REVIEW: Fire & Ice: Welcome To Smallville #1

Fire & Ice: Welcome To Smallville #1 is finally here and it is so great to see these underrated superheroines return to comics. They were on the Justice League team that tried standing against Doomsday when he attacked Metropolis for the first time. While their mainstream appearances have been sporadic over the years, Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville serves as their reintroduction during the Dawn of DC with heart and humor. 

Terry and Rachel Dodson have done some great renditions of Supergirl, so Beatriz and Tora fit their style really nicely with blushy and warm faces. It almost seems to reference American Gothic with the farmhouse in the Smallville background and Fire holding the pitchfork. This is one of those covers with no exaggerations and advertises what exactly is going on in the book – Fire and Ice in Superman’s hometown.

Amanda Connor also doesn’t exaggerate much with her variant cover, she takes the “it’s funny because it’s true” approach with a guest appearance from Superman – who looks like he caught Fire flossing while Ice is embarrassed. What makes this cover is all the things that the “Big Adventures in Smallville” promises – punch and punches are some fun wordplay and pecking raises some questions. The petulant local being a cow is chuckle-worthy too. Connor’s art has always had a little cartoon influence that lets readers know they are about to have a good time. 

Kevin Maguire brings Fire and Ice back to their Justice League International roots with his variant. In fact, he was one of the original artists on the series when they debuted, so it comes full circle. The heading is all there but tailored to the new series with all the typeface and older DC logo. It’s a bit of a humorous one too with Fire’s rhetorical question being answered by the complete lack of a background. Maguire uses really smooth textures here and both Fire and Ice feel like they pop with the blank space. 

Other unique variant covers showcasing Fire and Ice are done by David Nakayama and Jen Bartel. 

After a botched mission with Justice League International (in the Power Girl Special issue), Beatriz de Costa and Tora Olafsdotter are relocated to Smallville by Superman, who apparently oversees the team’s operations. Fire had thrown hands with Guy Gardner – she wasn’t the first and she’ll not be the last. Rather than staying on the Kent farm, they get a space in the local beauty spa and parlor. Ice is pleased with the change of environment and wants to use this time to reflect and get better while Fire just wants to get out on the front lines with the other superheroes of DC. Helping them during their stay are L-Ron (a robot butler from the Fortress of Solitude), Martha Kent, and Tamarind (a stylist they bring on in order to get the salon up and running again). 

What follows is a quirky and heartfelt starting point for Fire and Ice’s Smallville adventures. This may also be one of the few times that we’ve seen them not be on the same page in terms of what they want. Ice falls right into Smallville as she spends time with Martha and expresses her desire to perhaps lead a normal life. Meanwhile, Fire gets right into putting herself out there as a superhero in a world that she feels turned its back on her.

Joanne Starer is an up-and-coming writer in comics. The work she’s done for Archie Comics really shows here with her down-to-earth storytelling and humor. Writing this series is also a big undertaking in its own right because this is how a new bunch of readers will get acquainted or reacquainted with Fire and Ice in the mainline DC Universe and she does this in a unique way for superhero books. There’s not a whole lot of action in this issue and there’s no overarching threat, but as it would happen, humor really is the best way to explore their situation. Letters are done by Ariana Maher. 

Natacha Bustos has a very warm art style – like a cozy webcomic. Some comic writing and art go hand-in-hand and this is one of those cases. There are some interesting subtle details too like how Ice is always drawn more laid back and happy while Fire is drawn more aloof and angry. Colors are done by Tamra Bonvillain, and it’s always interesting to see a colorist you’re familiar with working on another series. Bonvillain uses smoother textures here in her coloring compared to World’s Finest. 

At its core, Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1 feels like it will be a story about escaping obscurity amid all the humor and heart, which many fans believe that they had a long time coming for these characters.