(Firestorm I #2) - Raymond and Stein merged to become Firestorm, and saved a man from gangster Oscar Oswald's loan sharks. Firestorm wondered if he could use his powers to impress classmate Doreen Day, but when he changed a newspaper into a flower bouquet to give to a woman she fainted. Firestorm split, and Raymond was unhappy to learn that his dad didn't approve of Firestorm, who'd gotten news coverage, or superheroes in general. Multiplex broke into the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant to augment his nuclear power, and assaulted Dr. Stein. Raymond sensed his danger, and from a distance he fused into Firestorm. Firestorm battled Multiplex, but he got away. Superman was observing the battle, scouting Firestorm for the JLA, and Firestorm was starstruck. He correctly guessed that Multiplex would target State U, which also had an atomic pile. Firestorm changed the pile into harmless phosphorescence, and easily overcame the weakened Multiplex. Superman promised to keep an eye on Firestorm, and nominate him for JLA membership if he proved himself worthy.

(Firestorm I #3) - Ronnie used Firestorm the scare the daylights out of his nemesis Cliff Carmichael. During a basketball game Ronnie had to leave because he sensed Dr. Stein was in distress, and merged with him, becoming Firestorm in the Arctic. Stein had been called to supervise Mohole One, a project led by his former student Crystal Frost, but she'd become the supervillain Killer Frost. Her hatred of male-dominated society made her wild, and she froze soldiers and scientists at Mohole One. Firestorm used his heat powers against her, but Stein realized she absorbed heat despite her cold-based powers. They lured her into a closed space, and turned it into a refrigeration unit, freezing her solid.

(Firestorm I #4, 5) - Firestorm stopped by Prince Charles Island to stop baby seals from being clubbed before splitting into Ronnie and Stein. Ronnie's relationship with Doreen blossomed, and she introduced him to her secretive sister Summer while Stein became seriously worried about the blackouts he suffered while part of Firestorm and hired PI Liam McGarrin to tail him and figure out what happened during the blackouts. After he left Liam Stein was drawn into the Firestorm  Gestalt by Ronnie, who witnessed a warehouse robbery by "Spit" Shine's goons. After capturing the crooks Firestorm was attacked by the Hyena, giving Shine a chance to save his men from the police. Being battered by the Hyena made him rethink his superhero career and he split. Ronnie saw Multiplex, who'd escaped from the hospital and was draining energy from a subway's third rail to power himself. Firestorm went into action and overloaded Multiplex with nuclear energy, causing him to split into a thousand duplicates who were virtually harmless.

(DC Comics Presents #17) - Ronnie was playing a basketball game when he felt Prof. Stein trying to reform Firestorm. He left the court, and resisted as best he could, wanting nothing more to do with being a hero but Stein won out. He assured Ronnie he hadn’t meant to bring Firestorm back, but the situation was dire. Killer Frost had been revived by S.T.A.R. Labs, and turned Superman into her icy slave. Ronnie reluctantly agreed to go into action. Frost had Superman construct a super-cooler to make every man on Earth her icy slave in the WTC, but Firestorm interrupted them and engaged Superman. The battle took them away from the WTC, and Firestorm lured Superman into Earth’s molten core, meting Frost’s freeze, and freeing the hero of her influence. They returned to the WTC and froze Killer Frost at absolute zero. Superman asked Firestorm why he disappeared for a year, and the young hero admitted that he couldn’t take the pressure or responsibility. Superman told him he was part of a team of heroes as a youth, and it did him a world of good. He mentioned that Firestorm might want to consider joining the Justice League.

(Firestorm II #21 (fb)) - Firestorm stopped some robbers as the sky turned red, signaling the beginning of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Ronnie told Stein he was worried about keeping his relationship with Doreen intact now that he was at college, and Stein replied that all relationships carried implicit risk, and few people ended up marrying their high-school sweethearts. Ronnie was annoyed, and said the only reason Stein was so non-chalant was because he never lost anyone.

