The Fury of Firestorm #3 – Jeff Lemire, Writer; Rafael De La Torre, Artist; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Over half a decade ago, DC had one of the biggest hit comics of the 21st century with Doomsday Clock, a wildly ambitious sequel to Watchmen that pitted Dr. Manhattan against the DCU by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. However, due to Johns’ departure to launch his own creator-owned company out of Image, many of the plot threads have been left to dangle. That makes this one of the most direct sequels, as Jeff Lemire explores the fallout of one of the most controversial revelations – that Dr. Martin Stein deliberately engineered the explosion that turned him and Ronnie Raymond into Firestorm. A flashback shows this went back even deeper, with a grief-stricken Stein – who lost his son to a supervillain attack – proposing a government-created metahuman to the Senate. When they deem it too risky, he goes ahead with it on his own – and plans to have himself at the controls helping his chosen patsy.
It’s a twisted plan, but it came from a place of idealism. Those are often the worst failures. In the present day, a seemingly self-aware Firestorm with no one at the helm tears his way through all the superheroes that come to confront it, as Firehawk seeks out some of the only people who can help. Jason Rusch, who was separated from the Matrix in a little-read anthology story before Doomsday Clock, has been going to college – and has a very personal reason for not wanting to be part of the Matrix anymore. Meanwhile, Martin Stein himself has seemingly gone mad with guilt over his role in what’s become of Firestorm, and he has the knowledge to explain exactly why this went so terribly wrong. Each issue so far has revealed a little more of the puzzle to us, and it’s done an amazing job of explaining just why this character has the potential to be one of the most powerful and terrifying in the whole DCU.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
