The Fury Of Firestorm #6: Goin’ Down In A Blaze Of Glory

The Fury of Firestorm #6 finds the search and attempt to save Ronnie coming to somewhat of a conclusion with Stein and Firehawk in Pittsburgh confront the Matrix-controled Firestorm. The issue picks up from the somewhat unexpected cliffhanger of the previous issues where it appears that Stein wanted to be reunited with his “son” aka The Firestorm Matrix, and he used Lorraine and her wanting to save Ronnie as cover.

Issue #6 beings with Stein trying to finish his work only to end up trapped with Ronnie and Lorraine as prisoners of The Matrix. Things really heat up when Ronnie confronts Stein after he realized all this time he was a puppet. This confrontation between the two is short-lived as the Matrix turns on the three of them, forcing Stein and Ronnie to reluctantly merge as Ronnie seemingly makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to save the DCU from the destructive force that is the Firestorm Matrix.

While the sequences that take place in the present time are awesome both in the writing, art, and lettering, what really stands out are the flashbacks to Firestorm joining The League.  From being tapped for a battle against Eclipso right out of the gate in issue #5 and Platique and Bolt in issue #6, the creative makes those parts of the story work well and not the cheesy writing that the original material.

As a side note: Lemire, De Latorre, and Gattoni NEED to do a retro Green Arrow / Hawkman/ Black Canary series.

If the recent news of the series 6 issue extension not been announced, the interaction between Ronnie and Stein would have felt rushed, hopefully Lemire will tease this thread more before the series wraps. The issue cliffhanger also teases that Lemire and company are going to be exploring the other aspects of the Firestorm mythos from John Ostrander’s “Fire Elemental” incarnation of the character.