In this review of The Fury of Firestorm #5, Lorraine struggles to break Ronnie free from the sentient Firestorm Matrix.
THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #5
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and Main Cover: RAFAEL DE LATORRE
Variant Covers: DENYS COWAN, TORU TERADA, ALEX ECKMAN-LAWN
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 8/12/26
This review contains spoilers
In the opening pages of The Fury of Firestorm #5, we find Firestorm of the past on board the Justice League satellite. He’s just been offered membership into the League and is feeling nervous about being there.
We then return to present day, where the Firestorm Matrix is sitting within the crystal structure, last seen at the end of The Fury of Firestorm #4. Stein and Lorraine stand outside formulating their plan to save Ronnie.
Lorraine enters the crystal as Stein prepares his decoupling device. Once inside, she repeatedly calls for Ronnie to break free, but the Matrix fights back, keeping him repressed.
The story moves back and forth from past to present as Lorraine is able to work her way into Firestorm’s mind so Ronnie can hear her.
The two continue this struggle until Lorraine succeeds in reaching Ronnie, but it only lasts a few moments before the Matrix regains control and attacks her.
While all this is taking place within the crystal, Stein has trouble with the device because his car won’t start. He’s able to fix the car and uses it to crash through the crystal, slamming into Firestorm just as he’s choking Lorraine.
The Matrix recognizes him as its father and kneels before the professor, ending the issue.
Analysis
Upon first glance, you might say the majority of this issue consists of Lorraine yelling out Ronnie’s name and Firestorm responding with some variation of “Nope, not anymore”, but Jeff Lemire gives us much more than it first appears.
He makes this story so relatable to the human condition in that many of us struggle with acceptance and feelings of being alone. We fight to be accepted by our peers and seek out connections to others. There are times when we have to push down our feelings to survive, but eventually, they can get the better of us.
Ronnie’s struggle with the Firestorm Matrix is exactly the same. Lemire makes this evident as we immediately see that he’s anxious about not being accepted by the Justice League, even though he was invited to join them. He feels like he’s alone in the fight during the flashback scenes, even though Stein is with him. Although he’s a superpowered being, he still has internal weaknesses.
The end of this issue is one of the most interesting parts to me because the Matrix recognizes Stein as its father and Stein responds to it as his son. It looks like Lemire is setting up the re-joining of Ronnie’s physical body with Stein’s mind to take back control of the Firestorm Matrix. I suspect the next issue will be another one where we journey through memories and the mental realm rather than witness an abundance of actual battles.
While there have been some good action sequences at times, the whole series has been about internal struggles and that’s part of what’s made it such an enjoyable read.
Of course, the artwork by Rafael de Latorre and the colors by Marcelo Maiolo continue to be outstanding. The look of the flashback scenes with the old dot-color method of printing is a perfect contrast to the smooth illustrations and colors of the modern look. The effect works so well in the storytelling.
Final Thoughts
The Fury of Firestorm #5 brings us closer to the truth behind the out of control Firestorm Matrix and Ronnie’s fate. Featuring a clearly relatable theme of our struggles for acceptance, this story is one that’s worth reading. Have fun, comic lovers!
