Professor Stein and Ronnie run experiments on Firestorm at Concordance Research. David Drake, a colleague of Professor Stein's, is released from a hospital in Sydney. Australia. Cliff Carmichael causes havoc at a movie theater where Ronnie and Doreen Day have gone for a date. In a dingy waterfront pub, sea Captain Hammer recounts the story of his voyage with Professor Stein and David Drake. A strangely powerful storm settles over Manhattan.
Firestorm826's Panel-by-Panel Story Summary (Spoiler Alert)
Firestorm stands in a proton-monitor tube at Concordance Research. Nuclear rings dance around his form. He has been there for hours undergoing testing at the behest of Professor Martin Stein. Ronnie hopes the Professor knows what he’s doing, and asks if Stein is sure it is safe to “rev up the old engine” to the point of overload. Stein reminds him that this testing is the only way to learn the limits of their fused power as Firestorm, and that they must test to the very edge of destruction! Ronnie responds with full power and offers the hope that the Professor’s gadgets are well-insured. As Firestorm’s internal power release reaches peak levels, Stein is fascinated by the readout on the proton-monitor display. Designed to register subtle shifts in atomic bond-patterns, what Stein now sees he can only describe as fantastic!
In the lab across the hall, Stein’s fitness freak co-worker Harry Carew is busy jumping rope. An alarm emanates on the panel at his desk next to him, catching his attention. Carew is one of the premiere audial scientists in the country, and he specializes in audio reconstruction. Very serious and competitive in the workplace, he has clandestinely bugged every other lab in the building. His snooping equipment has detected something weird happening in Stein’s lab. Carew examines the high-frequency pulses, thinking they might be some form of equipment malfunction. Reconsidering, he thinks it just might be something interesting.
Back in Stein’s lab, he warns Ronnie that the proton-monitor system cannot tolerate so much free energy. With a shattering crash, the glass of the containment tube ruptures and Firestorm falls out. Simultaneously across the hall, the alarm speaker in Carew’s office sizzles and melts. Listening to the bug on his headphones, Carew yells in pain as a deafening feedback noise suddenly blasts into his ears. Running to look inside Stein’s lab, Carew is thankful he didn’t have the volume turned up any higher or he would have to do his aerobics using sign language. Reaching Stein’s door, he wonders if his co-worker could have found and destroyed the bug. He thinks of his perception of Stein working in a perpetual fog, never noticing what is happening around him. Carew’s thoughts turn to concern that Stein may be hurt.
Opening the door, Carew steps in and is shocked to see…Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond standing in the quiet lab. Ronnie is using a broom to sweep up glass debris, and he welcomes Carew asking if he’d like to help. Stein greets Carew, taking comfort in not being the only one working late. Stein hopes the little “accident” hasn’t disturbed Carew. He re-introduces Ronnie to Carew. They met a few weeks ago, and Stein explains that Ronnie is present to assist as part of a school science assignment. Carew asks if Quentin Quale, the Concordance Research project manager, has been made aware of Ronnie’s presence. Stein reveals that he hasn’t told Quale yet. Carew departs, saying he won’t tell Quale either but not before he mentions Stein’s upcoming contract review with the manager. The office door closes, and Stein collapses into his chair, relieved that Carew missed seeing Firestorm in mid-transformation by just mere seconds. Stein is worried that Carew suspects something, but is reassured that he would not even remotely be suspecting the secret shared by Ronnie and Professor Stein. On a positive note, Ronnie reminds Stein that they have learned something valuable tonight. Firestorm does have limits, which Ronnie finds to be a somewhat of a relief. Stein concurs while mentioning that Firestorm has nearly unlimited powers, powers he hopes they are never pushed to use in entirety.
