There were some rumors back in October that Gail Simone was leaving the DC title Firestorm, with nothing more than issues with editorial sited. Now, amongst other switch-ups, DC confirms that Gail Simone is in fact leaving the title at issue #7, to be replaced by Joe Harris.
Harris has only ever written a few one-shots for DC, such as a Scarecrow story for Joker’s Asylum and the Man-Bat story in Battle for the Cowl, but you might know his work more from the Oni series Ghost Projekt. Ethan Van Sciver will remain onboard as co-writer, and beginning with issue #7 Sciver will illustrate both the cover and the interior for two issues before Yildiray Cinar returns with issue #9.
The new arc of the book with Joe Harris will, according to DC’s press release, be “taking our heroes into the global arena of politics and power. We’re going to learn the truth about Professor Stein and all the plans he set in place, which are now spiraling out of control. Join us for the thrilling new story – THE FIRESTORM PROTOCOLS!”
The Fury Of Firestorm was one of the less well received titles of the DC relaunch, earning somewhere between a 4-6 out of 10 from most reviewers, with anything from “clunky script” to “awkward and force animosity between the two leads” and “iffy art” being cited as reasons why. The book ended up ranking 41 out of 52, only pulling ahead of the titles universally reviled by fans and critics.
Simone will remain working for DC, penning DC’s Batgirl title. Curiously enough, it did at one time seem as if Simone was crafting a crossover between Firestorm and Batgirl, as some grafitti was placed in the second issue of Batgirl on a train reading “Professor Stein Lives!”, with Stein being the man who invented Firestorm. Still, fans of her work should feel rest assured that she will be remaining on her more popular title (unless something else happens).
