Now that summer is over, my game plan to start writing again is moving forward. I plan on discussing my upcoming D&D 5th ed sessions, toy reviews, new and old comic acquisitions and more? That sounds ambitious… lol we will see what happens.
All posts by greenloontern
FireStorm – The Nuclear Man #66
Published: Dec. 1987 by DC Comics
Writer: John Ostrander Letterer: John Costanza Penciller: Joe Brozowski
Inker: Sam Delarosa Colorist: Shelly Eiber Editor: Denny O’neil
Well, its been a long time since i wrote a review of a comic, so bare with me. So this book kind of found me randomly as i was chatting with one of my local LCS owners. I was glancing through a box of Firestorm comics and spotted this cover. Now let me preface this by telling you that as a kid, this is how i found comics, I’d spot a cover and id have to have it! Now we all did this at some point in our lives, but covers are designed to draw you into and make you want to read the stories with in. This is how my obsession with comics began all those years ago.
But back to the book; I saw Hal Jordan going toe to toe with firestorm and said to myself, “Self, you have to have this cover!” After i got home tonight i realized a major flaw in my plan to review the story…. it is part 3 of a prelude to DC’s MILLENNIUM crossover event. Firestorms story starts in Annual #5 and issue #65 and since i have never read this book before today…. it was a bit confusing.
-One million years ago- As the planet Cytothex 3 is destroyed by a race of aliens, it seems they feared that an entity known as Zuggernaut would some day leave Cytothex 3 and destroy their home world. (Whats 3 or 4 billion alien lives worth in 1987?) As luck would have it, Zuggernaut survived by clinging to a part of the planet as it flew off into space. (seems unlikely but im still on board!) Needless to say this star Trek esc creature arrives on earth six years before this story takes place.
-A Medical Lab near Kiev – Comrade Arkadin is being checked out by a not so happy Russian scientist and their boss. A surly old man that isnt too happy about Arkadin loosing his powers and his in-ability to kill Firestorm. (Wish i had read issue #65) Quick jump to Ronny who apparently is having plenty of issues dealing with his Firestorm persona – Feeling like something is controlling him… hhmm(Maybe its Zaggernaut?)
Wow! this book moves quickly into a racially violent sequence of events. Three African american gentlemen stop at a gas station for directions and one of them gets soaked in gasoline. The guy lights a cigarette and threatens to throw the match at him. The man runs for his life as 20+ people chase him down the street toward the freeway. At this moment Ronny sees the man run into traffic on the freeway and Firestorm takes over. Firestorm rescues the man and returns him to his friends who have been beaten and left for dead.
The crowd turns even nastier and they pull guns out and start firing at Firestorm, which he stops by creating a shield. Only the bullets ricochet into the gas pumps causing them to explode! –Enter Green Lantern- Spotting the explosion GL flies toward the explosion to try and help out. The next couple pages have the man Firestorm saved telling him to let the town burn to teach them a lesson and to stop Green Lantern from putting out the fires.
I will say that this was not what i expected from an issue of Firestorm and the social commentary regarding racism is a very interesting direction to go with the story. Not having read any of the preceding stories or the ones that follow has me a bit perplexed as to how i want to proceed. I accept that stories like these are designed as filler for the larger story arc are quit common for this era of comics. But as the casual reader it always drives me a bit crazy, now dont get me wrong, public commentary on racism is necessary if done correctly. Even if it makes some people uncomfortable or angry, i get that. But as usual my love of a comic book cover has kind of lead me astray.
Ratings:
Cover – 3 out of 5 I love the imagery of these two iconic characters going head to head, it has a very Super Powers feel to it.
Story – 2 out of 5 I generally list John Ostrander in my top 10 writers of all time, but im not quit sure what this was meant to be. Clearly he wanted to make a comment on racism and how Rage is most peoples first reaction to it and how that isnt the correct way to handle it. But this issue could have been served better by diving into Ronny dealing with Zuggernaut, or trying to find someone to help him figure it out. Like i said, i have no idea what happens next, so maybe he does figure it out. lol I really wanted a longer head to head battle between these guys!
Art – 3 out of 5 Over all the art is pretty good, I think the colors and inking helped the pencils a lot.
Thats it for my first comic review in 3 years, I hope you enjoyed coming along with me as i rediscover these old school comics. Agree with me? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below or on twitter or facebook! Get involved! lets talk comics!
A long awaited comeback?
