80-Page Thursdays: Legends of Tomorrow #5!

Every so often in my sporadic DVD purchasing, I see the set for the complete Legends of Tomorrow, which for a good stretch was my favorite show on TV! (Aside: I can't remember the last time I watched a regular-broadcast, first-run show on old-school network TV! Possibly towards the end of the CW's DC shows.) It's mildly annoying, since the first season was only OK, and I have the second season set already: the episode "Raiders of the Lost Art" with George Lucas is where it takes off! Then again, I know I had this issue already, but for a buck I couldn't leave it in the cheap boxes. From 2016, Legends of Tomorrow #5, featuring stories by Len Wein, Keith Giffen, Gerry Conway, and Aaron Lopresti; with art by Aaron Lopresti, Eduardo Pansica, Bilquis Evely, Yildiray Cinar, and more.

This was the penultimate issue of this mini-series, which was three-quarters meat-and-potatoes superhero stuff, and one relaunch that felt like an oddball but might've been a bigger swing: Sugar & Spike by Giffen and Bilquis Evely. They had a long-running series as babies; and here they were young adults, private investigators specializing in superhero weirdness, who could still speak their secret baby-talk to each other if needed. This chapter, Spike recaps their breakout case, where they took down D-list Flash villain Colonel Computron. His tech support friend Bernie isn't especially helpful, and maybe wonders if there isn't sexual tension between the two, with a comment I'm pretty sure put creator Sheldon Mayer spinning in his grave. (I also don't know if it's sexual tension, as much as that Sugar has basically been the boss of Spike, since they were toddlers.)

Also this issue: the traditional Metal Men vs. new Metal Men fight, as the originals face new ones like Ziconium, Silicon, and Copper. Not the old Cooper--er, Copper--but while she seems to be the most stable and mature of the new bunch; Platinum swears she looks familiar, like her creator, Dr. Lace. Copper denies that, but the two teams are probably going to have to work together, as Chemo returns! Doc Magnus is somehow surprised by that; continuity reboots or not, Chemo always comes back, c'mon. Also, Magnus is way younger seeming in this version, and has goggles instead of his pipe!

Firestorm gears up for a final battle with Multiplex, as a bunch of personal stuff hangs over his head--Ronnie was high school age again, and wondering if he should stick with his team, or take a scholarship at a better school; while Jason was having health issues, and the Professor seems particularly boring? Like, more than usual? There's a solid page of him microwaving breakfast before work at his lab! Still, that could be to establish how Professor Stein was isolated and alone and needed the guys and Firestorm nonsense in his life. And in Metamorpho's feature, Sapphire has stolen the Orb of Ra, which later communicates with her, telling her she knows what she was doing was wrong; but god she could be a daddy's girl sometimes. The cliffhanger has Java ready to kill Rex; maybe he had been built up as threatening the rest of this series, but I can't buy it. You'd be better off with the current Metamorpho series there!

Technically, this might be a 100-pager, but it actually has 80 comic pages! I like the package, I like the idea; it's just not my favorite version of some of the characters. Read more!

Barry runs up a beam of light, and that's not even the most unbelievable thing this issue.

My big hang-up was why would a master of disguise wear that outfit, but that might just be me. From 1980, Flash #291, "The Saber-Tooth is a very Deadly Beast!" Written by Cary Bates, art by Don Heck.

I feel like everything in this issue is Bates maybe trying to do things that hadn't been done before in this long-running title, so it seems like trying to reinvent the wheel over and over, while trying to roll at the same time. This opens with Fiona Webb, about to be murdered by Barry Allen: 'Fiona' wasn't her real name, and she hadn't been around long; this was probably the end of her first storyline. The fake-Barry was Ross Malverk, a mobster Fiona had worked for but testified against; she had started a new life in witness protection, but had been afraid of Barry in error. The Flash finds himself in a bind, though: with 'Barry' wanted for attempted murder, he didn't have an alibi, since he'd been Flash at the time. He's able to get some help from King Faraday, after saving his helicopter after a bazooka hit, in a really improbable vibrate-and-run-on-dust-particles trick.

