATE: Our mysterious Firestorm cosplayer has been identified as Larry Mccalister! Thanks to my buddy, Charles D. Allen for making the identification!

While this might not seem like an overwhelming amount of Firestorm, it’s about 1,000% more than I usually find at Dragon Con!

Really enjoyed meeting all these folks! My thanks to them for making this Firestorm Fan feel welcome!

Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!

The hat is sold as an exclusive to Target, “Chris March: Big Fun – Light-Up Flame Foam Wig”. They were available online, but have now sold out. Check your local target to see if there are any left!

My thanks to several Match-heads who sent me information on these hats. If you take a picture of yourself in one of these hats, please tag me on social media! Would love to see them!

Support Firestorm! Fan the flame (flaming hat, that is)!

Today here at FIRESTORM FAN we’re going to feature… well… sadly I didn’t see any Firestorm nor Killer Frost cosplayers this year. (sad face) However, there were hundreds of other amazing DC Comics related cosplayers this year. Just check out these group shots! Both of these photos were taken by Patrick Sun, and you can find many more on his Flickr page. Click each to enlarge!

Now just for fun, check out this zoomable photo of the DC Comics Mega Photoshoot by Michael Blitch! These photos were taken during cosplay photoshoots organized by the Superhero Costuming Forum. The planning and coordination of these massive photoshoots is an astonishing task! The Grand Poobah over at the Superhero Costuming Forum is Allen Hansard. Allen’s probably best known to you Match-heads as a frequent Firestorm cosplayer! To the rest of the world, Allen is known as the guy who directs most of these photoshoots! In fact, this year he cosplayed as himself directing a Marvel shoot (he’s represented below by Doctor Strange with the megaphone)! Ha!

I took about 200 pictures this year of various cosplayers and activities which you can find on Flickr. Hopefully next year there will be a plethora of Firestorm cosplayers (especially after his break-out roll on the TV series The Flash)!

Dragon Con Cosplay Crossover Links

As mentioned, several different blogs have teamed-up today to cover some of the amazing cosplayers at Dragon Con 2014! Visit these other character-specific blogs to see how they spotlight their own favorite heroes today. Visit them now, visit them later, and visit them often!

• Aquaman & Mera @ The Aquaman Shrine
• Black Canary & Arrow @ Flowers & Fishnets
• Blue Beetle @ Kord Industries
• Captain Carrot @ Captain Carrot’s Burrow
• Flash @ Speed Force
• Hawkman/Hawkgirl @ Being Carter Hall
• Legion of Super-Heroes @ Legion of Super Bloggers

If you’ve enjoyed this blog crossover, then you should check out some previous comic blog crossovers we’ve done. The first major blog crossover celebrated the gorgeous George Pérez/Alex Ross painting from the Crisis on Infinite Earths 1998 hardcover. The next major blog crossover was a celebration of the Super Powers Collection’s 25th Anniversary. Some subsequent major crossovers included: DC Challenge, Read This Too, Mayfairstivus, April Fool’s Day 2011, Blackest Night to Brightest Day, Green Lantern: Circle of Fire, Animated Anthem Day, Secret Files & Origins, DragonCon 2012 Cosplay, Ghosts Annuals from 1998, and Steve Garcia’s Silhouette Art!

Support Firestorm (and these other bloggers)! Fan the flame!

Regular service should resume after Labor Day (assuming I survive the experience). In the meantime, you can watch our social media feed for Firestorm news or even some DragonCon chatter!

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google Plus
• Instagram

Here are a couple of great Firestorm related photos from DragonCon’s past!

 If you’re unfamiliar with DragonCon, perhaps this video with Chloe Dykstra will help explain it.

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In the background notice fellow clubbers dressed as Firestorm, Poison Ivy, and Aquaman. There is a silhouette that vaguely resembles Captain America. And no, that’s not Howie Mandel’s inflated surgical glove on a stick… that’s Plastic Man! To see the entire panel (including Plastic Man, Mary Marvel, and where exactly Supergirl’s leg wandered), visit We Are Arcade. My favorite is the Nuclear Man holding Poison Ivy’s hair as she pukes! Ha! We’ve all been there at some point in our lives.

This image was sent to me ages ago by a fellow Match-head.  Unfortunately, I’ve lost the information linking this pic to the kind soul who sent it. Sorry for that.

Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!