The scene shifts to distant Sydney, Australia six days earlier. Under unusually cloudy skies, a man is being discharged from the Sydney Metropolitan Hospital. Doctors have told him his condition has been cured. The man’s name is David Drake. He walks from the hospital entrance to a nearby bench. He knows he is not a well man, but Drake no longer cares about anything. Reaching into his bag, he pulls out a letter. It is the last letter he received from his wife. An image of his wife tearfully writing the letter appears in Drake’s mind as he reads it…again. His wife writes that this letter is not easy for her or him, knowing what he has been through in the past few months. She details her thoughts about the children and their needs. One of those needs is a father, and she writes that Drake was never there for them even when he was well. She complains that he was always off on some new adventure or research project somewhere across the world. Writing that they can’t go on this way, she tells Drake she is filing for divorce. Drake crumples the letter through jaw-clenching anger. He walks away as raindrops start to fall. His heart feels like it’s a raging storm.
At an upper West Side Manhattan movie theater back in the present day, the movie marquee announces “Rocky IV” in large letters above the street. Ronnie and Doreen have paired with their school friends Jackson and Stella for a double-date evening out. Jackson is happy they could all get together, as summer is drawing to a close and school resumes next week. Ronnie is reminded that Coach Lacey will soon be working their tails off in practice every night. Doreen asks Ronnie to try not to get kicked off the basketball team again. The two couples find the way to their seats in the darkened theater. Doreen and Stella chat as Ronnie and Jackson ignore them to talk basketball. Sitting, Doreen wonders why men always seems to form a private club when two or more get together. Stella suggests they gang up on Ronnie and Jackson after the movie, and Doreen agrees and thinks they should steal their dates’ shoes.
Sitting behind Ronnie and Doreen is Cliff Carmichael. They have not noticed Ronnie’s arch-rival from school. Cliff thinks that he does not like to be ignored and wants to return a “present” that Ronnie gave him a few weeks ago. Sneakily, he pulls a small lizard out and drops it into Doreen’s tub of popcorn. Ronnie whispers to Doreen, asking if she is mad that he had been talking sports with Jackson. She replies by saying she loves sports, as long as they don’t make her feel excluded. She reaches her hand to grab some popcorn. Suddenly feeling a squirmy slimy object in her hand, Doreen yells loudly. She flings her hand, causing the lizard to fly through the air and smack the head of the man sitting in front of her. Loudly laughing at the spectacle, Cliff rejoices. Pandemonium ensues and the theater clears within sixty seconds. Out on the street, Ronnie pulls Doreen away from the theater entrance and reassures her that their friends are also safe. Wondering where the lizard came from, he turns back to look and sees Cliff laughing hysterically near the box office. Ronnie quickly figures that his nemesis was the source of the lizard. With a lunge, Ronnie tells Cliff that he has been riding him since Day One but this is it. Ronnie, yelling “I’ve had it!” punches Cliff square across the jaw. Cliff’s glasses come off his head, shattering on the sidewalk.
Calmer heads try to prevail as Jackson restrains Ronnie. Doreen comments that she’s never seen Ronnie that angry before. Still enraged, Ronnie struggles to free himself, saying he’s going to kill Cliff. Jackson holds him back, saying that jerk isn’t worth it. On the ground, Cliff sits up. He angrily calls Ronnie a “big man” and tells him that Doreen would have been his girl if Ronnie hadn’t horned in. Standing up, he pointedly challenges Ronnie to a fight after school on Monday. Ronnie sternly tells Cliff to bring some bandages, and Cliff stalks off. Ronnie tells Doreen that he’s going to teach Cliff a lesson once and for all. Doreen tells Ronnie that he’ll have to do it without her, warning him that if he gets in a fight they’ll be finished. Ronnie complains that something new about him is always bugging her. Stomping off, he says he won’t back down for her or anyone else. Doreen tries to call after him to no avail. Jackson and Stella console her. Jackson tells her to let him be, suggesting that Ronnie needs time alone to work stuff out.
At the dingy Petey’s Pub on the Brooklyn waterfront, a group of men sit at a table recalling tales of the sea. Anton Hammer loudly proclaims that he was once a ship’s captain and is determined to be one again. One of his tablemates offers to buy the next round, saying Hammer got a raw deal after what happened on the Neptune Explorer. Hammer recalls that the Neptune Explorer was a fine whaling ship. He says it was ruined by the “scums” at Concordance Research, who bought it and turned it into a research vessel.
