Rhythm and flames: Franklin Jonas on ‘Fireborn,’ ‘Lost Fantasy,’ and his comics debut

There is a moment early in Fireborn #1 where everything comes together. A reckless rich kid with no direction suddenly becomes the center of something so much bigger, something dangerous, something impossible to control. It is chaotic, loud, and charged with energy. It feels a lot like the circumstances that brought co-writer Franklin Jonas into comics in the first place.

“This is a dream come true,” Jonas said over Zoom while traveling to his next gig in Las Vegas. “I’ve always wanted to do an interview about a comic that I’ve written.”

That excitement runs through Fireborn, a new Image Comics series co-written with Curt Pires and set in the expanding Lost Fantasy universe. The first issue (which arrives April 15, and with final orders closing on March 23), and it wastes no time throwing readers into a high-speed collision of fantasy, superhero storytelling, and raw character dysfunction.

At the center of it all is Aaron Hillburg, a “rich-kid failson” whose life of avoidance and resentment is upended when a floating dragon egg bonds to him, unlocking ancient magic and also firmly planting a target on his back. Every outlaw wizard and supernatural warlord suddenly wants him dead.

For Jonas, entering Pires’ established world could have been intimidating. Instead, it became an opportunity to go big.

“I found it easy to find my voice,” Jonas explained. “It was really difficult reining it in. I had so many ideas. I was exploding with excitement and joy to be asked to do something like this.”

That dynamic became the foundation of the larger collaboration. Jonas brought a flood of ideas, and Pires helped shape them into something cohesive.

“He took the more professional route and let me list off hours and hours of ideas,” Jonas said with a laugh.

Writing Comics Like a Song

Jonas’ background in music and acting plays a major role in how Fireborn moves. (He voiced Sōsuke in 2008’s Ponyo English dub.) The first issue has a noticeable rhythm, building momentum before returning in a method that appears deliberate and controlled.

“I was really set on, at this point, we need to have that chorus,” Jonas said. “I wanted it to feel like it had a flow to it.”

That sense of pacing comes from years of performing and working with scripts as an actor. Even while touring, Jonas was writing pages, often in less-than-ideal conditions.

“I was sending script revisions in between tour dates on a tour bus,” he said. “I was staying up in my bunk writing issue #2 in between shows.”

That hustle mirrors the book itself, which rarely slows down. Action sequences hit hard, but they are grounded in character choices that feel messy and human.

Building an Unworthy Hero

As you might’ve guessed already, Aaron is hardly your typical protagonist. He is self-involved, disengaged, and difficult to root for at first glance. That was intentional.

“We wanted a reluctant protagonist that maybe didn’t deserve the situation that he got,” Jonas said. “And pretty quickly, the responsibility of what’s being given to him is experienced.”

The dragon egg, one of the book’s most striking visual elements, reinforces that very idea. It is not just a power source — it’s a burden, a bond, and possibly something much stranger.

“I always had this idea of the egg having some sort of psionic parasitic relationship with its host,” Jonas said. “It’s this defense mechanism to keep itself alive.”

That concept evolved into the book’s high-energy battle suit, a design brought to life by artist Patrick Mulholland.

“That was really all Patrick,” Jonas said. “He came back with the designs, and we were just like, ‘Yeah, this is amazing.’”

Mulholland’s work gives Fireborn its own identity. The manga-inspired action, exaggerated sense of motion, and expressive character work in tandem to amplify the book’s tone, making it feel simultaneously familiar and unpredictable.

From Fan to Scribe

For Jonas, Fireborn is not just another project. It is the result of years of fandom.

“The first comic I was ever given was a Marvel Adventures Spider-Man book,” he said. “I read it over and over again.”

That early spark grew into a deep love for the medium, shaped by events like Fear Itself, the Utopia-era X-Men run, and creator-owned books like The Manhattan Projects.

“That was when I really fell in love with comics,” Jonas said. “That was when I started going every week.”

Like many readers, his tastes were shaped by timing as much as quality.

“There’s always something people hate when it comes out that becomes someone else’s favorite later,” he said. “That was my experience with a lot of those books.”

That perspective carries into Fireborn, which is designed to be accessible while still rewarding longtime readers of Lost Fantasy.

“We wanted a completely easy jumping-on point,” Jonas said. “You can pick up issue one and just go. But if you know Lost Fantasy, there are connections that make it richer.”

Bringing Comics Home

With Fireborn, Jonas is seeing comics from the other side of the table. That includes sharing his work with family members who may not have fully understood the medium before.

“I think they were pretty surprised when they opened up the first Lost Fantasy,” Jonas said. “It was very adult. They were a little surprised.”

At the same time, Jonas has embraced the chance to share comics across generations, especially with younger family members.

“I always bring my nieces comics,” he said. “One of them loves Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. She only wants Moon Girl. No Spider-Man, nothing else.”

That contrast, between adult storytelling and all-ages discovery, reflects the full range of what comics can offer, something Jonas is clearly excited to share with the people closest to him.

From Tour Bus to Comic Shop

Even as Jonas balances music and comics, it is clear where his priorities are heading.

“There is a folder of documents I’ve been working on for my whole life,” he said. “If all goes according to plan, I will be writing comics long after I’m done making music.”

Jonas is already thinking beyond this series, imagining future projects and even potential runs on established characters.

“I like the weird stuff,” he said. “JSA would be a dream. Something a little off the beaten path.”

For now, though, the focus is on Aaron Hillburg and the chaos surrounding him. He’s very much a character who starts as a punchline but quickly becomes something more complicated.

And if that complexity mirrors Jonas’ own journey into comics, that feels fitting.

Because Fireborn is not just about power or spectacle. It is about what happens when someone unprepared is forced to face something bigger than themselves. Or, as Jonas might put it, finding the rhythm in the chaos.

Fireborn #1 lands in comic shops on April 15