Interpretting Stuart Moore's Hints About Ronnie

With details about the series from issue #14 an on emerging, the biggest question on fans' minds is what role Ronnie will take in the title, if any. Stuart has repeatedly said that he will not reveal Ronnie's fate because it would ruin the remaining issues of Dan Jolley's run. To some, this constitutes more "stringing along". To address those fears, Stuart has made a few cryptic comments. I'd like to pick those apart to see if we can agree on their meaning. Stuart has actually dropped many fun-to-dissect hints about what he'll be doing in the book, but for now we'll discuss only those items that relate to Ronnie.

Reason to be worried?

Yes, there is strong evidence that something is going to happen to Ronnie in issue #13.

I'll start with the obvious. Ronnie is currently a big part of the book. His future must be put into question by the end of the current arc. Otherwise, there would be nothing to spoil by talking about him from #14 on. There must be a significant change in his status quo for there to be a reason not to mention him openly.

The solicitations for #14 and #15 add fuel to the fire by not mentioning Ronnie at all. The absence of his name confirms that, at the very least, there'e an effort to create doubt about his presence. The solicitations describe a lot of events, seemingly leaving little room for a Ronnie subplot, let alone leaving room for Ronnie as a major player in the title. The understanding that DC would want to capitalize on Ronnie's appearances in this lower-selling title by emphasizing them when they occur seems to reinforce the idea that he's really not in these two issues.

Finally, Dan Jolley's words about delving into Ronnie's situation in issue #6 but not resolving things until the end of the first year have a sound of finality to some readers.

So is there hope?

Despite the evidence that Ronnie might be taken off the playing field for a while, we have strong evidence to the contrary: the words of the man who has already written the first few issues.

For me, a single post by Stuart on the DC messageboards told me what I needed to know while still being professionally cryptic. First, a little context. Stuart was replying to a longtime poster named matchesmallone. Matches congratulated Stuart on landing the book and wished him well, but politely stated that a book without Ronnie Raymond did not interest him. Stuart's reply was as follows:

Matches, I fully understand. I said this on one of the boards already, I think, but it's worth repeating: If you pick up FIRESTORM #14, my first issue, you'll have a very solid idea whether you want to continue reading or not. And that's all the sales pitch I'll make!

That's just the standard "please try an issue before you make up your mind" creator plea, right? Well, no. Not in the context of the question.

To illustrate what I mean, I've created a little chart at right. Yes, I'm a shameless geek. Actually, I write software design documents and have found that flowcharts are a good way to communicate certain things, such as the process a mind might go through to interpret Stuart's statement.

When Stuart says the issue will give someone such as Matches a good idea of whether he'll like the book, he is, in effect, saying that that issue will answer the question of whether Ronnie will be around in the series or not. If the issue does not accomplish this, the statement he made is false. It would either be a lie or his plans simply changed. Judge for yourself the likelihood of a writer lying to fans about a matter that is easily proven one way or another before his first big-two writing project even gets started. As for changes, Stuart has reaffirmed that the issue will answer the question as recently at April 14, the day I'm writing this article. He had this to say to an individual who asked if Ronnie fans were going to continue to be "strung along" after #14:

I can't really answer this in detail without spoiling SOMETHING in either issue #13 or 14. But don't panic -- you'll know where we stand by then.

Also, keep in mind that the script to #14 was finalized 2-3 months ago. So, the question will be answered. We'll know if Ronnie will be part of the series or not. Which way will it go, though?

If you believe that Ronnie will not be in the series, you face a problem with Stuart's statement. What can he possibly do in that one issue to give the "solid idea" that he'll not be there in future issues? Simply leaving him out certainly doesn't accomplish that because he could just show up in the following issue. Frankly, even killing him doesn't do that because we're talking about comics. We already know that the harm that comes to Ronnie probably happens in #13, so it seems extremely unlikely that yet another bad thing will happen to Ronnie in the following story. It just seems obvious to me that doing something to convince readers that Ronnie won't come back is an impossible task and one that DC would have no motive to do.

On the other hand, it's pretty simple to do something that demonstrates that Ronnie will be around. In fact, you can find great assurance in the quote. Because he's essentially saying "pick it up to decide if you'll like future issues", Stuart is also saying that Ronnie won't be revived in some form just to dissappear from the book. There's a lot of meat in that little, seemingly cryptic statement.

Any other hints?

There are other indications that Ronnie will return. Take, for example, the solicitation for #13:

"The Return of Ronnie Raymond" concludes as questions are answered and Firestorm's battle with some of his worst enemies comes to an explosive conclusion! But this deadly end only may open the door to an entirely new status quo for the Nuclear Wonder!

Again, the second sentence screams of something happening to someone, but there is a very transparent concern that readers will draw too many conclusions from what they see in this issue. When I read that, I get the impression that I'm being told "there's a seemingly dire ending, sure, but it's really just another transformation". Since DC is quite open about Jason still being around, we can only imagine that the portion changing is Ronnie and that the new status quo is for him.

I think the change in writers is also informative. Dan Jolley and Firestorm parted ways, in part, because DC wanted to "re-think" the direction of the book, as Dan stated in his departure announcement. Sales numbers were hard to ignore, too. How likely is it that they decided that Dan wasn't the one to do a Jason-only book? Not likely at all, in my opinion.

Finally, I think it's clear that Stuart believes that offering hope to Ronnie fans is helpful. I think we understand why that kind of behavior would be very unhelpful and build resentment if the series were to be a complete letdown for those fans. Anybody on either or both sides of the character issue recognize that DC is making an effort to appeal to Ronnie fans, not alienate them. Stuart has been in this business for a long, long time. It's nearly impossible for me to believe that he would want to alienate those who might buy issues #15 and up just to sell a few more of #14 by offering false hope for that issue.

To be resolved...

One thing I want to make absolutely clear is that by saying that readers will have a "solid idea" of Ronnie's role in the story, Stuart is not saying that his role will be set in stone or there will be no further questions or changes. That's simply an unrealistic expectation. I believe we'll see where it's going in #14, not where it will end up. All indications are that we'll simply finish #14 knowing that Ronnie will be an important part of the book.

The remaining question, then, is how much of a role will Ronnie have on an ongoing basis? That is a more difficult question that I won't pretend to answer here. There are many threads on the DC message boards in which people speculate about this or express their wishes. Again, with all of this effort to bring Ronnie back and establish him, it seems unlikely that we'll only see him every few issues. Time will tell.

Could I be wrong about all of this? Sure, but I don't think I am. I might have made a poor assumption on a detail here or there, but every time I look at the evidence I draw the same overall conclusion - Ronnie will be an important player in this Firestorm series.