X-Men #14 Review: Iceman Saves the World, World Still Doomed

[Rift]

An article has been written about Iceman saving the world. The editor tells the journalist to "drop the gay angle," as she's focusing on Iceman being a gay mutant hero. He thinks that his sexuality isn't relevant to the story.

Flashback to a few days ago. Some alien jerks (rogue Novas, by the looks of their helmets?) are trying to make our sun collapse by torpedoing it with.. something. They want to win big from bets on Gameworld, as they bet on Earth's destruction. Cyclops and Magik port inside their ship and helpfully let them know that Gameworld is no more.

The aliens refuse to give up, since they outnumber the duo. But Cyclops trickshots his eye beams all over the room, shooting their helmets off. Now outgunned and at the mercy of Magik's blade, they confess that they put a fire generator in the sun, so they can bathe our planet in fire. They're gonna create a giant solar flare.

Cyclops tells Jean all about it. She gives Iceman the deets and sends him up into orbit. Iceman decides to make an ice shield, but he's aware that it could cause another hazard to the planet. He tells Jean to tell Forge to get his thinking bandana on.

Jean instructs Firestar of the plan. The ice shield will act as an air bag. When it falls, Firestar will go to the largest debris field (the American widwest) and melt the ice as it falls, so people aren't, like, crushed to death.

While walking around with a stick and eating a sandwich, Forge is doing some calculations on how thick the ice should be. Everyone's favorite walkie-talkie, Jean, will upload the info into Bobby's mind.

Magik and Cyclops evacuate all the astronauts in orbit, so no one is fried. No one except Bobby, who's obliterated by the flare, along with his shield. The outer edge of the flare has been deflected, but more is on the way. Firestar, Jean, Synch and Rogue (the latter two borrowing Jean's powers) work to tak care of the ice raining down on everyone.

Back in orbit, Bobby reforms and blasts the plasma bolt with more ice. He's knocked back into Earth's gravity and begins falling, but then casually makes his ice trail to move down safely. On the way, he runs into Firestar, and they high-five. Their powers mingle and make a giant rainbow in the sky.
When they touch down, a reporter flocks to Iceman for an interview. Iceman says that he only has a little bit of time before he has to go fight the Eternals, but he does stop to give us a data page.

The page is an excerpt of the interview, and kind of lengthy. The tl;dr is that Bobby a mutant and a gay man; he's tired of trying to find acceptance by fitting in with the majority. He's also staying in his ice form more, because he's proud of his gift and wants to show other mutants and humans that he doesn't have to pass or be afraid of who he is. He also has a 14-paragraph dissertation on why everyone should strive to be like Hellion: an attractive and human-passing mutant who is the ultimate ally towards non-passing mutants (Mercury), the LGBT (Mercury and Anole), and the ugly (Wither during his early days of New Mutants vol 2.)

Back to the present. The journalist says that she wants to keep the gay angle because it's the truth, she doesn't want to "coddle the small-minded," and doesn't want to erase Bobby's existence. The editor is like "okay w/e, we'll keep it."

Meanwhile, Cyclops meets with the Celestial judge in the Arctic. Before he can be judged, Cyclops tells the Celestial that only his wife can judge him. He's willing to bring the Celestial somewhere else to meet his wife. For this, the Celestial gives him a passing verdict.

Notes:

• Duggan's writing Bobby a little better, but this issue felt very awkward. Like Iceman's interview has some merit, but it feels out of left field within the context of the issue.

[Krakoa]

This issue was a solid use of different characters and a good Bobby spotlight, but felt weird as an event tie-in and also I worry that this is the end of Bobby doing much in this run instead of the beginning of character development for him.

[sunofdarkchild]

Poor Havok. Last issue he was nothing more than comic relief and here he's the only one who doesn't do anything. Everyone else gets to show off how awesome they are, but Havok doesn't even have a panel to blast something in.

[JB]

I really enjoyed this but I'm a big fan of straightforward super-heroics like this. I like how Duggan is going big with Iceman's powers and the teamwork was great (nice to see Rogue in the two books I've read this morning). Firestar had some nice moments.

Bobby's speech did feel a bit forced and oddly timed. But perhaps with the world on the verge of possibly ending, he's like whatever.

I agree that it was odd as an event tie-in, though I did like the exchange between Cyclops and the zombie celestial. I'm keeping track of the judgments so kudos for team good scoring a point.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Poor Havok. Last issue he was nothing more than comic relief and here he's the only one who doesn't do anything. Everyone else gets to show off how awesome they are, but Havok doesn't even have a panel to blast something in.

Doesn't Havok absorb cosmic energy?

You'd think he could have at least softened the solar flare.

[Nicoclaws]

Meanwhile, Cyclops meets with the Celestial judge in the Arctic. Before he can be judged, Cyclops tells the Celestial that only his wife can judge him. He's willing to bring the Celestial somewhere else to meet his wife. For this, the Celestial gives him a passing verdict.

He is taking the Celestial to Limbo to meet Maddie ?

