Icon Vol 1 1

"By Their Own Bootstraps": In 1839, an alien escapes the destruction of a star cruiser. The escape pod lands in the American South, where it is discovered by a slave. The pod scans her and transforms its occupant into an infant boy. Over a century later in Old Downt

Icon #1 is an issue of the series Icon (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1993.

Synopsis for "By Their Own Bootstraps"

In 1839, an alien escapes the destruction of a star cruiser. The escape pod lands in the American South, where it is discovered by a slave. The pod scans her and transforms its occupant into an infant boy. Over a century later in Old Downtown, Dakota City, conservative lawyer — Augustus Freeman III — tells his partner about a young woman who challenged his world view, saying he has a responsibility to help people.

On the night of the Big Bang, Lenny, Deke, and Noble had an idea to use the gang war as a diversion to loot some of the wealthy residences in Prospect Hills. Noble's girlfriend, Raquel, resists initially, but relents when he tells her they can find her a typewriter — just like Toni Morrison, Raquel's hero, has. Amazed by the owner's library, she scarcely has time to hide when the owner of the house, Augustus Freeman, investigates the noise made by the larcenous teens. Mistaking him for the butler, Noble and Lenny pull out guns and try to scare him off. Unperturbed, Augustus tries to end the confrontation, but Noble shoots him. Much to the shock of the teens, the five shots leave Augustus uninjured. He flies out and gathers the fleeing children back into his home. On the condition that they leave his anonymity intact and return any purloined goods, Augustus releases the guilty foursome.

Inspired by the sudden possibility of flight, Raquel returns to Mr. Freeman's home, and proposes they become superheroes to set a positive example for the downtrodden citizens of Dakota. After a few days, he gives her a costume and a special belt to protect her and tells her to meet him in 3 weeks at the Bridge. From there as Icon and Rocket, they go to help the police with a situation at City Hall. Rocket's disillusionment with the police is proven right when they attempt to arrest Rocket and Icon.

Appearing in "By Their Own Bootstraps"

Featured Characters:

• Icon (Augustus Freeman) (First appearance)
• Rocket (Raquel Ervin) (First appearance)

Supporting Characters:

• Saul
• Noble

Antagonists:

• S.H.R.E.D. (First appearance)

Other Characters:

• Ms. Ervin (First appearance)
• Lenny
• Deke
• Christina

Locations:

• Dakotaverse
  • Dakota City
    • Old Downtown
    • Paris Island
    • Prospect Hills

Items:

• Inertia Belt

Vehicles:

Notes

• This issue features a preview of Static #1.

See Also

• Cover gallery for the Icon series
• Images from Icon Vol 1 1

Recommended Reading

• Milestone Media Recommended Reading
  • Blood Syndicate (Volume 1)
  • Deathwish (Volume 1)
  • Heroes (Volume 1)
  • Hardware (Volume 1)
  • Icon (Volume 1)
  • Kobalt (Volume 1)
  • Long Hot Summer (Volume 1)
  • Milestone Forever (Volume 1)
  • Milestone Returns #0
  • My Name is Holocaust (Volume 1)
  • Shadow Cabinet (Volume 1)
  • Static (Volume 1)
  • Static Shock (Volume 1)
  • Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool (Volume 1)
  • Wise Son: The White Wolf (Volume 1)
  • Xombi (Volume 1)
  • Xombi (Volume 2)
  • "Shadow War"
  • "Long Hot Summer"
  • "Worlds Collide"

Links and References