The Victorian Era of Britain lasted from 1837 to 1901.  This happens to coincides with much of the American Old West.   Steampunk is a science fiction genre where steam power is still widely used — usually in the 19th century, and often Victorian Era Britain — but with filled with fantastical technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.  Now throw superpowers into these genres and you’ve got a recipe for awesome!

If the Justice League had existed during the 1800s, I like to think Firestorm would have been from the Old West.  I envision the majority of the Justice League as proper British Victorian Era heroes, but then along comes the brash young American, Firestorm.  If you’ve read Firestorm’s appearances in the classic Justice League of America comics, this description would be a good reflection.

Here is a fantastic drawing of Firestorm as he might have looked back during the Old West.  I absolutely love the vest, puffy shirt, and the headgear!  He’s got the visual sensibilities of an aristocratic scientist of that era, but dashed with hints of a frontier cowboy.  That makes perfect sense if you imagine the personalities of Professor Stein and Ronnie Raymond transplanted into the Old West.  The drawing is so utterly Firestorm, and yet so utterly Wild, Wild West.  This super-cool reimagining was done by Michael S Bracco.  To see more of Michael’s artwork, please click here to visit SpaghettiKiss.com.

Now onto the rest of the League… A gentleman by the name of Sillof creates the most amazing custom action figures.  He does this by taking existing action figures and modifying them through sculpture and paint. He specializes in redesigning well known characters and reimagines them in various time periods or aesthetics.

In this case, Sillof created a Victorian Era Justice League.  He was inspired by the comic book, Gotham by Gaslight by Mike Mignola and Brian Augustyn, in which Batman of the 1880’s attempts to stop Jack the Ripper who had come to Gotham.  Sillof calls this set of figures the Gaslight Justice League.

Sillof redesigned several members of the Justice League in the style of the Victorian Era. He went for a darker look and tried to give them the right period feel, but also attempted to keep the feel of the original character.  He didn’t design a Firestorm Gaslight figure, so you’ll have to imagine the Old West Firestorm above standing alongside these heroes.

Click the image to enlarge.  Aren’t those figures amazing!?!?!?!?

More information on these custom figures can be found at the links below:

• Descriptions of each Gaslight Justice League member as well as the Gaslight Legion of Doom on Sillof’s web site
• Gaslight Batman on the Justice League Detroit blog
• Gaslight Wonder Woman on the Diana Prince: Wonder Woman blog
• Gaslight Flash, Captain Cold, and Gorilla Grodd on the Speed Force blog
• Gaslight Aquaman on the Aquaman Shrine blog
• Gaslight Martian Manhunter on the Idol-Head of Diabolu blog
• Close-ups of the rest of the Gaslight Justice League on My[confined]Space

There you have it, the Justice League of the 1800s!  Such a cool concept!

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]]> http://firestormfan.com/2010/07/20/steampunk-justice-league-and-old-west-firestorm/feed/ 3 http://firestormfan.com/2010/05/24/brightest-day-speculation/ http://firestormfan.com/2010/05/24/brightest-day-speculation/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 10:34:22 +0000 Shag http://firestormfan.com/?p=1906 Warning… the following contains SPOILERS for Blackest Night and Brightest Day #0 – #2.

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Okay, we’re three issues into Brightest Day and we’re starting to get a picture of what’s happening with Firestorm.  I’ll start with what we know, then let’s delve into speculation on where it’s going.

