What do you think?
Sons of Fire: Volume 1
Thirty years ago the town of Black Rock was nearly destroyed by a fire. The arsonist, teenager Jacob Crowe, has kept the truth behind the blaze a secret... until now. The lone survivor of a fire that took his brother and father, Jacob is unable to forgive himself for leaving his family to die. It is only when he discovers his friend Andrew Danner is something more than human that Jacob sees a way toward redemption. But for Andrew, the life of hero risks exposing his secrets to the world, leading him to question his humanity. Together, Andrew and Jacob will begin a dark journey that leads them from the boys they are, to the men they will become; revealing that the difference between heroes and villains are the lines you’re willing to cross. Written by award-winning novelist Adam Lance Garcia with art by newcomer Heidi Black, SONS OF FIRE is a dark reimagining of the origin of the superhero, exploring the ambiguity of morality and the violent price of power. Because when evil isn’t black and white, even heroes will burn.
- GenresGraphic Novels
78 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2014
About the author
Adam Lance Garcia
30 books42 followers(Award Winning) Author. Often witty, somewhat interesting. Writes Green Lama and original work. Likes cheese, lactose intolerant. His dad still makes him sign all his books.
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Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 6, 2014
Adam Lance Garcia and Heidi Black make a wonderful team to say the least. Sons of Fire was both a brilliantly written, and illustrated graphic novel. Sons of Fire starts with a reporter who is interviewing Jacob Crowe. Jacob was the sole survivor of a horrible fire in the town of Black Rock. This first volume (of what I hope to be a long series) showed a wonderful and well-developed plot, as well as well developed characters. This is one of those books that I wish I could erase from my memory so I could experience it for the first time all over again. I’ve read this graphic novel several times (more than I would like to admit), and each time it is still, somehow, a page-turner. I look forward to reading more of this series.
October 1, 2014
Best short review is I want to read MORE!
February 3, 2016
Good
So far so good, want to read more. I'm really getting in to my comic books, and this is a good one
So far so good, want to read more. I'm really getting in to my comic books, and this is a good one
December 20, 2018
Fun start
Great intro to what looks like a great story. I highly recommend it to guidelines good read with interesting characters.
Great intro to what looks like a great story. I highly recommend it to guidelines good read with interesting characters.
July 28, 2014
Sons of Fire has a far greater scope than who is stronger, hero A or villain B going for it and that make it a far greater reading experience.
Many “origin” stories of super powered people relate origins and character development to incredible life changing moments. No doubt, in real life, horrible or heroic things can transpire in front of you or to you. These kinds of things do change people. But even then, there is the story behind the story.
These "story behind the story" stories rest in the fact that every person will have a different perspective on any given event. What creates that perspective can usually be followed to childhood. We are each unique in our development (physically, emotionally and intellectually) based on our lives from our childhood on.
Sons of Fire opens up to a reporter covering a horrible crime that occurred 30 years prior where the town of Black Rock burned down. The reporter is conducting a prison interview with Jacob Crowe, the sole survivor of that fire (and Jacob is also the cause of the fire).
Instead of relating his origin of powers story, Jacob explains a lot more. He tells the reporter the origin of who he is and why. This starts with childhood events. And in Jacobs past the reasons for his actions start to form.
Jacobs past includes his friendship with Andrew Danner who has secrets of his own and the path those secrets take him in is the opposite of Jacobs. No doubt Andrews’s secret and his friendship with Jacob will have important ramifications in future volumes of the story.
Andy Garcia shows that surface details are only part of the story. And in this story he creates a multiple volume graphic novel series with deep characterization. Just how the past turns into what we know of the present is going to be interesting and where all the characters of Jacobs’s childhood end upon the present day is one of many compelling reasons to keep reading.
You can tell Andy Garcia enjoys writing. He handles large casts with interesting interactions and involved, well-developed story lines.
No graphic novel can be complete without an artist and Heidi Black does a great job of handling the visuals showing the emotions and atmosphere that reside in Jacobs’s childhood memories. Her art is more than just visuals accompanying Andy’s story, it is an extension of his creation that creates more than just a part of the whole.
