Icon riffs on the core Superman concept and remixes it, folding in class issues and a healthy dollop of 1990s hip-hop energy into the hero’s saga. Icon’s civilian identity, lawyer Augustus Freeman IV, came across as a conservative Colin Powell type, and his street-smart sidekick Rocket felt like a superhero version of MC Lyte. Around 1994, DC and Milestone coordinated a crossover event that mashed the Superman comics and Milestone’s books together. In Icon #16, the cosmic villain Rift pits Superman against the equally powerful Icon and the story illustrates how the two alien immigrants’ experience differs wildly by virtue of their heritage. The sequences comparing their origins show a sharp understanding of how superhero stories can serve as powerful metaphors.
More on Techland: Top 10 Superhero Deaths of the Decade
