Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville

[Hypo]

I'm surprised with how many people he's shared it with in the first place. I don't know how close he is to Fire and Ice. It makes me wonder who he hasn't shared it with.

Well this would be post him revealing his identity to the entire world in the Bendis run - they put the genie back in the bottle in Action Comics #1050 but as mentioned the JL, JL reserves and Titans were not affected due to the psychic shielding.

[juan678]

FIRE & ICE: WELCOME TO SMALLVILLE #5

Written by JOANNE STARER

Art by NATACHA BUSTOS

Cover by TERRY DODSON

Variant cover by STJEPAN ŠEJIĆ

1:25 variant cover by BRANDT & STEIN

$3.99 US | 32 pages | 5 of 6 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)

ON SALE 1/2/24

Fire and Ice’s salon has gone up in flames, and Smallville doesn’t seem far behind it. The villains in residence grow restless for bedlam and a better payday than they’ve had access to since joining Fire’s “rehabilitation program,” and even the locals have got a strange, almost possessed gleam in their eyes these days…

[Frontier]

Ice is shocked at L-Ron crushing on Fire ?

Curious to see who the mastermind is.

[Hypo]

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #2 Preview
Writer: Joanne Starer
Artist: Natacha Bustos

[Frontier]

Wow, this mini is really not flattering to Fire characterization-wise.

So is the jealousy over Rocky like Fire being jealous over Guy or Ice trying to replace Fire with a new BFF?

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Haven't read this but it sounds like the writer is trying to imply some sort of "gay subtext is rapidly becoming text" element to Fire and Ice's friendship.

[Frontier]

Haven't read this but it sounds like the writer is trying to imply some sort of "gay subtext is rapidly becoming text" element to Fire and Ice's friendship.

I don't get that sense, they feel firmly as a friendship here, though I'm wondering if she's going to have Ice starting a relationship with a female supporting cast character.

[Eskana]

I don't get that sense, they feel firmly as a friendship here, though I'm wondering if she's going to have Ice starting a relationship with a female supporting cast character.

That's the direction I feel like it's going to go. In 2023, we can't just have a book about two female best friends. I definitely feel like, since they probably aren't going to have them be a couple, they will probably have they will just have Fire or Ice be gay with someone else. And since we've only met female characters in this town, it's more and more likely.
Although, if they do Tora, that will NOT help the confusion with Sigrid/Ice Maiden/Glacier.

[Frontier]

Issue #2:

spoilers:

If the first issue didn't win you over, then this second one probably won't because it's very much continuing off the first issue. Fire still comes off like a glory-hound and not a particularly intelligent one. Ice is still perpetually frustrated with Fire and seems like she wants to do more saving and helping people than crime-fighting...even if she's the one who got violent in the end. I wonder if they might turn things around on both girls in the end. Their new hire continues to make white women jokes and just make sassy comments. It is kind of funny how both ladies end up befriending redheaded siblings without knowing it. I only wonder if they'll end up in bed with both of them too. Oh and then another redhead shows up at the end with Jimmy. I never expected to see Gentleman Ghosts' inability to have sex with virgins come up and Maxie Zeus to say "boobies." It would be kind of funny if Fire's attempt to redeem these goofy villains through a reality show somehow ends up working.

end of spoilers

[Rakzo]

I thought this was fun. The new girl who works alongside Fire and Ice is still annoying as hell but fortunately her appearances are more limited. The humour works for the most part and do dig the dynamic between Fire and Ice although I'm not sure if I dig the idea of the Lesbian subtext because it brings weird memories from the JLA era of Gerard Jones (and I don't think most of us want to remember a lot of Gerard Jones), not to mention that if they make Tora Bi I can't help but feel sorry for Sigrid Nansen since that was what made her different from Tora, girl just can't catch a break.

Art was cute too. I like the book as a whole.

[RAWRlrus]

I enjoyed the issue. I hope there's some background reason why Bea is acting like this though.

[Digifiend]

That's the direction I feel like it's going to go. In 2023, we can't just have a book about two female best friends. I definitely feel like, since they probably aren't going to have them be a couple, they will probably have they will just have Fire or Ice be gay with someone else. And since we've only met female characters in this town, it's more and more likely.
Although, if they do Tora, that will NOT help the confusion with Sigrid/Ice Maiden/Glacier.

Icemaiden? Isn't that Tora's original codename? So despite being rarely used, she has a legacy character?

[RAWRlrus]

Icemaiden? Isn't that Tora's original codename? So despite being rarely used, she has a legacy character?

I might be misremembering some info but IIRC both Green Fury and Icemaiden were minor characters in Super Friends with super limited backstories. When they got added to JLI they got Bea's name right but created Tora instead of using Sigrid. Since then there have been some attempts to explain how Bea was a on a team and friends with two ice powered women with white hair, blue costumes and the same codename.

[Rakzo]

Icemaiden? Isn't that Tora's original codename? So despite being rarely used, she has a legacy character?

Not exactly. Sigrid Nansen was the first character to use the name Icemaiden in an out of continuity series but when the Global Guardians were incorporated into the JLI, that name was changed to Tora Olafsdotter. However, when Tora died in the 90s, that left the door open for Sigrid to return, appropriately retconning that people simply forgot about her because Tora was just much more memorable and then Gerard Jones built a semi-romantic dynamic with Fire which added a strange layer to her original relationship with Tora (Don't get me wrong, I think there was something interesting to develop here, Jones' ideas were often weird and intriguing but at the same time, I don't want to revisit those ideas much after what we learned about Jones himself).

[Eskana]

Issue #2:

spoilers:

If the first issue didn't win you over, then this second one probably won't because it's very much continuing off the first issue. Fire still comes off like a glory-hound and not a particularly intelligent one. Ice is still perpetually frustrated with Fire and seems like she wants to do more saving and helping people than crime-fighting...even if she's the one who got violent in the end. I wonder if they might turn things around on both girls in the end. Their new hire continues to make white women jokes and just make sassy comments. It is kind of funny how both ladies end up befriending redheaded siblings without knowing it. I only wonder if they'll end up in bed with both of them too. Oh and then another redhead shows up at the end with Jimmy. It would be kind of funny if Fire's attempt to redeem these goofy villains through a reality show somehow ends up working.

end of spoilers

I would definitely agree with most of this. This series is not doing Fire any favors... she still comes off as a female version of Booster when he is fame-hungry. She is acting very nonsensically, immaturely, and seems to just be throwing any moral integrity out the window. I don't mind the more fun version of Bea, which is truer to her old self in the JLI-days, but let's not forget that she WAS in Checkmate, and yes... killed people by burning them to death because she was blackmailed by Amanda Waller.

... not that this series is especially trying to stay with continuity, but hey...

On the other hand, I think Ice is doing well here. She's one character that I always did wonder about... she seemed so nice and gentle, so why was fighting her go-to response? I think it would be cool if she got some kind of civilian side-job, like a nurse or something. She could still fight/defend on the side. I honestly think some progression with her would be good. Fire has gotten a lot more while Tora was dead (even if it's currently being ignored). Is it too much to hope that this series might give Ice some character growth?

As far as the rest of the cast- not a fan, especially the girl who works with them. Other than the bright side with Ice, I feel like this book is turning into some kind of amalgam of "Blue and Gold" and "One-Star Squadron." I just hope it doesn't damage Fire and Ice's reputations.