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Firestorm the Nuclear Man Trade Paperback in Stores Today!

Aug 3rd, 2011
by Shag.
4 comments

Be sure to pick up your copy of Firestorm the Nuclear Man trade paperback in your local comic shop today!  It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here!  As a refresher, here is the solicitation from DC Comics:

FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MAN

Written by GERRY CONWAY; Art by AL MILGROM, GEORGE PEREZ, KLAUS JANSON and others; Cover by AL MILGROM

For the first time, the stories that introduced Firestorm are collected from issues #1-5 of his 1970s series, plus stories from THE FLASH #289-293. After Ronnie Raymond is tricked into nearly blowing up a nuclear reactor, he and Professor Martin Stein are caught in a nuclear incident. Their personalities merge, forming the being called Firestorm!

DC Universe | 176pg. | Color | Softcover | $17.99 US

As we heard from Al Milgrom, this collection will include the unpublished Firestorm the Nuclear Man #6 and some other bonus artwork!

For those of us that already own these issues, I strongly encourage you to buy the trade paperback anyway. First, it’s a great read and will be a nice collection. Second, let’s send a clear message to DC that we’ll buy classic Firestorm comics in trade paperback form. After this trade, I want THE FURY OF FIRESTORM collected!

Firestorm the Nuclear Man #1

Support Firestorm!  It’s not just a slogan!  Seriously, SUPPORT FIRESTORM by buying this trade paperback! Fan the Flame!

Posted in: Al Milgrom, Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Firestorm comic vol. I, Flash back-up stories, George Perez, Gerry Conway.
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Justice League and Justice Society Pin-up by George Perez

Aug 2nd, 2011
by Shag.
6 comments

Check out this gorgeous JLA/JSA pin-up by George Perez from Justice League of America #195 (Oct. 1981).  This satellite-era shot is one of my favorites!  Click the image to enlarge.

Justice League of America and Justice Society of America by George Perez

If you look closely, each hero has been placed so they have a counterpart on the other side.  For example, Superman (JLA) has Superman (JSA) as his counterpart;  Snapper Carr (JLA) has Johnny Thunder (JSA) as his counterpart.  Firestorm’s counterpart is the Atom, which makes sense as the Atom was nuclear-powered during that time period.

Such a beautiful piece by George Perez!  I wish it was a poster!

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Posted in: Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), George Perez, Justice League of America.
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Firestorm in DC Comics Ultimate Character Guide

Aug 1st, 2011
by Shag.
7 comments

A couple weeks ago we covered DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide from DK publishing.  At that time we knew Firestorm appeared in the book, but didn’t have any images of him.  Well, our good buddy Jon from the Fizzit blog has come through for us again!  Jon picked up a copy of the book and send us some snapshots!

Below you’ll find the entry for Firestorm – The Nuclear Man!

Firestorm from the DC Comics Ultimate Character Guide

Below you’ll find the entry for Killer Frost – Ice Queen!

Killer Frost from the DC Comics Ultimate Character Guide

Below is the entry for the Justice League of America – The World’s Greatest Super Heroes

Justice League of America from the DC Comics Ultimate Character Guide

There were a few other Firestorm-related entries.  Plastique appeared in the Suicide Squad entry.  The Anti-Monitor entry used artwork from Crisis on Infinite Earths that included Firehawk.  The Starro entry used artwork from the cover to Justice League of America #190 that included a starfish-faced Firestorm.

Finally, below you’ll find the inside cover of the book.  For this they used a gorgeous two-page spread of the Justice League and the Justice Society from the JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice graphic novel. Firestorm may be found along the left hand side.

Inside Cover of the DC Comics Ultimate Character Guide

What a great looking book!  Be sure to pick up a copy of DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide! Buy it in your local bookstore or online through a retailer like Amazon!

My thanks to Jon of the Fizzit blog for sending these images our way.  Thanks Jon!

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Posted in: Firestorm #08: Brightest Day (Ronnie/Jason), Killer Frost.
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Firestorm Rubik’s Cube

Jul 29th, 2011
by Shag.
3 comments

Ready for your Friday morning WTF?  Here we have the Firestorm Rubik’s Cube!

No kidding, this product was produced in Argentina and distributed as part of the Super Amigos line.  Our good buddy Jon from the Fizzit blog sent us pictures of his own cube.  He included the teeny-tiny Action League characters to provide a sense of scale.  This is a small cube!