Hammer continues to tell his tale, revealing that two scientists boarded the Neptune Explorer with a new submersible to test. Planning to test a nuclear-powered bathysphere named The Manta were scientists David Drake and Martin Stein. Hammer claims they told him the experimental reactor on the submersible was certified safe, but Hammer says it was not. Against Hammer’s advice, Drake and Stein decided to test The Manta in the middle of a full-scale typhoon. Hammer felt it was a suicide mission for Drake to go down, but Drake insisted. The storm hit with ferocious power, and Hammer was left with no choice but to ax through the cable tethering The Manta to the Neptune Explorer. Hammer says this is the point of his experience where things started to get crazy.
Hearing a sound behind him like lightning striking steel, Hammer was shocked to look and see a fire-haired demon appear out of nowhere. The demon attacked his crew for no reason and then dived overboard into the surging sea. Hammer fears that the demon will attack again and, pulling out an AK-47, warns his crew to be careful as he may have to shoot. Suddenly the water erupted and Hammer could see the demon floating in the water, fiery hair sizzling and steaming. Next to the demon like a ghost from a grave was The Manta. Hammer pointed his rifle at the demon and squeezed the trigger just as Drake opened the hatch of the bathysphere. The Neptune Explorer rocked in the violent surf at that exact instant, causing Hammer’s aim to shift. A bullet pierces Drake’s chest and he recoils with an agonized yell. Hammer says that now all hell broke loose.
Hammer never saw anything like it, and prays that if he lives to be a thousand never sees it again. The fire-haired demon threw lightning bolts from his fists, mowing down Hammer’s defenseless crew. Hammer made a heroic stand, his rifle somehow being vaporized by the demon. Hammer says the only reason he is still alive is because of the freak accident that happened next.
Bobbing in the sea, waves of water spill into the open hatch of The Manta. Hammer recalls that Professor Stein said the bathysphere reactor was sea-worthy. Explaining that Stein was wrong, Hammer describes a catastrophic explosion that suddenly blew The Manta to kingdom come. From out of the waves, a swirling mass appears from the wreckage. At the top of the mass rising into the air was David Drake, somehow changed. No longer a man anymore, Drake had become part of the storm. Hammer describes him as a human typhoon driven insane and watched as Drake and the fire-haired demon battled each other. The combat causes the sea to rage even higher, splintering the Neptune Explorer apart. Hammer and a few lucky survivors cling to debris, eventually being rescued by a passing tanker two days later.
Concluding his story, Hammer says it was Martin Stein who is truly to blame. Stein’s lies are the reason Hammer now finds himself blacklisted in every port. He wonders how Stein got off the sinking ship, thinking he might have slipped into a lifeboat. The pub door opens and someone walks in from the darkness. Hammer exclaims “Oh my Lord!” as the face of David Drake moves into the light. Drake asks Hammer about his wife and kids, saying his have been misplaced somehow along the way. His face turns angry and water starts to drip down his features. His skin begins to take on a bluish hue. Panicked, Hammer says that he regrets sending The Manta down but begs for Drake to blame Martin Stein. In an explosive wave of water, Hammer is blown out the door and into the air. He comes to rest in the rigging of a nearby freighter. Begging not to be hurt, he looks back to see Petey’s Pub completely demolished. A torrent of water and wind rises up from the wreckage…Typhoon! Angrily approaching Hammer, Typhoon tells the terrified man that he can’t even imagine what is in store for him. Hammer screams as gale-force winds pound into him.
A late summer storm rains down steadily on Manhattan. In his lab, Professor Stein reviews a long graph printout of his recent experiment on Firestorm’s power. Checking and re-checking the graphs, Stein is amazed at the fantastic amount of power produced by Firestorm. Talking out loud to himself, he wonders where it could possibly come from and that the human bodies of he and Ronnie could never contain such an amount of energy without being torn apart. He hypothesizes that somehow Firestorm is tapping into an unseen outside energy source without knowing it. That would fit with Firestorm’s recent experience when he absorbed a massive explosion at the South Jersey gas storage tank (see issue 7). Stein’s thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a pitter-plip watery sound behind him.
