The only issue I own of this short-lived series. Kind of a second stab at Showcase, trying to either introduce new characters, or re-introduce existing ones (Creeper, Metamorpho, Dr. Fate) and see if they could gain some traction.
The most successful character would have to be Mike Grell's Warlord, considering his solo title went for over 100 issues and DC periodically tries to bring him back. There's also the Mark Shaw version of Manhunter, and some deep cuts, like Atlas or the Green Team. And Lady Cop, who I remember being sort of a topic of discussion among comics bloggers in the mid-2000s (I think Gail Simone made her the Chief of Police in Ivy Town during her All-New Atom run, which may explain it.)
As for this particular comic, it's interesting mostly in terms of how things have changed. Firefly's known now as an arsonist, third-tier Bat-villain. He's third-tier (at best) here as well, but he's a visual effects specialist, with a belt with an array of light based weapons. Also a truly terrible costume, which the men he hires as goons initially laugh at. Until he dematerializes one of them. Don't worry, the guy will come back in 24 hours. Wait, what?
Firefly's held in a regular prison, but the comic shows that both Scarecrow and Two_Face are there as well. Harvey Dent's been transferred from Arkham, awaiting determination of whether he's sane or not, but Jonathan Crane's just there as an inmate. He's a murderer who uses fear, period. Not sure when it shifted that he was nuts and got to go to the Asylum.
Firefly doesn't survive the final confrontation, and the Creeper seems content to laugh about it. Quite a change from the end of his own series, where he seemed deeply troubled by the fact he couldn't turn Proteus away from his self-destructive course. But it had been six years since his last appearance, so things can change. It would be three more before his next, as a back-up feature in World's Finest, so I guess this appearance didn't spark enough interest.
4 comments:
I really enjoyed Simone's run on All-New Atom, definitely one of the highlights that came out after Infinite Crisis.
And yeah, that is a really horrible costume Firefly's wearing. I think I'd be laughing at him even at the risk of disintegration.
The sad thing is how excited he was when he reached his hideout and found it was still in good condition. He describes it at as "awe-inspiring", which I guess is technically correct, but not in the way he means it.
I remember All-New Atom getting pretty positive reviews in the blogosphere. Pity that Ryan Choi got killed off by, was it Judd Winick or JT Krul, writing that Deathstroke-led Titans book. Wait a waste.
My gut tells me it was Winick...
But I checked and it was Eric Wallace.
Simone later had Giganta (who'd dated Choi) kill Dwarfstar in revenge, I think in one of the Secret Six runs she had, so there's that.
I don't even remember Eric Wallace. Guess I never read anything he wrote.
Yeah, Waller hires the Six for a mission in Skartaris against another Six sent out by Flag-Smasher (in an attempt to ruin Waller that backfires massively.) The story itself was kind of a mess and hardly stood up to any scrutiny, but at the end, Waller offers some of them pardons if they work for her. Dwarfstar takes it, but Waller lets Giganta know who killed her boyfriend and the giant angry lady takes care of the rest.
Post a Comment