Gog Arrives in the DCU

[The Toyroom]

Although I've never been that big a fan of Firestorm's costume in the first place.

Aw, c'mon! Ya gotta love that 70s inspired design!

I hate to admit it, and the costume is certainly nothing to write home about, but my favourite era of Firestorm was always the short lived "Fire Elemental" stuff when Ostrander was trying to ride some of Alan Moore's radical innovations.

I wasn't a fan of this era AT ALL! The whole "fire elemental" thing seemed too shoehorned in. As far as the art, Tom Mandrake is good on moody stuff like The Spectre....not super-heroics like Firestorm.

[samurainoir]

I agree with Jason...the redesign is crap.

I'm honestly not seeing too big of a difference other than a pair of books and some lack of yellow underwear (which wasn't such a big deal on Hal's new costume). The biggest difference would be in the way it's colored (it is a repaint after all) as opposed to the actual details themselves. The chest symbol is more or less the same other than the reds... about as different as Superman with black on his chest symbol as opposed to yellow y'know?

There are more similarities than differences at the end of the day. Particularly with the restoration of the puffy sleeves and pointy shoulders.

[BlackKnight]

There are some serious Differences in the re-design of the suit.., Not sure what else to say. Sure it's NOT as Extreme as Gog's suit, but it's there. At some point the comicbook companies need to Bat these artist back down into place, & quit letting them screw over costume designs because of thier "names". This was only my point.

[samurainoir]

Although I guess some folks despise Wonder Woman in sandals and a skirt as opposed to boots and panties. Not a big deal either way to me.

At the end of the day, in this day and age I think style of individual artists impact the look of a character more than costume details. Something what looks fantastic drawn by Mike Mignola might not look as good drawn by Jim Lee and vice versa.

Puffy sleeves or no, I'm fairly indifferent to Firestorm unless someone like Grant Morrison or Geoff Johns wants to take a whack at the character. Is there a definitive run on Firestorm for you guys?

[samurainoir]

Just as a point of curiosity, do folks feel the same way about the Mister Miracle redesign versus classic Kirby?




I know there is a great deal of passion that people have for the way these characters were presented when we were all kids, and folks do tend to want to protect those memories.

[BlackKnight]

^^^ What do you think ?

I am not opposed to "re-designs" of characters, if it Works. Like Kyle Rayners Green Lantern suit from Jim Lee... Or even in the 90's when Lee redesigned a bunch of the X-men Characters suits,.. inwhich in recent yrs, Marvel has screwed over alot of those suits with different Designs in efforts to pull away from the "Jim Lee" look... But most of the designs look like crap compaired to Lee's vision. I also Like HawkEye's Re-Design that Finch Brought to the table,.. in Avengers .. right before the character suffered that Lame-O death,.. which was the most pointless Death next to FireStorm's that I personally ever read.

[The Toyroom]

A lot of the redesigns are unnecessary IMO...the Mister Miracle redesign from the Seven Soldiers arc is one of them, nothing wrong with all of Kirby's original bells and whistles. (In fact, the whole New Gods thing in SSOV was a little lame to me...but anyway).

There are substantial differences between Ronnie Raymond's Firestorm suit and Jason Rausch's Firestorm suit. Maybe you just need to look a little harder.

Is there a definitive run on Firestorm for you guys?

For me I'd say probably the original "Firestorm The Nuclear Man" by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom and then the early issues of the 2nd series "Fury of Firestorm" with art by Pat Broderick (the scripter's name escapes me...). Also Firestorm's JLA appearances during the Satellite Era, specifically those by George Perez (again scripted by co-creator Gerry Conway I believe). Also check out Firestorm's back-up series in "The Flash" with early DC artwork by George Perez.

[thunderbolt]

I don't care for the new Ross design of the character....

Ya think maybe this is the original intended design for Gog? Since Ross didn't participate in The Kingdom or New Year's Evil, maybe this is the real deal original.

[The Toyroom]

Well if it IS the original design I must say I prefer the one from "The Kingdom" better...I wonder if there were any sketches of Gog by Ross in any of the Absolute Kingdom Come or Wizard supplements?

[samurainoir]

Ya think maybe this is the original intended design for Gog? Since Ross didn't participate in The Kingdom or New Year's Evil, maybe this is the real deal original.

I think that is pretty close to Ross' "original" Gog designs which I might have somewhere on my bookshelf in the KC hardcover or KC companion book or some other magazine IIRC. I'll try to dig it up.

I believe the previous "official" design for Gog was Jerry Ordway's.


So I bow to the wisdom of Black Knight and Toyroom... it turns out that you guys are right about the difference in the Firestorm costume that aren't that evident from the small photos. I'll share the anecdote about how tiny the internet community really is and who ACTUALLY designed that costume when I get back home later tonight!

[BlackKnight]

Ooohhh,.. I can't wait.

[samurainoir]

Ooohhh,.. I can't wait.

The confusion stems from the fact that there were actually THREE different costume worn by Jason! Not just the Puffy and non puffy sleeves.

So you are right about the differences, but wrong about who designed the costume in question that graces the upcoming action figure. It wasn't Jim Lee, but an artist by the name of Jamal Y. Igle.

I was curious about the differences and was chatting about it on another comics forum to try and figure out what the specifics were given the tiny pictures we had to work with, and out of the figurative bushes pops the guy who designed the costume!

Mr Igle showed the design sheet...

and in his own words...

Well since I designed the suit, I should be the one to point out the bells and whistles so to speak. The suit was designed to be a "Modular costume" With a separate tunic, gloves and boots. There are also multiple glowing panels on the suit. he chest Logo is a simplified graphic to make it more recognizable. The point of the costume ultimately was to be a homage of Ronnie's but to give Jason his own look. The puffy sleeves were my little contribution, mostly because I always liked them.

[The Toyroom]

^ Now we now who to really blame! It doesn't matter though...whoever is at "fault", I'll just stick with the original costume. And actually I don't care for Jason Rausch no matter what he's wearing...bring back Ronnie Raymond. (Ya know some identities, you just can't pass down to someone else...like Superman. Green Lantern, yeah anyone can get the ring. But Firestorm....no)

[The Toyroom]

The chest Logo is a simplified graphic to make it more recognizable

I don't think he needs any more "instant recognition factor" other than his freakin' FLAMING HEAD!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Well if it IS the original design I must say I prefer the one from "The Kingdom" better...I wonder if there were any sketches of Gog by Ross in any of the Absolute Kingdom Come or Wizard supplements?

Just off the top of my head, that DOES look like Ross' unused Gog design. I believe I saw it in the Comicology:Kingdom Come volume. I'll check when I get home.

Chris