Firestorm Super Amigos Rubik Cube from Argentina

Below is a photo of the exterior package.  The cube is identified as a “Skill Game” and “Rubik’s Cube with Your Favorite Characters”.

Firestorm Super Amigos Rubik Cube from Argentina

Below are the contents of the package.  You have to assemble the cube yourself and put on the stickers.

Firestorm Super Amigos Rubik Cube from Argentina

Below is another photo of the packaging.

Firestorm Super Amigos Rubik Cube from Argentina

Finally, below are the stickers you attach to each face of the cube.  Click the image to enlarge!

Firestorm Super Amigos Rubik Cube from Argentina

After getting a good look at this insanity… I desperately want one!  Someone on eBay is selling several different character cubes from the Super Amigos line.  If you’re interested in seeing the others, please click here.

My thanks to Jon from the Fizzit Blog for sending us information on this crazy cube.  Thanks, Jon!

Support Firestorm El Hombre Nuclear! Fan the flame!

Posted in: Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Foreign Language, Super Powers Collection, Toys.
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Gail Simone and Ethan Van Sciver Interview on Newsarama

Jul 28th, 2011
by Shag.
6 comments

Yesterday Newsarama published a fantastic interview with Gail Simone and Ethan Van Sciver about the new Firestorm series!  They discussed their writing process, why they chose to write Firestorm, the characters of Ronnie & Jason, the tone of the series, visual character designs, Yildiray Cinar’s contribution to the book, and much more.  Click here to read the entire interview.

There were a few tidbits shared about the content of the series.  When asked what she was hoping to do for the character, Gail Simone answered:

Simone: It’s surprising, it doesn’t matter if you’ve read every issue of Firestorm, or never read an issue in your life. This is the ground floor of one of the most compelling books I’ve ever been involved with. It’s a rule breaker. This book is going to be one of the foundational titles of the DCU, and Firestorm’s powers shift the entire balance of power on Earth. Every hero will have to take the Firestorm Protocols into account, no matter where their base of operations are. They have to address Firestorm, not the other way around. Not to mention that there’s a scary as hell by-product of Jason and Ronnie getting powers, essentially what happens when Conan the Barbarian mates with nuclear reactor. And there’s more, lots more. The Firestorm Protocols leave a mammoth footprint on the new DCU. If Firestorm farts, the JLA knows about it.

Gail continued when asked about Ronnie & Jason:

Nrama: Gail, how do you distinguish between their personalities? How would you describe Ronnie and Jason as you plot these stories and write their dialogue?

Simone: This has been the element that everyone at DC has been so excited about, Ronnie and Jason, and a new character, Tonya, who was an innocent bystander who is unfortunately caught up in their nightmare. Ronnie and Jason almost instinctively don’t like each other, and the horrendous circumstances make that worse. It’s two kids, neither of whom is completely right or wrong, who both suddenly have their hands on the nuclear football. Every book I do, I’m trying to find the key, the Rosetta stone, that unlocks the language and the rhythm of the book, that expresses its soul to the reader. With this one, I took a lot from Ethan’s son and my son, both teenagers, who could not be more different. And I took all the villain dialogue from Ethan, who actually talks a lot like the Red Skull in private.

You may read the entire interview by clicking here. It’s really worth your time!

Also featured in this interview was an amazing new page by Yildiray Cinar from The Fury of Firestorms #2!

Fury of Firestorms #2 page 2 by Yildiray Cinar

What a great interview, and what amazing artwork!  I can’t wait for this new series!

My thanks to Ken Deemer, Brandon Leonard, and Keith Baker for sending me word of this interview!

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Posted in: Ethan Van Sciver, Firestorm #09: New 52 v1 (Firestorm Protocols), Firestorm comic vol. IV, Gail Simone, Yildiray Cinar.
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Fury of Firestorm #20 Splash Page Original Art

Jul 27th, 2011
by Shag.
3 comments

Our good buddy Keith Baker sent some photos of his Firestorm original art collection. For those of you who don’t know, Keith was one of the inspirations for the creation of FIRESTORM FAN.  Back in the mid-2000s, Keith ran the excellent NUCLEAR FAN site!

Below is the splash page original art from The Fury of Firestorm #20 by Rafael Kayanan and Rodin Rodriguez.  Keith frames and displays his artwork, so this is a photo of the artwork behind glass.

Below is the colored splash page from the comic for comparison.

