Bobby Drake: Iceman Appreciation 2018

[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.

[Icefanatic]

Cover for an X-men paperback novel with art by Julie Bell:


Larger partial view of original image:


Full image:

[Icefanatic]

Iceman's rarely seen first encounter after their breakup with ex-lover Darkstar, for the people that still try to claim they were never lovers and she never cared about him. The reason they broke up was she wasn't in love with him, not that they didn't care about each other or weren't sleeping together.


Iceman makes a frozen city off the coast of Long Island while spending time with Rogue. A little bit romantic and a lot of feat.


Iceman and Rogue's road trip. Disclaimer: I'm posting this mainly because I love this page of Rogue.

[Icefanatic]

When Iceman met Firestar...

[Nicoclaws]

Iceman and Rogue's road trip. Disclaimer: I'm posting this mainly because I love this page of Rogue.

I miss their relationship.
Brian Hitch is the sex.

[Icefanatic]

It's a variant cover for All-New X-Men 22.

[Lady Warp Spasm]

It's a variant cover for All-New X-Men 22.

LOL. That's hilarious. I'd be looking over my shoulder too.

[cc008]

A few Iceman/Elsa team-ups

[cc008]

[ProfeZZor X]

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.

[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.