THE FACTS

• Jason Rusch’s girlfriend Gehenna, formerly one-half of Firestorm, was murdered by the Black Lantern Firestorm.  The Black Lantern Firestorm claimed to be the resurrected Ronnie Raymond.
• Later, Ronnie Raymond was resurrected by the light of the White Lantern with no recollection of the Black Lantern’s activities.  Ronnie quickly resumed his college partying lifestyle.
• Jason and Ronnie don’t get along.  Ronnie is coping with the fact that he died and came back, as well as that someone else has had control of the Firestorm matrix.  Meanwhile, Jason blames Ronnie for the death of Gehenna.
• When Ronnie and Jason touched in Blackest Night #0, they fused into Firestorm.  They have been unable to separate into their own individual bodies since.  They are stuck fused as Firestorm.  Ronnie currently controls the body while Jason is able to advise telepathically.
• Ray Palmer, the Atom, shrank and entered Firestorm’s body in hopes of “disarming” the Firestorm matrix.  He commented that Firestorm’s flames are no longer just for show and that it was nearly 1,000 degrees inside his body.    When the Atom arrived at the Firestorm matrix, we saw three electrons circling the nucleus.  Two electrons were bright yellow, the third was a dark gray.
• While waiting for the Atom to finish inside their body, Ronnie heard another voice telepathically that goaded him into an argument with Jason. Their body then suffered a very explosive reaction.
• At the same time Ronnie and Jason are arguing, black tendrils begin to reach out from the Firestorm matrix towards the Atom.
• The cover of Brightest Day #4 features Black Lantern Firestorm.

SPECULATION

• It seems a safe bet that the dark gray electron in the Firestorm matrix represents the Black Lantern Firestorm.  Somehow the Black Lantern Firestorm has survived inside the matrix.  That would explain the voice Ronnie heard which caused the argument with Jason.  That would explain the black tendrils chasing the Atom.
• It also seems a safe bet that the Black Lantern Firestorm will take control of the body, which would explain the cover to Brightest Day #4.
• What I’m left wondering is what exactly is the Black Lantern Firestorm.  Is it a dark reflection of Ronnie?  Is it now a dark reflection of Gehenna (which would be pretty clever)?  Is it simply a random malicious entity?
• It also seems logical that the existence of the Black Lantern Firestorm will absolve Ronnie in the blame of Gehenna’s murder.  Jason may remain uncomfortable around Ronnie, he won’t be able to blame Ronnie directly for the death of his girlfriend any longer.
• Without Nekron or the Anti-Monitor-powered black battery, where is Black Lantern Firestorm getting his power from?
• Once all this business with the Black Lantern Firestorm is finished, who will be in the matrix?  I gotta believe the Ronnie/Jason combination will be Firestorm for the foreseeable future.
• With the mention that Firestorm’s flames weren’t just for show anymore, are they going to incorporate some of the Elemental Firestorm concepts into this version?
• There was a panel in Brightest Day #1 featuring several incarnations of Firestorm.  Perhaps that was foreshadowing (along with the temperature comment) that the current Firestorm will be an amalgam of all previous versions.  That was Geoff Johns’ move with Hawkman in JSA, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he did it here with the Nuclear Man.  See my analysis below of that panel.

• The top left Firestorm was patterned after the Al Milgrom cover to Firestorm volume I #1.  This would represent the classic Firestorm.

• The bottom left Firestorm was patterned after the Matt Haley cover to Firestorm volume III #8.  This would represent the early days of Jason Rusch as Firestorm.

• The center Black Lantern Firestorm appears to be patterned after the Ethan Van Sciver variant cover to Blackest Night #3.  If you look closely at Black Lantern Firestorm’s face, you can see the similarities.

• The bottom right Firestorm was patterned after the Tom Grindberg cover to Firestorm volume II #85.  However, they used the coloring from the later Tom Mandrake issues.  This would represent the Elemental Firestorm.

• I believe the top right Firestorm was patterned after the Steve Lightle cover to Extreme Justice #8.  While the facial expression is different and the pose is reversed, the coloring on the headgear is consistent.  This is the only drawing I’ve ever seen where the classic Firestorm has yellow accents on his headgear.  If so, this drawing would represent the years Ronnie flew solo with the Firestorm matrix.

• This leaves the “Blank Slate” era as the only major incarnation not represented.  It’s possible the top right panel represents the “Blank Slate” era of Firestorm, but I can’t think of a corresponding scene.

So what do you think is going to happen with Firestorm in Brightest Day?

