Comics discussions, with flair…
Posts tagged Firestorm
Three Key Figures
Mar 30th
Ahh, it’s good to be back home. I had a great time on vacation and now it’s time to dig into some plot points regarding our heroes in the Justice League of America.
When you regard continuity in a comic book universe, there are several ways to stage a story that does not fall chronologically into the greater continuity. The first is the “flashback” often referred to as the “untold” story or tale. Then there is the “What if?” genre, where you can tell stories about these characters, but that these particular stories are separate from the regular continuity of the characters…such as Clark Kent landing in Russia vs. the U.S.A., interesting concept, but it’s not the way the origin plays out for the “real” version of the character.
When juggling the myriad characters in a team book, it is important to keep in mind that your “A” tier characters are going to bring in the money, but really the main changes to those characters should take place in their own books and let those changes later be reflected in the team book. For the “B” characters, changes can occur in the team book as there is no regular place that they appear outside of a scheduled mini-series, so there is not a lot of juggling to do when it comes to the “B” tier.
Well, for a period of time for JLA the writer at the time had to juggle a few things.
- In Green Lantern’s book, Hal Jordan had been exiled into outer space and so could not appear in JLA stories after #200 until that plot point was resolved around JLA #220 or so.
- The Atom had a new mini-series coming up called The Sword of the Atom which would rock the character and change his status-quo for a while to come.
- The Flash was undergoing a murder trial, so could he really be involved in the JLA while that was going on?
- The Batman quits the League to go to another team book title.
So Mr. Conway did what many would do knowing the limitations. He wanted to tell a story with Green Lantern and Flash in it and he did so by using that “untold tale” tactic. 
Notice we get a little Phantom Stranger action in this one as well. Sweet! This story is set prior to Zatanna joining the JLA, explaining her and Firestorm’s absence from such a big story. It turns out our heroes are forced by aliens to gather certain objects for aliens, but it turns out the aliens only want this one man who apparently has all the dna code of the world locked inside of him. Needless to say our heroes win all is saved. This carried our heroes through issue #210-212, leaving us time to go have some fun with the Atom in the microcosmos.
The Leaguers are attempting to find the Atom, which is like finding a needle in a haystack at the best of times. Batman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, and Red Tornado go after the wayward physicist and meet some crazy sword and sorcery societies which looked like a “pilot” episode for a new comic that did not materialize.
Unfortunately, the Flash is soon voted out of the Justice League.. notice that this takes place in Flash’s comic, not in JLA itself. Due to the fact that Flash is soon to be put on trial for killing a super villain named Professor Zoom, the JLA discover that he is a liability and since he has asked the JLA not to interfere, they have no choice but to expel him until his name is cleared.
Meanwhile, the tale of Atom in the Microverse may not have gone over very well, but Atom in a sword and sorcery sort of existence DID sell. Sword of the Atom is one of this Atom’s most popular incarnations. Take a Physics professor and add some native beings about 3″-6″ tall, and well, he becomes their default protector. Atom seems to not be as JLA involved after this direction pushes his character more towards Conan and less towards shiny sci-fi.
Next Time: Batman does it for himself!
Crisis on Earth-Prime
Mar 8th
Okay, we’ve eased into the idea of alternate earths correct?
Previously there was Earth-One, the earth where all our characters exist and…
Earth-Prime, the earth where all of us gentle readers live in a non-super powered world.
Well HANG ON FOLKS! We’re about to blow that idea up to the ceiling.
Just take a look at this cover.
Here are the keys I would like to point out:
- The 20th Annual team-up of the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America.
- Guest starring the All-Star Squadron
- And who are those quasi familiar villains coming out of that cube?
All good questions… now, just park it for a second.
The Justice Society is the precursor of the Justice League. Originally published back in the 1940s primarily for kids and to be shipped overseas for the boys far from home. The Justice Society fought all sorts of Nazi saboteurs and their own super-criminals.
In the 40s most heroes veered on the “pulp” style of masked mystery men. The only main DC characters published at the time who did not appear in the JSA were those with their own adventures like Superman and Batman as those characters were “too busy” in their own books.
