With his own teenage self brought into the present by time travel shenanigans, the founding X-Man known as Iceman has to come to grips with being a mutant and recent revelations about himself… Will Bobby Drake be up to this brave new world? Your Major Spoilers review of Iceman #1 awaits!
ICEMAN #1
Writer: Sina Grace
Artist: Alessando Vitti
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in Iceman: “Bobby Drake, AKA Iceman, is one of the earliest students of Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters and a charter member of the X-Men, where he used his mutant abilities to do good. Recently, his time-displaced teenage mutant self was brought to the present, bringing himself face-to-face with some hard truths about the man he’s become…”
YOUR ICEMAN 101
This issue is a pretty solid take on the “Who He Is And How He Came To Be” story, framed with Bobby Drake filling out his dating profile. The story shows him in action with his younger self, giving one of the simplest and most successful explanations of the nonsense that created two X-Men founding teams, contrasts the two Drakes against each other, and deals with his decision to finally come out, after his younger self did. There’s also a health scare for his father, taking the parental issues from the X-Men movies (one of the most successful takes on the character, historically speaking) and putting them front and center, with dismissive dad having had a heart attack and mom-in-denial talking about how bad things happen “whenever you become a mutant.” Bobby also gets to fight off a Purifier attack, give a pep talk to a new young mutant and show off his Omega-level powers and experience to show that any of the jokes you may have heard about him are null and void.
“LEARN YOUR X-MEN!”
As someone whose first take on the character was as a Defender something like 30 years ago, I found myself appreciating this issue. The problem with Bobby, the youngest X-Man, in the sliding Marvel timeline, is that he has had the “coming of age, now I’m a big strong grownup” story four or five times in his history, something that this issue references obliquely. Bobby’s ease in dispatching the villain is lovely, and the voice that Sina Grace gives him fits perfectly with what has gone before. This issue looks good as well, with strong storytelling and really nice blocking of the combat sequences, but well-done facial expressions in the quite moments. Papa Drake’s subtle contempt of his boy is visible in his face, while Bobby experiences a wide range of emotions, all of which are clearly rendered. A few moments of the story could have used more clarity, and there’s never really an explanation of what Iceman’s powers are, but those complaints seem minor in the context of the mega-popular X-Men.
THE BOTTOM LINE: A STRONG FIRST ISSUE
The decision to put the X-Men back in the spotlight worried me, but there have been some good issues and unusual choices for solo series that give me hope, and this issue is one of them. Iceman #1 serves as a primer for the character, a quick but exciting adventure and a window into the world of an interesting but underutilized member of Marvel’s massive mutant cast, earning 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. If they can keep the casual fans involved, this issue shows off the chops of a creative team that has the potential to make Iceman a draw equal to Cable or Deadpool…
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