Just to refresh your memory, the cover to the issue is below.  I absolutely love this cover! Great art and coloring! Normally Killer Frost is such a strong and vengeful character.  This pose is an interesting change for her.  Reminds us that she’s supposed to be beautiful in addition to deadly.

Finally, check out below Keith’s awesome display for this artwork!  He’s framed the original art, along with the cover and colored page!  Nice!  Again, this is behind glass, therefore the clarity isn’t that great.  In fact, you can see Keith in the reflection.  :)  Hi Keith!

My thanks to Keith for sending these images my way. You can keep up with Keith nowadays on Twitter.

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Posted in: Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Firestorm comic vol. II, Killer Frost, Rafael Kayanan, Rodin Rodriguez.
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Firestorm Elemental Tattoo

Jul 26th, 2011
by Shag.
No comments yet

Check out this cool Firestorm Elemental tattoo by artegroteskotattoo!

Firestorm Elemental Tattoo by artegroteskotattoo

The character shown in based upon the Elemental incarnation of Firestorm, but the tattoo itself was designed by artegroteskotattoo.  Artegroteskotattoo is a tattoo artist in Argentina. Check out his other tattoo designs on deviantART.

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Posted in: Firestorm #03: Elemental I (Ron/Mikhail/clone).
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The Fury of Firestorms? Plural?

Jul 25th, 2011
by Shag.
3 comments

More information coming from this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con…

It’s possible the title of the new series is “The Fury of Firestorms”. Plural. That’s what appeared on the Firestorm powerpoint slide during the DC Comics: The New 52 panel on Sunday (see below).  Apparently, Gail wasn’t sure if this was official.

Fury of Firestorms from San Diego Comic-Con panel SDCC

Given the set-up of the book with at least three different super-powered Firestorms (Ronnie, Jason, and the merged being), that sort of makes sense to me.  For previous details on the three different versions of Firestorm, click here. Also, I’ve been thinking about what Gail said during the panel.  She said, “This is a complete reimagining of the Firestorm concept… I’m hesitating… there may be many Firestorms.”  She also said, “there are Firestorm protocols across the world, so this will be a worldwide book.”  So there could be many Firestorms around the world?  We’ve also speculated that the merged Firestorm’s chest emblem suggests there may be four more people to add to the merger.  Could this fanboy dare hope we see Professor Martin Stein and Mikhail Arkadin also as Firestorms?  Probably not, but I gotta dream.

Below is another slide shown during the panel.  This is a colored version of Yildiray Cinar’s two page spread.  You can see a detailed uncolored version by clicking here.

Firestorm Yildiray Cinar artwork from San Diego Comic-Con panel SDCC

Finally, I’ve seen the new Firestorm villain identified as both “Helix” and “Felix”.  Not sure which is accurate.  I’ve seen “Helix” more often, and that’s cooler given the nuclear connection, so I’m going with that.  Apparently some audience members need to clean out their earwax.
UPDATE: Gail Simone confirmed on Twitter for me that the new villain is named “Helix”, not “Felix”. Although, now she really wants a villain named “Felix”. :)

These photos originally appeared on Bleeding Cool.  My thanks to Keith Baker for directing me towards this information!

For earlier Firestorm coverage from the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, click here.

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Posted in: Ethan Van Sciver, Firestorm #09: New 52 v1 (Firestorm Protocols), Firestorm comic vol. IV, Gail Simone, Yildiray Cinar.
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Firestorm at Comic-Con 2011

Jul 25th, 2011
by Shag.
8 comments

Our favorite Nuclear Man was discussed at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend!

During the DC Comics: Designing the New 52 panel on Sunday, two concept pages by Ethan Van Sciver were shown (see below).  Jim Lee said that Fury of Firestorm co-writer Ethan Van Sciver, an artist himself, had an idea in mind for the designs – what shows up in the comic is 99.9% his [Ethan’s].

Firestorm Design by Ethan Van Sciver from San Diego Comic Con

Later during the DC Comics: The New 52 panel, Gail Simone spoke about Firestorm.  Gail said, that we find out that there are Firestorm protocols across the world, so this will be a worldwide book.  Additionally, there will be a new villain named Helix.  He’s what happens when nuclear power goes wrong.

Gail was later asked, “I saw two firestorms in the images, does it take two people to “pilot” the matrix?”  Gail responded by saying, “I don’t know about the word pilot… This is a complete reimagining of the Firestorm concept… I’m hesitating… there may be many Firestorms.”

