Jolley writes Firestorm better in this comic than he does in his own title. Maybe because the Bloodhound stuff just runs off. It’s actually a rather successful crossover issue between two books without any reason to crossover.

It doesn’t hurt Kirk and Riggs easily toggle between realistic action violence and superhero stuff. Or how Jolley lets Clev guide the issue–Jolley basically incapacitates Firestorm, which really helps with the plot developments. It reads a lot less silly than it could.

But even good art and good dialogue can’t make the villain any better. He’s one dimensional and boring. The issue needs strong characterizations. For instance, Jolley writes a strange mentor relationship between Clev and Firestorm. Clev is empathetic.

So while Bloodhound is able to develop through this crossover, the whole point of the crossover is undercooked.

The villain can just be a bad guy, but he still needs a personality.

CREDITS

Firestorm; writer, Dan Jolley; penciller, Leonard Kirk; inker, Robin Riggs; colorist, Moose Baumann; letterer, Rob Leigh; editor, Ivan Cohen; publisher, DC Comics.