The fabric of the DC Universe is held together by friendship. Just think of Batman and Superman. Green Lantern and the Flash. Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Batgirls Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. The list just goes on and on. One dynamic duo in particular, Fire and Ice, are finally getting their chance to shine in a new series by Joanne Starer, Natacha Bustos, Tamra Bonvillain and Ariana Maher called Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville.

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville follows the two unsung heroines, Beatriz da Costa and Tora Olafsdotter, as they settle in Superman’s hometown in Kansas. The thinking is that by setting up shop in Smallville, Fire and Ice have the chance to realize their potential as two of DC’s most underrated superheroines.

With two issues now on stands, we thought the time was right to talk with Starer about just what she loves about Fire and Ice’s friendship, how she first became a fan of the superheroines and where fans can expect to see them go next.

What is it about Fire and Ice’s friendship that makes them such an iconic DC duo?

Fire and Ice are a ride-or-die pair. They really fill a need for a lot of readers who want a memorable female friendship front and center. We tend to overlook and undervalue female friendships across society in general, and that’s often informed and encouraged by the media we consume. There’s a tendency to either pit two women against each other or place them in a romantic relationship. But Fire and Ice have these incredibly deep and lasting bonds, which are strengthened by the fact that their personalities are so different. They balance each other out. They make up for each other’s faults. They lift each other up. As you’ll see, this series tests their friendship—but out of that conflict, it grows even stronger.

Fire and Ice have been around for quite some time, but haven’t had their due (as they’re well aware of in the book). What were some of your priorities as the writer of this miniseries? Is there anything you wanted to rectify?

I don’t know if I wanted to rectify the situation as much as acknowledge it. I went into this thinking, “How do they feel about being second-string heroes after all this time? How does that affect them?”

As you see, Fire absolutely feels the need to prove herself. But Ice is unsure if it’s worth fighting for her place in the spotlight—maybe there’s more out there. So, it’s more an exploration of how being overlooked affects their egos and their future trajectory. But I couldn’t go into this pretending that it hadn’t happened.

You mentioned at San Diego Comic-Con that you’ve been a fan of Fire and Ice since their Justice League International days. What first attracted you to the characters?

I was very young when those books came out. They were probably my next step after Archie Comics. But they were the perfect next step for a kid because they had humor and colorful costumes and real human moments. And to a young girl, Fire and Ice were these incredible, powerful, beautiful goddesses…but they were written like real people. They got into arguments and went on dates and had self-doubt. They were well-rounded, adult female role models that were accessible to someone my age. That was honestly pretty rare in comics in the ’80s.

Fire and Ice are now located in Smallville, the hometown of Superman. What are the elements that define Smallville in this contemporary age?

Well, the magic of Smallville is that it’s never contemporary. It’s like a town stuck in time, and that’s why they’re there—to slow down. Which makes Fire miserable! There’s no crime in Smallville, and all Fire wants is someone she can fight so she can prove to the world that she’s a great hero. Meanwhile, Ice is looking around and seeing that a life without constant danger is maybe kind of nice. It’s pretty great to spend more than a few days in one place and make friends who don’t have secret identities.

The Justice League International featured an array of different women like Big Barda, Black Canary, Doctor Light, Fire and Ice, running up against very real issues affecting women in the 1980s, like workplace sexism and male chauvinism. Is there anything about the contemporary world that you wanted Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville to tackle?

I think the problems women face never change, but how we deal with them—that changes. Over time, we may develop better tools or feel more emboldened to call out injustice. In the book, Fire kind of sees Superman as the Patriarchy, right? She believes she and Ice should be equal to him, but instead he keeps swooping into to “save” them from themselves. And she’s like, “Who appointed this guy? I don’t need a man’s help.”

So, she calls him out. She wants to be able to succeed or fail on her own. If she’s a mess, then she’s a mess—that’s her own business. Men are allowed to be messy all the time.

And Ice is struggling with the lie that women have been told for centuries—you can’t have it all. She sees life in Smallville and the possibility of a family. She thinks she has to give up being a hero to have that. At no point does she consider that she could do both, because who is there to model that for her?

The first issue ends with a bang and the return of Fire and Ice’s former Justice League teammate, Ambush Bug. Can we expect to see some more chaotic cameos?

I think you’ve all seen that sexy Lobo cover by now, right? The Main Man is coming to town to heat things up. And Jimmy Olsen is headed to Smallville to write a story for the Daily Planet. There are definitely a couple weird old villains in issue #2, and a lot more surprises along the way!

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about the series?

Well, you don’t need me to tell you this, but Natacha Bustos’s art is absolutely incredible, and Tamra Bonvillain’s colors just bring everything to life. It’s been an amazing experience for me to work with an all-female team on a book about female superheroes. This book is such a joy to write, I honestly don’t want it to end. I hope that fun and love that we all feel when we create it comes through on the page.
 

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #2 by Joanne Starer, Natacha Bustos and Tamra Bonvillain is now available in print and as a digital comic book.

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1 is also in stores and can now be read on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.