(Final Night #1, 3, Aquaman V #26) - Superman organized a summit of superheroes, including Firestorm, to listen to an alien named Dusk. She'd seen the Sun-Eater snuff out the sun of countless planets, and she was there to warn the heroes that the Sun-Eater was headed towards Earth. Firestorm and a team of heroes used their powers to create a smaller second Sun. It drew the Sun-Eaters' attention, and it absorbed it, but was still after Earth's real sun. The Eater engulfed the sun, leading to worldwide freezing. Zatanna summoned Firestorm to a South American village, where Firestorm, taxing his powers to their limit, kept the villagers warm with floating balls of energy.

(Green Lantern III #81) - Coast City; Firestorm was among the heroes who attended a memorial service for Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

(JLA #27) - Firestorm was called in as a JLA reservist to battle Amazo. Amazo was programmed to acquire the powers of the JLA, so when Firestorm and a number of other heroes temporarily joined the JLA to battle him it just made Amazo more powerful. Amazo decimated the JLA reservists, and was only defeated when Superman officially disbanded the JLA, leaving Amazo powerless.

(DC One Million #2) - Vandal Savage decimated Montevideo, Uruguay with a nuclear-armed Rocket Red suit, and Ray and Firestorm contained the fallout. They were infected by the Hourman Virus, a creation of the Vandal Savage of the 853rd century that filled them with rage and ate away at their minds. Justice Legion A calmed them down, and recruited them to stop Savage.

(Day of Judgment #1-5) - Firestorm was called in as a JLA reservist when Asmodel / Spectre unleashed Hell on Earth. Atom continued tutoring Firestorm during the fight, and tried to help him seal the hole to Hell, but under the pressure Firestorm created steam instead of the rock he needed to close it. Firestorm and Atom were imprisoned by the chains of Hell. They were freed by the Sentinels of Magic, and Firestorm, Atom and a small team of heroes went to Hell to reignite its' fires that Asmodel put out so the demon army on Earth would return home. They defeated Cerberus to gain entry to Hell, but once there they fell into the River Styx. Their souls were assaulted by their worst nightmares, but they were saved by Faust, who had no soul. The heroes were ready to reignite the hellfire pits when they were attack by Nebiros. Firestorm destroyed Nebiros, and Faust reignited the pits, returning the demons to Hell. Firestorm and the others returned to Earth to confront Asmodel. The soul of Green Lantern Hal Jordan took over the Spectre-Force from Asmodel, who was taken to Heaven to be imprisoned for his crimes. Atom convinced Firestorm to sign up for some chemistry classes at Ivy U, so he could properly use his powers.

(JLA #38-41) - Firestorm was among the legion of heroes summoned by the JLA to quell worldwide outbreaks of warfare that were incited by Mageddon.

(Justice Leagues: Justice League of Aliens #1, Justice Leagues: JLA #1) - When the Advance Man made the world forgot that the JLA ever existed the individual members still had a vague memory of the team and formed their own Justice Leagues. Firestorm was recruited to be in Green Lantern IV’s Justice League of Air. The League of Air aided Martian Manhunter’s Justice League of Aliens quell an outbreak of human mutation in California that was caused by the Advance Man. Advance Man’s client, Plura, arrived on Earth and prepared to ravage it, but she was temporarily thwarted by the Justice Leagues of Air and Aliens. The Justice League of Air disbanded following the reformation of the Justice League of America.

(JLA #56) -The White Martians set up Ion Stations that introduced viral subatomic particles into the atmosphere that attached to oxygen atoms and set them at slow combustion so there’d be no fire on Earth, eliminating the Martians one weakness. Firestorm tried to restore the atmosphere to its normal condition, but the chemistry was beyond him.

(JLA #58) - Firestorm was among the number of heroes defeated by the White Martians invading Earth. The Martians were eventually driven off by the JLA.

(JSA #33-37) - The Ultra-Humanite used Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt to conquer the world, and imprisoned Firestorm and virtually every superhuman on Earth in stasis tubes, only reviving them when he needed mind-controlled slaves to serve in his personal guard the Thunderfront. Firestorm served as a member of the Thunderfront when they attacked the JSA, the only heroes not under the Humanite’s control. The JSA used a device that disrupted the braincaps Humanite used to control the Thunderfront, leaving them unconscious but freed from Humanite’s mental domination. The JSA later defeated the Humanite.

(JLA #69, 71, 73, 75) - With the JLA trapped in the year 1,000 B.C., Batman's contingency plan for a new JLA was activated. JLA-Spheres located Roy Raymond, who'd just woken up from a long night of partying at college with marker all over his face. Turning into Firestorm he was taken with other heroes hand picked by Batman to the Watchtower, where a video recording of Batman told them they would have to carry on as Earth's protectors in case the JLA never returned. The team was instructed not to go looking for the missing JLA, and were kept busy by a worldwide drought. The drought caused tectonic plate shifting in Japan, resulting in earthquakes and lava flows that the JLA had to deal with. Atom discovered that Eartrh’s water was being drained to Atlantis. He got a video feed of Atlantis, where the team saw a skeleton dressed in Superman’s costume. Atom coordinated the JLA’s return to Atlantis, where they found Gamemnae, an ancient Atlantean sorceress bent on bringing new glory to her land. They warned her that the waters shifted to Atlantis threatened to pull Earth from its orbit, but she refused to listen. The JLA couldn’t defeat her, and President Luthor ordered muon bombs to be dropped on Atlantis to destroy the sorceress. The bombs had no effect on her, and the JLA was brought to safety by a ring-image of Green Lantern, who explained that the JLA in ancient Atlantis made a plan in the past to save the future. Manitou Raven, the sole survivor of the Ancients, the superteam Gamemnae created and betrayed, had preserved the souls of the JLA that Gamemnae killed in 1,000 B.C. He tricked her into resurrecting them, and then Zatanna and members of the new JLA went to 1,000 B.C. where they freed Aquaman, who’d been turned into a water elemental and imprisoned in a pool by Gamemnae. Aquaman merged with the ocean, sank Gamemnae’s Atlantis, and Zatanna cast a spell that returned Aquaman’s Atlantis to the present day. Gamemnae, weakened by this change in history, was easy prey for Manitou Raven, and he sacrificed himself to destroy her.

(JLA #76) - Batman’s JLA disbanded, but Faith, Firestorm, Major Disaster and Manitou stayed on at the Watchtower. The JLA recovered the scattered atoms of Plas from across the Atlantic and pieced him back together. He explained the trauma of not being whole for over 3,000 years, and quit the JLA to spend more time with his son. Firestorm’s nervousness and difficulty working with the JLA irritated his teammates, especially Batman.  

(JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice) - Firestorm was called in by Martian Manhunter as a JLA reservist after the JLA and JSA’s ranks had been decimated when the Seven Deadly Sins possessed several members of the teams. Firestorm, alongside other JLA reservists and the unpossessed members of the JLA and JSA helped Shazam re-chain Deadly Sins in the Rock of Eternity, and then defeated the Sins’ masters, Johnny Sorrow and Despero.

(JLA #77) - Mnemon, a synthetic lifeform that recorded history by draining the memories of others, landed on the moon and Firestorm and the JLA investigated. Atom entered Mnemon, who was quick to start eating the memories of the JLA. Mnemon’s actions always led to planetwide destruction, which it considered its’ own form of art. With Atom’s guidance Superman destroyed the magnetic field that kept it cohesive with his heat vision, but this freed the miniature black hole that powered Mnemon. Through great force of will Superman held Mnemon and the black hole in his hands long enough tofly into space and toss it into a wormhole.

(JLA #78, 79) - A large mass of Mirror Matter, previously thought to be only theoretical, was headed toward Earth, and the JLA disposed of it by having Firestorm transform it into marshmallow fluff. The JLA received an extraterrestrial video feed from Kylaq sent to them by Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, who was in deep space. The Peacemaker and his Paciforce decreed that Kylaq would join his forces or perish. The JLA debated handling a political situation so far from Earth that they didn’t know all the details about. Wonder Woman said the JLA had a responsibility to nay innocents in danger, and Superman said that handling the Peacemaker was a preemptive measure, because he could eventually target Earth, so the JLA traveled to Kylaq, but Firestorm and other members who objected staid behind to watch over Earth. On Kylaq the JLA defeated the Paciforce and arranged peace talks between the Kylaq and the Peacemaker.

