Fire and Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #6 // Review
Bea is in hell. She’s being tormented by judgments of what she’s done in the past. And now she feels that she truly belongs where she is. She has to suffer because of what she’s done. That’s what she’s thinking. Somewhere in the midst of it all, though...there’s a hand reaching out to her from the flames of Hell. It might just be enough to save her from herself in Fire and Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #6. Writer Joanne Starer and artist Stephen Byrne wrap-up a largely satisfying mini-series that has magic, mysticism and emotional resonance.
The hand reaching out to her is Tora’s. Tora had a chance to leave and take her mother with her, but she chose Bea instead. Now Bea has to choose herself and help Tora get the hell...out of Hell. It’s not going to be easy. There’s an army of ravenous demons who are all really, really eager to get to the two heroes before they can make it out. And if they don’t make it out soon, they’re going to be trapped in each other’s bodies for ever. (Yeah...that’s...that’s kind of a long story. It’s been a long and pleasantly weird six issues.)
Starer’s main subplot featuring the denizens of Smallville gains some momentum in the final issue of hte series. Things get strikingly weird as the plot goes-in for the close. The central conflict of the series doesn’t exactly hold any surprises. The whole thing ends predictably, but that’s not actually a bad thing as the emotional momentum that’s led up to the finale has been engaging enough to make it all quite satisfying. Had he not done such a good job of really getting into the minds of the two title characters over the course of the series it might've felt a little empty.
Byrne’s strikingly simple style might feel a bit flat in places, but it fits Starer’s script quite well as the whole series rolls into it s final moments. The weirdness of the supporting cast has a kind of fresh-faced clean look about it. It all carries such a strong and simple warmth that it feels remarkably well-rendered from begining to end. A more heavily rendered and detailed style would probably lose quite a bit of emotional momentum when engaging in Starer’s script. It really is a very well matched creative team.
The weird offbeat sitcom element of the series feels remarkably well-rendered from beginning to end. It feels like there could be a whole family of titles like this that would be more alternative, but still in the same universe is all the rest of it. It really has potential to grow. And hopefully this miniseries has sold well enough that it could expand into other areas that aren't necessarily the main focus of the DC universe. It is a lot of fun seeing out-of-the-way locations and strange adventures off the beaten path.
