To help get you in the mood, check out this new Killer Frost song written and performed by our friend, the amazingly talented Luke Daab! Click the link below to play the song from his Tumblr page.

Cold Hearted Killer: A Song for Killer Frost

If you’re not familiar with Luke Daab, he’s an artist, a writer, a musician and a puppeteer. Luke has created artwork for McDonald’s restaurants, Star Wars, DC Comics, Transformers, Kung Fu Panda, and more! We’ve featured a handful of Luke’s fantastic artworks previously – click here to see (and hear) more. You can support Luke via his Patreon page.

Then check out this astonishingly cool poster that was released yesterday of Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost from The Flash! Somehow she manages to be cold and hot at the same time!!

If you can’t wait for tonight’s episode, then get your The Flash fix via our friends over at The Flash Podcast!

Support Firestorm (and Danielle Panabaker)! Fan the flame!

Be sure to watch The Flash tonight, then check out Legends of Tomorrow on Thursday!

Support Firestorm (and Legends of Tomorrow)! Fan the flame!

We are beyond excited to have Robbie back on The Flash. You can’t keep a good Firestorm down. Only this time, he’s back with a twist, a deadly Earth-Two version of our beloved Ronnie in the form of Deathstorm.

I’m not sure how much similarity we’ll see between the TV version of Deathstorm and the two comic versions we’ve met previously. Personally, I’m hoping if there are any similarities he’s more like the second comic incarnation of Deathstorm (from the Crime Syndicate). I’ve previously outlined my concerns about the first Deathstorm incarnation.

Also, according to the EW article, on Earth-Two Ronnie and Caitlin are still a couple! If you’ve been watching previews for The Flash, then you know the Earth-Two version of Ronnie’s former wife, Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), is actually Killer Frost! Below is a pic of Robbie Amell in his Deathstorm costume taken on the set of The Flash.

If you’ve missed recent previews, check out Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost below!

Check out the trailer below, or click here!

If you can’t wait for the new season to start, keep up with all The Flash news via our friends over at The Flash Podcast!

My thanks to many, many Match-heads for the heads-up on Robbie Amell’s and Danielle Panabaker’s alter-egos!

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Franz Drameh appears to be doing a great job with the role! Looking forward to more of his Firestorm!

Can’t wait until January 21st for Legends of Tomorrow? Then get your fix by listening to the Legends of Tomorrow Podcast! They discuss all things related to and leading to the show. They were even kind enough to invite me to discuss Firestorm on episode 8 of their show!

Watch the trailer again below! I can’t count how many times I’ve watched it!!

Just a little speculation, but the TV version of the Firestorm suit seems to be heavily influenced by Jamal Igle’s comic book re-design of the Firestorm suit (Firestorm the Nuclear Man #23 from May 2005). See below. Notice the chest emblem ends with the three smaller circles (representing electrons). Jamal was the first artist to interpret the insignia this way. On the TV costume, notice the yellow piping on the shoulders and gloves. This design element was also introduced by Jamal Igle; notice on the comic version the gloves and boots. Similar piping has been used in subsequent suits, including the New 52 Firestorm costumes. Way to go, Jamal!

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Danielle Panabaker continues to impress me. In interviews and face-to-face, she comes across as a really wonderful and intelligent woman. My own experience meeting her was a complete joy! If you’d like to watch Panabaker’s segment on The Talk, click here.

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In case you are wondering about Robbie Amell and this new version of Firestorm…

EW.com recently published an interview with Andrew Kreisberg, The Flash Executive Producer, where he addressed the death of Ronnie Raymond:

Part of the decision was Robbie’s burgeoning film career. He’s on his way to being a very big star, which he completely deserves both professionally and personally. We didn’t want to stand in the way of that. As always, sometimes those tough decisions yield the best storytelling because obviously Ronnie’s death has a major impact on all the characters, Barry, Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), Professor Stein. It also gave us a lot of our storytelling as we move forward. Everyone knows there’s a second spin-off coming with Legends of Tomorrow. They know the Firestorm legacy is far from over, so it just gave us a lot of rich storytelling to pursue.

Robbie recently posted the photo below on Instagram and said, “Firestorm is in great hands. But I’ll be back”

Last week Zap2it.com published an interview with Andrew Kreisberg that got me excited about the introduction of Jefferson “Jax” Jackson. Below are some relevant quotes explaining this new version of Firestorm will be more like the comic version! Hooray!

When deciding to give Dr. Stein another second half, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg explains how the team wanted the new Firestorm to be different from Ronnie but inevitably closer in resemblance to the comic book lighthearted spirit of the character.

“In the comic books Ronnie was like a dumb jock. Obviously, Robbie and the character that we created for our Ronnie was obviously an engineer and was more mature and has a girlfriend. He was more of an adult,” Kreisberg explains to Zap2it and a group of journalists at an episode preview event. “The idea of a second firestorm being somebody who was just in his early 20s and somebody who was radically different from [Robbie’s] Firestorm.”

That’s not to say that Jax is a dumb jock — he had a 4.0 GPA in high school, but his lack of science background creates a fun dichotomy between him and Dr. Stein that more closely resembles the chemistry between the scientist and Ronnie in the comic books.

