Let me say this up front: THE FURY OF FIRESTORM is okay. This second issue is trying to pack less in than the first, and because there’s more focus on the superheroic action here there aren’t any “Why don’t we have any black friends?” moments. In fact, we may be moving away from that entirely.

What works so far, for me, is the basic premise. I like how Firestorm has been reimagined. I know some people are up in arms over some of the more significant changes to the character, but with little experience with the character prior to this they neither bother me nor feel outrageous in and of themselves.

The Hulkish Firestorm that appeared last issue and rampages a bit in this one doesn’t hold any real surprises, and if he were a Marvel character I might call foul, but since DC doesn’t quite have a Hulk analogue I’m not bothered too much; besides, the nature of his powers are different from the Hulk’s, and he doesn’t operate on the same gimmicks. What this character does is add this sort of uncontrollable danger to Ronnie and Jason’s new powers, and that can be a very good thing. Or not. We’ll see.

This definitely won’t be your usual teenage superhero book, given what happens here, and I don’t mind that. I think there’s some potential in the fact that our stars are teenagers other than the “superheroes in high school” angle that works so well for ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN and is at play elsewhere in the DCU with titles like BLUE BEETLE. This is teenage characters in a very dark situation – the implications of nuclear power are quite at home in the tone of this book.

Ronnie and Jason themselves still leave something to be desired. They are too much their respective stereotypes. Simone’s writing just isn’t elevating them beyond that. Likewise, the art is more even this issue, but still relatively unremarkable.

Firestorm’s villains might be sort of neat, as we meet Hyena Team, more mercenaries from the organization to which #1’s Dogs belong. This new team lives up to their name in that they take a hit of some kind of giggle-inducing drug before going into battle. It’s unclear what this does for them, other than make everything seem a bit funny, but I could imagine that being a neat gimmick.

Then again, they might just be auditioning for the Joker’s gang. At least Batman wouldn’t be liable to give them radiation poisoning.