DCU Comic Book Reviews

FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MAN #27

Good Bye

September 2006

Written by Stuart Moore

Pencils by Jamal Igle

Inks by Keith Champagne

Cover by Brian Stelfreeze

Synopsis

Martin Stein is dead.  Jason Rusch is forced to merge with him after the Pupil captures and binds Lorraine Reilly (aka Firehawk).  Inside the matrix, Jason notes Martin is barely alive.  Meanwhile, the Pupil continues to learn as much as he can from Firehawk.  With his attention diverted, Gehenna teleports into the room and frees Firehawk, who yells out to Jason to let her into the matrix.  As the two of them attempt to revive Martin, the Pupil tells the dollies to capture Gehenna.  Jason is forced to make a decision, free martin or free Gehenna; he decides to free martin.  He is able to revive Martin enough to allow Firestorm to break free and rescue Gehenna.  The Pupil takes one of the dollies and leaves.  However, Martin is still dying.  Using molecular scans done by the Pupil, Martin is able to repair his dying body and the Firestorm matrix, freeing Firehawk.  Afterwards, because Jason rescued Martin first instead of her, Gehenna leaves Jason.  Later, Jason visits his father and finds his mother.  In Washington DC, Lorraine returns to her offices in the senate, but his visited by a different Firestorm.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I have probably said this before, but Firestorm is a very consistently good book, month in and month out.  While I knew that Martin Stein was probably was not dead and would once more be part of the matrix, I still enjoyed reading how he got back.  It is the mark of a good book that can make a predictable plot enjoyable.  A lot of that comes from knowing that while one part can be predictable, adding other areas that are not so can help.  In this case, I am specifically talking about is the sub-plot about Gehenna.  Here character has been strange and at times annoying, but the brief comment from the Pupil suddenly made her very interesting.  The same is also true for the Pupil.  On the surface he seems to be a little creep, but little tidbits here and there suggest there is something else going on.  This attention to detail, or rather than attention to the larger story in the midst of smaller stories, is the key reason even predictable stories can still be quite good.  The negative part about this review is that while good, Firestorm has never managed to rise up to the great or excellent quality.  However, Moore, Igle, et al. are calling then ext couple of issues the epic they’ve been building to, so I am going to raise my expectations.  Good will not be good enough. 

Keeping in mind the revival of Martin to the matrix, the real hook in this story are the two epilogues or the two endings or the two surprises.  The first is Jason’s reaction to seeing his mother.  I am afraid I do not know much about Jason’s past (I am getting the back issues, I swear) so I am not sure what that ending is all about, except to note that Jason does not look pleased.  What is the deal with his father’s left hand?  It looks different, almost golden.  I don’t remember that from previous issues. Did I miss something?  The second is the return, I would assume, of Ronnie Raymond.  Of course, I suppose I should not make assumptions.

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