FIRE AND ICE VOLUME 1 #3
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
STORY: Bill Willingham
ART: Leonardo Manco
COLORS: Leonardo Manco
LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry
EDITOR: Matt Idelson
COVER: Joseph Michael Linsner
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Leonardo Manco; Sedat Oegzen
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (September 2024)
Rated Teen+
Fire and Ice created by Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta
Chapter III: “Cry Havoc”
Fire and Ice is an animated epic, dark fantasy, adventure film directed by Ralph Bakshi. The film is the result of a collaboration between Bakshi and the legendary fantasy painter, Frank Frazetta, with the film's screenplay being written by veteran comic book writers, Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway.
In 2022, Dynamite Entertainment announced that it had gained the license to produce a comic book series set in the world of Fire and Ice. The series would act as a prequel to the film. Fire and Ice Volume 1 is written by Bill Willingham; drawn and colored by Leonardo Manco; and lettered by Jeff Eckleberry and Taylor Esposito. War is coming, and it will rage between the realms of Ice and Fire. Many tribes, cities, and nations will be caught in the middle, some fated to be ground into oblivion because of it. Who will be the saviors and heroes?
Fire and Ice Volume 1 #3 (“Cry Havoc”) finds the world of Fire and Ice embroiled in a terrible war. Prince Taro arrives at the Firekeep to deliver a warning to his father, King Jarol, about the coming battles and foes.
After discovering that her precious son, Kaledan, has been assassinated, Juliana, Queen of the Icelands is ready to unleash her vengeance upon the Ice Kingdom, the people she was told had killed Kaledan. She was told this by her younger son, Nekron, who actually murdered his brother in a bid to be the heir to the throne. Juliana has complicated plans, however; she is trying to bring Kaledan back to the world of the living.
THE LOWDOWN: Since July 2021, Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles. One of them is Fire and Ice Volume 1 #3, which is one of the few Frank Frazetta-related comic books I have read in a long time.
I have never seen Fire and Ice the film, except for a few minutes so long ago that I can't remember that time or what I saw. I am a fan of the film's director, Ralph Bakshi, especially of his 1977 film, Wizards. Like a lot of people, I also enjoy looking at Frank Frazetta's paintings.
Fire and Ice #3 arrives ninth months after the arrival of the second issue, and over thirteen months after the debut of Fire and Ice Volume 1 #1. These delays are not serving the narrative very well. Writer Bill Willingham scatters characters and subplots across the overall narrative, and the chapters seem arbitrarily divided. I thought readers could enjoy Fire and Ice Volume 1 #1 without having seen the movie, but I ended up reading the Wikipedia page on the film. Some of you, dear readers, may also want to take this approach. I found myself a little more in the dark while reading the second issue, and that's the case with this third issue, too. It is not that this Fire and Ice comic book is not exciting or interesting; it is that it seems broken up and disjointed.
I like the beautiful art of Leonardo Manco, which yields clean storytelling. He is doing his best to make this narrative seem clear, so he is the star creative here. He makes Fire and Ice Volume 1 enjoyable, but I hope that the fourth issue does not take so long to arrive. I also hope the fourth issue tightens up the narrative quite a bit.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta will want to try the comic book, Fire and Ice Volume 1.
B
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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