DC's Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville - Everything you need to know about the new Dawn of DC series
The spirit of Justice League International is alive and well in Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville
The Dawn of DC isn’t just taking on the obvious leads of the DC Universe: there’s room to help some fan-favorites step up as the new faces of the DCU, as well. Case in point, Fire and Ice, who’ve gone from supporting players in Justice League International to co-leads in their new miniseries, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville.
The six-issue series by Joanne Starer, Natasha Bustos and Tamra Bonvillain spins out of events in May’s Power Girl Special, which featured a short by the same creative team. In that issue, the two heroes got mixed up with Ice’s ex, Guy Gardner, while all three were responding to a natural disaster in Baltimore. Things, as it turns out, didn’t go well… leading to Fire and Ice being relocated to Superman’s home town in an attempt to keep them out of trouble.
Superhero Schitt’s Creek
“The initial idea was that we were going to use it as a kind of superhero Schitt’s Creek,” Starer told Ashley V. Robinson during an appearance on Enter the Popverse. “That was kind of the [original] premise of the book, was that a small town was where they were going to go, and how they were going to interact with locals and how they’d make a mess of things… It just made sense that Smallville was the perfect place to be our Schitt’s Creek.”
That same interview also revealed that the series will be filled with guest stars from the DCU, including Jimmy Olsen, Lobo, King Shark, and Ambush Bug, of all people.
What’s to come
DC has released descriptions for four of the upcoming six issues.
#1, due out September 5: “Things could not possibly be worse for Fire and Ice, in Beatriz da Costa's professional opinion. Superman sent the former Justice Leaguers packing for Smallville following an extremely public and utterly disastrous mission (that was all Guy Gardner's fault, thank you very much) and in doing so doomed them to a fate worse than death: irrelevance. Ice finds herself drawn to the quiet life and dreams of planting roots. But Fire... well, Fire will do just about anything to get the heck outta Dodge and back on the hero circuit-including challenging the DCU's biggest villains to a knock-down, drag-out, live-streamed brawl in the streets of Smallville! A raucous, timely, unflinching comedy about a decades-long friendship on the brink of disaster and what it means to be a superhero at a crossroads in your life, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville reintroduces the iconic duo to the Dawn of DC, in a series from rising star Joanne Starer (The Gimmick, Sirens of the City) and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur co-creator Natacha Bustos!”
#2, due out October 3: “ What’s a Smallville fight club without any fighters? While Ice discovers the magic of community heroism—no superpowers required—Fire’s latest scheme to restore their former glory brings Ambush Bug(?!) to town, but their violent attempts at viral fame go unnoticed by the world. Could a chance encounter with Smallville’s hottest bartender show Fire the light? Or will the sparks that fly between them burn the town to the ground? It’s Fire we’re talking about, so…probably the latter?”
#3, due November 7: “Jimmy Olsen comes to town with his ear to the ground for a Daily Planet scoop, and Fire and Ice have a beauty salon full of ex-villains that Fire’s certain they can rehabilitate (in fabulous reality- show fashion, no less!) and Ice is desperate to hide. But if they’re gonna make it through the day without Big Blue swinging back through Smallville to clean up their mess, Fire and Ice will have to look past the growing chasm between them and work together to sell Superman’s pal the story of a lifetime.”
#4, due out December 5: “Ice’s worst fears about Fire’s antics are confirmed when a horrifying revelation comes to light, and whatever trust they’d tentatively rebuilt crumbles to dust. And despite Martha Kent’s best attempts to mediate over Smallville’s finest drag brunch, there might be no coming back for what was once the Justice League’s most dynamic duo. (Booster and Beetle who?) Oh, and Lobo shows up hot and bothered to throw down in Fire’s defunct fight club. What could possibly go wrong?”
Check out the covers for each issue in the gallery below.
Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1 (of 6) goes on sale September 5.
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