Curt Pires talks Lost Fantasy, upcoming Fireborn, Kickstarter for The Objectivist, and 51?

March 8, 2026·52 min·3 clips

Well, everyone, welcome to World at Work Comics. I'm very excited. To have creator, writer, producer

Kurt Pires arrives sore but in good spirits. He says he tore his bicep after a rough couple days, then settles into the comics talk without making much fuss about it. The host comes at him as a reader, asking how Pires can suddenly seem to have his name on several titles when the shelves and announcements all hit close together. Pires gives the plain answer: he works ahead. A lot of this material was built over time, so the public release burst looks busier than the actual production calendar. Fireborn turns into the live shop question. Pires wants readers to notice the character design, while the host reacts like someone standing at the comics counter: sometimes a book just looks dope. Then the conversation gets into the money-and-shelf weirdness around indie comics right now. Pires says 51 is already showing up on eBay for about 30 bucks before it even sells the next week, which makes the heat around the book feel exciting and a little ridiculous. Preorders are the useful part, not just promo noise. If readers want Fireborn without chasing a marked-up copy later, they still have a couple weeks to lock it in. The host backs that up by pointing to other Image titles that get hot fast, including books he has seen people buy four or five at a time to resell. That is great for sales, but it can leave regular readers staring at an empty shelf. Pull lists become the real survival tip. The host keeps coming back to the simple habit behind the frenzy: put the book on a pull list if you actually want to read it. The ending stays loose and friendly, with thanks for Pires powering through the injury, a future return once more issues are out, chat thanks, and a stray ad-copy fragment at the end.

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