Welcome to the latest installment of your breath of snark free air!

Enjoy!

COOL COMIC CHARACTER

You know who I think was a cool character?

Ice.

I remember at one point, Mark Waid said that the biggest mistake he ever made was killing off Ice. I believe he said this in, like, 1996 so I do not know if he still feels that way, but I would not begrudge him if he did, as I think the loss of Ice was a real shame in the DC Universe, as she was a fine character.

What is funny is that Giffen and DeMatteis did not even really WANT her to begin with. They just wanted more female characters for the league after they lost Black Canary to the gritty Green Arrow comic book. So they settled on two Global Guardians, Green Flame and Ice Maiden, who they quickly dubbed as Fire and Ice.

The friendship between the outspoken Fire and the reserved Ice was great, but it was brilliant to team her up with Guy Gardner in a romantic relationship.

Last year's JLA Classified #8, by Giffen/DeMatteis, is a perfect example of how excellent of a character Ice is, just at how much she affects both Guy AND Fire.

My three favorite issues with Ice are the issue right after the League thinks Mister Miracle has died, and Guy and Ice have a nice moment together. It shows how she can really have an effect on him.

Next, the issue where they go to the Ice Dancing show. Possibly my favorite comic book issue. Sooo funny.

Finally, I especially recommend the issue of Justice League Quarterly written by Mark Waid, where he shows that Ice's power is not really shooting out ice blasts, but it is her heart.

Great character.

COVER HOMAGE

One cool point to the first person who can tell me which cover this Defenders cover is homaging!

SNARK FREE CHALLENGE

With a limit of seven team members, make up your Justice League of only characters who died and came back!

COVER THEME GAME

As always, here is the game. I show three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, locale, creator, SOMEthing. And it isn't something obvious like "They all have prices!" "They all have logos!" "They all feature a man!" etc.

In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.

The first three games haven't been solved yet, so I tried making this one a bit easier. Good luck! TWO cool points to the first one who figures it out!

1.

2.

3.

COOL COMIC BOOK MOMENT

I covered it in my September Splash! bit over at Snark Free Waters, but I think it is cool enough to mention here, as well.

The concept of Iron Man #131-132 is that Bruce Banner comes to Tony Stark for a cure for being the Hulk. As usual, the Hulk goes nuts and Iron Man has to stop him.

Ultimately, Iron Man's decision is, when the Hulk is dazed by a huge explosion, to use ALL the energy from his armor - every last drop - and put it all into ONE punch. If it works, he hopes the Hulk will be out. If it DOESN'T work - Iron Man will be defenseless.

Here is the moment where he makes it "count," (art by Jerry Bingham and Bob Layton)...

At the end, the Hulk is in a huge crater, knocked out - and Iron Man? When Rhodey and everyone go to congratulate him, he just collapses, Tin Man style.

Great moment, pulled off by two pros, Michelinie and Layton (and Bingham ain't too shabby, either!).

Well, that's it for this installment of Snark Free Corner.

Hope you had fun!