Behind Stein, a strange, ghostly human form can be seen outside his laboratory window. There is a tapping noise coming from the form at the window. Martin Stein, as a boy, enjoyed a phase of reading of ghost stories. He had a particular love for Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. His favorite of all was Poe’s “The Telltale Heart.” The watery noise takes Stein back for an instant to his time as a timid youth dreaming of ghosts. Back in reality, Stein stands to investigate the sound. Thinking it might be a joke perpetrated by his co-worker, he calls out to Harry Carew. Stein approaches the window.
With a thunderous crash of glass and wind and water, the window shatters! A lifeless body flies in and lands on the stunned Professor Stein. He recognizes the expressionless, lifeless face as that of Captain Hammer of the Neptune Explorer. Like a broken toy, Hammer’s body falls to the floor of the lab. Stein, almost against his willpower, steps to the shattered opening of the window to look. A figure is perched atop a whirlpool of spiraling water trailing off behind him. The trail encircles the Concordance building. Stein looks at the illuminated figure and softly utters “No…”
The angry face of Typhoon calls down to Stein, and asks if he remembers him. Angrily, Typhoon says that Stein condemned him to death by certifying a faulty nuclear reactor. He blames Concordance, Stein, and the recently deceased Hammer for turning him into a monster. With eyes glowing and teeth clenched, Typhoon announces that he has repaid Hammer and will deal with Concordance, but right now, it is Stein’s turn!
Professor Stein clings to a heavy desk to avoid being pulled out the window. He realizes that Typhoon is controlling air convection currents that are creating a powerful updraft. With the updraft making it hard to breathe, Stein thinks quickly that he needs Ronald. He needs Firestorm. Sitting in his bedroom, Ronnie is trying to do homework but can only think of his upcoming fight with Cliff Carmichael. He feels the energy of transformation beginning.
In a burst of atomic energy, Ronnie and Stein merge and appear as Firestorm in the Concordance lab. Seeing the shattered window, Hammer’s body, and the huge storm winds outside, Ronnie asks the Professor to fill him in fast. Stein answers, “Typhoon, Ronald – outside!”
A cold wind now blows over Manhattan this evening from a storm consummated in hate and born in fury. Firestorm flies outside to confront Typhoon. Stein warns Ronald to be wary for once in his life, as this is not the same man that they fought before. Ronnie dismisses the warning saying that if you’ve seen one Typhoon, you’ve seen them all. A huge wave of storm energy slams into Firestorm, forcing him quickly backwards as Ronnie thinks twice. Stein reiterates, advising that Typhoon has turned bitter and vicious. Firestorm sails through a nearby office building, avoiding impact by lowering his atomic density. Flying near the Empire State Building, Ronnie uses a restructuring burst to turn the spire into a gigantic electric fan. Stein, blaming his pessimism, thinks that using the fan to super-cool Typhoon’s artificial storm front will not work.
Atop, the swirl of water, Typhoon radiates light and points a hand at Firestorm. A sizzling bolt of lightning flies from his hand. Firestorm dodges to the side just in time to avoid the lightning bolt that explodes next to him. Stein warns that Typhoon is stronger and wilder, almost as if his personality has taken on the form of a raging typhoon. Needing space to work, Firestorm flies out into the air over the bay.
As he heads out over the bay, Ronnie sees an unexpected result of his idea. The storm of the pursuing Typhoon is upending boats and ships below, sending people flying through the air to their doom. Firestorm moves to save them, and with nuclear bursts to alter atomic structure, he creates parachutes to save the people.
In the moments that Firestorm was occupied saving the people, Typhoon spins faster and faster, gaining a renewed fury! With arms raised, Typhoon yells to Firestorm that he has kept Stein away long enough. Typhoon demands an end to this diversion. A massive explosion of incredibly powerful storm energy blasts into Firestorm. Blown back, he is helpless. Falling, Ronnie weakly calls out to Martin. With a splash, Firestorm passes through the surface of the bay. Down, down, down through the depths. A cold darkness surrounds Firestorm, the only light is the glittering flame of his now-fading life-force. Down…into the icy, welcoming embrace of oblivion.
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