After the world had vanquished the Axis threat, superheroes waned in popularity due partly to not needing heroes so much any more during the idyllic late 40s and 50s. Additionally we can thank Dr. Frederick Wertham who wrote a snappy little dissertation called “The Seduction of the Innocent” in which comics (and a number of other things) are blamed for juvenile delinquency.
So, in the interim, the JSA declined and basically went away while the genres of the Wild West comic and Space Adventure (sounds very Toy Story, doesn’t it?) soared in popularity. The only characters to continue throughout this drought were Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman with Aquaman and Green Arrow appearing in backup features.
Eventually, Editor par excellance Julius Schwartz decided it was time to bring back the Super-Heroes. Instead of resurrecting the older heroes, he took their names and with various creators around DC Comics twisted them into origins that were less mystical and more scientific to relate to the new Atomic Age.
This is basically the break down of the Golden Age of Comics and the Silver Age of Comics.
The Golden Age heroes exist on an Earth called Earth-Two. They were active during World War II.
The Silver Age heroes exist on an Earth called Earth-One. They are active in the present day, for this story that is 1982.
Additionally on Earth-Two the Justice Society heroes got older, added some more modern characters, and exist in the present in 1982.
The JLA and JSA have met each other for 20 years at this point starting with this iconic comic.
NOW.. do you notice anything about this cover that looks.. odd?
Yeah, that’s Black Canary up there with the JSA, not the JLA.. WTF is going on here???
Well, okay guys, just calm down. There is a lot of things going on here and we’ll touch on all of it eventually. Here’s what you need to know.
DC COSMOLOGY:
Earth-One: The home of the Silver Age characters. These are the characters we read in “modern” comics and their official starting point at this point is the 1950s in the Atomic Age.
Earth-Two: The home of the Golden Age characters. These characters started in and around WWII but continue into the present day as well.
So, that’s all well and good. let’s go back to the next point…Who is the All-Star Squadron?
The All-Star Squadron is a World War II group that was formed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Earth-Two as a draft action to enlist every mystery man or woman into the service to combat the Axis threat. Formed and then disbanded after WWII concluded the All-Star Squadron includes every Golden Age hero that DC Comics owns, but their stories tend to focus on the five heroes shown above: Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Robotman, Firebrand, and Commander Steel.
Now, we also have to address those pesky villains coming out of the Transmatter Cube.
Ultra-Man, Superwoman, Owl Man, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring, together they are The Crime Syndicate from Earth-THREE!
On Earth Three, everyone who is good on Earth-1 is EVIL on Earth-3 and everyone who is EVIL on Earth-1 is actually good. The one hero left on Earth-3? Lex Luthor. The villains correlate directly to Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, and Green Lantern.
Wait! Darren, there can’t be two Johnny Quicks and two Green Lanterns? ARGH!!! Slurpee headache!!! Don’t worry, here.. breathe into this paper bag. Nice and slow.
Since, I have more than blown your mind with this nugget of DC history. So, rest your swollen noggins my peeps.
Next Time: The All-Star Squadron and The Spear of Destiny!!!
Enter the Royal Flush Gang
Feb 22nd
So.. you’re thinking to yourself.
“The Royal Flush Gang? You have GOT to be kidding me.”
Nope. The Royal Flush Gang. Interesting premise and over the years the writers tend to get more inventive with them and because they are villains, they are more changeable than our heroes. They are a natural team in a world populated with Brainiac, Cheetahs, and Jokers.. well, could this card themed group really have been far behind?
The Royal Flush Gang employ weapons based on their card motifs. Spade shaped grenades, illusion scepters, lasers, hypnosis, and they ride flying cards. Come on, Flying Cards! It’s like surfing!
Aquaman and Firestorm open up our adventure on the open seas, where Aquaman is giving Firestorm a test. While Firestorm is a JLAer, he’s still the rookie and so the other Leaguers try to help him along a bit with his training. Unfortunately, the two JLAers are ambushed by people wearing outfits that look like playing cards and they are riding playing cards. Weird, huh?
