Fireborn #4 – Level Up

Aaron is in his first true fight for his life. Who knew that a dragon egg could be so much trouble? Is it possible that this newly forged responsibility is proving to be way more than Aaron can handle? Read this new issue to find out.

Creative Team

Curt Pires / Franklin Jonas (Writers), Patrick Mulholland (Artist), Mark Dale (Colorist), Micah Myers (Letterer)

Fernando Rosales / Wesley Griffith (Designers), Tyler Jirik (Editor)

Publisher: Image Comics

Level Up

The newest issue of Fireborn hits shelves today from Image Comics! This new series is now four issues into its run and it continues to entice me with every new release. If you haven’t been reading Fireborn since issue one and would like a quick run down, please click the “previous reviews” link at the bottom of this page. Now let’s get into this new issue!

Issue four comes to readers as this series’ most action packed issue (so far). It starts off right out of the gate with Aaron taking a newly introduced character from issue three, Cu. Cu is a mountain of a man! So big in fact that he would make Absolute Batman look tiny. Covered in some kind of blue tribal tattoos and a head of flowing blonde locks. A great comparison would be Fabio on a triple dose of Venom (Bane, Batman Universe).

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***

Aaron and Cu tear apart the city during their very intense fight. It does not look very promising that Aaron can survive this bout. Even the dragon (Fireborn) is telling Aaron to fold up shop and run. But Aaron ignores Fireborn. Which to me plays into the age demographic of Aaron. He is a teenager who comes from a complex up bringing. I know as a teenager, on more than one occasion, I thought I knew better than the adults in my life. But, I was wrong. However, in this instance with Aaron, he is not wrong for staying and fighting.

As the battle reaches a “middle” point, Aaron changes the narrative with Cu and asks him who he is and what he wants with Aaron. This is when readers will get a brief but very detailed history of Cu and the motives behind his attack of Aaron. After finding out the motives of Cu, Aaron starts to feel an intense rage. Fireborn can sense the rage starting to rise and instructs Aaron to channel that rage. Then a beautiful thing happens… Fireborn and Aaron level up! Think of Goku going Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Z. This is a pivotal segment of this issue and it captures your attention with the amazing art for this scene.

The end of this issue is where even more magic takes place. Since this series (Fireborn) was announced it’s always been labeled as part of the Lost Fantasy world. Now that we are four issues in, fans finally get an introduction to the connection between the two series. There isn’t a lot of context to the connection as of yet. But it leaves you with just enough to make you come back for issue five to see the full scope of the relationship between Fireborn and Lost Fantasy.

The Writing

Curt Pires and Franklin Jonas continue to be a dynamic writing duo for Image comics. Working together on this series and Lost Fantasy building a world that fantasy readers will enjoy. Fireborn within its four issues has brought to life so many real world scenarios from the life of a teenager just trying to make it in the world, but with a twist. The dialogue within this issue is very condescending from Cu towards Aaron. Which really makes the fighting more impactful. The plot for this story has continued to grow with every issue making this series an absolute page turner on every release day. Even more so now that the connection has been made with Lost Fantasy.

The Artwork

Patrick Mulholland and Mark Dale bring that FIRE with the art for this series and this issue! The amazing size scaling of Cu in comparison to Aaron helps to build a “David versus Goliath” vibe to the fight. The pencil work gives very vivid definition to the characters as well as the city landscape throughout the book. The coloration is absolutely beautiful (as always)! The splash page of Aaron/Fireborn leveling up is so full of the iconic vibrant pink that highlights the black suit of Fireborn. The added “blurred vision” aspect that is added to fight panels makes the action feel real for readers too.

Micah Myers provides amazing lettering for this series. The beautiful part of the lettering for this issue is the fact that each character has their own unique style of text allowing readers to differentiate who is speaking. Yes, I know that each character has a bubble that points to who is talking, but Micah gives them an added bonus of different font. Which is great to see and adds to the visual effect of this issue. Placement of dialogue bubbles is very important, and Micah does his best to not take away from the work of the artists within the panels.

Variant Covers

Final Thoughts

Fireborn #4 is a core issue for this series that brings together everything readers have learned from the first three issues to this high stakes battle against Cu. Intense character development leads to an intense “level up” by the main characters building their bond to a stronger level. The plot grows even more within this issue with the introduction of the Lost Fantasy series connection. If you are sleeping on Fireborn, shame on you! This is a fantastic series that continues to grow the lore of Fireborn. This is only issue four, so you have plenty of time and opportunity to get the first three issues WHEN you pick up issue four.

Overall Grade: 10/10!

Links

Comic Book Reviews & Entertainment News: Nerd Initiative
Previous Fireborn Review: Fireborn #3 – Children of Eternal Night
Travis’ NI Portfolio: TravisComicHaven – Nerd Initiative
Travis’ Personal Content: Travis’ Comic Haven

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