Well, I guess today was going to arrive whether we wanted it or not. Nothing left to do but to say…
Quit goofing around on the internet. Go read The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #20 in stores today! This is the final issue of series, with story and pencils by Dan Jurgens, finished ink art by Norm Rapmund, and colors by Hi-Fi!
If you can’t get to the comic shop right now (what’s wrong with you?!?!), then head over to iFanboy.com to check out a five page preview! Click here to check it out!
SPREAD THE WORD
Please join the #FirestormFarewell social media send-off! By my count, over 100 people have already changed their avatars across Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Tumblr! For those participating, please be sure to generate some posts today about our favorite Nuclear Man! On Twitter, I recommend using the hashtag #FirestormFarewell. Also, you may wish to tag various Firestorm writers and artists letting them know you appreciate their work on the character over the years. Heck, go ahead and tag DC Comics and Dan DiDio, just play nice. Let’s not bite the hand that feeds us our favorite superheroes.
Support Firestorm! Fan the flame
Worst Hump Day, EVER!
Glad you enjoyed my blog post Shag! I just realized I inadvertently flipped the hash tag when I posted my blog link on Twitter though…instead of #FirestormFarewell I posted it as #FarewellFirestorm…guess I’ll have to repost…and maybe tag a few folks when I do!
By the way…you questioned why I had Cyclotron and not Firestorm when you commented on my listener feedback from the 2nd Super Powers podcast. The truth is, I had actually found a Firestorm in the store, but not being that familiar with the character…I gave it to a friend as a birthday gift. If only I had a time machine to go back and smack my younger self! Then again…I guess that’s what ebay is for!
Last time you get to say this FOR NOW you mean. Sooner or later those nuckleheads at DC will realize the BEST combination for Firestorm was and will always be Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein and they’ll publish an all-new series based around that. We’ll get 100+ more issues.
I said this on FB and I will say it here… If you are not a comic-phile and not “in the know” there is no way from reading Firestorm #20 that it is indeed the final issue and the book cancelled. There was nothing to tell the casual reader the book had run its course. There was no message from the staff or editorial saying thanks to the fans of the book who stuck around. Nothing from Jurgens saying thanks for the oppurtunity. Yeah, i’m sure its DC saying they had no space and it would cost money to do it, but its just a sign of the ways things are over there I guess. I hope Firestorm gets a lot of exposure in the Justice League and one day soon he will be the first cancelled New 52 book to get a second chance.
Charlemagne, I’m sure Dan was just too choked up. I mean, what does the guy gotta do to move some books? Kill off the title character?
I love Dan Jurgens and the work he did on Firestorm was great. I agree there should have been a better send-off for the casual reader. But I think the sales figures show maybe there weren’t a lot of “casual readers.” Maybe he felt the cover said it all.
Firestorm will rise again.
I just dropped down here to the comments to say that “this is the last time I get to say this…” should be followed by “for now,” but I see that FKAjason has beaten me to that punch. Firestorm will be back.
“Last issues” to underperforming series rarely get special tie-up final stories. (At least they didn’t used to. Have things changed so much in the New 52 that every series needs endnotes for the trade collections?) More often than not, canceled series just stop.
Given that Firestorm is leaping directly into the Justice League mix, this isn’t even so much a final issue, as the character’s adventures are being continued in another book. (This should be a familiar sensation for Firestorm fans.) All things being equal, that’s far better than characters of most canceled series get. (When Ressurection Man gets canceled, he goes into hiding for a decade. Firestorm gets Justice League membership!)
I’m glad people liked this book…but I thought it was very below par. I’m not trying to pick sides, but I found this very underwhelming goodbye.
While I’m glad Martin Stein is back….but it just feels like in the last 21 issues (including 0), nothing was accomplished and the fist couple of issues, 0, and the last couple of books could’ve all been done in 2 or 3 issues.
I’ve read somewhere that bringing Martin back was nothing but a cop out….it just shows how directionless this Nu52 is and isn’t going to change till there’s a total management overhaul at DC.
But maybe because Firestorm has been so directionless and underwhelming (my point of view) I don’t really think they could give people a goodbye that we could walk a way from and go “man, what a great series!”….i think the best we can do with plot lines that were haphazardously dropped, limited rouges development, and a return of a character that should have been there starting with issue 1….is just scratch our heads and go “what was that, what just happened?”
(sorry to be a debbie downer, but i’m just a sour puss when it comes to the Nu52)
Maybe it was a little flat, but it was a better ending than Captain Atom got (thank you, Mr. Jurgens). Firestorm DOES get to go on to Justice League and hang out with cool people like Aquaman. Captain Atom got disintegrated.
I’m tired of the New 52. Can we go home now?
Read Firestorm #19 and #20 last night and this morning, and I really enjoyed both of them. I have said this before, but this book under Jurens tapped the same “throwback” vibe which has been going on over in Savage Hawkman. These issues hit the sweet spot for me with a nice mix of action and character, plus a bevy of badguys, a trope I have always liked.
I think that like the appearance of the Firestorm Rogues in #19, the reappearance of Professor Stein in#20 was Jurgens getting the character back on the board to be used later. Perhaps this was part of his plan all along? I’m not complaining about the return of the Professor; I loved the dynamic of Jason, Ronnie, and the Prof in Brightest Day.
The only way I would have changed in #20 (besides about 7 more pages of TYPHOON, the greatest Firestorm badguy ever) is in the final panel, I would have made the sign off “Not The End…”
I’m sorry to the other commenters, but I am not tired of the New 52 at all. It’s revitalized DC in the eyes of a lot of readers and has given the entire line a shot in the arm. I’m still more invested in the DCU than I have been in a long time, even with the ending of Firestorm and Hawkman. Both characters are moving directly into higher profile books being written by the Chief Creative Officer of the company. I think we’ll see Matchhead and the Wingman quite a bit going forward.
(Now there’s a team up book I would buy… Matchhead And The Wingman!)
Fan The Flame! NOT The End!
I was thrilled to see Martin alive, but I do not like his “new look.” Although with him balding he looks a little bit like astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss.