Review by Ian Keogh

To date all Robert Kirkman’s independent work has first been serialised in comics, then collected in paperback, and sometime after that there’s a more expensive hardcover for those who want it. It’s a method that respects fans, but Fire Power was launched with Prelude, a self-contained graphic novel. Crucially, though, respect was maintained, as Kirkman ensured all readers choosing to begin with the serialised issues would only miss out on 150 pages of Chris Samnee’s astonishing art and could pick up the story with Home Fire.

Both those volumes are included here along with Flame War, and once the fifteen year leap occurs, they’re a rocket-paced martial arts thriller actually offering something new. That’s not apparent from the opening third, which is entertaining enough, but stitched together from homages to martial arts movie tropes, almost to the point of a tick list. The originality is in merging the martial arts action with family drama. Families are central to many of Kirkman’s stories, and they aren’t just window dressing or a button-pushing method of generating fear and suspense, but fully rounded, integral personalities.

Owen Johnson is the leading character, first seen in the past braving considerable danger to turn up at a Himalayan martial arts school run by a wizened old man who’s surprisingly familiar with the trappings of the modern world. The facilities include a dragon trapped behind a guarded door, and the statue of the founder, who it’s said will come to life again at the hour of greatest need. It’s not revealed here, but what Kirkman does with both is mind-blowing. Owen is a diligent trainee, learning to draw energy from the air to create fireballs, something no-one has done in generations, and also manages to fall in love. Skip fifteen years to the threats of the past manifesting in the present when Owen believed he’d left his previous life behind him.

The sample page is from very early in the wordless opening section, later revealed as a throwaway piece of foreshadowing, but with what’s necessary beautifully composed by Samnee, a comment true of every page he draws here. Seriously, there’s page after page of wonder, and you’ll want to go back and look at them again after racing through Fire Power. This could be handed out in classes as a lesson in how to combine drama, action and believable real people. It’s definitely art worth having in hardcover.

Any misgivings about the first section being too indulgent evaporate as the remainder of the content races thrillingly by, and there’s presumably going to be a Book Two in the future, although this could be read as complete in itself.