DCU Comic Book Reviews

FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MAN #28

In My Father's House, Part One

October 2006

Written by Stuart Moore

Pencils by Jamal Igle

Inks by Keith Champagne

Cover by Brian Stelfreeze

Synopsis

Professor Martin Stein is once more part of the Firestorm Matrix.  Now that he is back, Jason decides to further investigate the lab where Gehenna spent most of her life.  Instead, Firestorm encounters a creature to guard the place.  With Stein’s help, Jason is a able to defeat the monster, but a search of the lab reveals no new information.  Back home, Jason calls Gehenna, but gets no answers.  Martin notices Jason is acting weird and wants to know what is going on.  Jason tells him of the return of his mother, who walked out on him long time ago.  At that moment, Martin and Jason are joined by a mysterious stranger.  Jason immediately becomes Firestorm thinking the stranger, but Lorraine Reilly (aka Firehawk) appears and tells him it is okay.  The stranger is Mikhail Arkadin, former partner within the firestorm matrix.  Before Mikhail can explain why he is there, they are suddenly attack by Dollies, who Martin notices are now nuclear powered. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

In my previous review, I said that while Firestorm was consistently a good book, because the creators are thumping their chest for the next arc as their “epic,” I was going to raise my expectations.  Before I provide my marvelous insight (Ha!), I will say that the first issue of a new story arc should not be the basis to judge the entire story, but it should give the reader an inkling of what is going to come next.  My general feeling after my first read thru was that writer Stuart Moore was trying too hard to create an epic.  Part of the problem is that the narration, which I will guess is supposed to provide a feeling of dread and doom, read very awkwardly.  It had this cliché feeling to it that actually dragged down the rest of the issue.  Take away that narration and I think the story works real well. 

Based on the title of this issue, he obviously has things in mind with his Jason’s father and Gehenna’s father (and the mysterious narrator who refers to himself as “daddy”), and these little tidbits are good, but then Mikhail appears at the end and suddenly we’ve got the battle with the Dollies.  Again, it feels as if Moore has a ton of different story ideas and he’s decided in some fashion to toss them all into the kitchen blender to see what he can puree.  Sometimes this approach can work, but in this case I get the feeling that too much is truly too much.  Having said all that, I really did enjoy the issue, especially the scene with Jason and his parents as well as the brief moment when Martin asks Jason what is going on and then Jason tells him.  Just that little bit showed how much the two are connected by friendship; the ability to confide to another is sure sign of a good bond.  It is these small moments that I really enjoy in this series. 

It was so cool to see that Martin as his own lab within the Firestorm Matrix.  I mean, being the non-physical part, it just made so much sense that he would have a place to check out his theories and determine what can and can not work.

And, where the hell is Gehenna running to (or away)?