Created by Stuart Moore & Jamal Igle in FIRESTORM #14 (August 2005), Dr. Phaedon is an ill-tempered scientist working for STAR Labs specializing in nanotechnology and miniaturization. When we first meet him, he works for STAR Labs Detroit, and later STAR Labs San Francisco. And the STAR Labs Detroit office is hilariously low rent! I love that they worked in the STAR Labs sloping front into a shopping center facade — Bwah-ha-ha!! Beneath the dentist and Pizza Tent on the marquee too! LOL!

The Detroit office is small, so they combine anti-gravity technology with office space efficiency! Clever!

Because of the anti-gravity work stations, Dr Phaedon always wears a belt with flying jets. He’s also always seen with magnifying tech goggles, usually resting on his forehead.

Dr Phaedon is probably best known for his stormy relationship with his wife, Nanette. They often argue openly in the STAR Labs office. Usually the arguments are about money, or that STAR Labs Detroit was laying off all their employees. Nanette is furious with her husband and STAR Labs. It’s worth noting that Phaedon is really an unpleasant and brusque guy, bordering upon rude. No wonder his wife hates him. In a private conversation with Dr Phaedon’s boss, Jason Rusch referred to Dr Phaedon as a “tool” (and the boss agreed with him).

While in the San Francisco office, one of the arguments between Dr Phaedon and his wife gets out of hand. In his anger, Dr Phaedon blasts her with some tech that accidentally miniaturizes Nanette. While shrunken inside the computers, Nanette begins sabotaging STAR Labs systems. Then in her miniature state, she helps defeat an OMAC that is terrorizing the STAR Labs San Francisco office. Husband and wife begin to make amends, but Nanette abandons him when it was over with OMAC.

To see Dr. Allen Phaedon in animation, be sure to check out the new YOUNG JUSTICE: OUTSIDERS season over on DC UNIVERSE!

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Each design is gorgeous and exploding with creativity! These are so cool, I hope CrissCross re-purposes these designs elsewhere. I love them all, but if I had to pick a favorite for Firestorm, I’d probably go with Version 7. How about you?

Starting with version #5 below, you’ll notice CrissCross references Jim Lee’s Firestorm designs. I’m guessing he’s referring to Jim Lee’s designs from 2003 that later appeared in Wizard Magazine. Click here to see Jim Lee’s designs.

Wow! Some truly amazing designs!  My thanks to CrissCross for allowing me to present them here. Be sure to visit CrissCross on his blog, Facebook, and Twitter!

My thanks to Abel Padilla for bringing these to my attention. THANKS!

Support Firestorm (and CrissCross)! Fan the flame!

ESSENTIAL FIRESTORM READING:

Ronnie Raymond & Professor Martin Stein

• Firestorm The Nuclear Man 1-5 (1978): Firestorm’s earliest adventures. Collected
• DC Comics Presents 17 (1980): Firestorm returns to action with Superman & receives an invitation. Collected
• The Flash 289-299, 301-303 (1980-1981): Firestorm 8 page back-up stories. Partially Collected
• Fury of Firestorm 1-9 (1982-1983): Firestorm’s most successful run. Fun stories!
• Fury of Firestorm 14-18; Fury of Firestorm Annual 1 (1983): Excellent story introducing Firehawk and Tokamak. My personal favorite!

Jason Rusch

• Firestorm 1-3 (2004): The origin of Jason as Firestorm Available Digitally
• Firestorm 8-13 (2005): Jason teams-up with Firehawk and … deceased Ronnie Raymond? Partially Collected
• Firestorm The Nuclear Man 28-32 (2006-2007): Jason and Professor Stein together in a fantastic adventure
• Blackest Night 1-8 (2009-2010): Firestorm changed forever. Collected

New 52: Ronnie Raymond & Jason Rusch

• The Fury of Firestorm The Nuclear Man 13-20 (2012-2013): The New 52 Firestorm returned to a more iconic version. Collected

In my opinion, the comics above are the most essential Firestorm stories.  Up next are other Firestorm appearances definitely worth your time!

