Writer Gerry Conway used to answer The Fury of Firestorm The Nuclear Man letter column entitled “Nuclear Reactions”.  Apparently, this particular month he was running behind.  Doubling also as the editor, Conway had to decide to run this pin-up in place of a letter column.  Let’s all be glad he did.  What a cool pin-up!

I was re-reading this comic recently and stumbled across the pin-up. It was an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise.  I always remember a cover, but often forget about cool pin-ups like this.  Enjoy!

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This first ad ran in comics cover dated May 1982.  In reality, comics with this cover date probably reached stores in February 1982.

This next ad ran in comics cover dated June 1982.  In reality, comics with this cover date probably reached stores in March 1982.

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SHOWCASE PRESENTS: FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN VOL. 1 TP

Written by Gerry Conway; Art by Al Milgrom, George Perez, Pat Broderick, and others; Cover by Al Milgrom

In this explosive, value-packed volume, witness the creation of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man! This collection features  Firestorm in battle against Killer Frost, the Pied Piper, Plastique, the Atomic Skull, Typhoon, and many other villains!  Collects FIRESTORM #1-5, DC COMICS PRESENTS #17 & #45, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #179-180, BRAVE AND THE BOLD #172, stories from FLASH #289-304, and THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #1-9.

544 pages; Black & White; Softcover; $16.99 US

This volume is coming from DC Comics in the month of … well, probably the month of never.  Sorry, this isn’t an actual solicitation.  This is simply my wish for a SHOWCASE PRESENTS and some of my handiwork in Photoshop. Wouldn’t it be cool, though?  I gotta think it would sell at least as well as the ADAM STRANGE, METAMORPHO, or METAL MEN volumes of SHOWCASE PRESENTS.

We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that someday this will be a reality.

The SHOWCASE PRESENTS cover I put together above was inspired by this mock Firestorm Archives cover I came across.

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• Trinity #35 just hit the stands yesterday. As I’ve mentioned previously, Firestorm (Jason/Gehenna) has been featured regularly in the Trinity series.  I can’t vouch for issue #35 (as I haven’t read it just yet), but Firestorm has played an important role throughout the series.
• Justice League of America #29 shipped last week.  While it’s a flashback issue and doesn’t feature Firestorm, it was drawn by CrissCross.  CrissCross was the first artist on Firestorm volume III, and therefore the first artist to draw the Jason Rusch Firestorm.
• The Justice League of America team is about to go through a major shake-up.  They will be losing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern.  Here is an article at Newsarama with writer Dwayne McDuffie discussing the changes.  Let’s hope Firestorm stays on the team through these changes.
• Justice League of America: The Second Coming HC reprints Justice League of America #22-26 and is scheduled for release on May 6, 2009.  This volume includes a brief appearance by an alternate reality Firestorm known only as “WE ARE FIRESTORM”.
• Dwayne McDuffie recently stated on his own forum that we will see more of Jason Rusch and Martin Stein in a future story line.  Additionally, he said that “WE ARE FIRESTORM” will appear again.
• According to Dwayne McDuffie’s blog, this summer will see the release of a softcover edition of Justice League of America: The Injustice League.  This softcover will reprint the JLA Wedding Special and Justice League of America #13-16.  This is the story where the Jason Rusch Firestorm is “recruited” by Batman for the Justice League.  The hardcover of this story was released last summer.
• Furious Firestorm is a new website from Mr. Jamester.  The site is dedicated to our favorite match-head and features lots of images, pictures, and even a few videos.  Check it out!
• As we’ve noted here previously, Ronnie Raymond will return as a Black Lantern during the Green Lantern story, Blackest Night.  DC has solicited a few Blackest Night action figures already.  Over at Frank Delano’s Martian Manhunter blog, The IDOL-HEAD of DIABOLU, you can see a glimpse of the Black Lantern Martian Manhunter.  Wow, icky.  Makes me somewhat nervous about how Ronnie Raymond will look as a Black Lantern.
• Also over at The IDOL-HEAD of DIABOLU, Frank has put together a great resource covering the relationship between Martian Manhunter and Firestorm.  He discusses their interactions as well as provides a number of links to other Firestorm-related posts on IDOL-HEAD.  Definitely worth your time to check this out!
• Pat Broderick (the first artist on Firestorm volume II) is scheduled to appear at Florida Supercon in Miami JUNE 5-7, 2009.
• As always, check out the Firestorm section of the DC Comics Message Board for Firestorm-related discussion.

WE ARE FIRESTORM

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