Just a final note, my favorite scene in all of Brightest Day so far is the panel below:

“Just take care of these boys.”  Instead, Martin may as well have said, “Just take care of my boys.”  After all Ronnie and Jason are like sons to him.  Some people may not realize that in comic book time, Jason spent a year working with Professor Stein as Firestorm.  This was during the One Year Later timeframe.  Love this panel!

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So what’s a Fandex you ask?  A Fandex is actually called “Fandex Family Field Guide”. It is an approximately 10″ long stack of full-color, heavy stock, double-sided, die-cut cards.  They resemble bookmarks to some extent. This stack of cards is fastened together with a plastic bolt which serves as a pivot point.  This allows the cards to be fanned out so you can see the pictures at the top of each card and pick the one you would like to look at.  The top of each Fandex card has a large picture of the featured subject, and the card is cut around that particular shape. The cards state interesting information on each subject on both sides of the card.  Typically Fandex focuses on historical or factual subject matter (like famous painters or North American birds).  This particular one focuses on the heroes and villains of DC Comics.

Here is a close-up of the Firestorm entry.  I tried to get the image large enough so that you could read it.

For my complete review of the DC Comics Super Heroes and Villains Fandex, please click here.

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It appears that Ronnie’s rebirth has placed him at college age.  He definitely looks the college frat boy/slacker part, however, he seems to have lost some of his jock muscle tone.  Interesting as that puts Ronnie and Jason at almost the same age.  We all knew Jason’s resentment towards Ronnie was coming, so that was no surprise.  I think it was handled well and will be a compelling subplot for some time.  It seems to me that Geoff Johns wants to establish a similar dynamic to the original Firestorm, Jason being the more mature responsible character (like the Professor was), while Ronnie will be the brash action-oriented character controlling the Firestorm body.

Based upon a lot of the internet chatter I’ve seen, DC needs to eventually address the issue of Firestorm’s skin tone.  Being made up of Ronnie and Jason, the character is half-white and half-black, yet Firestorm appears as a white guy.  While I personally don’t care if Firestorm is white or black, I can see why some people feel it’s unfair for Firestorm to solely appear as a white character.  Some people have suggested that perhaps Firestorm’s race will change depending upon who is controlling the body at the time.  While that’s an interesting option, I’m afraid it will make the series about race rather than simply about a fascinating character.  I think altering his skin tone to be somewhere in-between white and black is sufficient to address this issue.

I especially liked seeing Professor Martin Stein in this issue as a supporting character.  I think he’s important to the mythos of the Firestorm character, but serves better in a supporting role nowadays.  Also, seeing Professor Stein and Ray Palmer hang out seemed perfect.  I can totally see those guys connecting as science geeks.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Geoff Johns retcons that Ray Palmer and Martin Stein hung out a lot back in the Satellite -era of the JLA.

The foreshadowing tease at the end was interesting.  It featured Black Lantern Firestorm transforming the Atom into table salt (among other images of the various reborn characters).  We’ve seen Black Lantern Firestorm on the cover to Brightest Day #4, so we already knew the Black Lantern character would return.  Some people speculate that the Black Lantern Firestorm will actually be Gehenna.  Neat possibility.

Using the pages above as a guide, do you suppose Ronnie and Jason will need to touch in order to form Firestorm going forward?  I kind of hope it’s like the old days where they could trigger the transformation while being across town from each other.  Either way, I’m looking forward to finding out!

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This first one below is entitled, “Ring of Firestorm“.  It’s a nice representation of the Ronnie Raymond/Martin Stein Firestorm.  I like the bold orange and the faded look.  Great shirt!  The artwork appears to be stock art provided by the same artist that did this other shirt.  WANT!

This next shirt has the distinction of being the first Jason Rusch/Firestorm t-shirt in which he’s featured by himself!  This one is entitled, “Firestorm Blaze“.  I love the Jamal Igle-designed costume and the flaming corona is a nice touch.  WANT!

My thanks to Luke (from Being Carter Hall and El Jacone’s Comic Book Bunker) for letting me know about these new shirts.  Thanks, Luke!

