I really enjoyed the latest series. I think I jumped on at #16 (right before all the Infinite Crisis crossovers started) and read until the end...35 or 36? The new Blue Beetle series reminds me of this series quite a bit. It was fun, had a pretty cool supporting cast, some nice original villains mixed in with old favorites and lots of "how do these powers work" moments. Of course, the reason they can't really collect them to the end is because Dwayne McDuffie was literally stopped in mid-storyline. Firestorm was mixing it up with Darkseid and the New Gods of Apokolips and the last issue ends pretty much mid-action. Very frustrating. As far as I can tell, the storyline was never finished anywhere.

As for old Firestorm, John "the man" Ostrander was writing these at the same time as his historic Suicide Squad run (lots of Firestorm villains ended up fodder for the Squad). I enjoyed the earlier runs but lost a little interest when the whole "Fire Elemental" thing started. Still, you could collect the whole shebang in about 5 Showcase volumes.

Ohh, I hate when that happens, grr! That's disappointing. :(

I’ve read the 100 issue run of Conway and Ostrander. I actually preferred Conway’s work to Ostrander’s. The really issues of The Fury of Firestorm has a Spiderman/Peter Parker feel. It focuses a lot on how being a superhero effects the lives of teenager Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein. I really liked Dr. Stein role in the title. He may have more problems from being a super-hero than Ronnie. When Ostrander took over, he made a lot of significant changes including the elemental stuff (mentioned earlier) that feels like wannabe Swamp Thing. I vote Conway’s run in trade, and Ostrander’s run could be skipped.

i love firestorm, i have read every issue of the last series and I have been reading a lot of back issues from the original. There is not one issue that i can think of that i did not like

This was a great series. Jolley did a lot of interesting things with the character, I'll try to pique your interest without spoiling.
Some cool elements were the 'matrix' merging with innocent bystanders who were absorbed just because of their proximity. In one case it was a murderer that had a more dominant personality than Jason (Firestorm). Jolley has Jason make some serious mistakes (trying to eliminate someone's tumor) and a very awkward confrontation with the JLA.

DC should absolutely release a trade. This was a real sleeper hit.