This is the one I have been waiting for. The best is that I can remember that I liked this, but I could not really tell you know why and what. So, let's put the proof in the pudding let's see if it stood the test of time. Does my memory of this being good still hold up?
In essence his is a story about greed, humankinds lust for what others have told in John Smith unique style. Today I can apricate this story much more since it is something we all witness how we are destroying out world we live in. The story feels like an Avatar rip-off, but roles should be reversed. John Smith knows how the pull our strings in pull us into his sci-fi landscape.
The art by Paul Marshall is good and I think this was his first work for the house of Tharg. His style has change from his earlier works and looks different today (and I love his old and new style). The alien world is beautifully illustrated by Marshall.
So, if you are a John Smith fan do not miss this and anyone who likes their sci-fi a little bit different or even weird this is for you. My final verdict is that it stood the test of time – Get it !!!!!!
(https://images.rebellion.click/productVersion/80/a3/00.large.jpg)
Quote from: broodblik on 04 September, 2021, 06:54:35 PM
The art by Paul Marshall is good and I think this was his first work for the house of Tharg.
Not quite. He'd done some Future Shocks and a couple of Dredds a few years earlier. Given how far in advance Firekind was being plugged in the Nerve Centre, I can imagine he was putting a lot of time and effort into the strip... and it looks it.
So Paul Marshall's first Dredd was "A Monkey's Tale" prog 647 written by Alan Grant but his first work for the prog was a Future Shock "Heroic Failure" in prog 569 written by Alex Stewart (it was a full 1 page)
Quote from: broodblik on 04 September, 2021, 06:54:35 PM
The story feels like an Avatar rip-off, but roles should be reversed.
As much as I love Firekind (and I really, really love it) John's been quite open about how much Ursula le Guin he was reading at the time. Both Firekind and Avatar are fairly shameless rip-offs of The Word for World is Forest. It's all in what you do with that source though and Firekind's hallucinogenic tone poetry is somehow more satisfying.
I love Firekind but I love it better in collected form than I did reading it episodically back in 1993. It turned up around the time I was beginning to lose focus on 2000AD. It had been a fairly scrappy read for months beforehand and while there was a big and welcome upswing in quality with Prog 828 it was hard to shake off the habits I'd got into during the doldrums. So I was often speed reading on trains or during downtime at college and that's not an ideal way to follow something as involved as Firekind, even before Tharg went and missed out an episode.
In the collection (and I am sure that it is the same case with the xtreme print edition) episode 6 is a double episode and only contains "12" episodes. The out-of-sequence episode was thus embedded into episode 6.
That's how it is in the Ultimate Collection edition. I don't have the Extreme edition any more and I may be misremembering but I think it reproduced all of the captioning from Prog 840 on the first page.
Checked the Extreme Edition and it looks fine.
The art in Firekind really is a cut above. I hate to say it but accomplished as Paul Marshall is the stryle he's developed since has never matched these heights - Leatherjack in partiuclar pales in comparison.
His b&w stuff on Ulysses Sweet was a perfect tonal fit, and I think paired with Dylan Teague his work on Skip Tracer is as good as he's been in ages - but I do miss these gorgeous detailed paintings. I can well imagine it's not a cost effective way to make comics, mind!
Quote from: AlexF on 07 September, 2021, 12:08:19 PM
The art in Firekind really is a cut above. I hate to say it but accomplished as Paul Marshall is the stryle he's developed since has never matched these heights - Leatherjack in partiuclar pales in comparison.
His b&w stuff on Ulysses Sweet was a perfect tonal fit, and I think paired with Dylan Teague his work on Skip Tracer is as good as he's been in ages - but I do miss these gorgeous detailed paintings. I can well imagine it's not a cost effective way to make comics, mind!
Oh that's interesting - much as I love the art in Firekind I do think its an artist still developing. He went though a mid-phase I didn't like so much but since say 2005 (??? pucked from my head) his art has been getting better and better in my eye.
Art huh!
As for Firekind as a whole I think its a masterpiece but not Smith's best work. Off the top of my head I do (possibly...) prefer Leatherjack, defo prefer Cradlegrave, New Statemen (possibly my favourite of his) and latter day Indigo Prime. I think again its a writer in development and while his ideas are more fully formed here than on say Revere (which I also love) I think he still has a way to go to really get the mix of high concept, purple prose and spot on story just right.
Quote from: The Corinthian on 05 September, 2021, 09:26:27 AM
I love Firekind but I love it better in collected form than I did reading it episodically back in 1993.
For a start, the pages should be in the correct order ;-)
Quote from: sheridan on 07 September, 2021, 12:45:06 PM
Quote from: The Corinthian on 05 September, 2021, 09:26:27 AM
I love Firekind but I love it better in collected form than I did reading it episodically back in 1993.
For a start, the pages should be in the correct order ;-)
As I say, I wasn't concentrating on it enough even before Tharg forgot to publish an episode. I suspect I just processed it as "this is where we are now, just keep reading".
It is annoying that it happened to a story that requires the reader to pay attention rather than to, say, 'Purgatory'.
Some stories around that period were so damn hard to follow I think I just accepted it. Back then I thought maybe I wasn't clever enough to follow some of 2000ads output. Now I know some of it was just not well told. Firekind is excellent though, re-read it when the collection version came out and its held up very well
Quote from: I, Cosh on 04 September, 2021, 11:06:52 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 04 September, 2021, 06:54:35 PM
The story feels like an Avatar rip-off, but roles should be reversed.
As much as I love Firekind (and I really, really love it) John's been quite open about how much Ursula le Guin he was reading at the time. Both Firekind and Avatar are fairly shameless rip-offs of The Word for World is Forest. It's all in what you do with that source though and Firekind's hallucinogenic tone poetry is somehow more satisfying.
I'm a wee bit saddened to hear this - I've never heard of Ursula leGuin and always marvelled at the originality of Firekind. Ah well. Still a good story