top of page
Moss Anderson

Cocaine Gives YOU Super Powers

DC does indeed have it all, from racism to cocaine-powered supervillains. The mighty villain had only appeared in two comic issues and was referenced in one, but those were three too many. And this wonderful supervillain was written by the writer of Batman and the Avengers, an infamous figure.


Snow-Flame was an intriguing character that debuted in 1988 in the second "New Guardians." He debuted in a comic called "Blow in the Wind," where the cover of the comic shows a copious amount of cocaine scattered across the ground, looking similar to snow. In this rendition of the New Guardians, they tried to stop Snow-Flame and his drug cartel. The keyword is "try", because the New Guardians actually ended up losing. Snow-Flame beat one of them in a fight, and he had men working for him, and they opened fire at the New Guardians, making them retreat. But not accepting this loss, they return to defeat him realizing that the source of his power could also be his downfall. They ended up trapping him in a chemical shed, which exploded, killing him.


Snow-Flame dying should've been the end of his appearances- but it wasn't. He later appeared in a Catwoman comic (volume 5, issue 23); however, little is known about his encounter with her, or his role in the story.


Moving on to a more fascinating question, how was Snow-Flame, a mortal, capable of defeating a robot apart of the New Guardians, a group believed to be "the chosen ones" of the universe? Well, he possessed quite a few powers that were glorified side effects of taking hard drugs with the word "super" in front of it. Many people who do hard drugs have higher heart rates and "immunity" to pain. Of these, Snow-Flame has super speed, super strength, and an immunity to pain. But he also has pyrokinesis (the ability to control fire) and the "Cocaine Touch," which made it so that any mortal who touched him would get a contact high. This means he did so much cocaine that it leaked through his pores to make the "Cocaine Touch".





Now, this fantastic writing and creation of a supervillain was by Steve Englehart. Not only the writer of Batman, but of the Avengers and so many others. It's relatively unclear of why he chose to write Snow-Flame and kill him in the same issue. It could be a profound message about how addiction will be not only what makes you powerful but what will be your ultimate downfall. Or it could've been a gag done simply because he wanted to and found some entertainment in this ridiculous idea. Regardless of its origins, it's entertaining to think how many people had to approve of this idea and thought he'd make a good supervillain.

11 views0 comments

Commenti


bottom of page