After leaving the podcast world and diving into life, i have realized my passions for collecting and gaming have only gotten stronger. So now is the time to revive the old site and bring back a bit of the old days by sharing some of my collection, new finds and new hobbies. It will be slow going until i figure out exactly how i want to present everything, but there will finally be new content or the first time in 2 years. Stay tuned and hopefully you’ll come along for the ride.
The end of an era…
After three years, nearly 100 episodes and much debate I have decided to end the podcast. Life has become far too busy for all three of us and it has been nearly impossible to work on the show. I want to thank everyone who has listened and contributed to the show, special guest hosts, the dancing bear, titty sprinkles and the randomizer.
I plan on keeping the blog and hopefully start posting more over the winter, so look for a redesign of the site and Facebook page in the near future. All of the episodes that we have recorded will be available until the end of September if you want to listen to them one last time.
Thanks everyone
Greenloontern signing off
Episode 91 -Interview with Rafer Roberts
On this weeks episode we interview Rafer Roberts, writer on Valiant Entertainments Archer & Armstrong. Not only is he one hell of a writer he also draws his own comics, Plasticfarm and Nightmare the Rat.
Episode 91 – An Interview with Rafer Roberts
Looking for more information on Rafer? Check out his website:
Valiant Entertainment – The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong
Episode 90 – Colorist David Baron
On tonight’s episode we chat with the self proclaimed “Liam Neeson” of the comics world, David Baron. With over twenty years working in the industry, David has been the colorist on such titles as JSA all-stars, Batman Confidential, Batman, The Authority, Detective Comics, 52 and more. He recently signed exclusively with Valiant Entertainment, his books include Divinity, Divinity 2, Bloodshot Reborn, Book of Death.
Episode 90 – Colorist David Baron
If you would like more information about David, listen to the show! or click the links below:
RPGCON V – Part 1
Coming to a small work place office next weekend, I will be hosting the fifth annual RPGCON. I put this event together in the hopes of expanding our player pool, try out new games and introduce new players to role playing games in general. Back in 2012 on a random day in March RPGCON 1 was born. This free, invite only convention brought gamers from other groups together for a 10 hour day of role playing! I came up with this crazy idea to have the day split in half. Three games in the morning, then three other GM’s would take over new games for the afternoon.
Needless to say this went horribly wrong, games ran late, one game group merged with another game, Total chaos! At the end of the day each GM got to pick a reward from a selection of graphic novels that I had brought to the event. Then each GM picked the best player in his group to pick a prize. Everyone had a great time but I know I had to make changes if I was going to continue my little convention the following year.
Now the con had to be stream lined since I realized the mistakes I had made the previous year. First up games would be played all day with a short break for lunch (We do a potluck signup each year). To make it feel more like an actual convention I started making badges for all the attendees. Its become a tradition that I am very proud of and I really enjoy designing the badges. Not much has changed over the last couple years, the average amount of attendees is around 20 people which allows us to keep the games at a reasonable 4 players per game. Plus we have had a great group of GM’s that volunteer each year. Here is a list of the games we have played thus far:
AD&D – 1st & 2nd & 5th editions
Shadowrun
A Song of Fire & Ice
Robotech / Robotech RPG Tactics
Harn – Zombie Apocalypse
Marvel Super Heroes
Savage Worlds – Gas Light
D6 Space adventure
Legend of the Five Rings
G.U.R.P.
- to be continued with this years 5th anniversary special
Episode 89 – Dark Sun
Episode 89 – Dark Sun and more!
This week we take a look at the Dark Sun campaign setting for D&D, we dont go into to much detail but we wanted to talk about the setting. We also discuss our upcoming RPGCON 5 which I host every year, more on that next month. Then we also chat about c2e2 coming up next month in Chicago.
Let us know if you have played in the Dark Sun setting, we would love to hear from you!
Episode 88 :A December to Remember
Episode 88 – Geeky December to Remember
On this weeks episode we discuss Star Wars – the Force Awakens, the Doctor Who Christmas special, legos, upcoming movies, comics even C2E2! It’s a jam packed episode! So download and listen now. Let us know what you thought of this years doctor Who and the new SW movie.
Happy new year!
Episode 87 – A farewell to Clara
Episode 87 – Doctor Who Special
After a long break, the Rambler and Greenloontern are finally back with a new episode! We discuss our absence, gaming, upcoming ideas, and of coarse the end of Clara as the Doctors companion.
The Geeks Menagerie 