Can’t wait to see Jax on-screen tonight! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

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Below are a few screen captures of the Firestorm-related content from the trailer!

In case you missed it previously, here is the description of next week’s episode:

INTRODUCING FIRESTORM — Barry (Grant Gustin) and the team look for another Firestorm match for Dr. Stein (Victor Garber). When the team meets Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (guest star Franz Drameh), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) has her reservations about whether Jax is the right match for Dr. Stein. Iris (Candice Patton) surprises Joe (Jesse L. Martin) while Barry and Patty (guest star Shantel VanSanten) grow closer. Stefan Pleszczynski directed the episode written by Kai Yu Wu & Joe Peracchio (#204). Original airdate 10/27/2015.

Can’t wait to see next week’s episode and how this unfolds!

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The 142nd episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST is now available for your listening pleasure! THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST is the official podcast of FIRESTORM FAN and THE AQUAMAN SHRINE.

Shag and Rob discuss the Season 2 premiere of The Flash! Plus a selection from Shag’s Nuclear Sub World Tour 2015, featuring a guest appearance by Doug Zawisza talking about Starman by Roger Stern & Tom Lyle!

You can find the 142nd episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST on iTunes. While you’re there, please drop us a review on the iTunes page. Every comment helps! Alternatively, you may play the podcast using the player below or by right-clicking “download”, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (68 MB).

As always, thanks to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on these episodes! Opening theme, “That Time is Now,” by Michael Kohler. Special thanks to Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our fantastic original closing theme!

Have a question or comment? Looking for more great content?

• Send us an e-mail: firewaterpodcast@comcast.net
• Check our Tumblr: fireandwaterpodcast.tumblr.com
• Visit The Aquaman Shrine: www.aquamanshrine.net
• Doug’s new blog Tales of My Greatest Strange Adventures: talesofmygreateststrangeadventures.blogspot.com
• Doug’s Doom Patrol blog: mygreatestadventure80.blogspot.com
• Doug’s articles on CBR – www.comicbookresources.com/author/doug-zawisza
• or leave a comment below!

Thanks for listening! Support Firestorm and Aquaman! Fan the Flame and Ride the Wave!

“The Fury of Firestorm” airing October 27, 2015 (description taken from The Flash Podcast website):

INTRODUCING FIRESTORM — Barry (Grant Gustin) and the team look for another Firestorm match for Dr. Stein (Victor Garber). When the team meets Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (guest star Franz Drameh), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) has her reservations about whether Jax is the right match for Dr. Stein. Iris (Candice Patton) surprises Joe (Jesse L. Martin) while Barry and Patty (guest star Shantel VanSanten) grow closer. Stefan Pleszczynski directed the episode written by Kai Yu Wu & Joe Peracchio (#204). Original airdate 10/27/2015.

Wow! We’re going to meet the new Firestorm in just a few weeks! Can’t wait to learn more about Jax! Things may have changed since the early planning of this show, but below is how Jax’s character was originally described:

Former high school football star who lost out on a chance to go pro after an injury. Now an auto mechanic, Jay finds a surprising affiliation to the S.T.A.R. Labs crew. A regular, street smart guy who unexpectedly gains powers, and then, as part of the team, regularly quips about the insanity of the situations.

It sounds like Jax will have that “regular guy” quality that Ronnie brought to the character in the comics. Also, Franz Drameh’s character’s full name is Jefferson Jackson?!?! Long time Firestorm fans will recognize that name as Ronnie’s best friend and high school basketball teammate! Looks like the TV show has maintained the sports connection, given that Jax’s description involves playing football.

October 27 can’t get here quick enough!

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Eddie Slick first appeared back in Fury of Firestorm #51 & #52 (1986). When he was first introduced, Eddie was a corrupt boxing manager. He had no super powers, but was a surprising look-a-like for Professor Martin Stein. When Eddie reappeared in Firestorm the Nuclear Man #74 & #75 (1988), he’d been buried alive in the desert by his gangster “friends”. Through a series of unique events, Eddie survived and was transformed into a creature entirely composed of sand, able to control other sand at will. He called himself “Sand Demon” and went on a rampage across Las Vegas. From next week’s preview of The Flash, it appears the TV version of Eddie Slick has similar powers.

From a creator rights perspective, this character raises an interesting question. Writer Gerry Conway and artist Joe Brozowski created the character of Eddie Slick. However, Eddie didn’t have any super powers in those appearances. Writer John Ostrander and artist Joe Brozowski introduced Eddie Slick’s powers and the Sand Demon persona. So which writer gets financially compensated for Kett Turton’s portrayal on The Flash next week? Is the Sand Demon derivative of Eddie Slick, or the same character? Is this another creator rights situation similar to what happened with Caitlin Snow? I can’t help but wonder.

