Friday, April 19, 2019

Iceman Joins the Justice League of America



There are no shortage of ice-based villains in comics, so there are plenty of suspects for Bobby to investigate!  I wonder why ice powers are such a common theme between heroes and villains alike.  Maybe it's something simple like many of them being developed in the winter months and the inspiration being right outside the windows of their creators.  I know that Iceman was one of the heroes that it was fun to play as in the winter months on a frozen lake.

18 comments:

Richard said...

Iceman has just never fared well in teams or encounters. These images are obviously after my comic book reading era, and Bobby Drake's depiction says he must be from some 'reboot' of the X-Men origin.
When Iceman teamed up with the Torch, it was entertaining, but just fire vs. ice vs. fire & ice.
Then when he teamed up with the Thing, he was saddled with Bill Foster being along to act as a buffer between him and the Thing, so they never really worked together.

Even here, were this a real cover, he's overshadowed by the frozen JLA.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Shellder, a pokemon that can level up to ice beam though it's not (yet) an ice pokemon, would have made a good refrigerator part on The Flintstones! :)

Anonymous said...

Regarding PETA and Pokemon, I wonder if PETA finally started bashing it by the time of the 5th generation because the game and the anime (Ash's female traveling companion at the time, Iris, was the most tomboyish of Ash's female traveling companions) at the time was praised(?) for toning down the female human fan-service.

Anonymous said...

PETA might have been peeved that women were exalted above animals during that time.

Carycomic said...

Re: today's cover.

Suspect No. 1: Mr. Freeze.
Suspect No. 2: Minister Blizzard.

But, considering that Batman and Wonder Woman are both on the cover, alongside Superman, I'll guess a collaboration between each of the above. Especially, if orchestrated by Lex Luthor!

emsley wyatt said...

Captain Cold is a possibility as well. Here the JLA looks like the Just Ice League.

Ross said...

Haha. how did I not use that groaner of a pun for the title?

Bob Greenwade said...

I think it's likely that cold is a common theme among villains because a "cold heart" or "cold personality" is associated with being cruel and unfeeling. Thus, Captain Cold, Icicle, Killer Frost, Mister Freeze, etc.

As for the "Just Ice League," maybe Iceman and Polar Boy could pull together a few other cold-based heroes for that name? That is, if you can find any others.

Jay Johnson said...

@Bob: Ice Maiden from Global Guardians, Ice from JLE, Jack Frost from Liberty Legion to start with.

Daviticus said...

@Jay: I believe Icemaiden and Ice are the same person, but I too was thinking of a team of cold-based heroes. Maybe call it "Cold Squad"? 😊

Jay Johnson said...

@Daviticus: From Wikipedia: Sigrid Nansen was the first Icemaiden, with powers resulting from government experiments that were trying to duplicate the powers of a legendary tribe of ice-people. When that tribe was outed, their princess (Tora Olafsdotter) replaced Nansen (who retired) in the Global Guardians. Tora latter joined the JLI and was killed by the Overmaster. Nansen un-retired, took the "Ice" name to honor Tora, and joined the Justice League. She eventually was captured and harvested by a group of meta-human organ-nappers.

Tora turned out to be not totally dead and was revived in a Birds of Prey / Secret Six crossover. In the New52, Tora was recruited by the U.N. for the short-lived Justice League International. She hasn't been seen much since Rebirth.

Simreeve said...

Jay Johnson said...
"@Daviticus: From Wikipedia: Sigrid Nansen was the first Icemaiden, with powers resulting from government experiments that were trying to duplicate the powers of a legendary tribe of ice-people. When that tribe was outed, their princess (Tora Olafsdotter) replaced Nansen (who retired) in the Global Guardians. Tora latter joined the JLI and was killed by the Overmaster. Nansen un-retired, took the "Ice" name to honor Tora, and joined the Justice League. She eventually was captured and harvested by a group of meta-human organ-nappers.

Tora turned out to be not totally dead and was revived in a Birds of Prey / Secret Six crossover. In the New52, Tora was recruited by the U.N. for the short-lived Justice League International. She hasn't been seen much since Rebirth."

Did you know that there being two characters called 'Icemaiden', rather than just one, started when a writer didn't realise that the first one to appear had already been named (as Sigrid Nansen) and invented the 'Tora Olafsdotter' identity for the JLA version with the decision being made LATER -- once that continuity glitch had been spotted -- to keep them both as separate characters?
We're treating the retconned origin (in the Justice Leaue's limited series that appeared at the same time as 'Brightest Day') which had Tora really born into a clan of Gypsy criminals, whom she killed when her powers developed, as completely NON-Canonical... Right?

Tora appeared in a recent issue of Supergirl, and seems to have become a friend of Kara's.

Simreeve said...

Jay Johnson said...
"@Bob: Ice Maiden from Global Guardians, Ice from JLE, Jack Frost from Liberty Legion to start with."

The latest version of Killer Frost is actually a heroine rather than a villain (powers acquired by accident, admittedly did kill a few people before she got better self-control but then -- after a little while in the Suicide Squad -- was recruited by Batman for his JLA team), so she could join this team as well.

Carycomic said...

@Emsley: True, he's mercenary enough to work for Luthor. But, I doubt even he would go up against the JLA's Big Trinity without the Flash making it four of a kind. Just to have some emotional satisfaction for himself!

One of the ladies named Killer Frost, on the other hand, might be up to the task. They're equal opportunity sociopaths!

Bob Buethe said...

@Carycomic: Flash is there, right by Iceman's right foot.

Anonymous said...

Wildcat said ...

I think the "cold" villains mentioned thus far are too pedestrian to battle a big powerful group, such as, the JLA. I'm thinking bigger foes from Asgard or Mt. Olympus are possibly at work. Maybe Pluto has cast an INDESTRUCTIBLE spell of fire and ice and Ymir and some other Frost Giants are attacking the JLA, similar to Avengers vol 1 #61 (although it was the Sons of Satannish involved in that issue).

Maybe "Bobby Drake" is not really Bobby Drake. Remember, if it were not for Iceman stopping up the inter-dimensional gateway with ice, Pluto's plan for Hercules and Hippolyta to wed would've succeeded in Champions #1-3. So it's retribution time! Which begs the question, though - which Greek version of Olympus is canon, Marvel's or DC's? The plot thickens for the next issue of Super-Team Family ...

Carycomic said...

@Bob Buethe: Eh! It might still be Killer Frost. Although, I'd like to think she's got the obsessive hots for Iceman. So, she puts the JLA on ice, wanting all his attention on her!

DrTorch said...

We already know the answer: Shadow Thief

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Justice_League_of_America_Vol_1_139#Synopsis_for_.22The_Ice_Age_Cometh.21.22

Story came right during the global cooling fear mongering.

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