Alright match-heads, I know just yesterday I reported that Gail Simone was staying on the Firestorm book. Well… another rumor has popped up that Gail is leaving Firestorm. According to Bleeding Cool, Gail Simone will be leaving The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men in March. That translates to issue #7. As we saw yesterday, while talking specifically about issue #7 Ethan Van Sciver confirmed that Gail Simone is still co-writing Firestorm. Since we haven’t heard anything about issue #8, I suppose it’s possible this particular rumor could be true. However, I’m going to wait for confirmation from DC or Gail before I put any faith into this rumor. I panicked a month ago when Bleeding Cool stated that Gail had “walked off the comic”. Clearly that wasn’t true as she continued to script issues #6 and #7 after that rumor broke. I’m okay with waiting for the truth this time around. My thanks to match-heads Keith G. Baker and liquidcross for the heads-up about this rumor.
On a more positive note, the solicitation was released this week for The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #6 scheduled for February! Check out the solicitation and the gorgeous cover below! Click the image to enlarge.
Written by GAIL SIMONE and ETHAN VAN SCIVER
Art by YILDIRAY CINAR and NORM RAPMUND
Cover by ETHAN VAN SCIVER
In the blink of an eye, Ronnie and Jason witness a horror so gruesome, the two young Firestorms will question their entire futures as Super Heroes. As if that wasn’t enough, Pozhar, the Russian Firestorm, shows the two boys exactly how dangerous their world has become.
DC Universe | 32pg. | Color | $2.99 US
On Sale February 22, 2012
First, what an amazing cover by Ethan Van Sciver! This may be my favorite yet! The cover really conveys the enormity of whatever terrible situation Jason and Ronnie have found themselves in. Also, I love how the craters form the Firestorm symbol! So cool!
Second, did you read the solicitation verbiage? Did you notice… Pozhar? Oh yeah! It’s POZHAR! That’s right, the alter-ego of Mikhail Arkadin (at least, in the previous continuity)! For you newer readers, Mikhail Arkadin used to be a major part of the Firestorm matrix. From 1987 through 1990, Firestorm was composed of Ronnie Raymond and Mikhail Arkadin (along with Professor Stein’s subconscious, but we didn’t know that at the time). Mikhail was a very active part of the “Blank Slate” era of Firestorm, and a passive part of the Elemental Firestorm era. Personally, I consider Mikhail the forgotten hero of Firestorm. He doesn’t come up often in Firestorm discussions nowadays. Most people focus on Ronnie, Professor Stein, or Jason (myself included). However, I gotta tell ya, Mikhail deserves to be lauded as a core Firestorm cast member.
Keep in mind, all of that was in the previous continuity. In The New 52, Pozhar will obviously be different. He might turn out to be a hero or a villain; or he might not even be Mikhail Arkadin. Only time will tell. I don’t know for a fact, but I suspect that was Pozhar on the cover of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #4.
This solicitation has inspired me to put together a Mikhail Arkadin/Pozhar entry here at FIRESTORM FAN within the next few weeks. In the meantime, click here for my thoughts on the “Blank Slate” Firestorm. My thanks to match-head Brandon Leonard for the heads-up about this solicitation.
Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!
The eighth 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. This time around we review THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #3 (by Ethan Van Sciver, Gail Simone, and Yildiray Cinar) and AQUAMAN #3 (by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado), plus we share some listener feedback!
