Wildfire gets across the finish line with a lot of problems. Hawkins still manages to sell the issue, but he’s got some questionable moments throughout. Besides supporting cast members ending up dead, things go pretty well for the protagonists this issue and everything sort of works out. There’s even a time lapse towards the end of the issue to get out of character development.

And that omission is something of a blessing in disguise because Sejic’s art looks like bad cels from a cheap CG kids movie. Like a direct-to-video Disney knockoff. Something about the way she draws the characters this issue, their expressions… it’s like 101 Dalmatians or something.

There’s just enough of Hawkins’s attention to detail to get the story done. He reminds of better moments, better realizations. The series probably needed another issue to really get the ending done well.

But it’s still somewhat successful.

B 

CREDITS

Writer, Matt Hawkins; artist, Linda Sejic; letterer, Troy Peteri; editor, Betsy Gonia; publisher, Top Cow Productions.

Sejic’s art is a lot better for about half the issue. Instead of doing the CG shading on characters faces, she just colors them. All of a sudden Wildfire looks like animation cels, but it works. Sejic apparently does give her characters expressions, but then the complicated coloring ruins them.

For a lot of this issue, when she’s not doing the CG depth, the expressions work. It’s rather a nice change.

Hawkins goes full Irwin Allen this issue–along with Michael Bay by bringing in the military and starting the countdown to further disaster clock. But it all works. Somehow Hawkins is able to take the most obvious, familiar disaster story tropes and make them feel entirely fresh. Even his characters aren’t original, but something about his presentation immediately deepens them, immediately makes them sympathetic.

Hawkins is a fantastic comic book writer, simply fantastic.

And Wildfire continues to exceed.

Great stuff.

B+ 

CREDITS

Writer, Matt Hawkins; artist, Linda Sejic; letterer, Troy Peteri; editor, Betsy Gonia; publisher, Top Cow Productions.

The second issue of Wildfire ties back to the beginning of the first issue–Los Angeles aflame. This issue explains more about how it happens, with Hawkins even taking the time to cut to the fire starting. He doesn’t really need to make the cut–he spends the rest of the issue establishing the characters, including newscasters who could cover it.

And everyone sees the fire pretty quick, it does spread like, well, wildfire.

Hawkins’s ability to get all the science while still moving his characters forward, not to mention rapidly accelerating the crisis, is what makes Wildfire so good. It never reads too fast, even though Hawkins moves fast through the events. Again, there’s a lot of science, which might cause a natural slowdown.

The only problem is Sejic’s computer art. She has this style of a cartoonish–if detailed–character against a glossy, computer generated background. It frequently distracts from the story.

B+ 

CREDITS

Writer, Matt Hawkins; artist, Linda Sejic; letterer, Troy Peteri; editor, Betsy Gonia; publisher, Top Cow Productions.

Wildfire seems to a science thriller. It’s hard to say so far–writer Matt Hawkins gives the reader a glimpse of the titular disaster and then backtracks a few days, presumably to show now the event came to pass.

He’s got Linda Sejic on art and she’s doing sort of a digital cartooning thing. I say sort of because she’s trying real hard not to be cartoonish but it comes through every once in a while, especially during the character development scenes. But it’s relatively competent–there are some blurring effects she uses to cover not doing full detail and those are annoying–but Hawkins’s script is outstanding.

The setup has a lot to do with the controversy over GMO as food stuffs, but real human failings leading to the science thriller aspects.

Hopefully Hawkins can keep up the balance between tension and character development; it’s a rather impressive start.

B+ 

CREDITS

Writer, Matt Hawkins; artist, Linda Sejic; letterer, Troy Peteri; editor, Betsy Gonia; publisher, Top Cow Productions.