(JLA #81-82) - The commune Safe Haven, an organization protected by metahumans, was at a standoff with government forces A.T.F. and D.E.O. that wanted to investigate the commune when the JLA intervened. The JLA heard the case of Shepherd, who ran the Haven, and wanted to act as intermediaries. This went south when tensions led Haven members and government agents to fire at each other. An explosion seemingly killed everyone at the Haven, and the JLA were blamed. Superman, Major Disaster and Faith were all convinced that they were responsible, but Atom, Firestorm and Batman later examined the scene and found that no one had died. Axis America, led by Shepherd, aka Ubermensch, appeared to battle the JLA and revealed themselves as agents of Mr. Manson, the government operative behind Safe Haven who sacrificed it and used the metahuman the Mouth to convince the JLA they were responsible for hundreds of deaths. All this was so Manson could reclaim Faith for the U.S. government. Faith recognized the setup and forced Manson to leave her alone for the time being, and Axis America retreated.

(JLA #84, 85, 89) - Firestorm spent his free time teaching Manitou Raven’s wife Dawn English, and Manitou was pleased that they became friends. When Martian Manhunter overcame his fear of fire, his race memory turned him into the Burning, who needed fear and fire in multitude to asexually reproduce. He caused worldwide fear, and took Firestorm out of action by placing mental blocks that prevented him from using his powers. The Burning turned his attention to the rest of the JLA, but was defeated when Manhunter split away from the Burning and destroyed him with his Martian-vision. With the Burning’s death Firestorm’s abilities were restored.

(JSA #54) - Firestorm, the JLA and JSA celebrated Thanksgiving at JSA hq. Firestorm made some thoughtless comments about Wonder Woman being a downer and got a spear shoved at him by JSAer Hawkgirl. Kulak and the Warlord of Ys ruined the Thanksgiving meal, but were quickly defeated by the heroes. The JLA and JSA settled for ordering out, and had pizza for Thanksgiving.

(Flash II #208, 209) - Firestorm and the JLA summoned Flash to the JLA Watchtower, demanding to know why they no longer remembered his secret identity. He initially refused to talk to team, and ran away, but after Superman talked to him he returned. He revealed that the Spectre erased the world’s knowledge of his secret identity to protect his family, but he was ready to reveal himself as Wally West to his friends.

(JLA #100) - Manitou Raven sensed a disturbance in the Earth, and there were several volcanic eruptions, the hole in the ozone layer opened further, and other geothermal events signaled an extinction level event. Gaea, speaking through the earth-powered Major Disaster damned humanity for their abuse of her and their failure to get along. Sister Superior of the Elite v.2 had also realized that Gaea was ready to destroy humanity, and proposed a plan to Firestorm and the JLA, and although they doubted her trustworthiness they agreed. The Elite stormed Washington, demanded all governments dissolve and declared themselves rulers of Earth because humanity had proved themselves unfit to rule. After UN meetings and a staged defeat of the JLA by the Elite, every nation on Earth put aside their differences to tackle the Elite. Gaea once again believed in humanity, seeing them unite against a common enemy, and held back her wrath.

(Identity Crisis #1) - Firestorm was among the number of heroes who attended Sue Dibny’s funeral.

(Identity Crisis #5, Firestorm II #6) - Firestorm, Captain Marvel, Vixen and Shining Knight questioned Shadow Thief about Sue Dibny’s death. The villain snatched Shining Knight’s sword and impaled Firestorm, causing his nuclear energy to leak out. He flew into the air to avoid radiating his allies and exploded, dying. As Raymond died the Firestorm-Matrix sought another to replace him, and bonded itself with Detroit teenager Jason Rusch, who became the new Firestorm.

