What's better than a completely unexpected cancellation? How about getting a ton of subplots going in your last issue! From 1978, Firestorm #5, "Again: Multiplex!" Written and co-created by Gerry Conway, penciled and co-created by Allen Milgrom, inks by Bob McLeod.
This was another cancellation in the DC Implosion, but don't worry, Firestorm would be back, first as a back-up feature in Flash. The next issue blurb teases the coming of Typhoon, so I thought what would've been Firestorm #6 had just been parted out starting in Flash #294 , but no! The Firestorm #6 that appeared in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #1 was completely different; and while Typhoon ended up looking the same, he had a completely different origin! The original #6 may also have gone more into a old-fashioned mob family, the Shines. The father and son had nicknames like "Shoe" and "Spit," so I wouldn't miss them.
That was just one of the multiple plot threads going here: the Hyena gives Firestorm a surprisingly hard time, and Multiplex returns as well. A future villain, Cliff Carmichael, realizes Firestorm goes to his school, and doesn't like him: that should narrow it down to several hundred suspects. Ronnie Raymond is starting to feel he's in over his head, and an offhand remark from a secretary at his dad's work makes him wonder if he hadn't been lied to all his life. He's getting off easy compared to Professor Stein, who still doesn't recall turning into Firestorm after they split, and has hired a private detective to follow him and see what he does during his blackouts. The P.I. suspects the answer may be "drink abusively," but realizes Stein may be drinking to avoid his legitimate fears, right when Stein falls under a table and disappears. Ronnie then has to face Multiplex with a drunk Stein in his head; and while he pulls off a win, he also leaves his girlfriend wondering what happened to him, as Hyena and Multiplex plot a team-up...
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