Firebug

by Johnnie Christmas, Tamra Bonvillain (Artist)

A volcano goddess, named Keegan, is loose in the world, and the prophecies are unclear whether her coming will bring humanity's destruction or salvation. In the shadow of the sacred volcano, from which Keegan derives her powers, lies the ancient city of Azar. Promising to hold the key to the mysteries of her past, Keegan and her rag-tag army of devotees must get to Azar before it is overrun by a horde of forest monsters. Meanwhile, The nefarious Cult of the Goddess has plans to summon forces as old as time to extinguish Keegan's flame permanently.

From the #1 New York Times Best-Selling cartoonist JOHNNIE CHRISTMAS (Angel Catbird, SHELTERED) and superstar colorist TAMRA BONVILLAIN (Doom Patrol, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur) comes a fiery tale you're not soon to forget!

Collecting the saga that was started in ISLAND Magazine with all-new material.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Mythology, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult

136 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2018

Reviews

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I'm going to start off by saying that I got a little lost at times and wasn't always sure about what was going on. I'll try to describe the story as best I can, but I could be wrong about a few things.

Azar is a city located at the foot of a volcano. The people of Azar used to perform rituals to appease the goddess of the volcano, but that didn't stop the volcano from occasionally erupting and destroying everything. Eventually the Cult of the Goddess left Azar and established a new home for themselves, the Golden Capitol. It's now many, many years later, and there's a rebel group called the Third Wave that's convinced that the Cult of the Goddess is keeping the goddess captive, and they want to free her.

Keegan is the goddess's daughter. She tries to help the rebels, but something goes wrong, her mother ends up dead, and Keegan becomes the new goddess. At that point, she becomes determined to go back to Azar, the home of her ancestors. However, the Cult of the Goddess isn't her only enemy. An emissary from the water goddess is after her, and there's a prophecy that Keegan's return to Azar will mean its destruction.

This was an ARC my mom picked up for me at a conference. As far as I can tell, this volume collects the entire series. It doesn't appear to be a spinoff of anything, although it kind of felt like it was, and I can't find anything about any sort of continuation, even though the ending leaves room for more story.

I didn't like the artwork at all, but Tamra Bonvillain's coloring helped paper over some of its shortcomings and almost make it pretty, at times. There was some really nice use of cool vs. warm colors.

The story was intriguing enough, but confusing and a bit choppy. I had thought the Cult of the Goddess would be important in some way, but after the confined goddess was dealt with, they might as well have been written out of the story. It felt like they had been, after Adria rescued Griffin. Who, by the way, was not worth any amount of Keegan and Adria's time and energy. I don't know what either of them saw in him. He was a quick way for the author to establish a basis for Adria and Keegan's more human rivalry before their goddess rivalry added fuel to the fire.

I don't know that this was necessarily bad, but it definitely could have been better. The story and characters just left me cold.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnnie Christmas’ art was really the best thing about Angel Catbird, so it's nice to see more of his work. Turns out, he can also write passably well.

So with Firebug, we’ve got a volcano goddess with powers passed down from mother to daughter over the centuries. Keegan is the daughter of the current goddess, though her friends, Griffin and Adria, don't know it. There's a bit of a love triangle: Griffin is in love with Keegan, though apparently he and Adria used to be a thing, so there's jealousy. When Keegan’s mother is killed, she comes into her powers, but will she save the world or destroy it?

The story flows well in a breezy sort of way. Christmas has done an excellent job of bringing this fantasy world to life. There's a bit of a sense that many elements of story and art were thrown in without more thought than that they looked cool. It's not really a problem, though, because they actually do look cool. The artwork reminds me in places of people like P. Craig Russell, Charles Vess, and Paul Pope. Johnnie Christmas is definitely someone to watch. Recommended!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Image Comics for the free ARC!

I loved a lot of things about this book, but unfortunately, it didn't come together for me in the end. The artwork was beautiful and the coloring was flawless (yay Tamra Bonvillain!), but it was difficult to tell many of the characters apart. The mythology was fascinating, but the story itself was rushed and incoherent at times. I wanted to love it, but in the end, I liked it. Your mileage may vary.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit The Wicked and The Divine, a little bit Black Panther. A whole lotta confusing, but overall pretty fun.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Come here for a very rich fantasy comic, but be aware that the richness of the world is such that the author can't quite convey it as clearly as you'd wish. Fire cults of competing stripe, wood spirits, water thingummies, and more converge in this battle for a whole world's existence. The artwork is certainly individualistic, and the whole thing smacks of being a creator-owned project, and not a by-the-numbers, big house title. Still, I did at times have to wonder quite what was going on, and to what end.

[Rod Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading this book literally gave me a headache. My temple is throbbing as I write this.

What a mess! I cannot believe I trudged through and read every word when they made so little sense.

I should have known better when I saw the creator was involved in the godawful Angel Catbird, Vol. 1.

[Fern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.5 stars

I really wish this was a much longer series, the mythos of this world is so complex that there wasn't enough time to explain everything clearly. I do love the characters, story, mythos, and art of this though! I'd be very happy if this got another 3-4 volumes so we could really understand what was going on!