There are two hitmen, seemingly subcontractors, who shoot a lot of bazooka shells over Central City: I feel like those weren't super-common. Malverk gives himself up, to get protection from Saber-Tooth, who he had previously double-crossed; Barry lets himself be seen in public to draw him out. I don't think Saber-Tooth usually wore that outfit: he says he lifted it from a tailor shop, because why wouldn't a tailor shop display...that? He then tries to kill "Malverk" with, I don't know, a superball firebomb? It seems like the generic of a Green Goblin pumpkin bomb. Flash then appears, and Saber-Tooth nearly escapes in a jetpack with optional chemical smokescreen; but unfortunately that time of night was empty, so Flash could just run around punching until he got him...look, I don't buy it either, but it was the last page, so...Fiona forgives, and is happy to see Barry: she'd be his new love interest, after the death of Iris, for most of the rest of the series.

Also this issue: A Firestorm short, with George Perez art!...that gives away the game in the title, "The Hyena Laughs Last!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by George Perez, inks by Bob Smith. Ronnie Raymond has got Professor Stein a job interview, and off the sauce: for quite a while, Stein didn't get to remember what happened to them when they formed Firestorm, so he had a bunch of unexplained absences and mental lapses; but was starting to recover. Ronnie gets several Ditko-era Spider-Man plot points, as his main antagonist Cliff Carmichael gives him some crap: they were a reversal of the Peter Parker/Flash Thompson dynamic, as Cliff was the brain, Ronnie the jock. Ronnie also goes with his girlfriend Doreen to pick up her sister Summer at the airport, and she seems like she's not going to be a ray of sunshine. (Way moreso than I would've guessed!)

Stein gets a new job, although I don't think it was as a professor, which seems a waste; then stops himself from hitting the bar to celebrate. But, he sees someone jumping from building to building, and realizes he recognizes them subconsciously from his time as Firestorm. It's the Hyena! In the last panel of the issue; so maybe they should've saved this title for next time? Read more!

I'm sure New Yorkers would be thrilled Superman and Wonder Woman ceded jurisdiction to a jock and Professor McFloatyhead.

90% sure this isn't a rule when Batman's on the JLA. Ever. From 1982, Fury of Firestorm #4, "The Icy Heart of Killer Frost!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Rodin Rodriguez.

Killer Frost has sucked the heat out of most of New York, freezing everyone except Firestorm in their tracks: in the best comic tradition, instead of being corpsecicles, everyone could be revived, maybe, if the Nuclear Man can stop her. But, she knows she's got him over a barrel, and starts making demands: namely, for Firestorm to bring her Burt Reynolds Curt Holland from Hollywood. Before Firestorm can run that little errand, he just has to maybe fight his way past the Justice League, who arrive to take over the situation. But, Firestorm worries they would only make things worse, pointing out Superman himself got beat by Frost before, and he was fighting to save his friends and family.

A short fight, before the distraught hero realizes that wasn't helping. Despite describing themselves as the "pros," the Leaguers are pretty understanding, too; with Zatanna pointing out an "unspoken rule" of the team: "The hero on the spot has primary responsibility." In the JLA satellite, Firestorm catches them up on the situation, and reveals what had been a secret to most of them: his true identities, Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein. While Stein works on a portable refridgeration unit to stop Frost (despite being able to do stuff like launch icicles, she didn't have traditional ice powers; she drained heat, so if she herself was frozen she was powerless) Ronnie and Red Tornado try to recruit Curt Holland, who declines. Still, Ronnie has a plan, and Firestorm brings "Holland" to Frost, who immediately tries to murder him with a kiss. It was really a disguised Red Tornado, who had the freezer implanted in his android body; and he and Firestorm are able to draw enough heat from her to knock her out. The pair are then able to gradually heat up New York and save the citizens, glossing over what would be a ton of flooding and water damage; yay, happy ending!

I'm fairly certain the cover for this one was on a DC house ad at the time, but I first read it this week! Read more!

What did Hal learn in his hard travelin' days? Good question.

