A FIREFIGHTER has achieved a burning lifelong ambition by publishing a superhero comic.

Jon Laight, 39, who works as a watch commander at Droitwich fire station, has written Brethren Born – a comic spanning time and space involving universal forces, vengeance and a hero to inspire the world.

And he hopes his work, which is illustrated by artist Philip Knibbs, will be a success and set the comic world alight.

The project became a reality after more than £5,000 was raised from 115 backers via crowd funding website Kickstarter.

Mr Laight, who lives in Redditch, said: “Making the comic has been a dream come true.

“I am very excited about launching Brethren Born after two years of hard work.

“It was quite humbling when I saw how many people were backing the idea via Kickstarter – it has been an amazing experience.”

The firefighter has been a comic fan since an early age but more recently become interested in the writers behind his favourites – and decided to turn one of his “weird and wonderful ideas” into his debut publication.

He teamed up with artist Philip Knibbs, whose work “totally blew away” Mr Laight, and now the pair are preparing for an official launch.

The comic will first be available at Worcester’s Hide N Geek store in Reindeer Court on Saturday, October 10, with Mr Laight present to sign copies.

It will remain exclusively available at the shop until Saturday, October 24, at which point it can be purchased from various comic conventions across the Midlands and online at level8comics.com

An initial run of 500 copies will be printed and future plans will depend on the comic’s sales.

Mr Laight, who has already written the second instalment of his comic series, added: “I will just have to see how things go with this one.

“Hopefully I will get a bit of a fan base together and can take it forward from there.

“A television series and movies is the one in a million pipe dream.”