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Original Firehawk Sketch by Thom Zahler

Mar 13th, 2009
by Shag.
2 comments

Welcome back for the final installment of FIREHAWK WEEK! As promised, here is the newly-commissioned Firehawk sketch done for the FIRESTORM FAN site.  The artist is none other than Thom Zahler, creator and artist of the comic book, Love and Capes.  How cool is that?!?!?  Thom’s work on Love and Capes has been praised by folks like Kurt Busiek, Gail Simone, Mark Waid, and Beau Smith.  If you haven’t checked out Love and Capes, you can order the trade paperback online or from your local comic book store.  Thom is also involved with the fantastic ‘Toon Tumblers from PopFun Merchandising.

Thom does commissions of gorgeous and powerful women.  His art style is expressive, clean, cartoonishly retro, sexy, and downright fun!  Once I’d seen the sketches he’d done (check them out by clicking here), I knew that I had to have him draw Firehawk.  Luckily Thom is a Firestorm fan himself and was excited about doing the piece.  Just look at this beautiful rendering!  Well done, Thom!

Now here is where the magic happens.  If you think the sketch above is impressive, wait until you see what it looks like after Thom colored it!

Absolutely breathtaking.  The sketch itself was great, but Thom’s computerized coloring takes it to a new level.

My thanks to everyone for staying with us through FIREHAWK WEEK.  I hope you enjoyed it!  And my thanks to Thom Zahler for the amazing sketch! Be sure to check out Thom’s website for more information on Love and Capes and his superheroine/super-villainess commissions.

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Posted in: Firehawk, Sketch/Art.
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Firehawk Heroclix and Trading Cards

Mar 11th, 2009
by Shag.
No comments yet

Welcome back for FIREHAWK WEEK!  On Monday we looked at Firehawk’s various Who’s Who appearances.  Today we’ll be looking at a few other items featuring Firehawk.  Don’t forget, come back on Friday for the unveiling of a newly-commissioned Firehawk sketch done for the FIRESTORM FAN site!

Here is a Firehawk HeroClix game piece from WizKids.  HeroClix is a collectible miniatures game in which players construct teams of heroes and villains to play out a battle turn-by-turn on a grid map.  Firehawk is #004 from the “Justice League” set produced in 2007, and is considered to be a “common” piece (meaning easy for collectors to obtain).  Her rank is “experienced” and the point value for the figure is 63.  If all that is meaningless to you, don’t worry.  The cool thing is they made a Firehawk game piece and used her current costume (the one she wore when fused with Jason).  She looks friggin’ cool!

Here is the front and back of the card that came with the Firehawk Heroclix game piece.  It provides a brief background on the character, as well as details on the powers her figure has in the game.  It’s interesting to see how they classified her powers in order to fit their game structure.

Next up is the Firehawk card from the “VS System” collectible card game produced by Upper Deck. In the system, players build and play a deck of VS System cards in an attempt to win a game against their opponent.  This card is named “Firehawk, Flaming Justice” and is #DCL-012 from the “DC Comic Legends” set produced in 2007. Her attack rating is 5, while her defensive rating is 4. She has a casting cost of 3, and when activated the target player loses 1 endurance for each character he controls.  Again, if all that is meaningless, don’t sweat it.  Just be happy we got a cool game card featuring Firehawk!  I don’t know who the artist was, but they sure did a nice job!

This final Firehawk piece comes from the 1991/1992 DC Comics trading card set produced by Impel Marketing.  Firehawk is #49 in the series and the art was done by Firestorm (volume II) artist, Tom Mandrake.  Man, I love his artwork!  He always does such a great job.  It’s impressive that Firehawk got her own card in this series, especially since the monthly Firestorm book had been canceled a year earlier.

That wraps up our coverage today.  Come back on Friday when we close out FIREHAWK WEEK!

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Posted in: Firehawk, Tom Mandrake, Toys, Trading Cards.
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Firehawk – Who’s Who and Mayfair RPG stats

Mar 9th, 2009
by Shag.
2 comments

Welcome to FIREHAWK WEEK!  This week we’ll be looking at different Firehawk-related items.  Today we’ll be focusing on Who’s Who and the DC Encyclopedia.  Wednesday we’ll be looking at other DC merchandise.  And come back Friday for the unveiling of a newly-commissioned Firehawk sketch done for the FIRESTORM FAN site!