Before long, many JLAers fall to the Royal Flush Gang. Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Arrow. All the JLAers who are zapped by the Royal Flush Gang’s weapons go into a sort of debilitating coma.
We eventually get to meet the Royal Flush Gang.
Ten is a female Hal Jordan, disgusted with the open sexism in the field of test pilots. Jack is a gigolo who stopped at nothing to get a score. Queen is a washed up actress looking for the role of a life time. King is a “King of the Road”, a hobo dying of cancer. Finally Ace is revealed as a robot working for an unnamed master who has hand picked his Royal Flush Gang due to their moral failings.
The JLA enters the House of Cards to fight the Royal Flush Gang and all of them fall but Black Canary whose wiles have turned the Jack against the rest of the deck. With the Flushers in custody all Black Canary can do is hope that the rest of the JLA snap out of it.
(nice to let the ladies have the bed, eh? who says chivalry is dead?)
No fear however. Firestorm’s body may be still but his mind’s half isn’t as Professor Martin Stein sees the unseen mastermind, a Green Lantern villain named Hector Hammond. Hec is a man born with a freakishly large head that gives him grand psychic powers. Professor Stein and Hammond fight on the astral plane and Hector is banished and without Hector around to suck up the energy of the JLAers, they all awake safe and sound.
Next up, we’ll check and see why those Titans are having fights with Russian heroes, living statuary, and the Disruptor.
Justice League Reunited
Feb 13th
Well, the JLA is reunited and they break off into teams to go beat the bad alien conquerors into submission, so let’s get to it, shall we?
Team One: Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna take off to fight the Crystal Creature, the Wood King, and the Mercury Monster in the woods of the Vermont forest.
The Appellaxians are already battling each other as Superman and Hawkman swoop in to break it up. The Wood King sticks his roots into it again and manages to grow an offshoot that catches Hawkman. Superman avoids the sneak attack and collides with the Wood King and smashes him into so many splinters. Unfortunately Superman failed to think ahead and the Wood King’s sap was full of Green Kryptonite.. (when will he learn?) Wonder Woman uses her golden lasso to pull Superman out of harms way of the other aliens while Green Arrow uses a saw arrow to trim the root still choking Hawkman.
While this drama is going on, Zatanna has encased the Mercury Monster in a bubble of super heated oil causing the monster to evaporate. Mercury boils at 357 degrees Celsius, so make a mental note, do not tick Zatanna off. Black Canary is running a decoy pattern on the Crystal Creature while Batman puts a batarang through the creature’s back side. Never turn you back on the bat.
Team Two: Aquaman, Elongated Man, The Flash, and Red Tornado
Off the Irish Coast a fisherman spotted the monsters going toe-to-toe and though the Fire Lord is much larger than the Glass Golem, they both seem fairly unharmed when the Leaguers show up. The Glass Golem blinds the Flash but fails to notice Aquaman who bursts out of the water behind him and drags him down into the depths. The Glass Golem’s last thoughts were of why the Fire Lord didn’t warn him, but one less contestant in their contest works for him, doesn’t it? Aquaman crushes the Glass Golem while Elongated Man decoys the Fire Lord using the class stretchy guy trope of taunting the villain. This gives Red Tornado the opportunity to create a vacuum around the Fire Lord to put him out. The victorious leaguers stand on the beach as the scene shifts to team three.
Team Three: Atom, Firestorm, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter
As the Rock God and the Golden Roc are making a mess of NYC ala Godzilla and years before 9/11 entered our national vocabulary Firestorm makes the exclamation…
“Hey, this is New York! You’re wrecking My City!” As Firestorm uses his atomic restructuring powers to rebuild what the aliens have demolished, Green Lantern creates a jack hammer and takes out the Rock God with very little than a thought. Martian Manhunter had been holding off the Golden Roc but now needed assistance from the team. GL creates a cannon and Atom crawls into it and is fired towards the Golden Roc’s head. Atom impacts the creature and distracts it long enough for Martian Manhunter to seal the deal.