I wish I remembered what I thought of this issue when it came out. From 1987, Firestorm #66, "Out of Control" Written by John Ostrander, pencils by Joe Brozowski, inks by Sam de la Rosa. 

This was about a year and a half into Firestorm's current status quo: after getting nuked with Russian super-powered conscript Pozhar, the Firestorm matrix had changed. Dr. Stein was MIA, Pozhar had seemingly lost his powers but as Mikhail Arkadin was now part of Firestorm, along with Ronnie Raymond. Trouble was, neither of them was in the driver's seat! This Firestorm seemed to be a blank slate. While Mikhail is grilled by the KGB but eventually allowed to see his family; Ronnie's family stages an intervention: he was not dealing with the situation well, since he didn't even know what triggered the transformation.

Ronnie goes for a sulk-walk; so he's nearby when three black gents drive into a bad neighborhood. At a gas station, one is doused in gas by a racist attendant, who then cries wolf and claims they were going to rob him. White guys come out of the woodwork for that, although I don't think any of them really believe it. Two of the black men are badly beaten, while the third flees torching by running onto the freeway. Seeing him in danger, Ronnie seems to trigger the transformation: Mikhail disappears from Russia, and the strangely disaffected Firestorm appears to save the fleeing man. The mob flees, but then take some shots that ricochet into the gas pumps. Firestorm has the fleeing man and his friends in a bubble, and the man encourages Firestorm to let it burn.

Enter Green Lantern, who starts putting out the blaze. Furious, the man then convinces Firestorm to stop Green Lantern: Hal tries to remind him they were on the Justice League together, but he doesn't remember. Hal argues it's wrong to force their will on society--and I'm not sure the old Firestorm would've agreed, since he had been trying to end nuclear weapons--and stricken with indecision, Firestorm splits. The fleeing man checks on his friends; one of whom had died: if he had gotten him to the hospital sooner, instead of watching the fire, could he have been saved? Hal gets the other friend to the hospital, with some closing advice.

As J.J. Birch, Brozowski was the artist for Xombi, one of my favorite series ever; but I think he might've had more of a Neal Adams-influence earlier and he might be leaning into it here. While usually I'd take a shot (or another shot!) at Hal, there's no way he could've known the situation on the ground when he went to stop the fire. Should Firestorm have stopped it? ...yes. Too great of a chance the fire would hurt innocents; it wasn't a magic blaze that only burned racists. But I understand the temptation, especially nowadays. I wonder if I did in 1987...

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Amanda Waller watching any Firestorm fight.

Bolt, Mindboggler, Hyena, Multiplex, and Slipknot: I've joked before that the Suicide Squad's greatest natural resource was Firestorm villains, and four out of those five would do a stint on the team.

But they all appear here first: from 1986, the Fury of Firestorm #47, "Dead Devils Don't Wear Blue! Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Joe Brozowski, inks by Mike Machlan.

The cover proclaims "...the shattering conclusion of the Bolt Saga!" but he's already down this issue, beat by Firestorm. Unfortunately, after being manipulated into fighting Firestorm, Blue Devil is then captured and tied up by the four villains, who were going to rob a computer show of a "Super-Cray" worth 25 million, before every cop in Pittsburg showed up. Multiplex thinks they can still pull it off: they have a couple hostages beside Blue Devil, namely Firestorm's dad and fiancé! The fiancé, Felicity, was not only the lawyer in a court case against Firestorm, but Ronnie had also had to deck her to get away to change! Wonder how those played out. Still, Felicity had overheard Slipknot explain his trick ropes, and the chemical solvent to release them...

Multiplex tells the cops he'll only negotiate with Firestorm, which is a ploy to try and get him as another hostage...dream big, Multiplex. Mindboggler blasts Firestorm with her illusion powers, seemingly driving him to the point of insanity, but he's taking a dive as a distraction, as his dad and Felicity jump Slipknot from behind. Firestorm punches out Mindboggler, and there's a bit of classic Batman style giant props as Blue Devil launches a colossal floppy disk at Multiplex, who splits into two and flees. The heroes split up to chase, but Firestorm is attacked by Hyena, who tears into him! Firestorm's dad saves him, catching Hyena briefly in Slipknot's rope. Still, Multiplex had left multiple duplicates as a distraction, and escapes.

