DC has announced two more titles that’ll debut in April as part of their DC Next Level publishing initiative, featuring two characters who have had their own ongoings in the past — Fury of Firestorm and Zatanna.
Jeff Lemire and Rafael De Latorre will bring Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein — as well as their alter ego, Firestorm — back in what Lemire is calling “both a deconstruction of the character and a love letter to his past.”
“The Fury of Firestorm by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick was one of my favorite comics when I was a kid in the 1980’s, so it’s a huge thrill to be relaunching the title, along with artist Rafael DeLatorre, and colorist Marcelo Maiolo, as part of DC Comics “Next Level” initiative,” Lemire said in his newsletter.
Jamal Campbell, who wrote and drew a Zatanna miniseries last year, returns to write and draw an ongoing Zatanna series. The new series will focus on Zatanna’s role as the “newest and first Prime Magus in millennia,” as she embarks on a world tour “to oversee and guide the world of magic.”
Zatanna and Firestorm follow the announcement of three news series that’ll launch in March featuring Lobo, Batwoman and Deathstroke. Other Next Level series the publisher has teased for 2026 include The Demon, Jonah Hex, the Teen Titans and more.
Firestorm was created by Conway and Al Milgrom in 1978, and has headlined his own title numerous times since. The original Firestorm — and, it seems, the focus of this series — was an amalgamation of Ronnie Raymond, a college student who was fused with his professor, Martin Stein, in a nuclear accident. Together they can become the Nuclear Man. In later iterations, different characters combined to become Firestorm, including Jason Rusch, who was introduced in 2004.
The new series finds Firestorm in a dark place:
The community of Bedford, Colorado, is a sleepy small town. The people say hello to their neighbors, attend town hall meetings, and root for the local high school football team on Friday nights. But this idyllic small town is thrown upside down when the Nuclear Man arrives and starts…experimenting. Firestorm has turned buildings to sand and people to glass with no remorse and no warning. But what exactly provoked Ronnie Raymond to commit this heinous act, and can anyone contain the fury that is Firestorm?
Here’s a preview, which gives us a glimpse Firehawk, an old flame of Firestorm’s:
In addition to a main cover by the series artist, the first issue will also include variants by Chris Burnham, Riley Rossmo, Jorge Corona and Lemire:
“If you’ve never read a Firestorm comic before, I’ve written the first issue as if it were the pilot episode of a new series, so it’s totally new reader friendly,” Lemire said. “And if you are an old school Firestorm fan (they exist, I swear!) the book is loaded with Easter eggs and nods to the past too.”
For his return to Zatanna, Campbell is not only writing and drawing the book, he’s also doing covers. And character designs, as you’ll see below:
Here’s how DC describes the series:
Zatanna Zatara embarks on her greatest tour yet! As the newest and first Prime Magus in millennia, it is now Zatanna’s sworn responsibility to oversee and guide the world of magic. All eyes are on her.
How will she accomplish this grand task? How will she shoulder this heaviest of responsibilities? How will she confront the horrors waiting in forgotten histories? With a wink, a flourish, and a whole lot of magic!
Zatanna first debuted in Hawkman #4 by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, and has appeared in her own series several times since. Both Zatanna and Firestorm have been members of the Justice League as well.
The first issue will feature variant covers by Adam Hughes, Kyuyong Eom and Corona:
Fury of Firestorm #1 will arrive April 1, while Zatanna #1 comes out April 29.