Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #1

Starer knows where and when to place the stresses of conflict to keep it all from seeming totally nebulous without totally overwhelming the relaxed mood of the milieu. Its a pleasantly social trip to a more relaxed corner of the DC Universe that feels quite pleasantly earthbound on a variety of different levels. Once again its nice to have an opportunity to hang out with a couple of characters who have known each other for a while who are good friends in a largely social setting complete with its own sense of drama. Read Full Review

Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #1 packs a lot of fun with a surprising amount of character depth for both protagonists. It's a cold open that quickly warms you up to a quirky cast of characters in the close-knit community of New Kooey. With Fire having ice powers and Ice having fire powers, only time will tell if this duo will be as dynamic as they were. Read Full Review

New artist Stephen Byrne is perfect for this story, giving the events a gorgeous art style that really makes the character designs shine, and it was great to see Zatara again the former Teen Titan hasn't been used well in a while. But the ending, which was spoiled in solicits, promises to set up a lot more antics going forward as Bea's desperate attempt to fix things lead to things getting, um, freaky. A fun start. Read Full Review

Whether you're a lifelong fan of this duo or only discovering them for the first time, When Hell Freezes Over is a great introduction to these characters done so with heart, humour and a grounded approach to their relationships. Read Full Review

Bea and Tora return to Smallville and their friends, but their reasons aren't so pleasant.But of course, things can always get worse. Read Full Review

One of my favorite aspects of the issue is a conversation that dives into assumptions made about a power switch and the unfortunate realities of why it's not as easy to deal with as it might seem. Those conversations lay the groundwork for a major switch up towards the book's closing moments that promises much bigger things moving forward. While Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #1 sets the table well, the future is even brighter. Read Full Review

Williamflipper

Apr 16, 2025

Stephen Byrne know how to deaw, nothing exciting or inventive is on the pages. Story is offensively dull and irritating.

mego-joe

Apr 09, 2025

I suppose this comic is fine for its intended audience. Like its predecessor, Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville, it’s not for Justice League International fans or for fans of the characters who want to see some genuine character work on Tora and Bea. It doesn’t feel like a mainline DC Universe comic at all. The fact that it references Absolute Power, DC All In Special and Justice League Unlimited is really weird. It comes across as a YA Graphic Novel (except for the part where Bea spends the night with a guy). Putting out comics that are tonally and stylistically diverse in their line is a good idea, but I don’t think DC knows how to get this into the hands of the intended audience. Coupled with the fact that the comic itself isn’t really sure what its audience is will definitely pose a problem. There are too many characters in the series for Tora and Bea to get any quality attention, there’s too much time wasted on bad jokes and the ancillary characters. We’ve been here before with Welcome to Smallville, so there’s no reason to do it again. But, I guess there could be a small niche audience for this weird take on the DC Universe. more