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Below you can see the magazine poly-bagged with the figurine.  The white circular sticker is a warning that if you get the lead figurine anywhere near your house your entire family will die an agonizing death.  Well… something like that.  Its lead folks, don’t put it in your mouth.

Below is a close-up of the lead figurine.  Dude, this thing is a work of beauty!  He’s about 3.75 inches tall, just a bit shorter than the recent Infinite Heroes action figure.  This is probably the most faithful representation of the Ronnie Raymond/Martin Stein Firestorm costume ever produced for a figure.  The 1985 Super Powers figure and the 2004 DC Direct figure are probably the closest behind this lead figurine.  They got everything correct – chest emblem, gloves, boots, puffy sleeves, design on the briefs, even the headgear.  It looks great!  It’s just a shame it’s made from lead, rather than plastic or pewter.

The magazine itself provides a detailed history of Firestorm in all his incarnations.  Included are recaps of some classic Firestorm story lines, specifically Legends and Firestorm the Nuclear Man: Reborn (trade paperback collecting the post-One Year Later adventures). There is also a feature on the people who have united to become the Nuclear Man.  Finally, installment #37 of the DC Timeline covering 99 BC to 1 BC (not specific to Firestorm, but obviously a feature every issue of the magazine).

The magazine does a wonderful job breaking up the text with gorgeous images from Firestorm’s history.  I’ve provided a few snapshots below to give you a flavor of how the magazine looks.  Stephen Wiacek, writer of the articles, clearly knows his Firestorm history.  The only thing I found unusual was the disproportionate amount of time spent on the “Blank Slate” incarnation of Firestorm.  While I like the “Blank Slate” version, it was odd to see more space dedicated to him as compared to the Elemental version or Jason Rusch.

Overall this was a great purchase!  The figurine is fantastic and the magazine is an enjoyable read for Firestorm novices and experts.  If your local comic shop doesn’t have it in stock, ask if they can order it.  It’s worth your time and money.

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Here is the recently-released Firestorm action figure from the DC Universe Infinite Heroes line (#58 in the series).  This is the Ronnie Raymond/Professor Martin Stein Firestorm.   Like the other Infinite Heroes figures, Firestorm has been done in the 3-3/4″ scale, so he’s considerably smaller than his DC Direct and DC Universe Classics counterparts.  It’s about the size of a Star Wars figure.  With flaming hair, he’s only four inches tall.

It’s interesting that this Firestorm figure-design reflects bits and pieces of the Jason Firestorm costume.  If you look closely, you’ll see this Ronnie Raymond Firestorm has Jason’s collar, gloves, and pattern on his back.   Perhaps they are planning a Jason figure for the Infinite Heroes line and wanted to be able to re-use some of the molds.

One thing that bothers me about the figure-design is the chest emblem.  If you look on the right-hand side of the emblem (the left-hand side from Ronnie’s perspective), there are only two white lines coming out of the large red circle.  These white lines represent the orbits of the electrons and the large red circle represents the nucleus.  You’ve got three orbits on left-side of the red nucleus and only two orbits on the right-side?  What happened to the third electron?  Do we need to call Bill Nye to figure this out?!?!

Overall this is a nice figure.  I like the smaller size and they put a good amount of detail into the costume.  Unfortunately mine has a minor paint defect on the right temple, but it’s not terrible.  This is definitely a figure I’d recommend to fans of the Ronnie Raymond/Professor Martin Stein Firestorm. The figure came out recently, so you might still find it in stores.  I was unsuccessful in locating one myself and had to order it from eBay.

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This first piece from 1977 consists of early character designs Al worked on for Ronnie Raymond and Doreen Day prior to Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #1.  Ronnie looks a little like Snapper Carr and Rick Jones in these early rough sketches. The rough sketch of Doreen in the winter clothes is pretty consistent with the way she was dressed in #1.

Here are some early character designs for Professor Martin Stein and Cliff Carmichael.  The Professor is pretty much spot-on for his final look.  For Cliff, I love that shot of him in the wife-beater smoking a cigarette.  It shows his nerdy side, but also demonstrates that he can be a wiry tough guy.

