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"Golden Boy": A strange humanoid plant creature known as Goldenrod breaks into the Manhattan law offices of Benton & Benton Attorneys. He kills the night watchman, Bernie Jones and proceeds to make his way to the upper floors of the building. Police sergeant Mich

Quote1 Scream if it helps, old man. I screamed, too... once. But no one came for me. And no one is going to come for you! Quote2
Goldenrod

Firestorm (Volume 2) #19 is an issue of the series Firestorm (Volume 2) with a cover date of January, 1984.

Synopsis for "Golden Boy"

A strange humanoid plant creature known as Goldenrod breaks into the Manhattan law offices of Benton & Benton Attorneys. He kills the night watchman, Bernie Jones and proceeds to make his way to the upper floors of the building. Police sergeant Michael Mackay arrives to investigate the crime scene. Firestorm shows up and offers to lend a hand. Mackay doesn't care for Firestorm's flamboyant attitude, but allows him to assist in the case. Firestorm studies the carnage and finds a file labeled, "Special Testing Project: Ollins Medical Lab". He then flies off to discover the Benton law firm's connection to Ollins.

He arrives at the Ollins plant and flies through one of the walls. Inside, he finds Goldenrod running amok, destroying the laboratories. Firestorm approaches him, but Goldenrod blasts him with a spray of concentrated pollen. While the hero is momentarily blinded, Goldenrod races outside. Firestorm catches up to him, but Goldenrod ensnares him within a nest of vines. Firestorm uproots a gas line and ignites it, causing wide gouts of flame to drive Goldenrod away. Once he frees himself from the tangle of vines, he discovers that his adversary has escaped.

Firestorm conducts further research into this mysterious foe and learns that he was once Fred Delmar, a willing volunteer of Ollins Medical Labs' testing facility. The Ollins team used Fred to test out an unapproved drug known as Nuvafed. The drug generated an adverse physical reaction in Delmar, ultimately killing him. Keeping everything confidential, the Ollins group took Delmar's body and secretly dumped it. The drug in Delmar's system reacted with the local fauna, resurrecting him as the deranged killer, Goldenrod. Now, Goldenrod wants revenge upon everyone responsible for making him the way he is.

Firestorm theorizes that Goldenrod's next target will be Doctor Bruce Bonwit – project lead for the Ollins research group. He flies to Bonwit's home in New Jersey only to find that he is too late, Goldenrod has already been there. As Bonwit lay dying, he confesses everything to Firestorm and tells him of the deal he made with Ollins and with the laboratory's attorneys at Benton & Benton.

As Bonwit dies, Firestorm turns and sees Goldenrod watching them from outside the house. He flies out after him and the two engage in another fight. Firestorm uses his powers to open a crack in the Earth and blasts Goldenrod into it with a powerful nuclear charge. Giving in to despair, Goldenrod allows his physical form to dissipate into pollen and floats away into the air.

Appearing in "Golden Boy"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • A. Christie (Flashback only)
  • Benton (Single appearance)
  • Bernie Jones (Single appearance)
  • Biff (Single appearance)
  • Bruce Bonwit (Single appearance; dies)
  • Dr. Harris (Flashback only)
  • D. Sawyers (Flashback only)
  • Michael Mackey (Single appearance)
  • Ollins (Single appearance)
  • Oscar Wilson (Single appearance)
  • Ted Benton Jr. (Flashback only)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:



Notes

  • Sgt. Mackey and Lt. Wilson appear again next issue.
  • This is the only known appearance of the villain, Goldenrod who possibly dies in this story.

Trivia


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

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