Blue Devil and Firestorm shake on a job well done, but I think this would be the last time we see them together...like ever. Man, I'd enjoy just seeing them say hey at the next Crisis or funeral for a friend or whatever.

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Somehow, I don't think the Satin Satan ended up on the Suicide Squad with the rest of the Firestorm villains.

Because I grabbed it out of the quarter bin again, I nearly just re-blogged an old issue of the Shadow that I blogged back in 2011, so instead I had to go through the increasingly inaccurate Firestorm tag to make sure we hadn't seen this one before: from 1980, Justice League of America #179, "The Siren Song of the Satin Satan!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Frank McLaughlin.

Firestorm joins the JLA: he would be the last new member of the classic "satellite era" and possibly when Alex Ross stopped reading the book. He's thrilled to death, maybe a bit over-enthusiastic; but Superman thinks his "innocence and joy" would be good for the team. On the other hand, Green Arrow thinks he may be self-centered and spacey; when he's really just conversing with the unseen Professor Stein. Observing them, Red Tornado suspects Arrow feels he should be doing more on the streets, like Black Lightning, who recently passed on membership.

After a pleasant induction--and tedious orientation from Batman, that apparently the whole team sat through?--Firestorm returns home to Manhattan and changes back to Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein: Stein still didn't remember anything that happened when they were Firestorm, because he had been unconscious when they first formed! Ronnie puts the dazed Stein in a cab and sends him home--upstate, which couldn't have been a cheap fare! Dick move, Ronnie. Surprisingly, Ronnie's supporting cast makes an appearance, namely his girlfriend Doreen and bully/future villain Cliff Carmichael. A friend's brother had vanished at a disco downtown, so they decide to go see. Carmichael reluctantly joins them, saying "somebody's got to keep your noses clean," which I'm hoping isn't a cocaine reference. They quickly discover the missing brother, an avid dancer, had been invited to the swanky penthouse of supermodel Sabrina Sultress, known as the Satin Satan. Weird nom de plume for a model, isn't it? It's not even great for a supervillain.

Right after Professor Stein pays the cab driver, Ronnie summons him back into Firestorm again to investigate! God, you dick! Firestorm is immediately mesmerized by Satin, but manages to activate his JLA signal device...to be continued! "So, what do I do for an encore?" Get captured immediately? Maybe next issue Ronnie can leave the Professor at a homeless shelter or something.
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"The End" Week: Firestorm #5!

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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The cover makes it look like this one's going to be a no-holds-barred, 12-round slobber-knocker of a brawl. In actual fact, it gets four pages; one more than an imaginary story and the same as a subplot about his daughter! From 1987, Captain Atom #5, "The Return of Dr. Spectro" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Bob Smith.

Several plotlines are running at once here, not necessarily to collide soon, either: a reporter reads her boss a story from Captain Atom's biography, featuring a battle between him and Dr. Spectro. Supposedly, they had fought many times in the years when the Captain had operated in secret, but that was a cover story cooked up by the government, to more quickly sell the public on their hero. No way that could backfire on them...cleverly, the 'flashback' stories featured the classic Ditko look for the Captain. The reporter wants to find Dr. Spectro and get his side of the story for a tell-all book. Following a lead, she finds the former assistant of the Rainbow Raider, who denies everything, but then seems awfully interested in the advance for the book.

Meanwhile, in his civilian identity, Nathaniel Adam takes his daughter to the carnival: they're getting along fine, even if the age difference is weird. Since Adam was launched forward in time when he got his powers, they were only five years apart now! And his daughter's stepdad was his boss, General Eiling, who calls him back to duty early to appear at an air show. The Captain grins and bears it, but some of the audience isn't impressed; among them Ronnie Raymond, half of Firestorm! When an automated jet seems to go haywire, Ronnie interrupts Professor Stein's lunch in order to leap into action as Firestorm! Completely unnecessarily: the jet was just a demonstration, and Captain Atom stops Firestorm from intervening, then suggests he "lighten up!"

