Fire and Ice were Justice League, the top-tier heroes in the DC Universe. So, what can they do when they’re sent back to the minor league? Your Major Spoilers review of Fire and Ice: Welcome To Smallville #1 from DC Comics awaits!

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FIRE AND ICE: WELCOME TO SMALLVILLE #1

Writer: Joanne Starer
Artist: Natacha Bustos
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Editor: Andrea Shea
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 5, 2023

Previously in Fire and Ice: Welcome To Smallville: Things could not possibly be worse for Fire and Ice, in Beatriz da Costa’s professional opinion. Superman sent the former Justice Leaguers packing for Smallville following an extremely public and utterly disastrous mission (that was all Guy Gardner’s fault, thank you very much) and in doing so doomed them to a fate worse than death: irrelevance!

SMALL-TOWN HEROES

As this issue opens, something terrible has happened in the streets of Smallville, and it’s all Fire’s fault. What’s worse, Ice is ready to read her oldest, dearest friend the riot act as a building burns in the background. We then cut to two weeks earlier, as Fire and Ice arrive in Smallville, a move advised by Superman after a recent brawl with Guy Gardner in Metropolis. Thanks to L-Ron, former majordomo of intergalactic warlord Manga Khan, their lodgings are a recently closed hair salon, one which inspires Tora/Ice to consider a normal life for the very first time. Fire isn’t so sure, so while Ice and Martha Kent work to restart the business, she posts callouts on every social media she can find, with the hashtag #Smallville. When King Shark arrives, Superman makes short work of him, while a defiant Fire calls him out for patronizing his fellow heroes, thinking he’s the “big, strong man.”

Oh, and then she makes a phone call to bring in another villain: Ambush Bug!

SUPERMAN HAS A SECRET IDENTITY AGAIN?

The premise of a couple of big city gals moving to a small town in Kansas is a strong one, so much so that it’s how 80% of the Hallmark movies my wife makes me watch have begun. That said, it feels odd to see Fire being as aggressive and bull-headed as Guy Gardner has ever been, while Ice seems more meek and more lost than at any point in her previous history. (It’s even more dissonant given that the last place we saw them was entangled in a very adult murder mystery in the pages of Human Target.) The art of Natacha Bustos is a fresh take on the DC Universe, reminding me of the deceptive simple graphics of artists like Mike Parobeck and Darwyn Cooke. The coloring is less successful to me, as the pastels almost overwhelm the linework more than once, especially in the case of Fire, whose dark skin and green hair/eyelashes make for a troublesome combination. The final page gag of Ambush Bug remarking that he’d pay Fire to kick his ass was pretty good, but it, too, doesn’t seem to gel with the art style.

BOTTOM LINE: WORTH PAYING ATTENTION TO

All in all, though, Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1 makes an interesting case to keep reading, giving us two complex and distinct characters who play well off one another, with art that’s lively and fun, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. Fire hasn’t looked this good since Adam Hughes’ days on Justice League International, and the idea of a Norwegian ice princess finding her way in the land of wheat fields and Flint Hills is a compelling one, so I’m willing to give this six-issue limited series ’til issue #3 to get its feet.

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