I’m late replying because I bought a buck copy of Fury o’ Firestotehnukemn #21 from a crappy comic shop that was super close to me but I hated the atmosphere so much I refused to go there and now would drive back to the old neighborhood just to dance on the grave of their strip mall junk heap. They were seriously everything wrong with comic shops and fandom. Anyhow, I read the book and liked it pretty well. Killer Frost is an awesome pioneering villain and the book seemed to step up whenever she was around. It’s an obvious dynamic to put the elements against each other, but since so many Firestorm villains are counterintuitive creations, I’m happy at least she made sense. It went deeper than that though, with Firestorm being a bit overheated but life affirming, where Frost had that chilly remove while dealing sudden still death. Pat Broderick was a perfect fit for the Firestorm that was, but I find the quiet grace and atypical interpretation of a young turk powerhouse offered by Rafael Kayanan more interesting, though that take wouldn’t pay off until Brozowski took over for the Blank Slate period. The Philippine artists had a mood that lent itself to more contemplative or horrific stories, which is in opposition to Spidey-Storm, but we’ve established that ain’t my bag. For the record, I was referring to Louise Lincoln’s Suicide Squad gear as practical, not the horrid Underworld Unleashed non-costume.

Thanks for the podcast pimping. So far I go back and forth between derailing the DC satellite shows with Marvel Super Heroes and vice versa, but I hope to find equilibrium soon. It’ll help when I finally get the Convergence stuff recorded and edited, as that’s a big chunk of co-dependent material waiting in the wings.

The more you know!

I hate unnecessary reboots, soft or otherwise. This new Aquaman doesn’t look bad, but you really have to question the thinking here. At a glance the “mainstream” DC You books look like someone in editorial said “how can we get these characters as far away as possible from their iconic, recognizable, and highly-marketable looks?” Crew-cut, T-shirt-wearing Superman with an exposed secret ID? Check. Jim Gordon in Gundam Bunny armor saying he’s Batman? Check? Green Lantern in a hoodie? Check. Aquaman in a a suns-out-guns-out shirt with He-Man’s Power Sword? Check.

Looking at your tumbler, I can’t believe Shagg failed to comment on the drawing of Killer Frost in the first panel on page 5. She is indeed, hot.

Chris

Oh, and I forgot – not too happy with the turn for Mera. I think Parker had built her up into something special, so I’d really like to have seen her given her own series, or at least stay with Arthur in this soft reboot instead of separating them yet again *yawn*

What a great bronze age cover on that issue of Firestorm! It seems like Killer Frost made for a great sparring partner with Firestorm back in the day. I need to find some more of these back issues with her in them. I believe I have the previous ones from the Broderick era at this point. I didn’t realize how much I liked her from this era until recently.

How did I miss that Byrne had a (brief) run on the Hulk?? I need to find that on Marvel Unlimited now. I’m a huge 70s and 80s era Byrne fan (I know, I know, he’s a jerk and some of his writing is problematic, but I think it’s undeniable that he’s a legend and produced some amazing work in that time period).

Crystal Frost did appear in four issues of FURY OF FIRESTORM, so you guys would have mentioned her on four episodes of the Fire & Water Podcast. Maybe that’s why Rob thinks she appeared so much in the story. On the other hand, she also appeared in the first Firestorm series, an issue of DC COMICS PRESENTS, and three issues of the Conway-written JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA where she joined the Secret Society of Super-Villains. So, yeah, she did have about ten appearances in just five years. It’s clear Gerry Conway favored her.