This one of the only DC 52 relaunch books that is actually an origin story.  We get to see the start of the heroes.  Not through flashback, but through modern story.

As an origin story it works pretty well.  We get to know all the main characters and their families.  We know their personalities and their motivations. And we get to see how they come together to make Firestorm.

As strong as the lead up story was, the merger scene was nothing but confusing.  Maybe this was on purpose?  Either it is a lead up, or it’s bad writing.  either way I was confused.  They created two firestorms?  In the past people would merge together to make Firestorm.  But now they create two: a red and yellow.  But it seems like their personalities change even in the same body?  One starts talking about a comment about their ‘hair’ that makes no sense .  And then the other starts giving advice as if he was the older scientist.  And then the twist ending came out of nowhere.  I’m confused, but I hope it makes sense next month.

The art is workman like.  It was never awful, but it was never very good either. And I cannot stand the way he draws eyes.  It is as if everyone is surprised, all the time.

C-  Don

As a fan of pretty much every creator working on this title, I found this to be pretty disappointed reintroduction of Firestorm into the DCU. They throw out all of the recent developments in Firestorm’s character and replace them with pale imitations. The art is mediocre compared with work even from the same artist, the dialogue is bland and the subject matter, whether it be “issues” like geeks/jocks, black/white, human/superhuman, and whatever passes for “science” is clumsy and pedantic at the same time.

I wouldn’t mind the abandonment of old continuity in this case if there was something, anything, worth replacing it with, but so far this book is a dud for me. Even without the higher-than-average expectations I came to the book with, I doubt I would think much of the book’s potential from the first issue.

C-  —- Ed