I interviewed Ace Masters’ dad by accident last January. I just shoved my recorder at the guy behind the Masterpiece Comics table at the Phoenix Comicon and started firing questions at him until he said, “I think you want to talk to my son.” Even though we got off to that weird start, Masters still sent me copies of two of his comics: Fireblast: Adventures in the 30th Century and Wild Boys.
Fireblast: Adventures in the 30th Century is a sci-fi/ adventure/ mystery set in the 30th century. I took Fireblast as camp, in the same vein as The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai, which I’m not sure was writer/ publisher Masters’ goal.
Mack Fire is a private investigator with woman problems, landlord problems and assassin problems, as in, someone is trying to kill him beginning on page one. His holographic assistant, Perfecta, is starting to act more like a jealous girlfriend than a program. The elements of something cool are there and Fireblast has the potential to be a fun story, but there’s something missing that makes it fall flat.
Nichx’s artwork doesn’t immediately say “30th century” and there are some inconsistencies. It’s like the 30th century with 1990s antiques, including some people who were cryogenically frozen the year I graduated from high school. For instance, in issue 0, one guy’s computer is shown as a simple holographic screen hovering over his desk in one panel, and in another panel on the same page, the same item is drawn in a totally different way. Later, another guy’s computer looks like my old college PC from 1996.
Another problem with the artwork was the overall flatness. Everything is so smooth and lacks any kind of texture or depth. It’s very plastic looking.
The other title, Wild Boys is a four issue mini-series. Also set in the future, the Wild Boys are the result of genetic experiments in engineering super soldiers. They’re generally hated and rallied against by the public and are put in suspended animation for several years, during which an alien species attacks Earth and decimates the human race. When the Wild Boys wake up, they’re not willing to help the left over humans. They’re a little pissy about being rejected earlier.
Wild Boys has one of the same conceptual pitfalls as Fireblast: there are elements that are cool on their own, but aren’t playing well together.
The artwork by Irapuan Luiz is much better than what’s going on in Fireblast. There is a lot more detail – there isn’t a bit of unused space. The panels are arranged more dynamically, the washed out colors work with the story and there is an overall consistency in Luiz’s artwork for Wild Boys that Fireblast is lacking.
To sum it up, Fireblast isn’t making my regular reading list, but I am curious to see where Wild Boys goes.
For more on Fireblast, Wild Boys and other Masterpiece Comics titles, visit their website.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