OTHER WORTHWHILE FIRESTORM APPEARANCES:

Firestorm-centric Justice League of America appearances:

• JLA 179-180 (1980): Firestorm joins the JLA
• JLA 183-185 (1980) : JLA travels to Apokolips. Collected
• JLA 192 & 193 (1981): Red Tornado goes wild. Collected
• JLA 205 (1982): Professor Stein vs Hector Hammond
• JLA 207-209, and All-Star Squadron 14 & 15 (1982): Crisis on Earth-Prime. Collected
• JLA 228-230, JLA Annual #2 (1984): Mars/Earth War and aftermath

Stories that dramatically changed Firestorm’s composition and personality:

• Fury of Firestorm 62-64, Fury of Firestorm Annual 5, Firestorm 65 (1987): Birth of the “Blank Slate” Firestorm
• Firestorm 85-100 (1989-1990): The Elemental era of Firestorm

Major DC Events Involving Firestorm:

• Crisis on Infinite Earths 1-12 (1985-1986): Collected
• Legends 1-6 (1986-1987): Available Digitally
• Brightest Day 0-24 (2010-2011): Collected Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3
• Forever Evil 1-7 (2013-2014): Collected

There you go. While Firestorm has appeared in hundreds of other comics, these are the ones I’d recommend to a new reader of the character. If you disagree with my selections, or think of other important appearances, sound off in the comments!

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Drunkula has a unique, and quite possibly psychotic, sense of humor. To completely mess with his reader’s minds, and my own, he switched-up his site. I stumbled across this change while reading a Google Alert for the term “Firestorm Fan”. At first I didn’t realize what I was reading. I thought it was a reference to my own site. Upon the third reading I realized something was desperately amiss. Below is a screen shot of his blog as it appeared on April Fool’s Day! To sell the prank, Drunkula wrote a full-on review of Firestorm v3 #3. That’s dedication! You can still read the post by clicking here (be sure to check the comments).

Too funny! I was laughing hysterically at Drunkula’s April Fool’s Day fun! They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! I’ll take that! Be sure to check out site on a regular basis. It’s full of fun reviews, great images, and hilarious action figure funnies.

Drunkula wasn’t alone in his April Fool’s Day hijinks! Anj over at the Supergirl-themed blog, Comic Box Commentary, also jumped in the fun. He re-dressed his site as a Nightshade blog, stating he was fed up with Supergirl. Below is a screen shot of his blog as it appeared on April Fool’s Day! You can still read the post by clicking here (be sure to check the comments on this one too).

Be sure to also visit Anj’s site on a regular basis. He does an excellent job covering Supergirl in all her various forms (classic, New 52, Power Girl, etc).

Thanks for the laughs guys! If you enjoyed these pranks, then check out the 2011 April Fool’s Day blog crossover in which 9 different blogs pulled similar stunts. In that instance, Firestorm Fan was rebranded as “B’wana Beast’s Blog!” Love me some April Fool’s Day fun!

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The artist is a teenager from Mexico named Jules Suarez. A teenager!! How cool is that?!?! First of all, I don’t know a lot of teenage fans of Firestorm. Second, if his art is this good during his teenage years, just think how good he’ll be as an adult! Great job, Jules!! Keep up the fantastic work! Be sure to follow Jules on deviantART and Tumblr!

Just about every Firestorm is represented in this drawing!! Here is a complete list of all incarnations in Jules’ art:

• Original Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond / Martin Stein)
• Elemental Firestorm (Martin Stein)
• Jason Rusch (1st Firestorm form)
• Jason Rusch (One Year Later design)
• Deathstorm (Black Lantern Firestorm)
• Brightest Day Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond / Jason Rusch)
• Jason Rusch (New 52 Firestorm Protocols)
• Ronnie Raymond (New 52 Firestorm Protocols)
• Fury (New 52 Firestorm Protocols)
• Current Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond / Jason Rusch)
• Crime Syndicate Deathstorm (Martin Stein)

The only Firestorm missing is the “Blank Slate” Firestorm. However, to be fair the only recognizable difference between the “Blank Slate” and the original Firestorm are the red cowl sideburns. So really, the art works just fine without it.

