Moore tabbed as new Firestorm writer

Much to our own Brian Warmoth's dismay, DC has found a new writer to handle the adventures of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man: Stuart Moore, former Vertigo and Marvel Knights editor. Newsarama sat down with Moore to get his impressions on the character:

“I loved the early issues,” Moore said. “The character's a lot of fun and has a lot of untapped potential.

“Firestorm's kind of like a modernized, more powerful Spider-Man; his alter ego, Jason Rusch, is a young guy just learning how to get by in the world. There's a lot you can do with a character like that.”

Very true. What's everyone's take on the new Firestorm? Good? Bad? Indifferent? I'm not sure. I was expecting DC to bring back Raymond, but I think his death in Identity Crisis was actually handled well: the random, unexpected casualty. My only fear is that because of low sales, they'd bring him back into a starring role. From what I understand, Raymond is already back in some spiritual form. Feel free to correct me on that. Anyway, Moore continues to explain that his love of science will help Firestorm find his one, true path to stardom:

“One thing I want to do with Firestorm is ground the stories a little more in real physics,” Moore said. “The original book had a lot of science-based villains, and we're going to get back to that. You'll see some new enemies right away, starting with a man who's literally made of Dark Matter -- the mysterious stuff that exists out in space, between the stars.

”Of course, any real physicists will probably laugh their asses off at the science. But that's part of the fun of comics.”

While cool, and very helpful, I'm not sure scientific knowledge really gets me worked up about Moore taking over the book. I think he's a solid choice, though. Someone a little off the beaten path of superhero comics. I think he'll be able to take a few more risks on this book than, say, Nightwing or Green Arrow. Not just because of his powers, but because it won't be fully on DC's radar. But I think the creative team still needs some punch. As of now, it's Moore, Jamal Igle on art and I'd imagine former Ghost artist Matt Haley on covers. None of those names really jump out at me. While I'd gladly give the book a chance anyway, it might need something else to get that opportunity from other readers.

But all in all, Moore has high hopes:

“If the stories are good, people will like the book,” Moore said. “We're not doing the 1978 Firestorm; that's obvious. But I remember why I liked that book, and why the original Amazing Spider-Man worked so well. My goal is to tap into that and put a modern spin on it.