Finally, the only Firestorm-related cosplay I’ve stumbled across so far was of Killer Frost.  The model is known as Kiwi5Frog and you can see more of her Killer Frost cosplay by clicking here.

Killer Frost cosplay at San Diego Comic-Con SDCC

So… may be many Firestorms? Helix?  … discuss!

My thanks to Brandon Leonard for directing me towards that Firestorm concept art by Ethan Van Sciver.  Thanks, Brandon!

Support Firestorm! Fan the flame!

UPDATE: For further Firestorm coverage from the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, click here.

Posted in: Comic books, Cosplay, Ethan Van Sciver, Firestorm #09: New 52 v1 (Firestorm Protocols), Firestorm comic vol. IV, Gail Simone, Jason Rusch, Killer Frost, Ronnie Raymond.
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Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom Exclusive Interview

Jul 22nd, 2011
by Shag.
5 comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We’ve got a special treat today here at FIRESTORM FAN – an amazing interview with Firestorm creators, Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom!

Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom - Creators of Firestorm the Nuclear Man

Back in 1977, Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom created the character of Firestorm the Nuclear Man.  Now seemed the ideal time to sit down with Gerry and Al as the Firestorm: The Nuclear Man trade paperback is due in stores on August 3rd.  For the first time, the stories that introduced Firestorm are collected from issues #1-5 of his own 1970s series, plus the Firestorm back-up stories from The Flash #289-293. As you’ll hear in this interview, perhaps some more items will find their way into the collection as well.

Gerry Conway was one of the most prolific comic book writers of the 1970s and 80s. His writing credits go on for miles! He’s probably best known for co-creating the Punisher and Firestorm, as well as scripting the death of Gwen Stacy in the Amazing Spider-Man. He also wrote for and produced such TV series as Law & Order and Diagnosis Murder. Gerry recently returned to comics after an almost 20 year absence. He wrote the insightful mini-series The Last Days of Animal Man, and has a one-shot coming this August entitled DC Retroactive: Justice League of America – The ’80s.

Allen “Al” Milgrom is a man who has worn many hats. Al has worked as a comic book penciller, inker, writer and editor since the 1970s.  He’s been extraordinarily prolific, working on many books including most of the Marvel Comics’ line at one point or another. He’s 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; and his long stint as the inker of X-Factor.  More recently Al has been inking for Archie comics.

Gerry and Al were extraordinarily generous with their time sitting down with me for over two and a half hours (that’s right, 2 1/2 hours)!  Surprisingly, this interview was the first time Gerry and Al had verbally chatted in about 30 years.  It was a real thrill listening to them catch-up and reminisce.  Topics covered include: discovering comics as a child; breaking into the business; working together on different projects; several editors, writers, and artists from the Silver and Bronze Ages; the creation of Firestorm; the DC Implosion; favorite Firestorm characters; changes in the comic industry; and much, much more!  Ever wonder why Firestorm has puffy sleeves?  Find out in this interview!

You may play the interview right here on the FIRESTORM FAN site with the handy-dandy player below! I apologize for not offering the interview in text format, but transcribing an interview that long would have taken months.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Alternatively, you may download the file and listen to it on an MP3 player or your computer. You may download the interview by right-clicking here, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (114 MB).

Firestorm the Nuclear Man by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom

My thanks to both Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom for being so generous with their time!

To keep up with Gerry, follow him on Twitter and Facebook. If you’re interested in hearing more from Gerry, I’ve interviewed him on two previous occasions.  Click here for an interview with Gerry specifically about Firestorm.  Click here for an interview with Gerry about his careers in comics and television.

If you’re interested in original artwork, Al does some great commissions.  I’ll always treasure the sketch I commissioned from Al of Firestorm.  One of the cool things Al offers are commissions inside your trade paperbacks.  He can draw them either on the blank pages in the back, or on a separate sheet of paper which could be attached inside the cover.  To get in touch with Al, drop him an e-mail at: allenmilgrom@gmail.com.

Don’t forget, pick up your copy of the Firestorm: The Nuclear Man trade paperback on August 3rd!

Support Firestorm!  It’s not just a slogan!  Seriously, SUPPORT FIRESTORM by buying this trade paperback! Fan the Flame!

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Posted in: Al Milgrom, Comic books, Firestorm #01: Original (Ronnie/Martin), Firestorm comic vol. I, Gerry Conway, Interview.
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