Firekind : A look back. Or, the Nineties weren’t all bad for 2000AD

The nineties weren’t kind to the prog’. But in amongst the dreck, there was the odd shining gem. Firekind is one.

Firekind

By John Smith and Paul Marshall

Review by Luke Williams

As has been well and possibly overly documented, the Prog’ suffered during the 90s from a creative nadir and an identity crisis. Haemorrhaging readership, top writers and artists chased greater rights and bigger rewards across the Atlantic, editorial reacted with poorly executed relaunches and inexperienced writers and artists. A misfiring film (you know the one I mean) which ought to have turned fortunes of the Galaxy’s greatest around – or if not brought greater reward to its owners, failed to address the slide. 2000AD was floundering, however, there was the odd quality nugget in the thrill prospectors pan. John Smith, a particularly idiosyncratic and “marmite” creator if there ever was one, was delivering the goods on a series of quirky stories, that didn’t seem to fit in with the “gun n’ gals” image that 2000AD editorial were cultivating.

Smith had been commissioned by editor / Tharg Alan McKenzie to create a story with “dragons” for the Prog’. From “Thrill-power Overload” (TPO) by David Bishop & Karl Stock, Smith describes how it came about:

“Alan McKenzie rang up one day and said he thought there weren’t enough fantasy strips in 2000AD. He asked if I’d write a dragon story.

Like the whore I am, I agreed on the spot. But when I started to think about it, I realised what a naff proposition the whole thing was. I’d read a few Anne McCaffrey books and she’d pretty much got the whole dragon thing sewn up, so I didn’t want to do a rehash of that.

I always try to come at things from a different angle, so I thought I’d write it as a hard SF story instead.”

Smith and regular collaborator & artist Paul Marshall use that springboard to build a whole and complete world and culture.

Naturalist Henrick Larsen arrives on the planet Gennyo Leil to catalogue the indigenous flora and fauna and engages with the aboriginal population, the Gennyan a tribal humanoid race.

Larsen observes the interrelationship between the various life forms on the planet; the Gennyans use the huge dragon like Kesheen as beasts of burden, domesticating them by attaching the leech like Lanstrisants forming a symbiotic relationship between the two animals.

The Lantrisants are the source of highly addictive drug, hexacrin, and consequently the target for galactic poachers and drug dealers. Such is the demand, that teams of poacher crews regularly raid the planet, slaughtering tribes of Gennyans, Kesheen and Lanstrisants in their quest for the valuable narcotic.

After the most recent outrage, Larsen’s Gennyan hosts become suspicious of him, dub him a betrayer and cast him out of the tribe and leave him to the tender mercies of a strange and wild planet.

Smith wanted to create an alien culture that was genuinely different. From TPO:

“Something I don’t think anyone’s ever commented on is the fact that the whole culture is based on incest. The aliens have three different sexes and reproduced in family units with a very unusual life cycle. This was just me trying to shock. I was pissed off no one noticed how big and clever I was”

The first half of the strip starts as a description of an alien ecosystem and the examination of a social system that is far different from ours, ambitious world building, the action speeds up with the introduction of the poachers without descending into a senseless brawl, though this being Smith, it is violent.

The common Smith topics of body horror, sharp dialogue, unusual syntax, more consonants that the Welsh Language, are present and used effectively. There have been times where John Smith could be accused of being almost wilfully obscure, cryptic and resorting to psychobabble.

Smith reigns in his excesses here and what writes is evocative, stirring and in places affecting and unsettling. Whilst not directly tied into the “Smithverse” of “Indigo Prime” and “Tyranny Rex”, there are nods and references.

From TPO : John Smith” I haven’t read Firekind in years but remember it as being very verbose, very worthy and purple prose let’s discuss alien biology and sociology and stuff. I probably tried to be a bit too clever with it, especially in the early episodes before it all turns into one big kick arse fight”

The undervalued Paul Marshall produces some of the best work of his career, elegant figure work and dandy (not the comic) ish costume design, vibrant alien life, line work so clean you could eat your dinner off it, and some wonderful and awe inspiring shots of the magnificent Kesheen and beautiful double page spreads.

Sadly, an editorial gaffe, blamed on tight deadlines, led to part 7 of the strip being omitted from the run, part 8 being run instead. Part 7 was published after the rest of the strip was run. The omission made the story difficult to read, but not impossible – particularly if you were used to some of Smith’s more outlandish output.

You could summarise “Firekind” as a “Dances with Wolves/ Dune” eco fable mash up in an elevator pitch. Which funnily enough you could also describe the James Cameron directed “Avatar”. Firekind was published 16 years before the release of the latter, and is far more satisfying, sensitive and not reliant on macho techno fetishism, faux spirituality or CGI overkill.

It’s only been collected once, as issue 8 of 2000AD Extreme Edition, Tharg’s early noughties reprint title. It’s due a collection now, perhaps with work of a similar nature, such as Smith & Marshall’s “Leatherjack”, perhaps in a volume of “2000AD : The Ultimate Collection”. Unbelieveably, this strip is now 27 years old and they haven’t produced a sequel – which is right and proper. To add anything more would diminish it.

In amongst the detritus of the ’90s Smith & Marshall produced some of their best ever work. A hard sci fi epic, whose plot was replicated by James Cameron in a huge multi million dollar budget film that was frankly a bit shit – no matter what my kids say.

Smith’s ambitions didn’t help with 2000ADs identity crisis. Cerebral, thought provoking, and occasionally downright confusing, Smith’s work was an oasis in the creative desert that was “Timehouse”, “Harlem Heroes”, “Chronos Carnival”,”Mother Earth” et al. What he and Marshall did deliver was one of the unsung classic strips of 2000AD.

Where to get it :

Progs 828 – 840

2000AD Extreme Edition 8

Further Reading :

Thrill-Power Overload :Thirty Years of 2000AD By David Bishop & Karl Stock. Published by Rebellion

Thrill-Power Overload : Forty Years of 2000AD, Revised & Expanded By David Bishop & Karl Stock. Published by Rebellion

Turn & Face The Strange. Creator Droid John Smith : A Selective Bibliography

Scarab 1-8 DC/Vertigo – A review of the John Smith written series.