Review - Firestorm, The Nuclear Men 1-6 (New 52)

Issues Reviewed: Firestorm, The Nuclear Men 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (New 52)

Written by: Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone

Art By: Yildiray Cinar

How I Read it: Single Issues

Where Collected: The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men Vol. 1: God Particle 

This new, violent Firestorm series sets up a very interesting new status quo for the character(s).  In the old DCU, there was only one Firestorm.  Ronny Raymond was killing during Identity Crisis and Jason Rusch replaced him.  The big idea here is that there are multiple Firestorms.  Ronny and Jason are BOTH main characters and BOTH can turn into a Firestorm.  Even more interesting, they are not alone.  There are several other people/countries that have Firestorm tech, some aquired incomplete on the black market.

The first issue kicks off by introducing a very violent special ops team (working, of course, for a mysterious corporation) searching for items that belonged to Martin Stein.  Ronny, the star quarterback, and Jason, the smart kid, both go to the same high school.  They do NOT get along.  An attack by the special ops team on their school causes Jason to activate a device in his locker, unexpectedly turning BOTH Jason and Ronny into Firestorms.  The two firestorms also have he ability to fuse together to form another, monstous intity, Fury.

The fight with the special ops group continues through next few issues.  The mysterious corporation, known as Z-Tech, throws more special ops troops at the Firestorms, followed by a hulking, failed firestorm experiment, Helix.  The fight with the corporation goons goes on a bit too long, and the second set of "powered up" soldiers seemed unnessessary and had a silly gimmick.

By the time the chaos is over, Z-Tech turns on one of there ops teams, and convinces the boys to join with them.   This leads into the last few issues, which I enjoyed the most.  The boys go on a mission and interact with other firestorms, leading to lots of emotion and big explosions.

The art by Yildiray Cinar is very dynamic, especially during the big fight scenes involving the multiple Firestorms.  For all the dark themes, the comic is firey bright, with the colors really popping when the Firestorms interact. 

Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone co-write these first 6 issues.  Simone leaves after this and I wonder how much influence she had on the last few issues.  The first issue was full of great ideas, but the next few drag quite a bit.  Things pick back up in the last 3 issues with the introduction of even more Firestorms and the boys' first mission.  There was enough good material and ideas here to make me want to continue on and see what Van Sciver can do on his own. 

Review: Superboy (2010) 6 - 11

Issues Reviewed: Superboy (2010) 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Written by: Jeff Lemire

Art By: Pier Gallo, Marco Rudy (issues 5, 6)

How I Read it: Single Issues

Where Collected: Superboy Vol. 1: Smallville Attacks



These issues complete the story Jeff Lemire started in the first half of this Superboy run (issues 1-5).  He continues his streak of entertaining, wierd, and self contained stories that all tie together in the end.  The series of strange events from issues 1-5 morphs into a time spanning tale of an ancient wizard trying (again) to raise a super army for world domination.  Overall, Lemire suceeds in this series' mission to "make Smallville an interesting setting for a superhero book".

Unfortunately, The series ends with issue 11, making way for the DC New 52 reboot.  Lemire is able to get most of his plot points resolved (evil farmers, Phantom Stranger, Parasite, Superboy trying to have a "normal" life), though one major thread is left hanging (Psion's mission in the past).  The art by Pier Gallo is once again a perfect complement to the story's tone.  The fill-in art by Marco Rudy for issue 6 and 7 was a bit jarring as the art styles did not match, but no harm done, as these were mostly disconnected from the main story threads.

The first story, issue 6, is part of a Doomsday crossover.  Lemire manages to get in a few good character moments (Superboy/Robin, Simon/Ray Palmer) before the main Superboy/Doomsday fisticuffs.

The second story, issue 7, occurs in space, and is an homage to the classic Alan Moore Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything".  The twist here is that instead of a halucinating a perfect future, Superboy sees his nightmare future via a Red Mercy plant.  After reading the first 10 pages, I was frustrated with the time shifting and jarring art style changes.  Once the Mercy was revealed though, everything made sense.

Issues 8 - 11 wrap up the series.  All the plot elements surrounding the evil farmers and the Phantom Stranger are wrapped up nicely.  We are treated to history lessons for the main villains, the first taking place in 1871 Smallville, the second spanning thousands of years.  The main villian, a wizard named Tannarak, has attempted to build a clone army to take over the world several times over the past 45,000 years, only to be thwarted by the Phantom Stranger each time.  I think it's great that the Stranger was sporting 1960's fasion in 45,000 BC.  In the end, good prevails, with more than a little help from Krypto.


As a whole, this Superboy run stands well on its own.  A new reader could pick this up and enjoy it as much as a seasoned Superboy fan.  Its a shame we'll never get to finish the lingering stories:  Why were the red mercies being sent Smallville, what is going to happen to Psion and his dystopian future, will the Lori/Superboy relationship blossom or will Wondergirl come back into the picture.  At least we got 11 issues to enjoy before it ended though.