Image's new line of superhero titles has seen less than stellar sales for the first issues.  Nonetheless, here's the debut of the line, with Firebreather #1.  And it's not bad at all.

Duncan is the son of a human mother and, uh, a giant rampaging dragon thing.  The mechanics aren't explained and I pray they stay that way.  Anyhow, he's half-monster, which is obviously going to pose problems for him at his new school.  Yes, it's the usual "school outcast as hero" routine, but you can't knock the classics.  The twist is that rather than being downtrodden and wimpish, Duncan is completely resigned to his outcast status and has really stopped caring all that much.

It's a nice little comedy-drama book, with some cute one-liners and the obvious humour from putting a giant lizard in a high school.  It'd be stretching a point to say that any of the jokes were particularly original or unexpected, but it's pleasantly entertaining nonetheless, and the central character manages to be likeable while still being perpetually grumpy. 

Andy Kuhn's artwork is lovely.  His giant monsters are great pieces of work, and remind me of Walt Simonson's mythological creatures from Thor.  Plus, he hits the right balance in the school scenes between getting comedy out of the lead character's appearance without making him look like an idiot.

All in all, it's quite good, if a little derivative.  Whether it's good enough to win over what seems to be an apathetic marketplace, though, is another matter - my feeling is that it probably isn't distinctive enough to do that.  Still, it's a fun comic which deserves to find an audience.

Rating: A-

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