Bobby Drake: Iceman Appreciation 2018

[Ice]

Iceman's my all-time favorite character of anything. I miss him and Kitty being a couple, and I was so glad to see there's a future where they have a son together. I love that Mike Carey and Jason Aaron have expanded on his powers more.

[Sundowhn]

Good to see his thread back up and running again!

I have a question for you guys. What sort of role for the X-Men would you like to see Bobby evolve into going forward? I kind of see him doing well as a reluctant mentor. I mean, he's been through his own crisis with responsibility and growing up, so it seems he'd be very well suited to helping the younger generation come to terms with coming of age, at least in my opinion. (I'm also referring to the older version here.)

[Icefanatic]

One question: Is this an adult Iceman's appreciation thread? or an O5 Iceman's?

I would say it's for both/all. There was an appreciation thread on the old forum for the 05 All-New team, but it didn't really take off. You'll find most fans in the appreciation threads follow multiple incarnations of the characters.

Good to see his thread back up and running again!

I have a question for you guys. What sort of role for the X-Men would you like to see Bobby evolve into going forward? I kind of see him doing well as a reluctant mentor. I mean, he's been through his own crisis with responsibility and growing up, so it seems he'd be very well suited to helping the younger generation come to terms with coming of age, at least in my opinion. (I'm also referring to the older version here.)

I'd like that. I think a mentor relationship would be good for Bobby's evolution as a character. He did some of that back when he was in X-Factor and it did seem to suit him quite well, sort of the "older brother" figure. Marvel made the character so much of a jokster for a while there the role wouldn't have really suited, but they seem to have dialed that down a bit.

[jdtennesse]

I must say I like the adult Bobby immensely. I kinda took to him in his Astonishing days, I really like the boost of his powers. He is capable of so much, really.

[sureshot]

Not my favorite X-character to be honest. Yet written poorly for the longest time imo. They kept the character as a goofy joke cracking character for way too long. Only recently have they started writing him properly. Showing how powerful and versatile the character can be.

[ProfeZZor X]

Not my favorite X-character to be honest. Yet written poorly for the longest time imo. They kept the character as a goofy joke cracking character for way too long. Only recently have they started writing him properly. Showing how powerful and versatile the character can be.

Glad you've noticed the gradual change in his character over the recent years. This is something we diehard fans have been wanting for the longest time. Although I do give credit to Lobdell for giving him a bigger role on the team with Zero Tolerance and Legion Quest, I think his bigger rise to fame was with Mike Carey, Remender, Yost, Liu and Bendis. All of them have done and exemplary job of boosting his confidence, and changing the tone of his humor down to sight gags like The Thing puppet, and the giant Voltron battle armor. Even his verbal humor has been toned down a bit to a more sarcastic and medium hearted shtick to fit the tone of the situation without him coming off as being an insensitive jerk.

[Nicoclaws]

I like the character and his powers, but the only things where I can really recall him having any importance were OZT, X-men Forever mini, and recently Icemapocalypse. Actually, when he is not written by Lobdell, I usually dislike him, which is a shame.

[matsing]

Hi ice peeps!
New member, long-time lurker here from the .PH. I am a huge Iceman fan and so this is where I'm going to put my first-ever post to support him. More power to Bobby Drake.
Cheers!
:-)

[Daymare]

Bobby has been one of my favorite male X-men since Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. I have since chilled on the character in his current state but adore the NuX version...I think a lot of that has to do with Immonen's rendering and his playful voice. His "today" version is awful (IMO), in look and personality...depending on the writer, I cannot comment on Amazing, I am not following it.
I realize this is a loaded question but I have seen it asked and I have noticed, especially in the current ANXM issue, (not just because he was sitting with Mimic either, it was the way he was watching, it seemed important) are they setting up a possible change in orientation for the character? I for one think it would be great, and also explain why he has had such a horrid track record with women and goes "all-in" almost to the point of obsession when he gets one (Polaris, Opal, Annie ), his lack of willingness and fear in the past to fully explore his powers, and the times when he would refuse to de-ice for a multitude of issues. Don't forget he also had a pretty bigoted father. I would applaud the change, I am not trolling and I don't want the change for change sake. It would explain much for the current time-line character.

