Art by: Natacha Bustos
Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters by: Arian Maher
Cover art by: Terry Dodson
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: November 8, 2023
Fire & Ice: Welcome To Smallville #3 turns up the silly hijinks when Jimmy Olsen arrives to do a human interest article on Bea's "second chances" program.
Is Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #3 Good?
The recurring question that keeps coming up when you read Fire & Ice: Welcome To Smallville #3 is "Who is this for?" The question is as inescapable as the answer is elusive. Joanne Starer's slapstick plot and infantile character development certainly won't appeal to established JLI fans, and the characters + setting won't make sense for new or casual readers, so who is the intended target audience?
When last we left the titular duo, Bea concocted a reckless scheme to bring low-tier villains to Smallville to participate in a "second chances" reality show, all in the name of generating attention for Bea at the expense of the public's safety. When the reality show quickly devolves into chaos, Jimmy Olsen shows up to write a human interest piece on Bea's experiment.
Now, Roxy keeps Jimmy distracted with turtle talk while Ice tries to keep the villains distracted or behaved, and Bea falls apart (again) in a flood of regret and self-doubt. Amazingly, Jimmy's visit ends without anyone getting killed, but a last-minute exposure to a herd of cats transforms Jimmy into a giant turtle. Just when things can't get any worse, Lot's Wife eats Beefeater(???)
Chaotic, nonsensical, obnoxious, unfunny, and more. Starer's script suffers from a lack of purpose and sense, so the opportunity to focus on Ice & Fire as distinctive characters with a shot at getting elevated to the limelight is wasted. It would be different if Bea went to extremes to do good deeds that turned out wrong or if Ice viewed their joint timeout by Superman as a sign of toxicity that needed to be worked out in their partnership. Instead, you get a plot with all the depth and charm of a bad middle-school talent show skit filled with self-absorbed mean girls and bathroom confessionals.
When we say comics need to be serious, we don't mean the tone or themes need to be serious. We mean the creators need to take their craft seriously. Nobody behind this comic is taking their craft seriously.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
Fire & Ice: Welcome To Smallville #3 is tone-deaf, unfunny, chaotic mess of a comic. The main characters are increasingly unlikable, the plot lacks sense and purpose, and the mediocre art is uninspired.
3/10
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