Firestorm's first case with the Justice League may be his last!The Story: "A Beautiful Evil" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, the JLA, having received a distress call from Firestorm, arrives at the Satin Satan's apartment, only to find a fire demon waiting for them!
They defeat it, and then they find Ronnie Raymond's friend held prisoner in a small room. The JLA finds out from them what has happened, and they go on a search for Satin and Firestorm.
They don't turn up anything, but Zatanna learns from the demon they captured that the two of them might be in...Hell!
The JLA then heads to the discotheque where all this started, Zatanna following the mystical trail of the Satin Satan. Here they find her and her prisoners, including Firestorm, inside a giant, magically-created globe.
She frees Firestorm, and the JLA fights her demonic minions until they are defeated. They then turn their attention to Satin, and it is revealed she has been possessed by Sataroth, daughter of Satanni(?), who wanted to use Satin to round up a few cheap souls. Zatanna casts Sataroth out, and casts another spell to keep her out forever.
Green Arrow muses whatever happened to the simple bad guys they used to fight, and Firestorm tells him its a new day, and answer that Reddy notices doesn't sit well:
Notable Moments: This issue has an odd ending, with Conway letting the reader wonder if Satin's story of possession is true. He never followed it up in JLA, maybe he did in Firestorm's solo feature?
That final panel highlights my least favorite artistic quirks of Dillon's art-- I just really hate that circle he draws on women's lips. Is it supposed to be light reflecting off their glossy lipstick?
ReplyDeleteTo the best of my knowledge, Satin never appeared in Firestorm's monthly adventures.
ReplyDeleteLook at that roll call---talk about over-used characters!!!! (sigh) And I have a question...since when could Zatanna fly? I noticed it on yesterday's cover and again today. Was that a Jim Starlin mistake, or does she fly inside, too?
ReplyDeleteRussell, it looks like a mistake on # 179's cover-Zatanna couldn't fly,at least without casting a spell, and even then, I only remember her 'manipulating wind currents' to lift her up-sort of like Mary Poppins, only without an umbrella!
ReplyDeleteAs for # 180, maybe those mind-controlled zombie-guys have hoisted her into the air....uh, I'm shutting up before this becomes a 'non-Comics Code approved' comment!;-)
I think it was her Legion flight ring she got during one of Booster Gold's time travel stories that will be appearing in the summer of 2011.
ReplyDeleteAfter a three-year hiatus, I started reading JLA again with #171. I wasn't thrilled with Conway's stories, but I kept hoping there would be some improvement. It was around #179-180 that I decided that was unlikely. But I liked Dick Dillin's art enough to keep buying the mag.
ReplyDeleteIMO, Zatanna and Firestorm served the same purpose in the JLA that Conway had used Star-Spangled Kid and Power Girl for in the JSA. These were characters that were either completely new (Power Girl & Firestorm) or essentially "blank slates" (SSK and Zatanna). I can't fault a writer for wanting to use characters who were open to his interpretation. But the result was that the more established characters were cast aside. I stopped reading the JSA's strip because of Power Girl, SSK, and the Huntress. Now it looked like JLA was going down the same path.
Firestorm was an okay character, but he didn't belong in the JLA, for the reasons russell gave yesterday. But as a additional criticism, the huge contrast between ways the JLA treated Firestorm and Black Lightning really ticked me off.
I read Firestorm fairly religiously, and although there were a couple gaps in my collection, I don't ever recall Satin showing up either.
ReplyDeleteTo answer a previous question, the Satin Satan never appear again. Probably for the best. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Irredeemable Shag