Another day, another hot date. Firefighter Rosheen Hayes takes her relationships with conflagration seriously, whether it’s the trigger-happy burn victim with his sights on her partner or a chance encounter igniting memories of arson at the orphanage. But is she the super-sleuth fire-whisperer or twisted firestarter?

Reading the first issue by Si Spencer I had the idea in the back in my mind that Rosheen might not just be a firefighter, but also a firestarter. That’s spoiled (doesn’t hurt the story) in the description about the series, and also towards the end, but it doesn’t matter knowing or not knowing that going in. The comic is written that well that it works even knowing the comic’s “twist.”

Slash & Burn #1 is poetic in a way in how it’s written by Spencer. The way he has Rosheen talk about the fire and what she does is fascinating in how it’s depicted. I can’t think of what to compare it to, or how to describe it other than poetic, but it’s just a great read.

To warn folks, there’s not a ton action wise that happens in this comic. It’s very much a character driven story, and reminds me most of something you might see on AMC. It’s not about the action, it’s about the characters, and so far each is unique and interesting.

Spencer is helped by Ande Parks and Max Dunbar on the art who together feel very much like a Vertigo comic. That’s not a bad thing at all, but with a lot of their releases there’s often a unifying look at times, almost like a “house style” for the art. Even within that, Dunbar and Parks have each character unique in their look and style.

I have to give a special shout out to artist Tula Lotay whose cover (up to the left) is one of the most eye catching of the ones I’ve seen this week.

This first issue really caught me off guard in a good way. The comic is really interesting due to the characters and the art. It’s something that I got to the end of, and immediately wanted to read more. It’s just a good comic that focuses on characters, not flash, and excels because of that.

Story: Si Spencer Art: Ande Parks, Max Dunbar Cover: Tula Lotay
Story: 8.65 Art: 8.15 Overall: 8.55 Recommendation: Buy

Vertigo provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review