The image above was posted to Reddit shortly after Halloween. I reached out to the girl’s family and her mother was kind enough to write back, providing some history on the costume and more photos! Below is the note from the cosplayer’s mom, followed by more pics!

My daughter is nine years old and comes from a long line of comics enthusiasts. Every year I encourage her to choose a character she’s interested in learning more about to cosplay and I try to put together a costume that will make it especially fun for her. She’s done Princess Leia, Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, Neytiri, Marie Antoinette and Nefertiti. She’s always been partial to DC characters and over the summer she was excited to attend some local conventions here in Las Vegas to get some ideas. We are fortunate to have a very good friend in Ralph Mathieu who owns our favorite comic book store, Alternate Reality Comics, helps us get our hands on the source material for all her most beloved characters. We bought the Injustice: Gods Among Us game when it came out and she played it for months. I played Killer Frost and she played Raven (her all-time favorite character) in some pretty epic duels. Since she had just cosplayed Raven at a con in June I suggested she consider another character. And so began her interest in Killer Frost. The Killer Frost costumes in Injustice are too mature for a nine year old so we sat at the computer and did an image search and spent some time researching the many incarnations of Killer Frost until my daughter decided which she liked best. It just happened to be Caitlin Snow from JLA 7.2/Forever Evil storyline. My daughter and I love spy stuff and science so this version seemed like the perfect fit. She and I got to work conceptualizing a costume and spent a week making it. This is one of our favorite ways to bond! And if you have seen any of the other pictures from Halloween, you can tell this kid gets WAY into cosplaying.

Those pictures are adorable! She is so cute, yet intensely into the role! Love it! I’ve got a 7 year old daughter myself, so I can totally understand a young lady’s passion for dressing up and character-play. And what a great project for mother and daughter to work on together! Absolute Win-Win!!

My thanks to Allen Lee Hansard, boss-man over at the Superhero Costuming Forum, for the heads-up on this super-fun cosplay!

Support Firestorm (and Killer Frost cosplayers)! Fan the flame!

One of the coolest-looking events was the JLA vs Avengers photoshoot with George Perez! Click the image below to enlarge!

The majority of the photos I’m displaying today were taken during cosplay photoshoots organized by the Superhero Costuming Forum. The planning and coordination of these massive photoshoots is an astonishing task! My hats off to these folks for doing such a great job!

Next up is Firestorm cosplayed by Allen Hansard. Allen was the very first Firestorm cosplayer we featured here at FIRESTORM FAN. Additionally, Allen is the Grand Poobah over at the Superhero Costuming Forum. Here is Allen with George Perez!

More shots of Allen’s Firestorm! Firestorm the Nuclear Man vs Nova the Human Rocket!

Firestorm takes control as the cosplay photoshoot organizer!

Next Firestorm cosplayer is a mystery. This is the only shot I’ve seen of him.
Anyone know him?

Next up are a series of Killer Frost photos of cosplayer Bethany Maddock! Her costume is based on Killer Frost in the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us! Great job!

Amazing job this year by all the cosplayers at DragonCon!

If you want more DragonCon JLA vs Avengers cosplay fun, check out these videos!

• JLA VS Avengers: A Tribute to George Pérez (Dragon Con 2013) by Distractotron
• DragonCon 2013: JLA vs. The Avengers by Contagious Media

Support Firestorm (and cosplayers)! Fan the flame!

Firestorm at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con!

Another shot of the Nuclear Man at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con!

Finally, a great shot of the SDCC Firestorm along with Thom Zahler of Love and Capes! For those of you who don’t know, Thom is a big Firestorm fan!

My thanks to Thom Zahler, Edward Crosby, and Holly Elliott for the heads-up about this cosplayer!

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Below is a DC cosplaying group shot from C2E2! You can spot Firestorm up in the back. Clearly he’s not too upset about the cancellation of his ongoing series. … Hey, wait a minute… curse Wanda and her probability manipulation powers — she’s crossed over to the  DC universe! Click the image to enlarge.

My thanks to Christopher Chance and Rob Kelly for the heads-up about this cosplayer!

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Prices start at $72.58 and they offer lots of options and sizes. Now to complete your cosplay, you just need to set your hair on fire!

Check out the costume below based upon Jason’s post-Infinite Crisis suit! And click here for more information!

If you’re brave enough to order one, let us know! If you can legitimately wear spandex and look good doing it, then send us a picture too!

Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!