Fire & Water #228 – Doomsday Clock #8 & #9

In this mini-episode, Shag shares his reaction to Firestorm’s recent appearance in DOOMSDAY CLOCK #8 & #9. He describes reading these comics as a roller-coaster of curiosity, then discomfort, then shock, then horror, then anger & then cursing. Lots of cursing. And finally Shag shares why he believes things will be okay in the long-term for Firestorm.

Fair warning, there will be SPOILERS for these issues of DOOMSDAY CLOCK.

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Opening theme, “That Time is Now,” by Michael Kohler.  Closing music by The Bad Mamma Jammas.

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5 responses to “Fire & Water #228 – Doomsday Clock #8 & #9

  1. After #8 I was really worried Johns was going to go for ‘Martin Stein has been dead for years, these days Ronnie is just hallucinating.’. That issue was written to make that possible, not ever showing the traditional ghostly head. Now I wish that was all that it was. But I’m fairly sure that almost everything here will be undone by the end.

  2. Although I was never a “Firestorm Guy” I get your passion for the character as I have the same passion for Wally West Flash. (No dig on Barry! He’s great and all! But Wally is MY Flash!) That being said, I actually have been enjoying Doomsday Clock….(Certainly way more than I have Heroes in Crisis!)
    I have had issues regarding Geoff Johns writing before this. I never thought of “Daddy Issues” in regards to Johns’ choices regarding his storylines. What I know about him is that his sister Courtney, died in a plane crash and he gave her a new life in the form of Stargirl Courtney Whitmore. Of course, this was a real tragedy and not one I’d wish on anyone. However Johns has been so affected by the tragedy that he has made all of his characters endure one kind of tragedy or another.
    Like you I am waiting to see how this all plays out. I hope this isn’t bad news for Firestorm fans…at the same time, I also hope that we don’t see DC pull a bait and switch as they did with Captain Atom and Hawk in Armageddon 2001

    1. After re-reading my comments I’ve come to regret them. While I do feel that he does seem to come at Superheroes from a view that I don’t agree with, (Tragic Origins make more interesting heroes.) I really shouldn’t have put it in a way that is so dismissive of Mr. Johns loss.

  3. Another hero ruined by one huge event was John Stewart and his accidental destruction of an inhabited planet in Cosmic Odyssey. If not for the Justice League animated series essentially rewriting the character, I’m not sure he would have ever recovered from that event.

    I hope you’re right and and Johns pulls things out in the end, but often his “lighter” ending is a lot of smoke and mirrors. The DCU was supposed to lighten up after Infinite Crisis, but if anything, things got darker. I’m also not convinced DC has a real plan moving forward from this. The thrust of Rebirth was a lighter touch and a return to DC’s more noble sensibilities, but after a good solid year or so of comics in that vein, we’re back in the mud with this and Heroes in Crisis.

    Let’s hope Firestorm can make it out of this relatively unscathed.

    Chris

  4. Again, all I know, post-80s, is what I hear on Fire & Water. I knew Firestorm right from his very first teaser ad. I bought the original issues. I bought Flash because Firestorm was the backup strip. I bought his “Fury of…” title for more than three years. I’ve rolled my eyes at every “big event” from DC over the last 25 years, but this got me to thinking. Not about the stupid “comic-booky conspiracy shadowy background manipulator” aspect, but about Firestorm’s origins. Ronnie Raymond, trying to impress a girl, joins a anti-nuclear power protest. In 1977. A quick search shows that there has been ONE nuclear power plant that has opened in the last 20 years, and precious few in the previous 20. This is the part of Firestorm’s origins that needs to be addressed. Ronnie’s fusion with Martin Stein needs to happen at a nuclear reactor. That needs to be updated, maybe to an academic setting.
    You know, I can accept nuclear accidents in comics causing unprecedented powers. That’s easy. I cannot accept that Martin Stein, 1.) worked simultaneously to bring his N-plant online, while also making sure that the regulators, insurance companies, utility companies, and civic authorities would NOT allow him to do so, 2.) convinced Eddie Earhart to create an “artificial turf” grass-roots organization to cover his plans to sabotage the plant, 3.) duped Cliff Carmichael into goading the new kid Ronnie into doing something specifically spontaneously stupid, 4.) did not account for Danton Black’s presence. Have I got that right, Shag?

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