Kansas in Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1 // Review
They had expected to be able to hang out on the Kents’ farm in Smallville. They had expected to help out around the They had expected to be able to hang out on the Kents’ farm in Smallville. They had expected to help out around the farm while they got things together. Where they’re being taken to is NOT the Kent’s farm. It’s...a salon. And with things being the way they are, it’s really the only place in Smallville that’s available. So it’ll have to do as two women from the big city move to small town Kansas in Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1. Writer Joanne Starer opens a new chapter in the lives of a couple of superheroes with artist Natacha Bustos and colorist Tamra Bonvillain.
Fire knows that the whole set-up is temporary. She’s been keeping an eye on a few villains that everyone else seems to have forgotten. She’s ready to go to work...and the work in question does NOT involve hair. Not that she can’t make it work. Ice is just happy to have a new perspective on things. It’s a new adventure for her, and she’s ready to really take a look at things and decide what might be important. Fire slinks off somewhere to cool down, while Martha Kent shows Ice around town.
Starer just found a really clever and novel approach to some very familiar characters and situations. Fire wants to prove herself after a bit of a misstep. Her plan to prove her worth is a bit reckless and comic. To a certain degree, what Starer is setting up is a superhero sitcom, but it’s a particular shade and flavor of heartfelt emotional comedy that feels like it could gain quite a bit of depth as it gains quite a bit of momentum in the issues to come. The action in the opening issue was a bit silly, but Starer seems to have a sense of direction with a solid enough approach to storytelling that the series could really turn into something.
Bustos gives Smallville an atmosphere and personality that serve the opening issue of the series quite well. There is a tendency for the yanking to leave the page a bit flat. Lines tend to be a bit thicker than they need to be. Bonvillain navigates this quite a bit with nuanced color that lens a bit more subtlety to the imagery. That being said, the script would be served by a bit more nuanced definition in the artwork.
Starer, developed a really interesting concept and a fun cast of characters that fit into a potentially interesting premise. Pulling superheroes in supervillains out of the traditional big city. The atmosphere allows for some interesting convolutions of traditional Ciara storytelling styles. There is comedy inherent in this situation. However, it could become very, very silly in a way that is not at all appealing if Starer and company don’t play things perfectly. Working outside the realm of the traditional genre. Tropes is fun, but it also runs the risk of being very absurd. And that probably not going to be very good with a comedy that should have a little bit more of a grounding in serious emotional development for the characters.