We start today with Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #8 (October 1985). It’s not clear who wrote this particular entry, but my money is on Robert Greenberger since he is responsible for the rest of the Firehawk write-ups we’ll be looking at today.  The art in the entry below is by Rafael Kayanan and Dick Giordano. This particular issue of Who’s Who was published around the same time as The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Man (volume II) #40 and Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, so information presented was current to that point. Interestingly enough, Firehawk didn’t start wearing this costume until Crisis on Infinite Earths #8. So it seems this Who’s Who entry was actually the first published appearance of this costume.  As I mentioned recently, this is my favorite costume for Firehawk.

If you are interested in reading the text, click the image for a larger version.

Next we have Firehawk’s entry from Who’s Who in the DC Universe #9 (May 1991). This was the fourth Who’s Who mini-series and was published in a loose leaf format (you can see the hole punches in the images).  Below you’ll see the front-side picture of Firehawk and the following image is the write-up from the back-side. The text was written by Robert Greenberger with art by Barry Kitson.  This particular issue of Who’s Who was published about nine months after Firestorm (volume II) ended, so information presented was current to that point. If you are interested in reading the text, click that image for a larger version.

This next one comes from the Mayfair Games Who’s Who Volume 3 role-playing companion. Mayfair’s supplements featured role-playing statistics for each character, tips to role-playing the character (such as personality and subplots), and a complete list of comic book appearances for the character.

Below you will find the front-side and back-side of the Mayfair Who’s Who Firehawk entry. If you are interested in reading the text, click the image for a larger version.

Firehawk from Mayfair RPG Whos Who

This final entry was published just a few months ago in DK’s DC Comics Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition (September 2008).  Robert Greenberger again did the writing chores, with art being reused from the Who’s Who entry above (even though this doesn’t represent Firehawk’s current costume).  Firehawk did appear in the 2004 first edition DK’s DC Comics Encyclopedia, but the text was virtually the same as the text below.  The only exception being that the 2004 edition mentions a brief romantic relationship between Firehawk  and Booster Gold.  Quite frankly, I think everyone is happy forgetting that anyway.

Firehawk from the DC Comics Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded

There you have Firehawk’s Who’s Who appearances.  Come back Wednesday and Friday for more Firehawk!

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Posted in: Comic books, Firehawk, Rafael Kayanan, RPGs, Who's Who.
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Firestorm Pin-up – June 1984

Mar 6th, 2009
by Shag.
7 comments

Here is a special pin-up from The Fury of Firestorm #24 (June 1984).  It’s a nice piece by Rafael Kayanan and Romeo Tanghal featuring Firestorm at the mercy of Byte.  This pin-up can be found in the back of the issue.  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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Posted in: Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Firestorm comic vol. II, Rafael Kayanan.
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Crisis on Earth-Blog – George Perez/Alex Ross paint Firestorm

Mar 4th, 2009
by Shag.
12 comments

We’ve got a very special treat for you!  Eleven different superhero blogs have combined forces today to each cover the same topic!  All of them will focus on the George Perez/Alex Ross painting from the Crisis on Infinite Earths 1998 hardcover.  Each blogger is writing their own entry, highlighting the character their site is dedicated to.  For example, we’ll be focusing on Firestorm here.  For more information on this crossover, read to the bottom of this post.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS

George Perez and Alex Ross – two artistic powerhouses.  There is no denying that both of these artists took the comic book industry by storm; Perez in the 1980s and Ross in the 1990s.  Their amazing work helped to encourage everyone else in the industry to bring their work up a notch.  To this day, they are still two of the most impressive artists working in comics. In 1998 they collaborated to create what I consider to be the ultimate representation of the DC Universe.

The 12-issue maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths was originally published in 1985/1986.  It wasn’t collected until DC released a slipcase hardcover edition in 1998.  To commemorate this landmark series, George Perez pencilled an enormous drawing for the wrap-around dustjacket featuring every DC character to appear in the maxi-series (562 characters total).  Alex Ross then stepped in to paint this colossal image.  The finished product is simply amazing.

