The Fury of Firestorm #11 Review
The Fury of Firestorm #11 Review
Overview:
Jason tries to find Ronnie while Ronnie, Pozhar and Rakshasi fight Rogues in Pakistan.
The Good:
There is a bit of character development from Ronnie, which is good and Pozhar’s motives for training Ronnie are revealed. Ronnie’s development was a bit obvious but was needed but Pozhar is a bit of a wildcard and his actions are a little surprising. The series tries to blend superheroes and international intrigue/espionage and it kind of works, the fact that this book is not centered in one city but internationally is refreshing and gives it scale but without cameos from other heroes, it distances itself from the rest of the DCU (Sure there was JLI but they aren’t the real League).
Jason and Firehawk continue their investigation of the bunker and Jason hallucinates Professor Stein who gives him a message. Their dialogue is interesting because Firehawk is adamant that they are government weapons and they can’t just act because of international relations while Jason is more in the superhero frame of mind. The conversation really shows that Ronnie and Jason are just kids who are messing with things they don’t really understand.
I think that Rakshasi is a character with a lot of potential, there are not many Indian superheroes and it seems like she has an interesting backstory since she is familiar with Pozhar. If she could ever get a back-up or mini-series it could be really good.
The writing by Joe Harris is pretty good, there are a few dialogue hiccups but for the most part it is really good. The art by Yildiray Cinar is really good. He does a great job at making all of the various Firestorms unique while keeping them consistent.
The Bad:
The issue mostly about Ronnie and that is great because the last issues have been more Jason centric but some of the parts, particularly the end feel rushed. It seems like there is a page missing that explains what happens in between Jason fighting the Rogues and the final sequence of the issue. After Jason has his talk with Professor Stein, his actions become really confusing and single minded. He is supposed to be the calm one who thinks things out but one word from Stein and he flies off.
As a whole, the series has been a little slow lately because the two main characters have been split up and therefore an issue only tells half a story which is fine but this issue starts off at a regular pace but then moves really fast and it is confusing. If this series gets cancelled (and I really hope it doesn’t) it will be because of the pacing issues. I hope that when Jason and Ronnie get back to the same general location the pacing will pick up.
Verdict:
Despite pacing issues, the issue is still fun. Anyone who has been enjoying it so far will like it but any new reader will be confused. This series has a lot of potential if it can solve the pacing issues because it has a very interesting supporting cast like Rakshasi and Tonya. Plus the main cast could be interesting if they were in the same country.
3 out of 5