[justanotherclassic]

I feel like Duggan is better at writing this team as a team much better than he was with the original team -- although Havok fans, I feel your pain. That being said, his writing feels like nothing especially special to me and leaves more whelmed than anything. It doesn't feel bad and it doesn't feel good, and it certainly isn't groundbreaking. Which isn't necessarily wrong, just a little boring and allows for the flagship book to be easily overshadowed by X-Men: Red and Immortal, in my opinion.

Overall, I did walk away from the issue feeling a bit weird about Scott's judgment. I don't disagree that he deserves a thumbs up, but his reasoning didn't exactly vibe with me. "The only person who can judge me is my wife" is kinda cute, but it loses the effect when the first thing that comes to mind is, "what would Madelyne Pryor say?" followed by "I think your kids, more than your wife, should be able to judge you, bro". Considering how the Celestial's somewhat esoteric reasoning, I'm left feeling a bit cold. That being said, if I were a Jott shipper, I would likely be over the moon.

That being said: I did see an interesting theory on Twitter arguing the judgment is actually how the heroes view themselves, which I think is neat. Especially in comparison to I think how Captain America views himself -- his books are always a struggle with the American identity -- compared to Scott "Cyclops was Right" Summers. Which I actually think would be a super neat twist.

[Kingdom X]

I made the mistake of recently reading the Iceman Marvel Voices series, so this issue was a little lukewarm in comparison but it was definitely still a good focus issue for Bobby.

I also think this yearly X-Men team NEEDS to have a non-human looking mutant at some point. Lastly, Jean really has been KILLING it lately and I’m not mad at it.

[JB]

I feel like Duggan is better at writing this team as a team much better than he was with the original team -- although Havok fans, I feel your pain. That being said, his writing feels like nothing especially special to me and leaves more whelmed than anything. It doesn't feel bad and it doesn't feel good, and it certainly isn't groundbreaking. Which isn't necessarily wrong, just a little boring and allows for the flagship book to be easily overshadowed by X-Men: Red and Immortal, in my opinion.

Overall, I did walk away from the issue feeling a bit weird about Scott's judgment. I don't disagree that he deserves a thumbs up, but his reasoning didn't exactly vibe with me. "The only person who can judge me is my wife" is kinda cute, but it loses the effect when the first thing that comes to mind is, "what would Madelyne Pryor say?" followed by "I think your kids, more than your wife, should be able to judge you, bro". Considering how the Celestial's somewhat esoteric reasoning, I'm left feeling a bit cold. That being said, if I were a Jott shipper, I would likely be over the moon.

That being said: I did see an interesting theory on Twitter arguing the judgment is actually how the heroes view themselves, which I think is neat. Especially in comparison to I think how Captain America views himself -- his books are always a struggle with the American identity -- compared to Scott "Cyclops was Right" Summers. Which I actually think would be a super neat twist.

That makes a lot of sense and indeed would be a cool twist. Very interesting.

I made the mistake of recently reading the Iceman Marvel Voices series, so this issue was a little lukewarm in comparison but it was definitely still a good focus issue for Bobby.

I also think this yearly X-Men team NEEDS to have a non-human looking mutant at some point. Lastly, Jean really has been KILLING it lately and I’m not mad at it.

Jean is turning the party, my goodness. Launching Iceman into space, helping handle the debris with her telekinesis, receiving and sending intel, ordering Domino's. She's shining.

[danielsan52]

I also think this yearly X-Men team NEEDS to have a non-human looking mutant at some point.

Max Rocker please.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

8/10

I LOVE this Issue. Huge Bobby Fan and it makes me happy to see Bobby once again strut his Stuff.

Also i'm confuzzled where was this FIRE with Bobby during Duggans Marauders Run??? What's Up with that. Anyway, great issue. Great Data Page at the End. TBH, I feel like Bobby should have let those Humans have it!! But that's me. Good Job for taking the High Ground Bobby :-)

I'm still not sure what to think of Firestar.....

Loved Scott giving the Celestial the FINGER, that's my Boy! #Cyclopswasright. #Scottpassed

[Andru]

IMO 8 members on a team is too much. Someone(s) is always going to be left out or have minimal page time. Unfortunately that role fell to Havok. And to a lesser extent Synch & Forge.

Overall I thought this was a fun issue. A bit crunched for time this morning so skipped Iceman's speech data page...will have to go back and check that out.

I quite like the idea of the the celestial's judgment being a reflection of how the judged view themselves. Hope they go with that.

"Magik was here"

[JB]

Icon.

[davetvs]

I loved Jean taking charge and corralling the team like a true leader, and glad we finally got an explanation for why Bobby is constantly iced-up since it never seemed to make much sense. This was a strong issue, better than the last few for sure. This team does feel more gelled than the previous.

[Devaishwarya]

I really love that it (and XMR) is only tangentially a tie-in issue.
Let Gillen focus on his story. Duggan and Ewing should focus on theirs (like Percy, who clearly doesn't have any fucks to give, if he ever did.)