[Ezma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is really good, especially the way fire is shown, which is important for a book about a character with fire powers. Felt like there was just too much stuffed into this with the worldbuilding and number of characters being juggled. The back notes it was meant to be serialized originally so we wonder if the sudden compression to an OGN is what caused that.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Y.S. Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Politics and religion can be a dangerous mix and that is what is at play in Firebug. In a city called Azar, the cult of goddesses is in charge of placating the goddess of fire so that the nearest mountain volcano will not get out of control. However, after centuries of failure, the cult simply move the city far away from the treacherous mountain. This, however, did not solve the problems of the people of Azar, as spiritual entities and religious powers clash over who to control the fate of the people.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
This is a story with believable lore, colourful characters, and a little splash of nudity. Mature adults with a love dark fantasy would feel right at home.

CHARACTER FOCUS
Griffin is a carefree young man living life at the fringes of the society. With no deep-seated convictions, he steals and loves indiscriminately. However, his involvement with a sect and the daughter of the fire goddess puts him in the eye of the storm where he has to choose what to believe and whether he has the strength of convictions to stand for it.

.......

Firebug by Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillain is available to buy on all major online bookstores. Many thanks to Image Comics for review copy.

[SaraCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The coloring in this graphic novel is just so vivid and compliments the feelings and atmosphere of each scene. Some of the frames I found just so lovely and beautiful, but there were also individual images that I was not as big a fan of.

I liked the overarching storyline and themes of the story. And what I saw of the characters I found interesting. However, I just felt like a few extra pages in each chapter would have added so much to the flow of the story and given even more room for character development. Though, there was still a lot done in this short volume and there was a lot of nuance and thoughtfulness on the part of several of the characters.

I would be interested to read more stories following Keegan.

Content Warning: some partial nudity and some mild gore and violence

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review is actually a 3.7

I really enjoyed this beautiful story. It was very different and facinating. My only critiques would be that the pacing was rushed, and I felt like the story really could have benefited from being spread out between two or three volumes in order to pace it better. And because of the rush of the storytelling we didn't really get to know the characters involved, which is pretty important. I liked the characters, but if we were given more time with them their motivations would have meant more to the reader.

[Nore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the concept to be interesting, and what worldbuilding there is was neat, but... Man, what a mess of a plot! This would have worked much better as a story told over several volumes - a handful of volumes wasn't enough to let the story expand. Based on the extras in the back of the book, it looks like was a lot more that the author could have included.

Why four stars, then, if I thought the plot was awful? Good art, guys. Really good art.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Lovely art and interesting ideas undone by a rushed execution. Firebug's plot is rushed to the point that even though you know who the hero is supposed to be, you don't exactly buy it. Christmas tries to add some shades of grey to the plot but the twists don't work right when so little time is spent building characters and their relationships to one another.

[mad mags · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork in Firebug is as lovely as the story is confusing.

Like, I'm not sure I have a good enough handle on the plot to offer even the briefest of summaries. There are so many warring factions that it's hard to know who we're supposed to root for most of the time.

At first, it seems clear-cut: the Cult of the Goddess is holding a Goddess captive and crushing the rebels who dare to challenge their (unjustly seized) religious authority. But wait, no: the High Priestess keeps the temperamental Goddess sedated so that her histrionics won't trigger a volcanic eruption, killing us all.

And the forest spirits are bad, a gauntlet for our heroes to cross on the way to Azar. But no really, they're the city's protectors, from none other than Keegan, the new Goddess, and our story's protagonist.

Throw in the Volcano Goddess's sister, the Goddess of Water, and I am positively flummoxed. I really wanted to root for her, if only because her fish body is in the "so ugly it's cute" territory.

Chalk this one up to good idea/poor execution. Three stars for the art, because it truly is stunning. I also loved the "Gospel According to Amina" vignettes, which evoked memories of Octavia Butler's Parables duology.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

http://www.easyvegan.info/2018/04/10/...

[Kasey Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I finally got around to reading the ARC I received. My final thoughts after finishing?

Eh, it was alright.

I'm not too familiar with Image Comics (I read a lot of Marvel and a small handful of DC, but only if it features Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn). Based on what I've read, however, there seem to be at least a couple of common themes across the comics: semi-realistic art, but sometimes exaggerated in a way that makes the reader slightly uncomfortable, and just plain strange/weird story lines.

This was an interesting story. Sure, it was more than a little odd at points, but it was still engaging for the most part. It dragged a bit in a few places (mostly in part 2), but it definitely picked up in the last third. Also, the warring factions and "who wanted what" got confusing the further along the story progressed. Groups and belief systems were kind of introduced randomly as the plot went on, and it got kind of arbitrary. It wasn't confusing enough to give up on; there were just multiple times that I just stopped and thought, "Wait ... why does he/she/they/the Fire Goddess want to do this again?"

Major bonus, though, is the final confrontation between the Fire and Water Goddesses. That was pretty cool! The artwork throughout the entire story was well done and colorful.

