Warning: Spoilers for Dark Places: Wildfire #1!
Award-winning writer Scott Snyder has worked on numerous unique and inventive comic projects outside of his IDW Publishing's Dark Places: Wildfire #1, the first issue in a chilling anthology series focusing on self-contained stories about characters committing dark deeds with even darker motives.
The first issue to release under IDW Publishing’s IDW Originals banner, Dark Places: Wildfire #1, written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Hayden Sherman, follows Crew 513, a group of five female convicts from California’s Forestry Firefighter Program, as they work towards eliminate a raging fire that, after six weeks of burning, shows no signs of stopping. Set against the backdrop of the smoldering hills of California, Dark Places: Wildfire #1 immediately hits the ground running with a story that expertly pulls readers along in a way that’s classic Scott Snyder.
Full of rich character-driven moments, short glimpses of scarred pasts, and the ever-looming threat that is the wildfire, Snyder not only gives readers a unique setting in which to tell a story but along with a quintet of realistic and intriguing characters, delivers one doozy of a hook on top of it. Detailing a plan that would see Crew 513 abandon their firefighting duties to hunt riches within a nearby mansion set to burn up in the encroaching flames, Snyder sets up a ticking time bomb of a heist story that will either break Crew 513 free from their shackled lives or damn them to the very flames they’re trying to fight.
But no script is complete without the right visuals to sell it, and award-winning artist Hayden Sherman skillfully rises to the challenge. Giving his layouts a kinetic, almost cinematic feel, Sherman plays with the sense of scale of the wildfire perfectly while laying his art out in a way that captures the spirit of Snyder’s script beautifully. Whether emphasizing the personalities of each firefighter, showing literal slivers of moments from one of their pasts, or simply drawing the burning flames in a way that awes as well as terrifies, Sherman nails the look needed to sell a book like this and makes it look easy to boot.
Not to be outdone by pitch-perfect talents like Scott Snyder and Hayden Sherman handling scripting and art duties, colorist Ronda Pattison excels at heightening the sense of the oppressive heat and creeping danger that Sherman lays out on the page. Using single colors like orange, blue, or red to visually communicate Snyder’s subtext during a conversation, the constant threat burning its way towards Crew 513, or the few flashbacks that color our understanding of our leads, Pattison elevates already great material in ways that need to be recognized.
So as Crew 513 dives headfirst into the flames to try and steal a new life for themselves, this premiere issue rises above the ashes to successfully give readers a gritty Ocean’s Eleven mixed with the rich contemplation of Firewatch and a kind of visual flair that only the medium of comic books can provide. Dark Places: Wildfire #1 is a great start to a book that’s dripping with intrigue and danger, so let’s hope this high quality continues throughout its limited six-issue run.
Dark Places: Wildfire #1 is now available from IDW Publishing.