Many “origin” stories of super powered people relate origins and character development to incredible life changing moments. No doubt, in real life, horrible or heroic things can transpire in front of you or to you. These kinds of things do change people. But even then, there is the story behind the story.
These "story behind the story" stories rest in the fact that every person will have a different perspective on any given event. What creates that perspective can usually be followed to childhood. We are each unique in our development (physically, emotionally and intellectually) based on our lives from our childhood on.
Sons of Fire opens up to a reporter covering a horrible crime that occurred 30 years prior where the town of Black Rock burned down. The reporter is conducting a prison interview with Jacob Crowe, the sole survivor of that fire (and Jacob is also the cause of the fire).
Instead of relating his origin of powers story, Jacob explains a lot more. He tells the reporter the origin of who he is and why. This starts with childhood events. And in Jacobs past the reasons for his actions start to form.
Jacobs past includes his friendship with Andrew Danner who has secrets of his own and the path those secrets take him in is the opposite of Jacobs. No doubt Andrews’s secret and his friendship with Jacob will have important ramifications in future volumes of the story.
Andy Garcia shows that surface details are only part of the story. And in this story he creates a multiple volume graphic novel series with deep characterization. Just how the past turns into what we know of the present is going to be interesting and where all the characters of Jacobs’s childhood end upon the present day is one of many compelling reasons to keep reading.
You can tell Andy Garcia enjoys writing. He handles large casts with interesting interactions and involved, well-developed story lines.
No graphic novel can be complete without an artist and Heidi Black does a great job of handling the visuals showing the emotions and atmosphere that reside in Jacobs’s childhood memories. Her art is more than just visuals accompanying Andy’s story, it is an extension of his creation that creates more than just a part of the whole.
July 12, 2014
SONS OF FIRE: VOLUME 1 is a graphic novel written by award winner Adam Lance Garcia and illustrated by newcomer Heidi Black. Together they form a formidable team delivering a powerful opening chapter into a dark and brooding tale.
A teen high school reporter interviews prisoner Jacob Crowe about the terrible events surrounding the fire that nearly destroyed the town of Black Rock and left Crowe’s father and brother dead.
His mother soon takes up with the new sheriff. His father had been sheriff up until the fire. Jacob, like any other young teen put in this position, feels alienated and alone, but after a beating by a town punk, is saved by the school’s star football player and his girlfriend.
Things get worse at home, there are one or two very mysterious things happening around town, and young Jacob has to try and find out what he is and what his friends are.
This is just the first chapter in a longer work so I feel frustrated in not having more of this intriguing and beguiling story to delve into, and I won’t be happy until I’ve read the entire thing.
I generally liked the panels but I had to go back and forth a few times later in the book so as to distinguish between two or three characters that looked very similar. Other than that I felt they carried the story quite well and left enough to the imagination to have me thinking about what is to come.
I won this book through Goodreads and can’t wait for the next installment.
A teen high school reporter interviews prisoner Jacob Crowe about the terrible events surrounding the fire that nearly destroyed the town of Black Rock and left Crowe’s father and brother dead.
His mother soon takes up with the new sheriff. His father had been sheriff up until the fire. Jacob, like any other young teen put in this position, feels alienated and alone, but after a beating by a town punk, is saved by the school’s star football player and his girlfriend.
Things get worse at home, there are one or two very mysterious things happening around town, and young Jacob has to try and find out what he is and what his friends are.
This is just the first chapter in a longer work so I feel frustrated in not having more of this intriguing and beguiling story to delve into, and I won’t be happy until I’ve read the entire thing.
I generally liked the panels but I had to go back and forth a few times later in the book so as to distinguish between two or three characters that looked very similar. Other than that I felt they carried the story quite well and left enough to the imagination to have me thinking about what is to come.
I won this book through Goodreads and can’t wait for the next installment.
June 16, 2014
I won a copy of this book from a giveaway, and was really excited about it. It's been a long time since I've read a graphic novel, so I started reading it immediately. My son knows when I'm reading, he can grab a book and come sit next to me... except he saw the pictures, so he wanted me to read it to him. Not a good idea! Haha! I had to change words... and eventually kick him out of the room, with promises of juice (which he had to drink in the kitchen - mwahaha!), so I could read it without distractions.
I was originally drawn to this from the artwork on the cover. Unlike most books I review, I'm allowed to judge this one by it's cover! Heidi Black's drawings were really awesome. Every page, the artwork stayed consistently awesome - and I am definitely going to have to check out more of her work.
The story line was also pretty interesting. There were maybe a few parts where I found the wording to be a bit off, but nothing bad.
I do wish it was longer - and I can't wait for the next installment to find out what happens.
4/5 Platypires
http://www.platypire.com/j-hooligan/s...
I was originally drawn to this from the artwork on the cover. Unlike most books I review, I'm allowed to judge this one by it's cover! Heidi Black's drawings were really awesome. Every page, the artwork stayed consistently awesome - and I am definitely going to have to check out more of her work.
The story line was also pretty interesting. There were maybe a few parts where I found the wording to be a bit off, but nothing bad.
I do wish it was longer - and I can't wait for the next installment to find out what happens.
4/5 Platypires
http://www.platypire.com/j-hooligan/s...
June 13, 2014
I won a copy of this book here on goodreads.
I really gave this graphic novel 3.5 stars. Definitely an interesting beginning to what promises to be a fun series. I am fully intrigued and look forward to more of the story unfolding.
There were a few times where I was a tad confused about which character was which or if the scene had changed. However, I am still interested in reading the next installment.
I really gave this graphic novel 3.5 stars. Definitely an interesting beginning to what promises to be a fun series. I am fully intrigued and look forward to more of the story unfolding.
There were a few times where I was a tad confused about which character was which or if the scene had changed. However, I am still interested in reading the next installment.
June 21, 2014
I won this book as a giveaway...and I have to say I'm impressed. I love the illustration used for this graphic novel and I love the story structure. This is not a kids book by any means and I had to tell my boyfriend's seven year old not to pick it up. (She was curious because it "had pictures".) I am really looking forward to the second one and every subsequent one after that. This is an amazing read and I highly recommend it!
August 6, 2014
As a fan of Adam's work, I was excited to see if he could find the right collaborator to bring his usually very visual prose to life on the page of a graphic novel - and I'm happy to say that he and Heidi Black are a great match for this intriguing, mysterious and exciting page turner. I'm already looking forward to the next volume!
Want to Read
June 15, 2014as a huge fan of manga this sounds very promising to me. I really hope I can get my hands on this soon through goodreads or otherwise. It's going to be great!
November 30, 2024
This was a 3.5 read, rounded up in spite of the fact it had some rough transitions in the scenes.
It opens in a prison with a young man interviewing an obviously burn scarred Jacob Crow 30 years after a major fire in 1976 (That we assume is the reason Jacob is in prison)
Most of volume one deals with Jacob's early life, his father the sheriff who was sidelined by an injure and how his mother left Jacob and his brother with his dad so she could step out with another police officer. When the worst happens, Jacob becomes an unwelcome addition to his mother's new home with this man.
Jacob is also being badly bullied at school to the point there is some serious assault which at the cliffhanger ending where an older boy who has befriended him outs himself as possibly more than human (not really a spoiler, it's in the blurb).
I got both volumes at Tsubasacon so I'm looking forward to the next volume. The black and white pencil and ink in this is very well done, some really nice art.
It opens in a prison with a young man interviewing an obviously burn scarred Jacob Crow 30 years after a major fire in 1976 (That we assume is the reason Jacob is in prison)
Most of volume one deals with Jacob's early life, his father the sheriff who was sidelined by an injure and how his mother left Jacob and his brother with his dad so she could step out with another police officer. When the worst happens, Jacob becomes an unwelcome addition to his mother's new home with this man.
Jacob is also being badly bullied at school to the point there is some serious assault which at the cliffhanger ending where an older boy who has befriended him outs himself as possibly more than human (not really a spoiler, it's in the blurb).
I got both volumes at Tsubasacon so I'm looking forward to the next volume. The black and white pencil and ink in this is very well done, some really nice art.
March 3, 2019
This was kinda interesting. It looks like it’s a series but I won’t be continuing. I felt like a lot of pages were hard to follow sequentially. The illustrations were excellent though.
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September 24, 2018
I wasn’t really impressed with the overall plot of this graphic novel but the art style was fantastic!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews