Bobby Drake: Iceman Appreciation 2019

[stormphoenix]

I LOVE GERRY DUGGAN. He’s such a nice Guy. I wanted to share this with Storm Fans and Iceman Fans.

I asked Duggan a question regarding Storm/Iceman. I wanted to know if he thought it was hard writing Two Omega Mutants Powers difficult. His response was:

https://mobile.twitter.com/GerryDugg...57686176059392

[NewMutant]

With the ties to the Hellfire Club I hope we see Shinobi Shaw and Daken pop up in Marauders as well.

Can you imagine Shinobi, Daken, Christian, and Iceman all in the same book!?

Plus Daddy Shaw and Mama Emma!

[Veitha]

I LOVE GERRY DUGGAN. He’s such a nice Guy. I wanted to share this with Storm Fans and Iceman Fans.

I asked Duggan a question regarding Storm/Iceman. I wanted to know if he thought it was hard writing Two Omega Mutants Powers difficult. His response was:

https://mobile.twitter.com/GerryDugg...57686176059392

After seeing the Kitty fight scene, I can't wait to see Duggan doing more power showcases.

[Fokken]

Omg BOB! UNSHEATHE yourself before lip locking!

[JB]

Omg BOB! UNSHEATHE yourself before lip locking!

Maybe muscle boy likes it cold.

[stormphoenix]

Omg BOB! UNSHEATHE yourself before lip locking!

He gave the boy frost bite. Now muscle boy has no lips.

[NewMutant]

Omg BOB! UNSHEATHE yourself before lip locking!

What a great time to be an X-Fan!

[manymade1]

Omg BOB! UNSHEATHE yourself before lip locking!

Whats this from?

[JB]

Whats this from?

Preview art for upcoming Marauders, revealed in today's X-Men Monday.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...on-HoX-and-PoX

I wanna see Ororo and leather-man swap outfits in the next panel. Thanks.

[manymade1]

Preview art for upcoming Marauders, revealed in today's X-Men Monday.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...on-HoX-and-PoX

I wanna see Ororo and leather-man swap outfits in the next panel. Thanks.

Thank you!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Factor #45 Oct 1989
Judgement War! Part 3 of 7. "Arena!"
Continued from last issue...

Archangel, believed to be one of this alien world's Rejects, has been forced to enter
an arena where the Chosen force Rejects to engage in gladiatorial combat and place bets.
Archangel is the "property" of Lord Rask, a Chosen nobleman who stands to gain great wealth from the coming battle should Archangel win.
Warren refuses to fight, however his opponent the Reject named Agrom has no such compunctions as he only wishes to survive.
He attacks Warren savagely, however the winged mutant only defends himself. When Warren refuses to fight,
the Chosen unleash a swarm of devices called Goads -- devices that when attached to a being, ramps up their aggressions.
This forces Warren to fight and easily defeat Agrom in combat. During the fight, some of the Goads get knocked off Warren
and when the audience cheers for him to kill Agrom, Warren refuses to do so.
When he attempts to escape by flying out of the arena, a forcefield prevents him from doing so.

Princess Seera, witnessing the fight, becomes even more confused over her feelings for
the Archangel -- finding him noble and majestic which goes against the Chosen's contempt for the Rejects.
Rask makes a killing in the bets, and when he sneers at Lev and Bobby, Iceman becomes angry for being treated as a second class citizen

due to the fact that he is thought to be a Dueler, and is determined to get into a fight with Rask until Lev calms him down enough.
Witnessing this, Seera notes that she has never seen Bobby before and wonders if Archangel's claims of being
from another world is where this "Dueler" and the strange baby that she now has in her possession came from.
In wondering about the baby, she wonders where it's mother might be.

Marvel Girl is a prisoner of the Rejects, who since being attacked by a Jammer, has been in a catatonic state.
When the guards go in to check on her, they doubt much success in her being able to recover from the attack.
Elsewhere in the Reject village, Beast -- unaware that MG is the captive of the Rejects -- helps
Zharkah go through scavenged supplies and find items that they can use for Whilge's coming baby.
They are soon alerted that Whilge is giving birth at that moment and go to her side to witness the moment.
When Hank refers to child birth as a miracle, Zharkah corrects him that on this bleak world a birth is more
of a tragedy as even if the newborn child manages to live, it will live in a world of constant war and strife.
Almost in response to this Whilge's horrified when her newborn child dies suddenly.
Soon a funeral service is quickly organized and performed for the late Zheopah, and her body is put ablaze on a funeral pyre.
When Beast suggests that they use technology to try and improve the genetic defects in the Rejects,
Zharkah becomes suspicious of the Beast and tells him that such uses of technology is forbidden as it is what the Chosen use to reproduce.

While at the citadel of the Chosen, Princess Seera breaks into the breeding labs,
using her Jamming powers to mask her presence so that she can steal nutrient to take back to young Christopher Summers.
Along the way through the sewers she runs into a guard who has come to investigate the "blankness" surrounding the area.
Not wishing to get caught, she attacks him with her Jamming ability
but fears she has used them too strongly and alerted others of her presence.
As she flees the scene to avoid capture she wonders why the Chosen have
not trained themselves to use their powers for anything other than combat.
She returns to her quarters to find that young Christopher is crying,
however the child's tears subside when she feeds him the nutrient.
She has decided that at the first opportunity she must move the child out of the city.
With the little boy in her arms, Seera marvels at the possibility that this is a child from another world
and wonders that if she were ever to meet the boys parents, would she be able to give the child back.

Cyclops meanwhile exits the cave of the Beginagains with Dykon where Gammenon is once more on the planets surface outside their cave.
As they watch the giant Celestial, Scott reiterates his need to find his missing friends, and Dykon reminds Scott
of the conflict between the Rejects and Chosen and the Beginagains' desire to reunite both peoples to save their planet.
Dykon, suggests that with Cyclops's help, they may be able to do just that.

While back at the home of the Rejects, Zharkah announces that young Nikoh
has developed his Reject born abilities, the power to light things on fire.
When word about the "Reject" Archangel's victory in the arena word returned to the village by spies Beast
tells the gathered Rejects that Archangel is a member of his "tribe", X-Factor and rallies them to plan an attack on the Chosen's city.
As Beast and the others rush off to make plans, Zharkah watches the scene with increasing suspicion.

Back in the Chosen's citadel, Iceman and Lev pit their powers together and Bobby gloats that the only way Lev was
able to "defeat" him in battle previously was due to the fact he was caught off guard from a supposed Jammer attack.
When he traps her in a block of ice, he gets her to yield, however she still believes that she can beat him in combat.

When Lord Rask enters the room and mocks them for being Duelers, Bobby stands up to this and challenges Rask to a duel.
In a one-on-one fight, Iceman manages to defeat Rask by knocking the lord down and pinning his arms down with ice.
With the victory, Lev wins a hardy wager and Rask then challenges Iceman to go up against the "Reject" champion, Archangel.

Bobby accepts this challenge, however he feels uneasy when he learns that Lev bet money that she doesn't have on the fight.

While in the dungeons Archangel revives to find that Agrom is still alive and is surprised.
He begins to tell Agrom about how he was transformed into the Archangel
and manipulated by someone and that his wings have a mind of their own.
He also tells the Reject that he has made a vow never to be controlled by anyone
ever again and swears that once he is freed himself he will destroy all the Chosen.
Unknown to Warren his words are being monitored by Seera who has used her jamming powers to sneak into the monitoring room.
She is worried that Archangel is poised to fight his friend from another world, and wonders what she can
do to help him, and considers that if she does anything to free him, he might destroy her entire kingdom.

Story by Louise Simonson. Art by Paul Smith and Al Milgrom.

[Heroine Addict]

Despite the poor creative decisions allowed with some of this, I thought it was pretty spot-on for the indecisive, commitment-phobe Bobby. Lucas & Ororo too, were right in line with their established personas, IMO. Also gotta chuckle out of his deadpan efforts during the earlier, boat selling scene, with Pyro. Hoping he does somethin' more AND memorable soon though, in upcoming issues, beyond the few good character moments he's had in these first two.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Factor #46 Nov 1989
Judgement War! Part 4 of 7. "Exchange!"
Continued from last issue...

