Rank & Phile #8: Some Like It Hot

nweathington

Back by popular demand!... No, no, that’s not it. Because you demanded it!... No, not you. Not you either. Okay, okay, I think I have it...

Because @mwhitt80 demanded it, Rank & Phile is back!

For those unfamiliar with the game, I'll post a list of five subjects (or so) below. Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to rank the five subjects on the list below however you see fit. Why rank my list of subjects rather than have everyone come up with their own list of subjects, you ask? Personally, I find that the more options I am given, the more difficult it is to rank them. This is meant to be a quick, hopefully fun, process that you won’t have to spend too much time on. Also, it might get us talking about characters, creators, or stories we might not talk about otherwise. As always, explanation of your rankings is highly encouraged, but not required.

Okay, since we left off with Aquatic Heroes, and now that summer is upon us, this time out we’ll be ranking heroes who have heat- or fire-based powers. Hopefully everyone will be at least somewhat familiar with the characters on the list. Here goes:

Fire (DC) / Firestar (Marvel) / Firestorm (DC) / Hot Stuff (Harvey) / Human Torch (Marvel)

hauberk

This could be fun.

1 - Firestorm - As a science nerd type, I've always dug the potential of this character's power set. Insanely powerful in the hands of the right writer. Sadly disappointing when diminished to a flying flame thrower (I'm looking at you Legends of Tomorrow).

2 - Human Torch - Classic character with an impeccable pedigree, but I've never really been an FF fan so even with the pedigree, just couldn't take #1

3 - Fire - Great in JLI/JLE, especially when paired with Ice, but I loved what they did with her as a member of Checkmate during the Rucka series.

4 - Firestar - Read a lot of New Warriors, but all of my real memories of the character come from Spiderman and His Amazing Friends.

187,365 - Hot Stuff - never a fan of any of the Harvey stuff.

mwhitt80

1) Human Torch (Johnny Storm) - Who doesn't love Johnny (other than the 1978 cartoon). I love Johnny; he's one of the best.

2) Fire - I love fire in Justice League and her various appearances in the bwahaha reunions.

3) Firestorm - what an off the wall concept from DC. A highschool kid combined with professor to create one of the most powerful characters every. The transformation is controlled by the kid and ruins the professor's life. This is before we get to the great Ostrander run.

4) Firestar - remember that time she teamed up with Spiderman and Iceman. That's about all I got for her.


5) Hot Stuff - which is more than I have for hot stuff.

6) Human Torch (Hammond) - for whatever reason I have never liked any version of the Torch other than Johnny Storm. The only reason he made the list is how awesome he looked in marvels

nweathington

5) Firestorm — I like the visual, but I’ve never been much of a Firestorm fan for whatever reason. I think it’s because he is so potentially powerful, and it always felt to me that the writers had to write around his powers. It’s the Superman Conundrum where you’re having to stretch credibility thinner and thinner in order to keep coming up with real challenges and threats for the hero.

4) Firestar — I know very little about what they’ve done with her beyond her original miniseries—and the cartoon, of course, which I watched every Saturday, repeat or not. Even though the covers were the best thing about that miniseries, I liked what they did with her there.

3) Fire — I prefer Ice to Fire, but any member of the Bwah-ha-ha League is all right with me.

2) Human Torch (Jim Hammond) — I’ve never been much of a fan of Johnny Storm. But I liked Jim Hammond in The Invaders. Of course, mostly I liked Frank Robbins drawing Jim Hammond in The Invaders.

1) Hot Stuff — I’ve talked about the big stack of comics I was given by my babysitter’s kids when I was around six years old. Well, there were a lot of Harvey comics in that stack, and Hot Stuff was the standout character of that bunch for me. I really want a Hot Stuff/Li’l Hellboy crossover.

mwhitt80

I think what made Firestorm interesting to me was how his powers worked and DC actually made consequences for Dr. Stein's life.

For those unfamilar a nuclear accident combined Ronnie Raymond (high schooler) and Professor Martin Stein into the godlike Firestorm. The problem was Ronnie controlled the power and Dr. Stein was just instantly combined with no knowledge of what happened. Dr. Stein ends up thinking he's crazy, becomes a drunk and losing his job because of the connection.

It sounds far more interesting than it reads, but it is really a cool idea for a set of characters