Next up are the first three pages from the unpublished Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #7.  You may recall we displayed the unpublished cover to Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #6 a while back.  Additionally, you can read the entire unpublished issue #6 online.  However, very little is known about Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #7.  The end of issue #6 boldly proclaimed, “Next Issue: The Reptile Man!”  From the FIRESTORM FAN interview with Gerry Conway we know that “The Reptile Man” was most likely intended to be Killer Croc.  However, since that issue was never published, Gerry instead introduced the character as a Batman villain.

The first page below was published previously in Back Issue Magazine #20.  This was the splash page for Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #7.  The subsequent two pages are being presented for the first time ever here at FIRESTORM FAN.  In these pages you can see Professor Martin Stein’s subconscious is haunting him with images of Firestorm.  At this time the Professor was unaware of the part he played in the Firestorm composite being.  He simply thought he was suffering from blackouts.  I love page three especially!  The art is so amazing you don’t require any dialogue or narration to understand it perfectly.  Click pages 2 & 3 to enlarge.

Finally, we’ve got one more never-before-seen piece.  This is a great general image of Firestorm.  Al wasn’t sure if this was originally intended as a rough design for the cover of Firestorm the Nuclear Man vol I #1, a Who’s Who entry, or possibly an in-house ad.  Regardless, it’s a great looking piece of Ronnie, the Professor, and Firestorm!

My thanks again to Al for this wonderful opportunity!

In addition to co-creating Firestorm, Al Milgrom is well known for his ten-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciller, and inker on Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciller; his long stint as the inker of X-Factor; and much, much more.  For a complete list of his works, visit the Comic Book DB.  Al has created an amazing volume of work and stays busy even nowadays.  If you are a fan of Al Milgrom’s work, there are opportunities for commissions.  Be sure to check out THE ARTISTS CHOICE for all the details on Al Milgrom commissioned sketches.

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• We’ve got a sneak peek of Firestorm from the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths DVD scheduled for release next Tuesday, February 23. These photos confirm that the Firestorm that appears in the movie is the Jason Rusch version and he’s from the “good” Earth.  I guess in hindsight it’s not too surprising that it’s the Jason Firestorm since Dwayne McDuffie wrote the story for this movie; McDuffie wrote a few issues of Firestorm vol III and a JLA run with Jason.  It’ll be interesting to see if there is an “evil” counterpart to Firestorm within the Crime Syndicate.  Firestorm will apparently have a speaking part as Cedric Yarbrough has been identified as doing the voice of Firestorm in this film.  Also worth noting is that Firestorm’s costume is based upon the Jamal Igle version from Firestorm vol III.  Huge thanks to Rob over at the Aquaman Shrine for granting me permission to republish these images here.  Also, my thanks to Joshua Wolf for directing me towards this news.

• Comic Book Resources had some great coverage of the New York Toy Fair earlier this week.  They managed to get some amazing shots of upcoming DC figures from Mattel.  Below are the images they ran of Firestorm from the Justice League Unlimited line.  This figure is due out sometime in 2010 and will be available online and at Target.  Check out the Comic Book Resources article for pictures of other fantastic figures on the horizon (i.e. Blue Devil, several Aquaman figures, Blue Beetle, Ultra-Humanite, and more.  They’ve even got Cyclotron?!?!)

• I just stumbled across a nice blog post about Shadowstorm, the evil Firestorm doppleganger from the Elemental-era.  The post was written by NicodemusLegend for his Transforming Seminarian blog.  Click here to read the Shadowstorm post.  Additionally, NicodemusLegend did a thorough three-part series on “The Hard Life of Professor Martin Stein”.  Check out that series by clicking on the following links: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

• Steward Cook (a.k.a. bricolage) laid out his Firestorm: Rebirth proposal that he pitched to DC back in the 1990s.  Sounds like it would have been interesting.  Check it out by clicking here.
• The episode of Batman: The Brave & the Bold that featured Firestorm is now available to view online.  Click here to be watch.  My thanks to Jerrod Porter for sending this link my way.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths DVD this coming Tuesday!

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