Also, can Killer Frost fly? Float? Glide somehow? We'll figure out what's going on, in today's book: from 1985, Fury of Firestorm #35, "Winter Frost" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Rafael Kayanan, inks by Alan Kupperberg.
We open with Firestorm mid-fight with Killer Frost, which is a bit surprising for him, since she was dead. Even for a super-villainess, she had a pretty convincing death scene: Ronnie describes her as "like a piece of frozen meat decaying in a thaw," before she completely evaporated. And her death stuck! That was the original Killer Frost, Dr. Crystal Frost; this was the new Killer Frost, Dr. Louise Lincoln. She escapes, while Professor Stein has to really insult Ronnie to rally him to get out from under a giant block of ice. (In a scene very much like the "Spidey lifts something heavy" scene from Amazing #33, if Peter Parker had been even harder on himself.)
Meanwhile, another Firestorm villainess, Plastique, is cooling her heels in prison; but her lawyer smuggles in her costume and an experimental serum. She had previously been an explosives expert, but the serum gives her explosive powers, and she breaks out. Elsewhere, although not named here, a third Firestorm villain, the Weasel, steals a file on Professor Stein; as the Professor and Ronnie discuss the Professor's planned move to Pittsburgh; and a subplot with Ronnie's dad on a date gets over two and a half pages!
Following a news report, Firestorm catches up with Killer Frost at a nuclear plant, where he (or they) use their godlike powers smartly: make a giant lead wall, to cut Frost off from the heat; while keeping themselves intangible. Still, Ronnie discovers they aren't able to use all their powers while intangible--even though they had been able to before; this may have been an attempt to rein him in a little. Turning solid again, Firestorm is immediately blindsided by Plastique, who has a proposition for Killer Frost...
Creating a new Killer Frost may have just been easier than bringing back the old one; or sight unseen, there may have been more baggage with the original. I don't know if Plastique's powers would stick around, either. Looking her up, she would later briefly marry Captain Atom--mostly off-panel. Although she seems to kill two guards this issue alone, I don't know how Cap would let that go.
Yeah I noticed that Spider-Man homage too. Not surprising considering who wrote it, but I'm surprised DC and his editor let it fly.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, the Weasel.....his Who's Who entry makes him seem somewhat credible as a threat, but he never really lived up to whatever promise his creators felt he had.
Thinking on it, I guess since Firestorm was intended by Conway to be Spider-Man-ish, it makes sense that his villains would be influenced by the type of villains Spider-man would tend to fight. No wonder they never made much of an impact beyond Killer Frost and Multiplex.