Below you’ll find an amazing recap of Eddie Slick/Sand Demon’s history found on Comic Book Movies: Who’s Who:

Not much is known about Eddie Slick’s early life, apart from the fact that he had always been good in making the worst choices possible. He lived in New York City, and he was a small-time crook, a gangster-wannabe who always tried to make money the fastest way possible. He joined a group of professional criminals, some true mobsters who had quite a taste for gambling…especially when they won. In order to become good friends with them, Slick reinvented himself as a boxing manager, obviously doing his best to fix the competition, warning his pals which fighter they had to place their bet on. His most succesful athlete was a beast of a man stage-named King Crusher, who was doing good…but not good enough. Slick drugged all his athletes as a rule, but with Crusher he decided to do something more, and when he managed to put his hands on some experimental mutagenic steroids, he treated Crusher with them. As a result, King Crusher surely became bigger and stronger, and he kept winning a match after the other…but the process wasn’t stopping, and he became strong to superhuman levels; the steroids also affected his psyche, and the wrestler went mad. In a vengeful rampage, King Crusher targeted Eddie, and the manager couldn’t do anything but run from him. Luckily enough, in NYC’s streets King Crusher saw Professor Martin Stein, who was dating Emily Rice. Coincidentally, Stein looked exactly the same as Slick, and the wrestler targeted him instead. Stein had the time to look for his young friend Ronnie Raymond and to merge with him to form the superhero Firestorm, defeating King Crusher and saving Eddie Slick in the process…but the whole illegal steroids traffic, the gambling circuit and all Slick’s affairs were exposed, thus ending the crook’s criminal career.

Eddie Slick managed to avoid prison, but that wasn’t a stroke of luck at all: his powerful friends from the mob had lost a fortune with the King Crusher affair, and they wanted to exact justice their own way. Slick was deemed responsible for the entire situation, and the gangsters decided to make an example of him: they brought him to their headquarters in Las Vegas, and they executed him by buring him alive in the Nevada Desert. The sand of the desert, however, was irradiated, and the close encounter with Firestorm had already modified Slick’s organism: instead of dying as he was supposed to, Slick was transformed into a creature entirely composed of sand, able to control other sand at will. Weeks spent underground had also made Slick insane, and he emerged from the desert pretty much deranged: naming himself Sand Demon, Slick returned to Las Vegas and started hunting down his former friends and employers, killing them one after the other. These murders attracted the attention of the new Firestorm (formed by Ronnie Raymond and Mikhail Arkadin), who was looking for a still MIA Martin Stein. From the news, Ronnie believed that the Sand Demon was actually Stein, and traveled to Las Vegas to try and make him “come back to his senses”. In the middle of a desert, with all that sand at disposal, Slick proved to be an extremely dangerous opponent even for Firestorm, especially considering that the latter was restraining himself believing he was facing his friend Martin Stein. When Ronnie realized the Sand Demon wasn’t Stein at all, and that he was far too powerful and too crazy to be controlled, he stopped holding back, and he used his powers to overheat Slick, turning him into glass. The Sand Demon’s body fell to the floor and shattered, thus ending the short-lived superhuman existence of Eddie Slick.

Eddie Slick is, simply put, a complete failure. Greedy, vulgar, sneaky, Slick makes the one and simple mistake of believing himself to be extremely smart, while he’s actually quite a dumb man. As the Sand Demon, he’s a remarkably powerful being, entirely made of sand (thus invulnerable to most arm) and capable of manipulating surrounding sand as well: in the Nevada Desert, he has an entire state to control, thus creating sandstorms, tornadoes and even gigantic quicksands. Just as powerful as he is crazy, Sand Demon is an extremely dangerous man, once stupid and mediocre, now stupid and lethal.

So Eddie Slick joins the long list of Firestorm characters to appear on The Flash:

• Ronnie Raymond (Firestorm) played by Robbie Amell
• Professor Martin Stein (Firestorm) played by Victor Garber
• Caitlin Snow (Killer Frost, eventually) played by Danielle Panabaker
• Danton Black (Multiplex) played by Michael Smith
• Bette Sans Souci (Plastique) played by Kelly Frye
• Jason Rusch (Firestorm, in the comics) played by Luc Roderique
• Henry Hewitt (Tokamak) played by Demore Barnes
• Eddie Slick (Sand Demon) played by Kett Turton
• Clarissa Stein (Clarissa Clemens, in the comics) played by Isabella Hofmann
• Quentin Quale (Stein’s boss in the comics) played by Bill Dow
• Felicity Smoak played by Emily Bett Rickards  (okay, she’s from Arrow, but she still originated in Firestorm)

With all these Firestorm characters on The Flash, I can’t help wondering if at some point we’ll see Hyena, Typhoon, or Black Bison. While I ask that, I can also argue against them. Hyena might be too redundant on The Flash as an animal foe after introducing Gorilla Grodd. Typhoon might be too redundant on The Flash after introducing Weather Wizard. That leaves Black Bison, which would be really cool, but walks that dangerous line of reinforcing stereotypes. So bottom line… watch for Zuggernaut and Bazooka Joan in season three!!

C’mon Shag! What about The Flash Season Two Premier?!?

By this point, I’m sure some of you are wondering why I haven’t mentioned the events of The Flash season premier. I’m sure some folks haven’t had a chance to watch the episode yet, and I don’t want to be the guy to spoil it for them. We’ll talk about that later. Yes, we definitely will.

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