Nathaniel's fellow officer Jeff seems to have realized his secret identity; while the reporter finishes her interview with "Dr. Spectro" only to be told by her editor it was a scam! The "disinformation scandal" was breaking, all of Captain Atom's history was going to be revealed as fake, and the reporter is kicking herself for getting snowed by the Doctor. Only, while he had made the whole thing up from her idea, he now had actual super-villain stuff, and kills the reporter, becoming Dr. Spectro for real...

This reminded me a bit of the first X-Factor stories, when they were pretending to be mutant hunters in order to save mutants: a cover story that's such a whopper of a lie it's hard to believe they could be surprised when it falls apart. And it falls apart quick! Meanwhile, Pat Broderick had done more than a few issues on Fury of Firestorm, so this was a seamless fit there. But Firestorm's status quo might've drastically changed the next time he saw the Captain; we may have to see some other time.
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I honestly thought this was going to involve time travel...

Ooh, so close to an 80-pager! From 2005, Justice League Unlimited #3, featuring "Small Time" Written by Adam Beechen, pencils by Carlo Barberi, inks by Walden Wong; "Escape from the Slab!" Story and breakdowns by Steve Vance, pencils by John Delaney, inks by Ron Boyd; and "Rolling on the River" Written by Steve Vance, pencils by John Delaney, inks by Ron Boyd.

In the lead story, the Atom discovers a microscopic invasion of the JLA watchtower satellite, and shrinks Wonder Woman, Ice, and Firestorm to help him fight it. (Firestorm has a fair question, "Couldn't we just, you know, step on them?" But there's a fair in-story reason.) Since none of them have shrunk before, Atom has to give them a crash course on the basics, like maybe don't eat a bean burrito before shrinking. Tiny vomit everywhere...

The "Johnny DC" kids books all had bonus pages this month; this issue reprints two shorts from Adventures in the DC Universe. Mr. Miracle gets forced to help a prison break, and Power Girl helps a harbor patrol cop with some hijackers stealing superweapons. The Miracle story is better, partly because it also features Big Barda and Oberon, as well as a recognizable host. There's also some coloring pages, and ads for a ton of games and Kangaroo Jack: G'day, U.S.A.!

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80-Page Thursdays: DC's Nuclear Winter Special #1!

Yay, a new DC 80-pager! These are usually light, breezy reading...OK, this one may not be scads of fun. Or scabs of fun. From (late) 2018, DC's Nuclear Winter Special #1, featuring stories by Mark Russell, Mairghread Scott, Paul Dini, and more; art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mike Norton, Christian Duce, and more.

Sigh. Look, I know sometimes comics readers can want "dark" stories: that's why stuff like What If? or Days of Futures Past is popular. "All your favorite heroes, and here's them dying!" This issue feels like a step further, since just about everyone else is dead, too. Framed by Rip Hunter pages, as he tries to play Scheherazade and tell stories to stall three post-apocalyptic cannibals while his time sphere recharges; these stories could all be canon, carved-in-stone predestined futures, or lies Rip pulls out of his ass. Or both! Still, the cannibals are supposed to be funny, with their references to "Oogle" and terms and conditions of who can be eaten; they really aren't.

The obligatory Batman story is Damian's dark future, but as least pits him against R'as al Ghul instead of the Joker. Next is a Superman One Million/Martian Manhunter story, then a dark Flash story: sacrificing himself to save the day one last time, Barry is trapped in the Speed Force forever, but at least gets to see those he left behind before he goes on to what's next.

In "Where the Light Cannot Reach," Aquaman is living on a mountaintop, but two scientists convince him to brave the irradiated ocean depths in search of a radiation-eating microbe. "Last Daughters" features an older Supergirl trying to save what might be the last girl on earth. Paul Dini and Jerry Ordway pit Firestorm against oddball Outsiders robots, the Nuclear Family. That one is set after some level of atomic holocaust, but Firestorm appears to be about as usual, not huffing radiation or anything.

