guest review by Run The Comic's 5K's Matt Lowder . . . . .
FIRE POWER, VOLUME 1: PRELUDE (Image Comics, July 2020) Writer: Robert Kirkman Art: Chris Samnee. Matt’s Rating: 5 stars out of a possible 5.
FIRE POWER, VOLUME 2 (Image Comics, January 2021) Matt’s Rating; 4.5 stars out of a possible 5.
This was exactly what I needed today. Two books, back to back, well worth waiting for Vol. 2 to come out and read them both at once. Fantastic. This is some of the best stuff I've read in a good while. Mystic, martial arts, secrets, factions, etc. Damn fun.
I had a feeling that this comic wasn't something I wanted to read in pieces after I read the first issue during Free Comic Book Day, so I waited for collected trades to build up. I'm so glad I did! Issue #1 was good, but like a 3-out -of-5 rating at the time. But, it was much better once I got that backstory and info given in “PRELUDE" - - and then all six issues... bam!
It's dynamic, humorous, with flowing action, pulse-pounding, well-colored, well-inked, strong storyboards designed like a brilliant cinematographer, with memorable character and a fun twisty story.
I can't imagine reading just the first six issues without reading the standalone PRELUDE that came out the same week Issue #1 did. It was a bold marketing strategy for IMAGE to put the entire backstory in an affordable $10 graphic novel publication that way. It's an AMAZING jump start to get reader's hooked longterm, at the expense of short term profits. I think they succeeded.
To read these two volumes back to back as I did - man! I think something would really be lost if you just read #1-6 and not Vol 1. PRELUDE is such a foundation and is honestly a 5-out-of-5. I liked it even better than Vol. 2 and it's going to be one of my books of the year.
It's just very fun action without the weight of any modern woes, and boy, do we have those right now. You can tell the artist had a BLAST. KIRKMAN, too, writing this.
This feels like two dudes that love the shit out of comics.
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