[Icefanatic]

Bobby has been one of my favorite male X-men since Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. I have since chilled on the character in his current state but adore the NuX version...I think a lot of that has to do with Immonen's rendering and his playful voice. His "today" version is awful (IMO), in look and personality...depending on the writer, I cannot comment on Amazing, I am not following it.
I realize this is a loaded question but I have seen it asked and I have noticed, especially in the current ANXM issue, (not just because he was sitting with Mimic either, it was the way he was watching, it seemed important) are they setting up a possible change in orientation for the character? I for one think it would be great, and also explain why he has had such a horrid track record with women and goes "all-in" almost to the point of obsession when he gets one (Polaris, Opal, Annie ), his lack of willingness and fear in the past to fully explore his powers, and the times when he would refuse to de-ice for a multitude of issues. Don't forget he also had a pretty bigoted father. I would applaud the change, I am not trolling and I don't want the change for change sake. It would explain much for the current time-line character.

Marvel has been putting things like that in as in-jokes or slash fantasy fodder for decades. Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza and Mike Carey have all admitted to doing it for those purposes, among others. It's a lot like with the TV show Supernatural. The show's writers and creators know there's a segment of the fanbase that like to see Sam and Dean as gay, and ship them together as a couple, or Dean with Castiel, or Dean with Crowley, or Dean with damn near any guy, lol; so they put stuff into the show to play to that.

The problem with making that fantasy a reality is two-fold. One: Most of the people watching the show don't see the characters that way, and more importantly don't want to see the characters that way because it would interfere with the way they currently enjoy the show. Two, most of the people watching the show wouldn't find it believable if they did make that change because to get there it recognizes a few almost-trees that were never clearly even real, and ignores a really massive forest that is. It's much the same with Iceman. I've read pretty much every appearance of the character. Original X-Men, Early Years, Hidden Years, The Champions, The New Defenders, X-Factor, Current X-Men, mini's and one-shots and guest appearances...For every thing it would fit with or explain, it would conflict with and contradict dozens and dozens more. It focuses on a little and glosses over a lot.

I'm not saying Marvel couldn't or wouldn't make Iceman gay, they can make any of their characters anything, and find explanations in this panel or that panel for all of it. The question is would it be believed and would it be accepted. With decades of comics, cartoons, movies and the character not depicted that way, it would be a hard sell for a lot of people. I think a lot of fans would be better off just enjoying their fantasies as fantasies instead of waiting, even expecting for something in their head to actually come true. Once you start getting your hopes up for something like that, and it doesn't happen, you're opening yourself up for a lot of disappointment.

I think a lot of that is part of why the boards here got so bad, people talking about "head cannon" and treating their own fantasies or personal viewpoints as authentic, and trying to force that on other people, and even to an extent Marvel itself; to the point of attacking writers when they would post here. And for the record, you didn't come off as remotely trollish, you were very respectful, I hope I manged to respond in kind.

[butterflykyss]

Ideally, I'd like to establish the first 20 (or so) pages of Iceman art. This way, anyone coming into this thread will get a first hand idea of some of Iceman's history. It may not be in chronological order, but at least they'll get a sense of his feats, his appearances, his love interests, the teams he's been on, and so on. Anything to promote the character, and raise awareness of him. Plus, people tend to respond more positively with images, rather than page after page, after page of dialogue posts between members. Images gives people a sense of awe and wonder, and what's possible. So with that said, you guys keep up the good work in posting new images, and thank you again Icefanatic for your insightful observation and knowledge that you instill in all of us.

Hey Professor! Im not a big iceman fan at all (storm fan) but I must say great job with the posts here. I didnt realize how versatile he was with his elemental control over ice. I come here from time to time to look at the images. Again good job

[cc008]

I miss those ice speech bubbles they used to give Bobby. Wish they would bring those back.

[Hypestyle]

you should hear ice cracking every time he speaks.

[cc008]

you should hear ice cracking every time he speaks.

Exactly. It's like Deadpool's yellow boxes or Iron Man's or Danger's tech boxes. I enjoy the personalization they get for them.

[Daymare]

Art selections are great. Very diverse.