Created by S. M. Iger and Reed Crandall for Quality Comics, Rod Reilly was the first of four costumed heroes to go by the moniker Firebrand. (The remaining three were all produced by DC long after the Quality properties were acquired by National).
Son of millionaire steel tycoon Ed "Emerald" Reilly, Rod fit snugly into the "bored playboy" trope of superhero origins. He just "decided" that he wanted to become a crime fighter, so he started training under the tutelage of his eventual sidekick, ex-prize boxer Slugger Dunn.
My initial impression of Firebrand was that he was a fists-and-mask-only sort of guy. However, his entry at Public Domain Superheroes, informed me that Firebrand also exhibited lariat skills and even used vacuum cups (a la Midnight?) in some of his adventures.
Firebrand's agility (as witnessed by his tightrope walking skills) and facility with the lariat are hard to explain given the premise of his being trained by Slugger Dunn. I wouldn't think that's a typical skill set for the ring. For his own part, Reilly's a wealthy playboy. How much cattle-roping do you suppose he's done up to this point in his life?
In his initial incarnation, Firebrand had a publishing life of roughly a year (Police Comics #1-#13). After Quality went belly up, and sold its properties to DC (roughly 1956), the Firebrand went into literary storage until being revived in the pages of Freedom Fighters #10 (OCT 1977).
[NOTE: Though, technically, Reilly re-appeared in Freedom Fighters #10, it was not until Freedom Fighters #12 that his identity was revealed.]According to Wikipedia there were plans to have Firebrand killed off in the pages of Freedom Fighters, but the title was cancelled prior to that happening. (A story subsequently published in the Cancelled Comics Cavalcade showed Firebrand dying in battle with a villain named the Silver Ghost).
By the early 80s, DC had decided to let Rod Reilly live...but he wasn't going to continue as Firebrand. Rather, in the pages of the The All-Star Squadron #1 (SEP 1981) it was retconned that Rod had been injured during the Pearl Harbor attack, thus requiring the ending of his superhero career. The very same issue introduced Danette Reilly (Rod's younger sister) who--conveniently enough--acquired fire-based powers and took up his mantle as the new Firebrand.
Having completed that quick tour through the publishing history of the original Firebrand, let's take a closer look at his inaugural appearance.