(Firestorm I #9, 10) - Part of Ronnie’s consciousness lived on in the Firestorm matrix, and he vaguely experienced Jason’s adventures. When the new Firestorm was tricked into restoring Killer Frost’s powers, he formed the Firestorm-Matrix with Firehawk, who’d sought him out because she missed Ronnie. This awoke Raymond that was still alive in the matrix, and the three of them attacked Frost as Firestorm, with Ronnie leading the show, dismissing Jason and reminding him who the original hero was. Three people in the Firestorm-Matrix started to burn Firestorm out, and Ronnie began to disintegrate. Jason took over, and undid the cellular repair he did on Frost, but Ronnie disintegrated into nothing, and the matrix broke. Frost was outraged, and attacked Jason, but the arrival of the police forced her to flee. Jason woke up in the hospital, and was shocked when Ronnie started to speak to him in his head.

(Firestorm II #11-13) - Jason’s dad said he’d been doing some heavy thinking, and needed to talk to him, but Jason said he had a responsibility to figure out where Lorraine was, and why the original Firestorm was in his head. His dad was furious, but Jason stood his ground. He became Firestorm, and learned about Ronnie Raymond’s history as the hero. Ronnie had a mentor, professor Stein, and admired Jason for dealing with his superhero situation so well without someone to guide him. He apologized for dismissing Jason, and said he was quite a natural. They found that they could switch who was in control of the Firestorm-Matrix, and Ronnie gave him a crash course in responsibly using his powers. Ronnie wanted Jason to visit his father Ed so he could let him know he was alive, after a fashion, but no one was home at the Raymond house. Firestorm caught a report about an anomalous storm over Detroit, and Ronnie told Jason that from now on it was his duty to deal with these kind of problems. The storm was created by Firestorm’s old foe Typhoon, who was joined by another enemy, Multiplex in ambushing the hero. The whole attack was orchestrated by Ronnie’s arch-nemesis, Cliff Carmichael, whom Killer Frost had leaked the information that Ronnie was alive to. During the battle Firestorm started disintegrating Multiplex’ duplicate bodies, and Ronnie thought he was stepping over the line with his callous violence, so he took control. Ronnie managed to defeat Multiplex and Typhoon, but discovered that they both had circuitry in the back of their necks. The circuitry drained him, at which point Carmichael confronted him, and began tearing apart Ronnie’s mind, telling him that Killer Frost had given up his identity. The process started disintegrating Ronnie in the Firestorm-Matrix, and when Firestorm broke free he wanted to contact the JLA to save Ronnie. Ronnie told him that after Cliff invaded their minds he knew all about their families, and would target them next, so they had no choice but to stop him, even if it meant Ronnie’s death. He told Jason being a superhero was like being a soldier, and they always had to stay true to their responsibilities. They confronted Cliff again, and burned out the cybernetic brain implants that gave him his powers, leaving him catatonic. Ronnie faded away, and told Jason he’d do a fine job continuing his work. Jason was distraught, and visited Ronnie’s heartbroken parents, to tell them their son was dead again. Ed Raymond told him he’d often butted heads with his son, and the last thing they were going to do together was connect over movies. He told Jason to make peace with his father while they were both alive.

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway & Al Milgrom

Firestorm received profiles in Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #8 & Who's Who Update '88 #1. Firestorm received a profile in JLA-Z #2 under the JLA (“The Satellite” Era) entry.

Firestorm had cameos in Action Comics #554, 650, Firestorm II #22, Firestorm: The Nuclear Man II #26, Flash II #205, Hawk and Dove III #1, Hawkman V #5, Identity Crisis #6, 7, Justice League of America II #7, Power of Shazam II #10 and Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1.  

In Bizarro Comics #1 Mr. Mxyzptlk beamed information about all of Earth’s superheroes into Bizarro-Superman’s mind, hoping to teach him how to be a proper hero. Afterwards Bizarro had images of various heroes, including Firestorm, wandering through his head.

Firestorm was featured in Superman’s subconscious therapy session in JLA #83. Superman envisioned President Luthor going to war with Quarac because they supposedly had W.M.D.s, and the American public felt betrayed that the U.S. declared war before they had proof. The JLA didn’t stop Luthor because Superman couldn’t make up his mind as to the justness of the war, but in the end Luthor proved to be a villain.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com