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FIRESTORM #1
"Eye Contact"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Dan Jolley
Pencils: Chriscross
Inks: John Dell
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Letters: Phil Balsman
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Price: $2.50 US/$3.85 CAN |
I blame Brian Michael Bendis. He's the one who showed, in Ultimate Spider-Man, that you can have an interesting first issue that never shows the character using his powers or even having a super identity until the last page, and it can work. And now that seems to be the default introduction for every new character. Problem being, as a change of pace, it works; as a routine, it gets dull. Does this first issue do a great job of really fleshing out Jason Rusch, 17-year-old whose dreams of college are being threatened and whose life is filled with problems? Yes, it does. Do I care? No, I do not. And neither will most Firestorm fans, who are already more than a little grumpy that their character is being replaced by somebody new. Imagine their displeasure when they find out that the explanation for this replacement is nowhere to be found in this first issue. Chriscross and Dell do a terrific job on the art, and Jolley has a solid foundation here, but unfortunately, that foundation is built in a hole that he has yet to dig himself out of, which is that he hasn't provided an origin for the superhero side of his character yet.
I'll give Jolley credit on this: I like Jason Rusch. He's not perfect, in fact he's very believably flawed, but I like him and I want him to succeed, which is a big step in terms of making me like this new Firestorm. Rusch isn't a character of extremes, not a typical screw-up or a timid outsider or a cocky insider or any of the other cliches. He's a fairly smart young man faced with a couple of unusual pressures who wants nothing more crazy and outlandish than to be able to pay for college. Jolley's other characters are similarly nuanced, especially Jason's dad, who could easily have been an abusive cliche as well but whose anger and frustration are completely believable and even understandable, even if it does make him a more flawed character than his son.
The trouble is, it takes Jolley pretty much all of the issue to set this up. I got the whole idea of who Jason was in just a few pages, and the same is true of his relationship with his dad and the issue that forces Jason to go to a shady acquaintance for a job that is sure to cause him trouble in the future. Jolley's script could have used some considerable tightening up so that there was time to introduce Firestorm a little earlier in the book, maybe even reveal the nature of the gimmick (which is a nifty idea Jolley has come up with for this story) and show off a little of his powers. Given that they've pissed off most of the Firestorm fans by replacing him, if they were aiming for new fans, they could do worse than to introduce the lead character's superheroic identity in the first issue.
Chriscross has long been an artist I've liked, ever since his first work on Blood Syndicate. He hasn't ever had a breakout hit, though, which is a shame, because his work really does stand out as unique, even while it has all the stylistic hallmarks of a commercial style. Beautifully detailed backgrounds, real life stuff like clothes and cars and furniture, mix with some of the most distinctive, expressive human faces to be found in comics. Much like Adam Hughes or Guy Davis or Kevin Maguire, when you see a Chriscross drawn character, you know that it's him. He is also the ideal choice for this book, because when it comes to realistic depictions of people of color, you cannot find a better artist than Chriscross.
I see potential in this new Firestorm. While I'm always a bit wary of classic characters (even third stringers like Firestorm) being killed off for a "new, improved" version, I like the notion of adding more color to the DC Universe, especially if it's being done with more prominent superheroes. And even though I feel like Jolley padded out this first issue in terms of character-building, I can't deny that he's got a solid foundation to build upon yet. I guess, for the moment, color me skeptical but still interested.
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