Fireborn #1 Review: Bold Armor Matches This Promising Debut with a Few Rough Edges

I didn’t pick up Fireborn #1 with my normal Wednesday pulls — I grabbed it on a whim Saturday at the shop (Superman Day!). It only took hearing a few good things, as something about the book was already pulling me in (cover art?). I was told you don’t need to be reading Lost Fantasy to jump in (there are some cool Easter eggs if you are), but it that stands on its own.

Overall, it’s a promising debut with some really strong moments and perhaps a few rough edges.

The Setup

The main character gets his powers pretty much by accident (dragon egg? + smuggler situation). He’s an angsty kid of divorce with a shady developer dad who’s tied-up in some (white collar?) crimes. The story has some good world-building and sets up the current conflict nicely without feeling like you’re missing a ton of backstory.

The Cool (and Hot) Parts

The main character’s armor has that awesome Elder Scrolls / Skyrim dragon armor vibe — very cool and instantly eye-catching. Although perhaps not the most practical fighting gear.
The art is solid overall with some standout pages. The way they express a flash the light really works, the transformation into the armor with that almost x-ray skeleton view is awesome, and some of the unique paneling ideas really stood out to me. (Bold move going with a read-to-the-center page spread in issue 1!)
There’s a lot of F-bombs in the dialogue. I don’t mind them, but they felt a little overused, even for a series with a teenager(?) for a main character. Perhaps undermines the story a bit.
The story itself has some cool fighting and power moments, and it does a good job building some medium-level suspense.
The main character seems to fit into the reluctant hero(?) category – it will be interesting to see how this evolves and how he responds to… mistakes.

Final Verdict

I’ll be honest, I’m not head-over-heels in love with it – yet, but it has caught my interest enough start that I’ll probably grab #2 and take a look at the TPB for Lost Fantasy.

It’s definitely worth the $5 for a giant-sized 48-page book, no question. There are some strong concepts here and the art carries it well enough. I’m interested to see where it goes.