15 Leaguers vs. 7 Alien Conquerors.. victory to the JLA.
The Epilogue features Green Lantern and Red Tornado traveling to the dumping ground of every comic book story, the Sun. They toss any and all remnants of the Appellaxians into the sun to burn up, no longer keeping anything for a trophy. I hope there was not another subliminal suggestion that will send our heroes into the Sun digging for remnants of these creatures, heh.
Back on the satellite the Martian Manhunter and Snapper Carr say their goodbyes to their old comrades, with J’onn J’onzz contemplating coming back to the Justice League..someday.
Then Green Arrow begins to make his exit as Hawkman pleads with Green Arrow to stay with the League as they need him. Green Arrow rethinks his decision and rejoins the JLA ending some tension with Black Canary and the rest of the Justice Leaguers.
All in all, a very satisfying initial story, eh? Lots of heroes, conflict, wrapped up in a nice, neat bow at the end. Which brings me to Fanboyism #1
Fanboyism #1: Fans loving watching their heroes fight one another.
It’s just the way of things, which hero is better than who? It doesn’t matter what the answer to the question is, in this story all the original JLAers won, and the new JLAers lost, but that does not mean there isn’t a case to be made that any of the new JLAers wouldn’t have won against their older compatriots had the circumstances been different. So I would venture that no matter the two characters in conflict, any hero could beat another hero given the correct set of circumstances.
There will be naysayers to this theory however, who will say “Batman is prepared for everything.” or “Flash is so fast he can do anything.” Could be… but again, I could give a scenario that an equally savvy Wonder Woman or Atom could take either of those characters out, again it is about the circumstances of the fight.
One thing though.. did you notice who was a mainstay of the Super Friends cast who was not in this story…
Usually the back half of Batman and… So in this DCU, where exactly is Robin and what is he up to? We’ll take that up next time as we discuss the sidekicks.
Round One: Martian Manhunter vs. Firestorm
Feb 5th
VERSUS
We open our story as Firestorm is enjoying a JLA tradition called Monitor Duty. A period where the JLA assigns a hero to “man the headquarters” to keep an eye and ear out for any trouble. It is interminably boring duty and Firestorm being the team rookie is not taking it all that seriously.
Just then the Martian Manhunter bursts through the hull of the JLA’s satellite headquarters demanding to know why the JLA headquarters has been abandoned and where the other JLAers are and who the heck is Firestorm anyway? Before Firestorm gets a chance to answer any of those questions he is prompted by Professor Stein to seal the hull in the satellite before all their oxygen escapes. Manhunter continues his questioning and then ignores Firestorm as too dim witted to chat with (he was talking with himself after all) and as Firestorm pursues him Manhunter uses an ancient Martian trick and goes all invisible.
While Firestorm is dumbstruck by the Manhunter’s disappearance, Prof. Stein points out to Ronnie that the Martian Manhunter seemed to try to avoid Firestorm’s flaming hair, correctly deducing that the Martian Manhunter has a weakness to fire. Sure enough as Firestorm heats the air in the satellite, J’onn’s powers begin to give way and he becomes visible again. But before Firestorm can get anywhere, J’onn just skips the formalities and throws a huge trophy case at Firestorm.
Firestorm counters this move by setting the trophy case J’onn picks up on fire which causes J’onn pause. Manhunter uses his martian vision to cut a water pipe to not only dowse the fire but to distract Firestorm long enough for him to rip up some of the floor and throw it right at the nuclear man with all his strength. This knocks Firestorm unconscious and Martian Manhunter grabs the meteor and leaves the headquarters.
One for the Old Guard.
Firestorm wakes up and sounds the biggest alarm the JLA has and all the non-charter members show up, including the recently resigned Green Arrow. Based on the story Firestorm tells the gathered Leaguers, Green Arrow and Elongated Man deduce all the other original Leaguers must be off gathering the other meteors, but for what reason? Even the Martian Manhunter did not know why he was acting as he did, he was just compelled to do so.
