''Firekind'' was a comic strip published in the British weekly

anthology comic A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication to co ...

'' 2000 AD'' for 13 issues in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. It was written by John Smith, with art by Paul Marshall.

Publication history

''Firekind'' came about as part of the "Spring Fever" promotion at ''2000 AD'' after a change in distribution saw a big drop-off in sales. The assistant editor Alan McKenzie had contacted John Smith and suggested he might want to write a story involving dragons to make up for the lack of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

in the comic. According to Smith: The story was originally serialised in '' 2000 AD'' from issues #828 to #840. Part 7, however, which should have appeared in issue #834, was accidentally omitted. According to John Tomlinson, another assistant editor: Paul Marshall spotted the error but the production staff were running sufficiently far-ahead that they were putting together issue #839 and the missing episode had to be run after the final installment. The story was entirely reprinted in its proper order in ''2000 AD'' ''Extreme Edition'' #8 (2005) and '' 2000 AD: The Ultimate Collection'' #82 (2020).

Plot synopsis

The self-contained story concerns a human xeno-

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

named Larsen who travels to the alien

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

planet Gennyo-Leil whose

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

is a

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

hallucinogen Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mo ...

. Though he initially gains the inhabitants' trust, his mission is compromised by the arrival of a merciless gang of

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

poacher / torturers. But Gennyo-Leil is not without defences...

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

's film ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

'', released sixteen years later, has a number of similarities with ''Firekind''.. (Archived by WebCite® at )

Notes

References

''Firekind''
at Barney * Bishop, David '' Thrill-Power Overload'' (

Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...

, 260 pages, hardcover, February 2007, ) {{Refend 1993 comics debuts 1993 comics endings Fantasy comics Science fiction comics Comics by John Smith (comics writer) Comics about dragons