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Blank Slate Firestorm Original Artwork Bonanza

It’s time for more original Firestorm artwork from our good friend Jon from FIZZIT, the Firestorm-themed blog! He happens to own several original Firestorm pages and convention sketches and has been kind enough to allow me to publish scans of them here. Jon’s been a great contributor to FIRESTORM FAN and my thanks go out to him!  You may view scans of his entire art collection online by clicking here.

Today we’re showing off several pieces featuring the “Blank Slate” Firestorm by Joe Brozowski (a.k.a. J.J. Birch) and Sam de la Rosa! Jon bought these pieces directly from Sam de la Rosa himself!

First up is Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #69 page 17. This is one of three issues of Firestorm penciled by Joe Brozowski under the pseudonym J.J. Birch. As Birch, Brozowski drew very different from his previous art, somewhat reminiscent of Keith Giffen’s work in that era. Neat stuff! For more on J.J. Birch/Joe Brozowski check out this article on Comic Book Resources. And yes, that’s the Zuggernaut ripping open his own boobs to shoot projectiles at Firestorm. Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #69 page 17 by J.J. Birch and Sam de la RosaUp next is page 21 also from Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #69. This is another J.J. Birch page featuring the Zuggernaut. Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #69 page 21 by J.J. Birch and Sam de la RosaNext is Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #70 page 5. This is another J.J. Birch page. Notice the “surprint” overlay on the third through sixth panels. This was used to distinguish a specific color (more on that in a second). In this issue Firestorm had to deal with the Flying Dutchman of Time without the assistance of Ronnie or Mikhail! Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #70 page 5 by J.J. Birch and Sam de la RosaBelow is Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #70 page 6. This is our final J.J. Birch page for today. More Zuggernaut! Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #70 page 6 by J.J. Birch and Sam de la RosaBelow is Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #71 page 19. With issue #71, Brozowski discontinued using the Birch pseudonym. Stalnoivolk is owning the cops in this page! Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #71 page 19 by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la RosaNext is Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #71 page 21. This is a nice page of Stalnoivolk getting his butt whipped. It also features the dastardly Zastrow. Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #71 page 21 by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la RosaBelow is another “surprint” from Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #75 page 13. Again, these were used to distinguish a specific color. After checking out this image, scroll down to see the final comic page. You’ll see how the figures below are colored entirely red in the finished comic, rather than the usual black ink. Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #75 page 13 by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la Rosa

Below is the fully-colored Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #75 page 13. You can see how the “surprint” image above was used to identify the line work that was to be colored red.Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #75 page 13 by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la Rosa

Below is another “surprint” from Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #75 page 15. I love the images of Ronnie and Mikhail as floating heads talking to each other. Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #75 page 15 by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la Rosa

Next is Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #77 page 16. This is part one of the “Eden” storyline. Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #77 page 16 by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la Rosa

And finally, below is Firestorm the Nuclear Man volume II #78 page 4. This is part two of the “Eden” storyline. Click the image to enlarge.

Firestorm the Nuclear Man v2 #78 page 4 by Joe Brozowski and Sam de la Rosa

Thanks again to our good buddy Jon of the Firestorm-themed FIZZIT blog for letting us publish the artwork he purchased!  Be sure to check out Jon’s awesome Firestorm original art collection!

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2 Comments

  1. Charlemagne says:

    I own page 18 to #69! Wheres the link to my favorite Firestorm Fan article? :) Very cool pages!

  2. Dave Mullen says:

    This was a good example of the writing overcoming the art for me, not that I disliked Brozowski/Birch’s work but it was certainly VERY experimental!
    Brozowski seemed to be struggling to find a style of his own in Firestorm, some of his early work on the book strongly resembles John Byrne’s for example, but the JJ Birch stuff did give that run a unique feel, like an independant book almost, I did like reading Firestorm at this point though and if it wasn’t for the strong scripts Brozowski/Birch would have sunk the book like a lead balloon – it does show how willing to take risks DC were at the time, this is the era of Giffen’s Justice League, Watchmen, slow boiling books like the Messner-Loebs Flash and Perez written Wonder Woman, the 5-years later Legion, Grell’s more mature Green Arrow take, in that context Firestorm was punching its weight…. a little too aimed at older readers maybe but still very readable!

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