Review by Frank Plowright

Fire is a former model from Brazil who can transform into a being composed of green flame and Ice is a genuine Scandinavian goddess who sees the best in everybody to the point of engaging with the brutish Guy Gardner. Their friendship was a mainstay of the 1980s comedy Justice League, which forms the basis of the approach taken by Joanne Starer for Welcome to Smallville.

It begins with a superhero intervention developing into a fight between Fire and Gardner, stopped by Superman who suggests Fire and Ice might benefit from a break and that his hometown of Smallville as a suitable location. Instead of just taking a holiday, though, they acquire the local hairdresser, which exemplifies the sort of random plotting Starer uses throughout. It applies when Jimmy Olsen turns up, when they fill the shop with reformed villains and Fire’s continual attempts to boost her social media profile. This is in the company of an assertive Smallville resident hired as an assistant and numbering among assorted local eccentrics.

What made Fire and Ice work within the Justice League was the comedy stemming naturally from their friendship and their activities. Here they’re forced into situations that aren’t as funny as intended, while actual funny moments are isolated, and mostly the two panel comments supplied as live streaming feeds. Starer gathers a massive amount of characters in one place who’re then only used for a brief scene individually, or has someone like Lobo visit and hang around for a chapter doing little of consequence.

The star turn here is Natacha Bustos, who picks up on the comedy tone and runs with it, producing page after page of delightful, personality-rich art disguising the weakness of the script.

Notwithstanding the reservations in this review, Starer’s presentation of Fire and Ice proved popular enough to generate sequel When Hell Freezes Over.