Saturday, November 26, 2016

Frostbite #3 Review and *Spoilers*


Mad Max, On Ice

Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Jason Shawn Alexander, Luis NCT
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 23, 2016
Review By: Christian Faulds

*Non-spoilers and score at the bottom*

So this series has been pretty interesting. Joshua Williamson does know his tropes and trappings of post-apocalypse and has kep the book interesting. There characters are entertaining and now they are together on a road trip. Will they get on each other’s nerves? Will Victoria find out that the person transporting her killed her father? Will Joshua say the characters names more often so I can remember them? Will I ever find a better way to write the beginning paragraphs for these reviews? Probably not, but let's dig in. 



We start off in Los Angeles, where it is a warm and cozy nine degrees Fahrenheit. Two mooks are talking to each other. They are talking about how Victoria and her transporters had gotten away in last issue. They start undressing and get down to their skivvies to talk to their boss. Who is Boss Burns. I wonder if his first name is Montgomery. They enter his steam apartment, and Burns starts off saying “I’ve already heard about your colossal fuckups as of late”. Burns is not amused. 

Fuego and his buddy are give Burns their report. He tells Burns that wherever she is headed they will get her. Then Fuego's partner speaks up. He says “the word is out, people know we’ll pay big bucks for her alive”. Burns takes umbrage at this since he is the one putting up the money. Fuego just says “shit”. His partner tries to amend his faux pas but Burns isn’t having it. He takes the guys face and puts it in the sauna water. While Burns painfully kills this man he monologues. He reveals he has frostbite. That is why he needs Victoria. 



He tells Fuego he can take the Titanic. He needs his cure. Fuego says that Victoria and whoever is helping her are dead in the ice, instead of the old colloquium dead in the water. Before Fuego leaves Burns asks him a question, did Victoria have her father with her. Fuego says no he died in Mexico. Fuego says it looks like he died during the shoot out. Burns asks “looks like”. Fuego says something didn’t sit right with him. Burns asks him to find send a team to find out exactly what happened. 

Next we go to Keaton, Barlow, and Victoria’s road trip. Keaton is trying to get Barlow to rest, he can’t keep going like this. Barlow reveals he named the vehicle the Snow Bunny. Barlow says since they are on thin ice he can't rest. Keaton explains the meaning of thin ice, it means that there is nothing in the area. It is called thin ice because if anything goes wrong you’re fucked. Keaton takes some of her pain pills. Victoria asks to look at her injury and Keaton is a bitch about it. Victoria, being nice tries to convince Keaton to let her look at it when Boom. They get hit. 



Keaton asks if the police found them. Barlow says worse, the Snow Queens and Firemen. The Snow Queens worship a goddess of winter and they sacrifice people so the winter never ends. Gelda their leader doesn’t like Keaton. The Firemen like to burn things. They take more of a Fahrenheit 451 approach to the word fireman. Keaton says if they are working together then the bounty must be really high. She grabs her simper rifle and asks Barlow to drive straight for a bit. Keaton asks Victoria to come up with her since they probably need Victoria alive. 

Keaton then pulls out her sniper rifle on top of the Snow Bunny and starts shooting the firemen in the head. This blows them up. Victoria asks how Keaton can see in the snow. “Practice” she answers. Keaton thinks that will keep the Snow Queens from tailgating and keeps shooting. It does not. In they get really close and Gelda jumps off with her spear in hand to attack Keaton. She asks Keaton to step aside and if she does she will be granted a death she deserves. Victoria says she won’t go with Gelda. Then throws Gelda of the Snow Bunny. 



Then the Snow Queens vehicle hits the Snow Bunny’s heat pulsar. The engine is about to die and not wanting to be captured alive by the Snow Queens since they do something special to the men, Barlow tells Keaton she’ll have to go on her own from now on. She falls off and Barlow rams the Snow Queen’s vehicle and dies in a blaze of glory. Keaton is horribly saddened by this. 

Then gelda come up from behind with a sniper rifle and Keaton begs her to kill her. As she does this Victoria comes from behind and spears Gelda. Victoria having never killed before feels really bad about doing that. Keaton reassures her it was the right thing to do and the book ends with them walking in the blizzard. 


Bits and Pieces:

This issue was a bit of a down turn for me. I don’t know what exactly made it this way. The story has slowed down a bit and the veneer of this world has begun to wear off. However, it is still a good story and the action fest in the middle was good even if it had been done already by Mad Max: The Road Warrior and Mad Max: Fury Road. I still enjoy it and I don't know what we will get next issue, maybe it will become more survival horror? Anyway I give this issue a…



7.5/10

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