I received a paperback ARC through work.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many of the stories that have come out of the Island comic anthology, this collection has fantastic art an a really cool story idea. Unfortunately, its pacing is off, whether that's due to it originally appearing in chapters of an anthology series, or whether it's a general writing issue.

The premise, the daughter of a volcano goddess is destined to become the goddess when her mother dies, and is prophesied to destroy a city is intriguing. But apart from the protagonist, I didn't really find any of the characters fleshed to the point of interesting.

While I ended up not really loving this particular story, I will definitely pick up the next book by Johnnie Christmas and see where it takes me.

I recommend this for people who enjoyed Brandon Graham's Prophet, Volume 1: Remission, people interested in mythological world building involving a predominantly female cast, and fans of the type of art currently coming out of Image Comics.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just got around to reading the ARC for this book. The thing that first struck me was the beautiful art. Then, I dove into the book, and started out liking the setup for the mythology of it. The story also started out pretty straight-forward with clear objectives. Then after the main protagonist moves into a new role, that’s where things got murky for me. Unfortunately, as the story progressed, it got a bit more confusing with the addition of so many characters and obstacles that it was hard to pick a side to get behind. The story itself wrapped up decently, although I felt it was a very middle-of-the-road ending.

Overall, I am glad I gave this book a read, but I’m giving it three stars because while there are some enjoyable elements, it is not a book that I will find myself revisiting. As a bookstore employee, I see myself only recommending this title to customers that are looking for certain qualities: Magic, myth, legends, strong female characters, diversity…those sort of elements.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

An immersive and visually stunning comic falling the rise of a new goddess in a fictitious world. The art and basic story of this comic are great and exciting. However, I was easily lost in the details of the story--lots of different things happening at once without much clear delineation; there is more than one fire cult, it starts in a city that may or may not be different than another city, etc. I also found some character motivation to be unclear, two characters quickly become enemies for no discernible reason. That all being said, I really had a great time reading this little comic. The illustrations are great and the pacing is just right.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is gorgeous, the plot is madcap and dense, the mythology even denser. Firebug is largely fun, but it also suffers from trying far too hard to expand a cool concept into a full-length graphic novel. Keegan is the main character, apparently the reincarnation of a fire goddess, but we barely learn anything about her. And we learn even less about the other handful of featured characters. The plot seems focused on getting Keegan to Azar, a mystical city, but I'd be hard-pressed to say why it's mystical, or why the nearby forest is full of demons. Like I said, lots of cool ideas, but it doesn't fully come together.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good comic series about a cult worshipping a fire goddess linked to an active volcano. Keegan becomes heavily involved, the firebug of the title. Along with the other main characters, she ends up within a time-old conflict between fire and water.
Not always clear but politically interesting, this series is quite engaging and reasonably well-illustrated and certainly colourful. I’m in two minds about it but it’s worth a look.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reads like it's set in a universe that the reader is already supposed to know-- like trying to find an opening in the comic book universes. Quick pacing works in the story, if you like that feel; quick pacing works less in the panels, which, especially in the fight scenes and action scenes, feel like strobes.

Suggest to GN readers who are running low on action-y comics, but a strictly optional purchase for libraries.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the most efficient storytelling I've come across in awhile. Christmas packs a hell of a lot of story in less than a hundred pages. You've got to take your time with it, because packing in that much story means you've got to pay attention. But I think he's pretty successful with it--I was hoping for more by the end. Artwork and colors are gorgeous as well.

[Michael Ben Silva III · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure I’ll remember this a year from now—loose like a creation myth but with modern tone? Main confusions: where did the forest people/monsters(?) come from and how do they fit in, and why would anyone let alone the two would-be goddesses care at all about this one goofy dude who likes to steal flowers?

[oball · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this because the cover art looks like my D&D character :v interesting setting but it all takes place too fast, really would have been good if it had more space to develop the characters and the plot a bit more.

[Ευθυμία Δεσποτάκη]

Did not finish, σελ. 20

Όταν ξαναπιάνω κάτι μετά από καιρό, και φτάνω μόνο 4 σελίδες παρακάτω για να το βαρεθώ, ναι, είναι για παράτημα. Η ιδέα καταπληκτική για έναν γεωλόγο σαν κι εμένα, αλλά βα-ρέ-θη-κα, δεν μπορώ να το πω αλλιώς.

[Ery · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a super rushed execution! I had whiplash from how fast it was all happening. Interesting mythos, but ... far too fast for any character development, to sink into the story. More like an outline than anything else.

[Anton Babkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

What could I say? Johnnie Christmas’s is an awesome artist, but a terrible writer. His Firebug is a convoluted disjointed messy crap with cardboard heroes, boring plot and idiotic dialogues. Very amateurish.

But art is good.

[Brooklin Carri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The flow felt a little halting at times or a bit scrambled but overall this was an enjoyable read for me. Loved the art and the characters. More of a moral lesson type of story than a story to read maybe but still fun. Still don’t understand the name of the novel though, lol

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was impressed by the art and the entire mythology. My only complaint is that I was it was longer and we got more back story n