TITLE: Firestar vol. 1, issue #1
YEAR: March 1986
COMPANY: Marvel Comics
Written by Tom DeFalco
Penciller: Mary Wilshire
Inker: Steve Lelaloma
Letterer: Orzechowski & L. Lois
Colorist: D. Graziunas
Editor: Ann Nocenti
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
For anyone who grew up in the ’80s, Firestar was a popular superhero that debuted in “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” as a roommate of Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Bobby Drake (Iceman) and was a former member of the X-Men.
I remember asking myself “why is Firestar only on a cartoon and not in a comic?”.
Eventually Firestar would appear in Uncanny X-Men issue #193 but it’s the four issue mini-series “Firestar” which mattered the most.
Where in the cartoon showing Angelica Jones being bullied, the same would happen in the mini-series.
For Angelica, her grandmother would always tell her that she is special because she has the letter M on her palm.
Angelica has had a tough life, moving around often because her father is often moving around to find work.
On the first day attending West Morris High School, immediately Cassie and her fellow Mean Girls are not thrilled with the new girl on campus.
And when Cassie sees the guy she likes, Chuck, showing interest in the new girl, needless to say, Angelica becomes their target of bullying.
Meanwhile, Charles Xavier a.k.a. Professor X is trying to find new mutants with cerebro, while Emma Frost a.k.a. The White Queen of the Hellfire Club is trying to find new mutants on her computer. Both mutants with different goals. Professor X wanting to protect new mutants and how to use and hone their power for good. While the White Queen is the exact opposite.
When the girls in school start ignoring Angelica, she starts to show her anger which are picked up by both computers.
But what happens when Angelica is pushed too much by her tormentors at school and what happens when her grandmother suffers a heart attack?
Overall, an excellent first issue where we get to see Angelica Jones’ power manifesting but also seeing which person gets to her first…Professor X or the White Witch?