There is something incredibly old-school about the ‘Endless Winter’ event. As someone raised on comics from the late 80s and early 90s, these types of events were frequent: no real continuity attached to them, no long-term consequences, and a concept that bordered on silly. With the interesting writing team of Andy Lanning and Ron Marz, and Howard Porter and Marco Santucci illustrating, this has the possibility to be something really fun. The last few pages, with their trip to the past and the fascinating cast reveal, set up the story to be a little more interesting than expected.
Written by Andy Lanning and Ron MarzCover by Mikel Janin
Illustrated by Howard Porter and Marco Santucci
Colored by Hi-Fi and Arif Prianto
Lettered by Andword Design and Troy Peteri`“Endless Winter” chapter one! The crossover event of the season begins here! The Justice League encounters an extinction-level global storm brewing at the former site of the Fortress of Solitude. Enter the Frost King, a monster mad with power with an army at his command! What devastating mystery lies in his past? And how does he tied to Queen Hippolyta, Swamp Thing, Viking Prince, and their reluctant ally, Black Adam? Two timelines will reveal further clues and secrets throughout each chapter of this blockbuster tale!
Make no mistake about it: this is a filler event. It is helping bridge the gap between the end of the Dan DiDio era and the brave new world ahead, clearing a path for the ‘Future State’ event, and giving the folks in Burbank a chance to figure out what is next for their characters. When this book was announced, detractors were calling it what it was, as if that was some sort a blight on it. A filler event doesn’t have to be bad and, in many ways, it is better set up to be fun than your average continuity-heavy event.
Lanning and Marz lean into the tone right away, playing fast and loose with continuity, referring to a few Superman plot points that seemingly contradict each other and treating every other character, more or less, like the most basic, well known version of themselves. There aren’t going to be major revelations or studies that bring us out feeling differently about these characters but, and I’m going to keep saying this, that’s okay!
Howard Porter illustrates the bulk of the issue, and Porter remains one of the more dependable artists in DC’s stable. Porter is comfortable in the shadows with Batman, giving his cape hard angles and billowing tendrils at the same time, and is equally comfortable with Jefferson Pierce’s family in ugly Christmas sweaters decorating their tree. Porter’s art manages to bridge these gaps in script tone flawlessly, never giving the reader cognitive dissonance that might pop up when we are getting so many cloistered moments.
Porter also gets to have some fun with the design of the Frost King and his ice minions, mixing the super high-tech Stagg Industries equipment with primal monsters. His action sequences always show you exactly what is happening, training the eye to the most important element of every page, populating backgrounds with intricate settings that add texture but don’t distract. Porter is a really good artist on a team book as well, giving the various team members stuff to do in big battle sequences that looks and feels natural for the characters. So many times in Justice League titles, Batman and Superman are doing their thing while the others wait around. Porter always makes sure to show each member pulling their weight, which adds to the tone of true danger and ‘all hands on deck.’
The issue is threaded with Barry Allen’s inability to maintain a work/life balance which, in the age of COVID-19, is quite relatable, but stands out like a sore thumb to a certain degree, as there is no preamble to draw from here. Flash appears and is instantly lamenting this, and we don’t yet get any sort of in-story reason for why he is feeling this way. This is part one of an eight-part event, so I’m sure that theme will return with a little more purpose, but it stands out here.
Continued belowThe issue features a few lesser DC villains in the opening pages, which doesn’t really connect at all to the rest of the issue, again, at least yet. It’s always fun to see Catman show up, but it’s odd how little the first ten pages really impacted the rest of the book. Lanning and Marz are doing their best to not show how much filler is in this issue by making it enjoyable, if slight, but more than half of the 34 page run time is spent either with villains we likely won’t see again or with Flash on his journey to better boundaries.
In contrast to the filler in the front half, the final few pages of the issue are where all the promise and fun happens. In a flashback to the 10th century, illustrated by Marco Santucci, we see the heroes of that age preparing to do battle with the Frost King. We see nothing of the actual battle, but the team assembled to fight him is really fun, and digs deep into DC lore. In addition to Black Adam, pulled out of exile by the wizard Shazam, we also see Hippolyta, mother of Wonder Woman, an early incarnation of Swamp Thing, and the mostly forgotten DC character Viking Prince. Viking Prince, introduced way back in “The Brave and the Bold” #1 hasn’t been seen since Walter Simonson’s “The Judas Coin” OGN nearly a decade ago.
This is a very Ron Marz addition to the book, and a welcome one. Marz seems to enjoy writing characters with big swords, as well as updating old concepts into something new. I really enjoy this collection of characters, and am interested to see how the tale of the past battle and present battle intersect in future issues.
Overall, this book is a fun, if slight, detour in DC’s publishing line. This won’t break too much new ground, but as a fun way to pass the time during a busy holiday season, you could do much worse.
Final Verdict: 6.3 – Interesting groundwork was laid for the rest of the event, but there was simply too much fluff to really get invested in the story thus far.
