Soulfire #9 – Review

By: JT Krul (writer), Marcus To (pencils), Richard Zajac (inks), Beth Sotelo (colors) & Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: A super-powered teenage boy in a modern land of dragons and magic starts to come into his own with devastating results.

What’s Good: A caveat before getting into the review…  We were given this issue by the publisher and I’m not a regular Soulfire reader.  So, this review is my “coming at it cold” impressions.  Take it for what you will…

The story for this issue is pretty standard fare in terms of its general concept: teenage boy just beginning to realize his power is sought by the bad guys who want to tap/use that power.  During the ensuing battle, the boy unleashes his full might and overcomes all the bad guys, but with some nasty, unintentional consequences.  This well told story could have been pulled from an X-Men comic, but what makes Soulfire unique is that this story is set in a near future where dragons and magic exist.

I’m a huge proponent of comics outside of the Marvel/DC duopoly, so I give Aspen a lot of credit for doing something to distinguish this title because I (personally) don’t think there is a lot of room for more superhero fare.  But, neither Marvel or DC does much with this type of setting featuring noble dragons, so this is a niche that Aspen can exploit.  Plus it is probably appealing to readers outside the traditional comics demographic: 30-45 year old men.

I’m a fan of Marcus To’s art on Red Robin and I was unaware that he also was the regular artist on Soulfire.  That kinda makes me wonder how fast he works because most artists have their hands full with one title and even though Soulfire doesn’t ship monthly, it still represents an impressive amount of drawing from Mr. To.  While I think I enjoy To’s art in Red Robin more, this is very solid work featuring good layouts and storytelling.  A fantastical setting such as this also calls for more than the standard art and we get that.  Beth Sotelo’s colors are what really catch your eye with this issue.  She makes good use of brilliant whites and vibrant blues to accentuate magical things.