YMMV / Icon

• Complete Monster: The alien menace Kali'kak, better known by his self-given moniker of Oblivion, defines himself as one of Arnus's most brutal foes and sticks out from the rest of the Cooperative's peaceful society. Growing tired of his race's virtual immortality, Kali'kak develops an academic knowledge on death which eventually blossoms into an unhealthy obsession with the concept. Murdering his own therapist after being transferred to the Prison Planet for his own well-being, Kali'kak is enraptured at committing murder with his own hands and vengefully sabotages an occupied space liner Arnus is on. Shortly after committing a prolonged massacre of his own people resulting in around 350 casualties, Kali'kak rechristens himself Oblivion and makes his way to Earth after having learned Arnus, now known as Icon, is still alive. Butchering two joggers who find him and enthralled that death is permanent for Earth's beings, Oblivion begins a one-man crusade to kill every sentient being on the planet with his own bare hands. To this end, Oblivion indiscriminately slaughters his way into Dakota City, leading to countless fatalities; gleefully stabs Icon's lovable replacement Buck Wild to death; and attempts to suffocate Icon's young sidekick Rocket, sadistically assuring her he'll go after her friends and her infant son next. Ruthless, utterly psychopathic, and with a monstrous appearance to compound his evil, Oblivion's limitless appetite for murder cements him as one of Icon's most wicked foes.
• Fridge Horror: While the image of Icon emerging from a space capsule as a baby is deliberately evocative of Superman, it's a bit different in that he already had an adult mind. Bad enough he's already stranded and enslaved on an alien planet - getting stuck in the body of newborn couldn't have been fun. However, Word of God said he aged rapidly secretly from his adopted parents.
• Misaimed Fandom: Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was a huge fan of the series, keeping every issue of it safely tucked away in a big leather binder when not poring over them for memorable quotes. Dwayne McDuffie (who has admitted to referring to Thomas as "Scalia's Lapdog" and "Uncle Thomas") was greatly dismayed (to put it mildly) by this revelation, to the point that it induced writer's block.
  McDuffie: Every time I started to write dialog for Icon, I froze. "What will Clarence Thomas make of this?" I'd think, "Am I unwittingly aiding the black neocon movement?"
• Values Resonance: Along with the rest of the Milestone Comics imprint, Icon was unafraid to tackle heavy subjects such as teen pregnancy, class differences, racial barriers, and other heavy topics without ever being considered overly preachy or shallow. All while still under review of the Comics Code Authority.

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