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Fab Four – Firestorm #80

The Battle Joined

Firestorm #80
Cover Date: Februrary1989
Released: 11th October 1988

⋅ Writers: Robert Greenberger ⋅ Pencilers: Tom Grindberg ⋅  
⋅ Inkers: Sam De La Rosa ⋅ Colourists: Nansi Hoolahan ⋅
⋅ Letterers: Duncan Andrews ⋅ Editors: Dennis O’Neil / Dan Raspler ⋅ 

Compare to modern event comics Invasion! is a weird beast. The main comic is three oversized issues, at 81 pages, in between all the running issues pick up on various parts of the invasion. Ah yes the Invasion, basically the various aliens of the DC Universe decide that Earth’s metahumans (a term used first here) are a threat so team up to invade (duh) the planet. The first episode is set up and invasion, the second part is about the heroes fighting back, and the third is about the fallout of the victory. Among the aliens are some well-known ones like the Thangarians (Hawkgirls lots) and Daxamites (Kryptonians knock-off, the real Andromeda).

This issue is the one between the first and second Invasion! issue and starts with US soldiers fighting the Khunds (who are off-screen). We’re introduced to each of the characters, in turn, Mikhail back in Russia teaching Physics, Ronnie feeling sorry and out of sort for himself, Firehawk who pitches in after a call from Ronnie, and Karen in the boardroom meeting where after a woman, maybe possibly Felicity though she looks very different from (my) the last look at her, saying Karen might like a date with her impetuous step-son (probably a Ronnie reference, it’s vague as I mentioned). Luckily for my little shipping heart, Karen doesn’t answer either way before we cut to the next scene!

Weirdly after all of that, we get a page of Firestorm and Power Girl changing into their costumes, and it seems for reasons, I’m sure the Firestorm fans can tell me, we’re back to just the two joined up to form Firestorm. Firehawk wants to be romantic with Firestorm but it seems that he’s not interested. Power Girl rocks up at just the right moment, and Pee Gee and Firehawk have a nice moment bonding together, Kara commenting how it’s nice to have her around. 

Seeing some kind of spacecraft the three heroes break into the ship finding an unconscious Starman inside. We cut away and back after the three other heroes explain what’s happened in Invasion and allowed Starman to make a call to his family. So after a quick cutaway to show how bad things are getting in the Pacific we cut back with the heroes ready to ship out, with Kara telling Firestorm to take a step back when he gets a little too close. There’s been some weirdness around Firestorm and his feelings towards Power Girl, which might be a callback to the Pre-Crisis Firestorm charming crush on Power Girl.

We end the issue with the ship they’re traveling in being destroyed by a Khund weapon, intercepting what would have been devastating to the soldiers we’ve been following through the issue.

This team is a nice size and they have some nice interactions, with Kara seeming to be the glue holding them together, it’s always nice when Pee Gee takes charge of something we don’t see as much as I’d like. It’s also pretty divorced from the Invasion! plot so you don’t really need to know what’s going on outside the story. Being so straight forwards, it’s basically getting the band together (and helpfully we happen to have four members), it’s a simple plot but that’s not really a problem. It’s just the first part of a three-part story, so on to part two in Starman!