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Shot of several Firestorm’s in the game

Ronnie Raymond version of Firestorm, with Firestorm Protocols costume
(9th incarnation of Firestorm).

Jason Rusch version of Firestorm, with his original costume
(6th incarnation of Firestorm).

Elemental Firestorm (3rd incarnation of Firestorm).

Firestorm suit available to playable character, Maxwell.

Group shot of the Firestorms hanging with Red Tornado.

Black Lantern Firestorm (a.k.a. Deathstorm)

Extreme Justice featuring Firestorm (though costumes are more modern)

Firehawk with Lorraine Reilly text, but with New 52 Therese costume.

Soyuz and individual entries.

Captain X, Ronnie Raymond’s grandfather.

Killer Frost

Multiplex

Black Bison

Plastique

Brimstone

Bolt

Naiad

Zuggernaut… yes, Zuggernaut is in the game!

Finally, Keith was incredibly thorough and searched the game for numerous other characters. Sadly, here is a list of characters that didn’t make it into the game: Typhoon, Hyena, Professor Martin Stein, Doreen Day, Cliff Carmichael, Gehenna, Pozhar, Bug & Byte, Tokamak, Silver Deer, Mindboggler, Goldenrod, Moonbow, Shadowstorm, Shoe Shine, Power Company, Stalnoivolk, Weasel, and most disappointing is… Slipknot.

Again, our thanks to Keith for sending all these great screenshots! Be sure to pick up your copy of Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure today!

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]]> http://firestormfan.com/2013/10/01/scribblenauts-2/feed/ 6 http://firestormfan.com/2013/03/05/artwork-celebration/ http://firestormfan.com/2013/03/05/artwork-celebration/#comments Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:30:25 +0000 http://firestormfan.com/?p=7650 It’s time for more original Firestorm artwork from our good friend Jon from FIZZIT, the Firestorm-themed blog! He happens to own several original Firestorm pages and convention sketches and has been kind enough to allow me to publish scans of them here. Jon’s been a great contributor to FIRESTORM FAN and my thanks go out to him!  I’ve been terribly remiss in publishing his more recent acquisitions, so hopefully we’ll make up for some lost time here.  You may view scans of his entire art collection online by clicking here.

We’ll start with three pages from the classic Fury of Firestorm #36 featuring Plastique, Firehawk, and our favorite Nuclear Man by Rafael Kayanan and Alan Kupperberg!

Fury of Firestorm v2 #36 page 16 by Rafael Kayanan & Alan Kupperberg. Click to enlarge.

Fury of Firestorm v2 #36 page 19 by Rafael Kayanan & Alan Kupperberg. Click to enlarge.

Fury of Firestorm v2 #36 page 20 by Rafael Kayanan & Alan Kupperberg. Click to enlarge.

Next up are three pages from Firestorm v3 featuring Jason, his best friend Mick, and an O.M.A.C. by Patrick Olliffe and Simon Coleby!

Firestorm v3 #18 page 12 by Patrick Olliffe & Simon Coleby. Click to enlarge.

Firestorm v3 page 17 by Patrick Olliffe & Simon Coleby. Click to enlarge.

Firestorm v3 #18 page 19 by Patrick Olliffe & Simon Coleby. Click to enlarge.

And finally, something interesting that I just had to call…

ANATOMY OF AN EXTREME JUSTICE PAGE!

Below you’ll find several versions of Extreme Justice #12 page 5 by Tom Morgan & Ken Branch. First up is a straightforward pencil and ink drawing of the page. Click to enlarge.

This next one is also pencil and ink, but notice Firestorm’s hair is missing in the parts I circled. More on that in the next image.

Below is an overlay for this page featuring Firestorm’s hair (see how they match up with the image above). These were used to distinguish a specific color. After checking out this image, scroll down to see the final comic page. You’ll see how the flames below are colored red in the finished comic, rather than the usual black ink.

Below are the computer readouts for each character from this page. Presumably the creators used a computer printer to generate these fonts then added them afterwards.

Finally, here is how it all came together.  Notice Firestorm’s red hair (instead of black lines), and the computer type on the middle images. Seems like a lot of effort just to produce one page! … Especially a page of Extreme Justice. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Easy target.

Thanks again to our good buddy Jon of the Firestorm-themed FIZZIT blog for letting us publish the artwork he purchased!  Be sure to check out Jon’s awesome Firestorm original art collection!

Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!

VOTE! Click here to vote for your favorite six entries from, “What do you like about Firestorm?”

The six individuals with the most votes will receive one of the following fantastic prizes:

• An original art page drawn by Dan Jurgens and Ray McCarthy from the recent The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #13 (courtesy of Ray McCarthy)
• Firestorm: The Nuclear Man trade paperback signed by writer and co-creator Gerry Conway
• The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #11 & #12 signed by inker Marlo Alquiza (courtesy of Jeremy Hobbs)
• The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men Volume 1: God Particle trade paperback
• Brightest Day Firestorm action figure (courtesy of Mail Me My Comics)
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold t-shirt featuring Firestorm (courtesy of Lil’ Russell Burbage)

My thanks to Ray McCarthy, Jeremy Hobbs, Mail Me My Comics, and Lil’ Russell Burbage for donating prizes. Also, my thanks to Speed Force, the Flash blog, for inspiring this contest!

VOTE! Click here to vote for your favorite six entries from, “What do you like about Firestorm?”

Support Firestorm! Vote for those that Fan the flame!

UPDATE: If you voted prior to 11:00pm EST on Monday, February 25, please vote again. I apologize for the inconvenience. Due to some voting inconsistencies, I had to delete the original poll. The new poll was launched just after 11:00pm on Monday. You may select up to six responses, but please don’t vote for the same response multiple times. If there is a repeat of voting inconsistencies, I will terminate the voting and select the winners myself. The new poll URL is: http://twtpoll.com/m17u99

Happy voting! May the best Match-head win!

You better hurry because this sale ends tomorrow, Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 11:00pm EST.  Sorry for the short notice.  The sale has been going on since last Thursday and I had planned to promote it last week, but some other news came up as you may have noticed.

Be sure to pick up these issues! C’mon, it’s only $5 for all five issues! Show your support for the Nuclear Man! I bought my copies, shouldn’t you?

Finally, don’t forget to enter the “What Do You Like About Firestorm” contest! Given Firestorm’s recent cancellation announcement, this contest is even more important! Over 40 entries already! Enter today and you might win a prize!

Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!

The rules of the contest are pretty simple… Just share what you like about Firestorm, or a favorite memory involving the Nuclear Man. Write these thoughts in the comments section of this post or e-mail them directly to me by clicking here. You can discuss any era/incarnation of the character, or any series where he appeared (i.e. Fury of Firestorm, Justice League of America, Brightest Day, Super Friends cartoon, etc).  The only restriction is haters need not apply. If you’ve got a bone to pick with a particular incarnation of Firestorm, this isn’t the place. This is a celebration of Firestorm, so let’s keep it positive! The contest will run until 10pm EST on Sunday, February 17th. So be sure to get your entries in before then. One entry per person please. Once the contest closes on February 17, we’ll collect all the entries and set them up as a poll to be voted on by readers, and the top-rated five will win!

We’ve got some great prizes! Check these out:

• An original art page drawn by Dan Jurgens and Ray McCarthy from the recent The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #13 (courtesy of Ray McCarthy)
• Firestorm: The Nuclear Man trade paperback signed by writer and co-creator Gerry Conway
• The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #11 & #12 signed by inker Marlo Alquiza (courtesy of Jeremy Hobbs)
• The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men Volume 1: God Particle trade paperback
• Brightest Day Firestorm action figure (courtesy of Mail Me My Comics)

Yes, you read that correctly! We’re giving away an original page from Dan Jurgens and Ray McCarthy’s premier issue of Firestorm!  How cool is that?!?!?!

My thanks to Ray McCarthy, Jeremy Hobbs, and Mail Me My Comics for donating prizes. Also, my thanks to Speed Force, the Flash blog, for inspiring this contest!

Tell us why you Support Firestorm! Share why you Fan the flame!

UPDATE: Vote for your favorite six entries from the contest!