14 Comic Book Couples I Love - Part 6

You guys remember the last relationship I talked about? How I went on and on about how much I loved complicated, messy love affairs in fiction? WHATEVER. C'mon, I never said I was consistent, people. So, with that in mind, I will now describe the adorable, often hilarious and altogether charming love affair of . . .

6. Ice & Guy Gardner



I'm not alone in my love of Guy Gardner and Tora Olafsdotter, by any means. These two crazy kids met back in one of my favorite series, Keith Giffen's comedic run on the Justice League. Guy was a grade-A jerk and Tora was hilariously naive. Still, rather than going the expected route and having a somewhat crass Guy take advantage of Tora's naivety, he fell in love with her so soundly that it changed his character forever. Ice saw a side of him nobody else did. She even turned out to be just about the only person who Guy would listen to whenever he was in a rage and, on rare occasions, vice versa.




(Okay, maybe not so rare occasions. This is what happens when you don't vent, Tora)

Guy's personality flipped-flopped from milquetoast to alpha male but Tora loved him all the same. Their relationship, more than any other, provided me with the most glee in the Giffen-era JLA. Only Tora and Guy could make a whole issue of going to the Ice Capades together compulsory reading. Hell, I even loved reading about them just talking about their feelings.



Now, Ralph and Sue Dibny very nearly made this list but I changed my mind at the last second. This was mostly due to the heinous, disgusting storyline called Identity Crisis and what they ended up doing to Sue. Even the awesome story of Ralph's journey in 52 couldn't redeem what they'd done unnecessarily to the Dibnys. Plus, unlike Sue, Tora has been subsequently raised back from the dead (thanks, Gail Simone!). Let's take a gander at what happens when two old lovers reunite after a small case of death, shall we?




Seems like Guy's getting the cold shoulder for now but I refuse to give up hope. This is the only loving relationship to survive from my favorite DC Comics run of the JLA and I'm darned protective of it. Let's hope that they find their way back from this Superman Returns moment -



all the way to this Say Anything moment -



In any case, thanks to Keith Giffen and everyone who made Tora and Guy happen. Some days I just want to read a sweet, simple romance tinged with comedy. Most days, however, I want explosions and kick-ass alien fights. Luckily, with Guy and Tora? I almost always get both.



Almost.

BONUS ICY CONTENT!

Love On Ice!



And much more disturbingly, Ice on Love!

It's an Ambush!

You all can keep your One More Day, your Messiah Complex, your Sinestro Wars, your World War Hulk . . . 'cause I just got word that a certain bug's coming back. An AMBUSH BUG.


From the Newsarama Interview:

Newsarama: From your seat, how did this project get rolling? Was this something you pushed for?

Keith Giffen: No! No! It wasn't even my idea to put Ambush Bug in 52 - that was the big four. I pretty much figured the character had run its course. And with comic books being taken so seriously... I mean, look at this fervor over Spider-Man's marriage being dissolved by internal decree. Comics are taking themselves so seriously; I just figured the Bug had a nice little nostalgic twang to it.

And out of the blue -- and I really mean out of the blue; I was not expecting this -- Dan DiDio and Jann Jones called me up and said, "You want to do Ambush Bug? Six issues?" And I was like, "You're really asking?" [laughs] And they said, "Yeah!"

Apparently, they kind of agree with me.

NRAMA: Agree with you?

KG: Yeah. They brought it up that comics are taking themselves way too seriously, and it's time to thrash them around a bit and remind people why comic books are supposed to be fun.





NRAMA: What do you hope this brings to the DC product mix?

JJ: Simply, the return of Ambush Bug.

NRAMA: But is this series going to be in DC continuity?

JJ: This six issue series will take us from Identity Crisis all the way to Final Crisis. We will see how the presence of Ambush Bug has affected the DCU in ways you could never imagine. ...
...
Keith Giffen: [laughs] But basically, the premise of the six issues is that we're going to try to zero in on each of the six DC events. We'll start with Identity Crisis, then working our way through Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown to Final Crisis, and Final Crisis.

In case I have not made them abundantly clear, my feelings on this news can be summed up via this photograph: