Superman Analogue: Icon
59Who's that caped hero? Strange visitor from another world, serving as an inspiration to us all: Icon! Check out Case's break down of this #supermananalogue
(Why, yes, Spring Allergies are in full swing! Sorry for my voice being so scratchy this week.)
Original Thread: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1077758091502981121
Original Text: OK, I promised a more interesting analogue today and this one I've been saving for a special occasion! Today I want to talk about Icon!
Icon was part of an imprint of DC's in the 90s called Milestone, which was a creation of the legendary Dwayne McDuffie. The line was explicitly designed to address characters of color, something that DC...needed...
Icon was very Superman-esque on paper, but the details are where you get a really interesting character.
He's an alien from a destroyed ship who crash landed in Earth in an escape pod. In order to survive, his ship modified him to look like a child of the local populace, but he happened to land in the Deep South during the time of slavery
The character went on to live under cover among humans and move in through the generations until we got to the 90s where the story begins
A young girl is with a group of her less than reputable friends and break into the house of some rich lawyer, but the lawyer turns out to be super powered and forces them to flee. Everyone else is terrified, but the girl is inspired and tries to convince the lawyer to go public
See, the lawyer is the alien. He lived through times of hardship, but has gone on to be really successful and lived a centuries long life of luxury, Connor MacLeod style. However, he's eventually convinced to try and become a symbol of the potential of the people, an Icon.
The girl is given some alien tech and joins as Rocket. The duo presents a fun dynamic. Icon is like Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince but with superpowers, while Rocket is an earnest but fallible woman of the modern times. The play off each other really well.
They go on to have a lot of big set piece stories but also socially conscious ones. Really tangible topics are often the centerpiece and they're handled with the subtlety and grace they deserve.
As far as powers go, Icon is a little less powerful than some of the characters we explore, but that's because he's a member of a functional interstellar society, rather than some anomaly. Still, virtually invulnerable, super strong, flight, and energy blasts so no slouch
Costume wise, it's a little busier than some on the list, but it looks more tangible, like you can understand how the pieces fit together even if they're explicitly costumey. There's some 90sisms in play, but it's so different from conventional design overall that it gets a pass
They've been trying to awkwardly bring the character into the DCU which I have problems with because Superman is a character so they have to lean into the differences (see Apollo in New 52 or any attempt to integrate Shazam). However, I was very happy to see him in #YoungJustice
If you can dig up the trade, it is a worthwhile read. In fact, the whole #Milestone run was really fun and underrated at the time. The most famous character that came out of it was #Static, who had a cartoon show in the late 90s, but great books in all.
Images:
Everything but the following are from Icon #1-8, with art by M.D. Bright
New 52 Icon image by Ken Lashley
Superman vs. Icon from Justice League of America Vol. 2 #27, cover art by Ed Benes
Screen grab from Young Justice season 1.
Milestone Returns Zero Cover by Denys Cowan
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