Back in 2019, Mark Waid and a bunch of other creators re-launched Humanoids, an independent publisher that had been around since the 1970s and had once been the publisher of Heavy Metal and other magazines and creator-owned comics. This was a push for creator-owned superhero books, and the “event” that got it started was 2019’s Free Comic Book Day special, titled “Ignition,” a comic book that featured a “big bang event” for several new heroes/characters.

I had seen some advertisements in Previews prior to the issue and it looked interesting, but didn’t put anything on my pull list until I read the FCBD special, and the title that Humanoids was putting out that piqued my interest the most was called Ignited, about a group of six survivors of a school shooting who wind up with super powers. I bought the title for its first eight issues. Then, the pandemic hit, and it seemed like the title was put completely on hold or might have been canceled because I never saw it solicited in Previews again. I filed the books away and then put them in my re-read pile.

So I just read all nine comics that I had–the special and the eight issues of Ignited. The book is written by Mark Waid and Kwanza Osajyefo with art by Phil Briones, and like I said is about six students at a Phoenix high school who all survived a school shooting, during which they all gained powers. Said powers came during a moment of high adrenaline and crisis; they saw some sort of strange light and suddenly each had a unique reaction. In other words, each got a unique set of powers, from being able to manipulate emotions to having the power to heal or give someone a disease to becoming a being of pure digital energy. When the book opens, it’s been a few months since the shooting, the school year is starting, and there is an ongoing media fight between the parents, school board, and an Alex Jones-type radio host. The kids, obviously, are caught in the middle.

The events that happen have to do with gun protests, efforts by a militia group to arm teachers and other community members, and other efforts of the far right to smear the surviving kids as “crisis actors.” But there’s one mystery: how did they get their powers, who is the mysterious “grief counselor” whom they all met with but can’t seem to remember or find, and who seems to be out to expose their secret identities?

Inside eight issues, there’s a well-written story that is not afraid to take a clear position regarding a topical issue and is also not afraid to take on the sentiments of comicsgate and others who have been very eager to spread opinions that are hateful. The villains of the piece spout the same rhetoric I’ve seen in forums and videos (and in some cases on podcasts that I’ve dropped), and Waid and Osajyefo go right for a critical representation of them rather than a satirical one. And I have to say that I appreciated how they did not pull their punches on the politics of the story.

By the end of issue #8, the heroes have actually been exposed (or “doxxed”) and are on the run; however, that book came out in the spring of 2020 and the book then went on an extended hiatus. Having not seen it at all, I figured that it was more or less canceled, a victim of the pandemic (much like Titan Comics’ Robotech Remix). But as I finished that issue, I decided to investigate whether or not the series did continue. If it did, it should have been on my pull list, right?

Well … I guess it wasn’t.

A quick look at Humanoids’ website showed that Ignited had two more issues, both published in 2021, but both of which were written solely by Waid without Osajyefo (who had gone on to other projects). I’m not sure what happened behind the scenes, but I trusted Waid as a writer and figured that two issues to finish things out were worth reading on Comixology. They begin with the kids on the run and looking for Dr. Zhao, the “grief counselor” who seemed to manipulate them when they got their powers. She winds up catching them in order to enact her endgame.

Which is … well …

In the end, Ignited runs into a problem that I’ve seen with quite a few limited/miniseries from independent creators and companies: the ending feels like it was written because it needed to be there. In fact, the last issue feels a little rushed and I wonder if the original idea for the ending was something different.

I know the series is available digitally through Comixology (if you want to put up with their b.s.) and there’s an omnibus somewhere (at least a digital one). Despite the disappointing ending, it’s still worth checking out and I would recommend grabbing it if you see it on the cheap. As for me, I’m not holding onto it.

Keep, Sell, Donate, or Trash?

Sell/Donate.