DC also produced a poster of the wrap-around dustjacket.  In order to showcase all the fantastic detail in the painting, they had to make the poster oversized – 5 feet 5 inches wide by 2 feet 5 inches high.  The poster is hanging over my computer and I find myself studying the hundreds of characters quite frequently.

Here is their rendition of Firestorm from this breathtaking work (also notice Professor Stein’s floating head).  At first glance, it may appear to be missing some detail or definition.  Just keep in mind the size of the overall image and how small Firestorm must have been on the actual canvas.  Personally I’m rather pleased that Perez placed Firestorm just over the right shoulder of the Earth-2 Superman (the original Superman that first appeared in 1938).  It seems like a place of respect.

Here is their rendition of Firehawk.  She appeared in the top right hand corner of the image.

You can find a guide-map of all the characters in this impressive painting over at the Annotated Crisis on Infinite Earths web site.

CRISIS ON EARTH-BLOG

In keeping with the crossover spirit of Crisis on Infinite Earths, eleven bloggers have teamed-up today to celebrate this gorgeous piece of art.  While I’m featuring Firestorm here on my site, you can visit these other character-specific blogs to see how they spotlighted their own favorite characters.  Be sure to check out:

  • Rob Kelly (the blogger who inspired most of us to start our own superhero blogs) rolls out the pomp and circumstance for the King of the Seven Seas and the royal Aqua-family over at The Aquaman Shrine.  Also, thanks to Rob for the excellent “Crisis on Earth-Blog” logo!
  • Frank gets down and dirty with some of DC’s unsung heroes, and one of my favorite eras of the League, Justice League Detroit
  • Kelson types the fastest blog alive and covers the death of the Flash over at Speed Force
  • Luke provides the rundown on the winged wonder, Hawkman, over at the cleverly named blog Being Carter Hall
  • Doug gives the scoop on the comic industry’s original superpowered misfits, the Doom Patrol
  • Rick stretches himself to the limit to give you the skinny at Plastic Man Platitudes
  • Adama has been struck down by Con-Plague, but his lieutenant has stepped in to keep Green Arrow’s aim true over at Dispatches from the Arrow Cave
  • Rob uncovers the man shrouded in mystery over at … I am the Phantom Stranger
  • Frank investigates J’onn J’onzz, the Manhunter from Mars, at Idol-Head of Diabolu
  • Rick put together an awesome video promoting this crossover which you can see at the ultimate team-up blog, Mail it to Team-up

Blogs will live. Blogs will die. And the Blogosphere will never be the same!  Crisis on Earth-Blog!

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Posted in: Comic books, Crossover, Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), George Perez.
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Showcase Presents: Firestorm The Nuclear Man

Mar 2nd, 2009
by Shag.
18 comments

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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Posted in: Al Milgrom, Comic books, Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Firestorm comic vol. I, Firestorm comic vol. II, Flash back-up stories, George Perez, Gerry Conway, Justice League of America, Killer Frost, Pat Broderick.
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Firehawk’s Fashion Show

Feb 27th, 2009
by Shag.
6 comments

Firehawk… Firestorm’s sometimes partner, sometimes love interest.  She’s a compelling character and played vital roles in Firestorm volume II and volume III.  We’ll be looking at this character more over the coming weeks.  Today we’ll be focusing on her various costumes.

When Firehawk first appeared she had been brainwashed into attacking Firestorm.  You can see in her first appearance below the aggressive posture and facial expression. Also notice the similarities between the costumes of Firehawk and Firestorm. Both have the yellow gloves, boots, and body suit; both have the flaming hair; and where Firestorm has red sleeves and legging, Firehawk has pink. Overall, very similar.

Firehawk quickly became a supporting character in the book.  You can see in the cover below the artists began to soften her costume, moving away from the aggressive appearance above.  It doesn’t really constitute a costume change, but the subtle differences give her a more friendly appearance.

Firehawk got her first real costume change in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8.  While on the derelict JLA satellite, Firehawk’s original costume was destroyed when the Red Tornado exploded.  In a bizarre moment that still doesn’t make sense, she created a new costume for herself stating that, “When you have molecular reconstruction powers, whipping up a new suit takes hardly any effort at all.”  The confusing part is that she doesn’t have molecular reconstruction powers. In an effort to make sense of the scene, I tried reading it as if Firestorm had created the suit for her with his powers.  Nope, the scene doesn’t work that way.  Perhaps the confusion happened because another writer was handling the character in Crisis.  In regard to the costume itself, note that Firehawk changed the color of her flames from orange to light blue.  The flames and the asymmetrical hawk pattern really created a neat look for her.

Finally, here is Firehawk’s current costume.  This is how she looked during Firestorm volume III.  This costume was designed by Jamal Igle.  Notice she kept the light blue flames, but now her skin color has changed and she has pointed ears.  I don’t believe they ever explained the pointy ears, but that combined with the shorter hairstyle gives her a cute pixie-like look.

Personally, my favorite costume is the second one.  It’s a really interesting design and helped to set her apart from Firestorm’s look. Watch this space for more on Firehawk coming soon!

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Posted in: Comic books, Firehawk, Firestorm comic vol. II, Firestorm comic vol. III.
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Firestorm (vol. III) Promotional Poster

Feb 25th, 2009
by Shag.
2 comments

This 11″ x 34″ promotional poster was sent to comic shops in April/May 2004.  The owner of my local shop (Cosmic Cat Comics and Games) was kind enough to give this to me after the promotion was over.

The art on the poster was done by ChrisCross, with the bottom portion of the poster making up the cover to Firestorm (volume III) #1.

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Posted in: Advertisements, CrissCross, Firestorm #06: Jason beginner, Firestorm comic vol. III.
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Firestorm drawing by Bubba Shelby (2009)

Feb 23rd, 2009
by Shag.
2 comments

This super-cool Firestorm drawing is by fellow blogger Bubba Shelby.  I love this sketch!  Firestorm’s expression is priceless, and those briefs are cracking me up!  Bubba is a freelance artist, and creator of characters such as Woodchuck Chuck, The Pink Poodle, Isis Champion and more!  He runs a blog entitled “Art by Bubba” and is an all-around swell guy (or at least he keeps telling me that).  :)

My thanks to Bubba for giving me permission to reproduce his drawing here at FIRESTORM FAN.  Much appreciated!  Be sure to visit him at his blog.

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Posted in: Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Sketch/Art.
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Firestorm Pint Glass – 2008

Feb 20th, 2009
by Shag.
8 comments

Remember when you could walk into a fast-food restaurant, pay a few cents extra, and get a real glass featuring your favorite comic book or cartoon character? Remember how much fun was it to go back every week to see what glass would be released next?  I remember owning and cherishing several superhero and Star Wars glasses myself.

Well Firestorm fans, feast your eyes on this…

Perplexed? You don’t recall seeing this particular glass as a kid?  Don’t worry, your memory isn’t faulty.  This is a new glass produced just last year from PopFun Merchandising’s ‘Toon Tumblers line.

They did a phenomenal job making this glass look like a genuine DC character glass from the 1970s.  The art is evocative of the original 1978 Firestorm series, and the logo is taken directly from that series.  The drawing of Firestorm himself was most likely done by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez; since PopFun uses the DC Style Guides for much of their artwork this is a reasonable assumption.  The background nuclear symbol (based upon Firestorm’s chest insignia) was drawn by Thom Zahler (creator of the comic book “Love and Capes“).

This awesome pint glass is a must-have for all Firestorm fans!  C’mon, it’s Firestorm and a pint glass – what a perfect combination!  Okay, is it a true “pint glass”?  Probably not, but it’s darn close.  I purchased two myself because glasses have a tendency to get broken in my house — R.I.P. 1976 Aquaman Pepsi glass.  :(

You can order yours today from PopFun Merchandising by clicking here.  They also have a wide selection of other Marvel and DC character glasses worth checking out.

My thanks to Thom Zahler for providing the background information on this piece.  Also, the first couple sentences of this post were taken from the PopFun web site.

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Posted in: Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Firestorm comic vol. I.
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