We have the book-length "Journey to the Tomb of the Ice Giants" by Denny O'Neil and Jim Aparo. An icebreaker searching the arctic for oil encounters a giant made of ice. Word of the encounter reaches the ship's owner Mr. Muttson, who is later found frozen in a block of ice in his steam room. Dr. Thirteen is called in to investigate. The Stranger shows up and Thirteen blows a fuse, as usual.
Dr. Thirteen says this reminds him of a similar incident and he tells "The Adventure of the Brittle Blossom" in which a wealthy recluse is found frozen in his hot house. When he notices that some of the flowers are also dead and brittle, Thirteen deduces that the man was frozen by Freon gas dispensed through the water pipes. His nephew was the murderer.
Although the Ghost Breaker believes the death to have a rational explanation, forensics reveal that the ice came from the arctic. Though warned by the Stranger that there is evil in the arctic, Dr. Thirteen and his wife travel by helicopter to the damaged icebreaker. After finding a giant sword in the ice, the couple is attacked and captured by the ice giant. As the Phantom Stranger tries to negotiate their release, Tala shows up, telling the Stranger that he should let the ice giant have the Thirteens. Pushing her away, the Stranger attacks, but is hurt. When he regains his senses, he sees a line of ice giants, ready to reclaim their planet.
The Stranger then tells the giants of how the world has changed under the hand of man, convincing the giants to abandon the world. When the giants say their laws require they take a human, Tala arrives and gives the giants Marie Thirteen as their permanent prisoner.
After the Phantom Stranger uses dynamite to seal the ice giants cave forever, he finds Marie Thirteen alive and well. Tala appears and says how she had disguised herself as Marie and had been the one taken by the giants. The sorceress was able to free herself later. Marie Thirteen then tries to explain what happened to her husband, but he doesn't believe her, explaining the whole thing away as delusions. As they leave we see the ice giant's sword laying on the ice.
This is one of my favorite eras of Jim Aparo's artwork. In his year and a half on Aquaman he has morphed into this amazing story-teller. I was not the only one to notice this. On page 16 of the story we see an ice formation that looks like Batman and portends to his long stint on The Brave and the Bold that is just around the corner. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.
Edited by Joe Orlando.
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