With the city on the brink of conflict between the Rust Bandit gang and the Northern Serenity Police Department, young officer Maxine Rubin is forced to make decisions that encompass the safety of the city, her lust for revenge, and a vision of 'justice' that... isn't all that just.
Welcome to FireStarter! Read the first chapter titled: Kindling here!
Maxine Rubin of the NSPD
A fiery police officer trying to uphold her vision of justice in the face of corruption and deadly violence...
A young man pulled into a deadly situation he never signed up for...
A Commissioner trying to balance justice with politics...
A Governor backstabbing everyone to keep his slipping grip on power...
A deranged killer fanning the flames of war by taking victims...
An innocent mother and daughter caught in the crossfire...
Placed together, sparking the tensions between the major players of Northern Serenity becomes almost inevitable.
These people will be the FIRESTARTER for the future of Northern Serenity!
A Branch of the Serenity Saga!
FireStarter is a story set in the Serenity saga. ('Serenity' is the name of every story that takes place on the islands of Serenity - this includes the Heroine Rises and FireStarter storylines.) FireStarter is a story that focuses on Maxine Rubin as the main character.
This series takes place after the events of the first three arcs of Heroine Rises (which usually has Madeline Harbour as the main character.)
Heroine Rises is a long-running story that still will remain the 'main' storyline of the Serenity Saga. FireStarter has a well-defined beginning, middle, and end. This means that the story will have around 10-15 chapters when it is finished, depending on how long I choose to make the next chapters. Think of FireStarter as a 'side-story', one where we still have the same world as Heroine Rises but are exploring it through a different set of eyes and with a much different experience.
Again, I decided to branch off from Heroine Rises to tell this story because:
1. Maxine is one of my favorite characters and I've been too slow in the production of Heroine Rises to get to the chapters that flesh out her character.
2. Madeline's character and story are not focused on the gangs as the main antagonists until the next arc - which is still a ways off. I'd like to tell some stories to flesh out the gangs.
3. I wanted to see if I could write a better story if I started with a smaller scope.
I hope you enjoy the story and find the first chapter compelling enough to warrant the long waits!
Production Notes
I tried to change up the style to be more 'noir' (see image above) but I found myself falling into old habits again. I decided to evolve my Heroine Rises style to take it a bit more into 'manga' territory. As you can see, I used screentones and a slightly different approach to inking. I allowed myself to be more 'free' and that's why you'll notice some panels where hair is rendered in the normal 'Heroine Rises' style, and in others it's a simple fill. I went with what I felt worked best for the panel/flow of the page.
I played with adding a touch of color and that will stay consistent throughout FireStarter - as it is something I wanted to be a part of it's style from Day 1.
Screentoning might come to Heroine Rises but in a more reduced manner, since this style takes a long time and trying this style of shading on Heroine Rises will simply increase the already long waits between chapters. I might take a new approach to hair in Heroine Rises so black hair appears more like Yuri Maximillian, but where I will render out the hair as I do now in more 'fine' panels. We'll see - I want to retain the style without simplifying it too much but I don't want to spend 1000 years to see my projects done. Cuts have to be made somewhere. Speaking of Heroine Rises...
Upcoming Projects
What's next?
I have frameworks for the next two chapters of FireStarter. The next two chapters are titled Snuffed and Embers respectively. Snuffed in particular is already scripted and storyboarded out so I could just jump straight into it.
However, I still have unfinished business with Heroine Rises. The final chapter of my remaster project : Chapter 7: The Daughter of the NSPD is still stuck in limbo. Pencils and lettering is done but only half of the pages are inked. I might just finish it next to get it out of the way.
Also, I have to finish telling the story of Heroine Rises, so I could finish up HR13: The Issue with Mothers which has also been stuck where it stopped for the past year.
I think I'll finish up the remaster project and then we'll see if I feel up for more Heroine Rises or FireStarter.
Until then!