Phillip Hester's "Northern Lights" is a Kamandi Hanukkah story, and probably my favorite of this lot. Then a kinda generic Catwoman story--it puts the "winter" in nuclear winter, anyway; then the last full story, "The Birds of Christmas Past, Present and Future." An aged and crabby old Green Arrow is invited to the JLA holiday party, despite having quit the team long ago; and revisits an old friend and an older frenemy. It's not bad, especially if you hold with the opinion that Ollie is never going to make the right decisions in his personal life, not even if he lives to be 80. (All that chili he eats, I don't see him living past that...)

The scans are in no particular order this time, since this was a square-bound that we still crammed into the scanner. Despite having Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman on the cover, they aren't in this one. (Save WW briefly appearing in Flash's story.) I paid half-price for this one, and I guess I half-enjoyed it? Despite the grimdarkness of nuclear winter, it didn't quite go that far. It's no Twilight of the Bat, that's for sure.
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The Flash has one of the best rogues' galleries in comics: the first half of this issue features the Pied Piper, a perfectly fine villain, but well down the depth chart for the Flash. So it is slightly odd to see him up against another hero's bad guys, the Atomic Skull from Superman! Who himself is further down Superman's depth chart. From 1981, the Flash #293, featuring "Pied Piper's Paradox Peril!" Written by Gerry Conway, art by Don Heck; and "The Fastest Deadliest Man Alive!" Written by Gerry Conway, breakdowns by George Perez, finishes by Rodin Rodriguez.

Running on the water below "Superman's Island," an anti-grav prison for the Man of Steel's most dangerous foes, Flash sets off a sonic boom and worries he may have accidentally damaged it. Investigating, he finds one prisoner got loose: Dr. Albert Michaels, better known as the Atomic Skull! (They do a similar intro for him twice here! Getting that name recognition out.) He zaps Flash with one of his "brain-blasts," then tells Barry he's going to get enough radium to crank up his blasts so they'll affect Superman. The Flash should be dead of radiation poisoning long before that. Using internal vibrations to slow the damage...somehow...Flash knows he needs help, specifically that of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man!

Speeding through New York and leaving a glowing message in his wake, Flash is able to get Firestorm's attention, and he absorbs the radiation...and gets hammered. This might be specific to A-Skull's radiation, since we've seen a ton of stories since where Firestorm is consigned to hazmat clean-up duties, and I don't think we've ever seen him act like he was hitting the sauce. Meanwhile, in Colorado...wait, this has been about half an hour. The Skull flew, apparently via little belt-jets like Wonder Man used to wear, from Metropolis, wherever that is, to Colorado, in under thirty minutes? I didn't think he was invulnerable or anything; wouldn't that speed shred his face right off? Er, what's left of his face, anyway.

While the Flash is able to get Firestorm to Colorado, F-S is still too drunk to be helpful. Flash has to taunt him into taking a shot at him, then ducking out of the way so Atomic Skull gets zapped. With the radiation out of his system, Firestorm is back to normal, but wonders if he shouldn't be mad at Flash for something. We've only seen a few times where Barry had been rude or snippy; it's not impossible, but it's usually surprising.
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I was going to swear this happens more often in DC comics: where the exact same accident happens to give someone else the exact same powers. Oh, like there haven't been forty people bitten by radioactive spiders at Marvel. Anyway, today we've got Killer Frost's first appearance, from 1978, Firestorm #3, "Kiss Not the Lips of Killer Frost!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Al Milgrom, inks by Bob Mcleod.

This was Firestorm's first series, which was cut short by the DC Implosion at Firestorm #5, although he would go on as a back-up feature in Flash before eventually getting another shot in 1982 with Fury of Firestorm. Despite the shortness of this run, along with an origin issue and a terrible (and very Spider-Man influenced) supporting cast, three of his main villains were introduced before the end: Multiplex, Hyena, and probably the best known, Killer Frost. Here, Dr. Crystal Frost was a nuclear engineer, but also a woman in a very male-dominated field. Finding other men "boring, patronizing, and aggressive," she had developed a crush on Dr. Stein when she was his student. Stein didn't reciprocate, though: he had thought Frost had been almost psychotically withdrawn, and had tried to draw her out, but she may have taken it the wrong way. So that's where her head's at when a freak refrigeration accident freezes every molecule in her body! That may be a bit of poetic license there, but okay.