The Beast is preparing a group of Rejects to participate in a mission to break into the Chosen's city to free his friend Archangel from the arena.
As he trains young Nikoh how to fight, Zharkah watches with increased suspicion over Beast's true motives.
Unaware that he is really a mutant from another world she begins to suspect that he might be a spy of the Chosen,
and decides to see how he reacts when he sees the red haired woman that they have had prisoner
since their last battle against the Chosen who is scheduled to be part of the coming prisoner exchange.

Meanwhile, in the city of the Chosen, Iceman and Lev begin to drum up bets for Iceman's upcoming battle against the Archangel.

Watching this in disguise is Princess Seera, who knows that Iceman is really from another world and is suffering amnesia.
She wonders what she can do to free Archangel and continues to struggle
with her conflicting emotions regarding her allegiances to the Chosen way of life.
She also begins to wonder how much longer she can keep baby Christopher hidden from
the Chosen Scientists and once more considers sneaking the child further out of the city.

As she goes to check on the child and her robot Zee-Zee, she is unaware that she is being followed by
a member of the Chosen who can fly, who watches her enter her hideout and leaves to report to the scientists.

While at the hidden base of the Beginagains, Scott learns that his friend Beast
is among the Rejects, while Archangel and Iceman are in the city of the Chosen.
Looking through a monitoring crystal of the Beginagains, Scott learns that Marvel Girl
has been a prisoner of the Rejects and is going to be part of a prisoner exchange.
He demands instant action, however Dykon and the other Beginagains
refuse to take any action just yet prompting Cyclops to go off alone.

Back in the city of the Chosen, Archangel is brought before Lord Rask
who attempts to force Warren to go about a training exercise.
When Warren attempts to attack him, he is blasted back.
Warren then takes a different approach, feigning weakness until Rask gets close enough
for him to slice the nobleman's leg with his razor-sharp wings before being caged again.
Archangel assures Rask that he will slay the Dueler that he will be forced to fight and survive if only for
the satisfaction of eventually killing Rask, unaware that the "Dueler" he is to fight is his own comrade Iceman.

In the Reject city, the prisoner exchange is about to get underway when
Beast notices that the prisoner that they intend to exchange is Jean.
When Beast tries to save her, Zharkah believes that her suspicion that Hank is a spy
of the Chosen has been confirmed and she orders the other Rejects to capture Hank.
Back at the Chosen's city, Seera nurses young Christopher when suddenly Rask and a number of soldiers burst into the building.

They incapacitate Seera, Zee-Zee and Christopher, intending to punish Seera for
breaking their laws even though she is considered the most perfect of their society.
Christopher's telepathic cries cause Marvel Girl -- who has been in a catatonic state the whole time -- to awaken and lash out.

However, much to Beast's surprise, the dominant personality is not that of Jean, but of Madelyne Pryor.
While Seera has to answer to why she has a child, the scientists tell her that she will be punished for her crimes.
Rask however, having used his wealth and bargaining on Archangel's coming battle to net him another
handsome sum of money to buy him favor tries to get Seera to ally with him to avoid any trouble.
Seera, finally making a decision that their way of life refuses, knowing full well that there will be harsh consequences coming her way.

While outside the Beginagains base, Cyclops is stopped by Dykon and other
Beginagains who wish to help him storm the Chosen's city to free his friends.
However they point out that they will have to pass around the Celestial known
as Gammenon who has returned to the planet and is blocking their direct path.
As Scott calls out to Jean, telling her that he is coming,
it is Madelyne who hears this and is amused that her estranged husband would be coming.
In deep space, X-Factor's Ship is still a prisoner of the Celestials and once more probing it's data banks to learn it's true origins,
learns that it wasn't created by Apocalypse at all, but by the Celestials many centuries ago.
Finally, back in the Chosen's city, Seera is given back her robot Zee-Zee whom she is horrified
to find has been reprogrammed to have her own independent thinking culled from her data banks.
When Seera tries to lash out against the scientist who has done this to her childhood caretaker, she is forced back.
As she recovers from the feedback of her powers she vows that no matter what she will free the Archangel
and allow him to get his vengeance against the Chosen even if it means the end of her civilization in the process.

Story by Louise Simonson. Art by Paul Smith and Al Milgrom.

[Anduinel]

Unused (and seasonally appropriate!) cover to Iceman #8 by Kevin Wada.

[Beetle]

That cover is amazing, I almost forgot how much I enjoyed that issue