The Fury of Firestorm #2 Review

 

The Fury of Firestorm #2 Review

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Rafael De Latorre

Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo

Letterer: Lucas Gattoni

Cover Artists: Rafael De Latorre & Marcelo Maiolo

Variant Cover Artists: Riley Rossmo, Mark Spears & Sanford Greene

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99/$4.99 Card Stock

Release Date: May 13, 2026

 

When a nuclear power plant exploded, Ronald Raymond and Dr Martin Stein fused to become Firestorm. But when Firestorm reaches Bedford, Colorado, he recreates the town in six days. Then, on the seventh day, he rests. The military can't touch him. Ronald's former girlfriend no longer recognizes him. Can Lorraine Reilly find a way to reconnect with "Ronnie?" Or will Firestorm destroy the world Lorraine strives to protect? Let’s put on our flame-resistant clothes, leap into The Fury of Firestorm #2, and see!

 

Story

Ronald Raymond remembers becoming Firestorm. Yet he struggles to remember who he was. So, Ronald steps back in time from the agony and fear of joining the Firestorm Matrix. But revisiting how he got to know Dr Martin Stein doesn't help him remember who he is. So, Ronald peers further back into his childhood. He remembers his attempts to please a father who never supported him.

 

Yet, who Ronald was isn't the key to understanding what he has become. Since he fused with Dr Stein, Ronald's memories have never been truly his own. And lately, Ronald seems to be caught in a loop. He remembers battling a villain in Pittsburgh while Dr Stein advises him. Yet, in The Fury of Firestorm #2, Ronald knows he's no longer in control. And worse, he doesn't know how to retake command of his body.

 

After portraying Firestorm as others see him, Jeff Lemire’s story reveals the battle for dominance raging inside the former hero. In losing his connection to Dr Stein, Ronald loses the mentor who helped him belie

ve in himself again. And as the gestalt entity yearns to evolve, Firestorm represses the weaker aspects of its nature. No longer guided by Ronald or Dr Stein’s principles, Firestorm loses touch with its Humanity. While aspiring to grow, Firestorm threatens to become the world-ending threat its creators feared in The Fury of Firestorm #2.

 

Art

Ronald Raymond and Dr Martin Stein’s distraught features merge into the determined face of Firestorm. Yet as Firestorm flies away from the explosion, closeups reveal that the agony of their transformation remains. The images cascade down the right half of a two-page spread while the background fractures like glass. Rafael De Latorre bookends Ronald's time in the driver's seat with another two-page spread (turned sideways) that shows Firestorm fragmenting until it casts Ronald into a white void. But then, Ronald was often alone before Firestorm's birth. The other students seemed to belong together, comprehending the lessons that boggled Ronald.

 

Surrounded by green plants and trees, Ronald walks across the lawn to the professor’s office. Ronald often wears green, and Dr Stein’s office shimmers with green and blue, while Ronald writes on a green chalkboard. Yet Marcelo Maiolo casts Ronald’s earliest memories amid a haze, and colors them in yellow and red. Even one of the toys the boy plays with should be green. But instead of radiating a connection with nature, it instead looks reddish brown in The Fury of Firestorm #2.

 

Ronald shares his thoughts with yellow uppercase letters in red narrative boxes. Lucas Gattoni conveys speech with black uppercase letters in white balloons. When Dr Stein's consciousness advises Firestorm, his admonitions and encouragement appear in a cloud. The letters grow bold for intonation and enlarge when Ronald stands up for himself. But the being who transformed the citizens of Bedford, Colorado, into glass statues responds with yellow letters in red balloons. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

After an explosion fused two entities into one, Ronald Raymond and Dr Martin Stein shared one body. As they battle villains and fly from one fight to another, the two halves of Firestorm grow more integrated. Yet like the child inside all of us who dared to dream big dreams, the part of him that was Ronald Raymond bemoans the adult Firestorm has become in The Fury of Firestorm #2.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To look inside, see my preview of The Fury of Firestorm #2.

 

For how this series began, see my preview of The Fury of Firestorm #1.