The JLA transporter hums up again and out steps Snapper Carr. Snapper is the JLA’s sidekick/mascot from the early days of the League. It turns out that Firestorm’s signal even signaled his old signal device. The other JLAers leave Snapper and Firestorm on the satellite and head off to stop their comrades from retrieving the other meteors.
When next we chat…
Aquaman vs. The Red Tornado, with a special guest star.
Justice League of America – The New Kids
Jan 31st
Of course, after the Justice League of America (JLA) began back in 1960 times have changed and new characters were added to the mix of the original seven.
Green Arrow – The Emerald Archer. Oliver Queen was a millionaire who was on a yacht when he was tossed overboard (on purpose or accidentally) . Ollie landed on a deserted island where he taught himself archery in order to survive. Upon returning to the main land and civilization, Ollie kept using his unsurpassed archery skills to fight against injustice.
The Atom – The Mighty Mite. Physics Professor Ray Palmer discovered a chunk of white dwarf star matter that could shrink items for a time, unfortunately everything he shrank turned unstable and exploded. Forced to use this technology to save a group of college students, Ray discovered that for some reason his body did not turn unstable. Donning a size changing belt and gloves to control his size and weight Ray became The Atom. The Atom is married to a lawyer named Jean Loring.
Hawkman – The Winged Wonder. Katar Hol is a police officer from the planet Thanagar. He and his partner/wife, Shayera, came to Earth in pursuit of a shape changing criminal. Once on Earth they decided to stay to assist Earth in its protection. Wearing a harness with wings, a uniform tinged with an antigravity metal called Nth Metal, and using ancient Earth weapons Katar took the earth name of Carter Hall and became a curator in a museum during the day and fought alien menaces at night.
Black Canary – The Blonde Bombshell or The Pretty Bird of Prey. Dinah Drake Lance is an extremely accomplished martial artist possessing a sonic scream called The Canary Cry. Dinah is in a relationship with Green Arrow. I am omitting a bit about her origin, trust me we will cover it later, but for right now, that’s all you need to know.
Elongated Man – The Ductile Detective or Stretchable Sleuth. Ralph Dibny was fascinated with the “Rubber Men” at circus sideshows and he discovered that each of them drank the extract from a plant called the Gingold. Ralph was able to concentrate the Gingold down to the point where he could stretch far beyond what normal rubber men could. Ralph is also an extremely accomplished detective, perhaps second only to the Batman. He is unique at this point in super hero story telling as Ralph has elected to not have a secret identity. He is married to a lovely socialite named Susan Dearborn Dibny.
Red Tornado – The Android Elemental. John Smith is an android construct of a Justice League villain, mad scientist T.O. Morrow. Unfortunately Reddy’s construction was such that John began to feel, form morals, and he rejected T.O. Morrow’s programming and eventually joined the Justice League. Red Tornado’s android body houses the Tornado Champion, an elemental that fuels his massive wind powers. Tornado is in love with a woman named Kathy Sutton and desires to be a father figure to a young girl he saved named Traya.
Zatanna – The Mistress of Magic. Zatanna Zatara is the daughter of a hero from World War II called Zatara and a woman named Sindella who is a member of a race of magicians called Homo Magi. While questing to find her missing father Zatanna came into contact with most of the JLA and eventually was offered membership. She speaks her spells backwards. Example: “Llaw fo htrae tfil pu hgih! Tcetorp su mrof eht taerht taht seilf!” translates to “Wall of earth lift up high! Protect us from the threat that flies!”
Firestorm – The Nuclear Man. Firestorm is actually two men caught in the midst of a nuclear experiment gone wrong. High School Student Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein were fused together into a being that possessed flight and control over the molecular structure of objects. Ronnie is the main physical entity while Dr. Stein hangs around Ronnie as an invisible head that only Ronnie can communicate with. This frequently makes other characters think that Firestorm is talking to himself, mostly for comical effect, but it also leads to the other heroes not taking him all that seriously.
What’s that Ralph? Does your nose smell a mystery? Well fear not gentle readers for we will be discussing the story in which the above event occurs in depth when next we meet.
JLA #200 – A League Divided