The Creation of Firestorm

Firestorm was created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom.  His first appearance was in his own title in 1978, which lasted for only 5 issues before falling victim to the DC Comics Implosion.  Conway had previously written for Marvel's The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.  After having Firestorm appear in Flash and The Justice League of America, Conway was given the green-light for a second Firestorm comic.

Conway wanted to have fun with a superhero and a comic book, which is how he wrote Firestorm.  In the letter column of the first issue of the second run, he wrote (italics are original):

    People just don't seem to be having fun in comics any more. Between shattered love affairs and bankrupt businesses, worries about the recession, and "funny" movies that don't make you laugh, it's become a pretty grim world for the average super-hero. [info about some heroes problems cut]

    Times are tough. 

    Doesn't anyone have a good time being a super-hero anymore?

    Now that you mention it ... there's one guy who hasn't fallen into the sturm and drang routine ... who gets a thrill out of buzzing low over city streets ... who feels the way we'd probably feel if we could do anything we wanted to do, just by waving our little fingers ...

    A hero, in other words, who still feels a little joie de vivre.

    He's been in my head for years.  Back when I was writing Spider-Man for the competition, I found myself wishing just once Spidey would loosen up enough to really enjoy himself swinging through the city - but the poor schnook just had too many problems.  Oh sure, he'd have his moments, his laughs; but they were punctuation for the grimmer storyline of the strip.  I'll tell you, after a while, it was just so depressing ... and finally, I decided I wanted to do something a little more light and hopeful.

    That's whey I first began thinking about Firestorm.

    Oh, he'd have his problems (we all have problems), but he wouldn't bring his problems into his role as a super-hero.  Being a super-hero would act as a release, a catharsis for the realities of everyday life.

And that was how Gerry Conway wrote Firestorm until he left the comic with issue #53.


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