Usando la biblioteca async de caolan para node.js, he estado tratando de llamar a una función que usaasync.series dentro de otra función que usa async.series, pero todavía no puedo hacer que las funciones se ejecuten en el orden correcto, como se detalla a continuación:

La salida del terminal muestra la segunda función que se llama antes de la primera, sin ninguna razón aparente:

The "sys" module is now called "util". It should have a similar interface.
Starting the second step in the series
Value of b: undefined
Invoking the function firstStep
the value of toObtain is: [object Object]

Y aquí está el código fuente correspondiente:

var im = require('imagemagick');
var async = require('async');

var toObtain;


var b;
async.series([

function (callback) {
    //It appears that this function is being invoked after the second function.
    //Why is this happening?
    firstStep();
    callback();
},

function (callback) {
    //Why is the output of this function being displayed BEFORE the output of the function above? It's the opposite of the order in which I'm calling the functions.
    console.log("Starting the second step in the series");
    console.log("Value of b: " + b);
}]);


function firstStep(){
    async.series([

    function (next) { // step one - call the function that sets toObtain
        im.identify('kittens.png', function (err, features) {
            if (err) throw err;
            console.log("Invoking the function firstStep");
            toObtain = features;
            //console.log(toObtain);
            b = toObtain.height;
            next(); // invoke the callback provided by async
        });
    },

    function (next) { // step two - display it
        console.log('the value of toObtain is: %s',toObtain.toString());
    }]);
}