Since this was their third issue, we're still getting to know Professor Stein and Ronnie Raymond: since Stein had been unconscious during the accident that created Firestorm, he would only remember being Firestorm when he was. Every time he and Ronnie separated, Stein thought he had just had a blackout, and after like the fourth one he was starting to worry. Ronnie seems to feel a little bad about that, but not so bad that he won't dump Stein on the wrong end of town, just so Firestorm can hassle Ronnie's bully Cliff Carmichael. (It was supposed to be a reversal of traditional roles: Ronnie was a jock, getting put down by the brainier Carmichael. I was pretty sure he became a super-villain, and sure enough. He was even killed in Suicide Squad, like 93% of Firestorm's villains!)

With two characters making up Firestorm, that freed up the writer to put either one in danger, then they had to pull the other one out of whatever they were doing to help. Yay, drama! They usually weren't sitting around reading or in the bathroom or something. Freezing under Killer Frost's kiss, Stein initiates the change, causing Ronnie to have to ditch in the middle of a basketball game. Since Ronnie was in the driver's seat with Firestorm, he didn't initially struggle, until he realized Frost was freezing him! (His flaming hair appears to go flat when he's an ice cube!) It's a five-page fight, which, like a lot of Firestorm's fights, is probably five pages longer than it should've gone, but he was still figuring out his powers and what worked and what didn't. They also work out Frost's powers are slightly different than the usual ice-powered characters: she didn't make things cold directly, she sucked heat out of things. Putting her in a freezer leaves her powerless, which is sad, except she did kill like half a dozen people already.


Looking it up: it was the second Killer Frost in Crisis on Infinite Earths; I remember her having a scene or two in there.
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Can...can she see us?

Also, can Killer Frost fly? Float? Glide somehow? We'll figure out what's going on, in today's book: from 1985, Fury of Firestorm #35, "Winter Frost" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Rafael Kayanan, inks by Alan Kupperberg.

We open with Firestorm mid-fight with Killer Frost, which is a bit surprising for him, since she was dead. Even for a super-villainess, she had a pretty convincing death scene: Ronnie describes her as "like a piece of frozen meat decaying in a thaw," before she completely evaporated. And her death stuck! That was the original Killer Frost, Dr. Crystal Frost; this was the new Killer Frost, Dr. Louise Lincoln. She escapes, while Professor Stein has to really insult Ronnie to rally him to get out from under a giant block of ice. (In a scene very much like the "Spidey lifts something heavy" scene from Amazing #33, if Peter Parker had been even harder on himself.)

Meanwhile, another Firestorm villainess, Plastique, is cooling her heels in prison; but her lawyer smuggles in her costume and an experimental serum. She had previously been an explosives expert, but the serum gives her explosive powers, and she breaks out. Elsewhere, although not named here, a third Firestorm villain, the Weasel, steals a file on Professor Stein; as the Professor and Ronnie discuss the Professor's planned move to Pittsburgh; and a subplot with Ronnie's dad on a date gets over two and a half pages!

Following a news report, Firestorm catches up with Killer Frost at a nuclear plant, where he (or they) use their godlike powers smartly: make a giant lead wall, to cut Frost off from the heat; while keeping themselves intangible. Still, Ronnie discovers they aren't able to use all their powers while intangible--even though they had been able to before; this may have been an attempt to rein him in a little. Turning solid again, Firestorm is immediately blindsided by Plastique, who has a proposition for Killer Frost...

Creating a new Killer Frost may have just been easier than bringing back the old one; or sight unseen, there may have been more baggage with the original. I don't know if Plastique's powers would stick around, either. Looking her up, she would later briefly marry Captain Atom--mostly off-panel. Although she seems to kill two guards this issue alone, I don't know how Cap would let that go.
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