Like many people in my generation, I’m familiar with the Marvel character Firestar from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and while I do know that she made her way into the Marvel Universe back in the Eighties, I wasn’t 100% sure how except that it somehow involved the X-Men. I’d read maybe one or two comics where she appeared and did remember that there was a miniseries back in the Eighties because issue #2 with Firestar attacking Wolverine on the cover was a wall book at my LCS at one point.

I came across the entire four-issue limited series in one package back at the Baltimore Comic-Con, so I grabbed it, mostly to sate my curiosity.

Written by Tom DeFalco with art by Mary Wilshire and Steve Leialoha, Firestar is the story of thirteen-year-old Angelica Jones, who, on her first day at a new school, discovers her mutant power and is then taken in by Emma Frost to her Masschussets Academy. Of course, the academy is a front for The Hellfire Club and Frost is the White Queen, so Angelica is basically being taught and slowly being brainwashed to be a Hellfire Club minion and fights as part of the Hellions.

As these things usually go, she eventually realizes that she’s being used and becomes a hero.

I enjoyed this, although it did read a little “What if Emma Frost got to Kitty Pryde first?”, and was slightly annoyed that Uncanny X-Men #193 takes place in between issues #2 and 3. But it did get me interested in the character’s other apprearances, and I went on to read the Marvel Divas series where Angelica has to deal with a cancer diagnosis (a series that was actually fun to read). DeFalco’s story is engaging enough and I loved Mary Wilshire’s art.

Keep, Sell, Donate, or Trash?

Keep.