Bendis On Iceman's Outing, Says "I'm Not Done With This Story Yet"

[CBR News]

Brian Michael Bendis speaks with CBR News about the revelation that the time-displaced, original X-Man Bobby Drake is gay.


Full article here.

[DocSpin]

Congratulations on a very unique and heartfelt coming out tale, Brian! Can wait to read more!

[Viteh]

It really feels like a copout to blame the "scans". I read about this in an Outhouse article, that mentioned 4chan as its source. I went there to confirm it, and saw all of the scans, and they weren't blurry at all. It's honestly a little insulting for Bendis to imply that people didn't read it correctly.

There are real people that have problems with that story, not because Bobby is gay, but because of how it was handled. It perpetuates bi erasure, it violates gay men's privacy, and it justifies someone else dictating what your sexuality should be. Those are real issues.

A simple "we recognize there were problems with it, we'll do better" would have sufficed.

[JLS Comics]

I wonder if this will still be the case on the case on the other side of Secret Wars

[Metahuman Torch]

I've always thought Bobby wasn't completely straight, and now... it feels kinda weird for it to be finally out
Can't wait to see what the story offers for my favorite X-Man. Although i'm just happy Bobby is finally getting a story line after being so neglected!

[poneley]

It really feels like a copout to blame the "scans". I read about this in an Outhouse article, that mentioned 4chan as its source. I went there to confirm it, and saw all of the scans, and they weren't blurry at all. It's honestly a little insulting for Bendis to imply that people didn't read it correctly.

There are real people that have problems with that story, not because Bobby is gay, but because of how it was handled. It perpetuates bi erasure, it violates gay men's privacy, and it justifies someone else dictating what your sexuality should be. Those are real issues.

A simple "we recognize there were problems with it, we'll do better" would have sufficed.

I don't know what scans you saw. The ones I saw only showed bits and pieces of the "coming out" story. It wasn't until I read the entire issue that I really appreciated the work Bendis did. Maybe you saw more scans but the scans I saw were incomplete. Bendis wrote a really good "coming out" scene for Bobby and Jean.

I agree with Bendis that this bit of storytelling was ruined by the early scans. It got sensationalized and it lost a bit of its "regular day" and "everydayness". Most people who come out don't have it announced on twitter, tumbler and etc the day before they do it. So yeah, the scans ruined that aspect of it. I personally wish it hadn't been spoiled it... Even knowing that someone was going to "come out" was a huge spoiler. Oh well.

[MarvelMaster616]

The more I think about it, the more okay I am with Iceman being gay. I just think that there's a lot of retconning involved to make it fit. But unlike the Maximoff twins, it's not insurmountable. It's still going to be contrived and forced. But it's not the most forced thing Marvel has ever done. The retcon with the Maximoff Twins was far worse in my opinion. I think if Marvel does put some thought into this, they can make it work. That's a big if though. There are too many easy ways for certain details to get glossed over and I'd rather not see that for something this big. My main concern is that Bendis only has a few issues left in his run. He doesn't have a lot of time to address all these plot holes and I doubt he will. Maybe his successor will pick up the slack, but there's still a lot of plot holes to resolve.

[Viteh]

I don't know what scans you saw. The ones I saw only showed bits and pieces of the "coming out" story. It wasn't until I read the entire issue that I really appreciated the work Bendis did. Maybe you saw more scans but the scans I saw were incomplete. Bendis wrote a really good "coming out" scene for Bobby and Jean.

I agree with Bendis that this bit of storytelling was ruined by the early scans. It got sensationalized and it lost a bit of its "regular day" and "everydayness". Most people who come out don't have it announced on twitter, tumbler and etc the day before they do it. So yeah, the scans ruined that aspect of it. I personally wish it hadn't been spoiled it... Even knowing that someone was going to "come out" was a huge spoiler. Oh well.

Probably someone took the scans and divided them into pieces, the ones I saw were full page scans.

I would hardly call it a good "coming out" scene. Particularly since it wasn't even Bobby who decided to come out. Jean invaded his mind and forced him to admit it. That's the same as someone reading your diary, phone, email, and forcing you to admit to them that you are gay. That's not a good coming out story.

[PretenderNX01]

It really feels like a copout to blame the "scans". I read about this in an Outhouse article, that mentioned 4chan as its source. I went there to confirm it, and saw all of the scans, and they weren't blurry at all. It's honestly a little insulting for Bendis to imply that people didn't read it correctly.

I saw it on a link to Tumblr with only 2 pages. Later I saw it with 6 pages so I get it he wanted it seen in context. I didn't think it was blurry though, looked good to me.

There is no more evidence that Iceman is gay than that the Golden Age Batman and Robin were gay.

Well, there was a whole Inquisition about that...

I've always thought Bobby wasn't completely straight, and now... it feels kinda weird for it to be finally out
Can't wait to see what the story offers for my favorite X-Man. Although i'm just happy Bobby is finally getting a story line after being so neglected!

Agreed. Thought it, can't believe they confirmed it but now maybe we'll see something with some sort of depth to him.

[poneley]

Probably someone took the scans and divided them into pieces, the ones I saw were full page scans.

I would hardly call it a good "coming out" scene. Particularly since it wasn't even Bobby who decided to come out. Jean invaded his mind and forced him to admit it. That's the same as someone reading your diary, phone, email, and forcing you to admit to them that you are gay. That's not a good coming out story.

It's good because that's what sometimes happens, so in a way, it was an "authentic" coming out story because sometimes gay individuals aren't given the choice to come out or not.

What Jean did was wrong but it made perfect sense. Since day one Bendis had been writing Young Jean as an impulsive busybody who is not worried about breaking the rules and respecting other people's privacy. Those are not "good" traits but it makes her immensely more interesting. She's kind of a terrible person. Forcing Bobby to come out was terrible and wonderful.

I thought the "messy" conversation Bobby and Jean was good, it felt authentic.

[junir]

Sunspot and Canonball coming out as gay would have made more sense than Bobby....

[Viteh]

It's good because that's what sometimes happens, so in a way, it was an "authentic" coming out story because sometimes gay individuals aren't given the choice to come out or not.

What Jean did was wrong but it made perfect sense. Since day one Bendis had been writing Young Jean as an impulsive busybody who is not worried about breaking the rules and respecting other people's privacy. Those are not "good" traits but it makes her immensely more interesting. She's kind of a terrible person. Forcing Bobby to come out was terrible and wonderful.

I thought the "messy" conversation Bobby and Jean was good, it felt authentic.

Oh yeah, I agree, it makes sense for Jean to do so, and yeah, that does happen in real life. Including the biphobia part, that happens in real life too.

But if you are gonna portray problematic stuff on a comic, you have to acknowlede that it's problematic IN the comic. Jean congratulates herself on it. The message the comic sends is that it's perfectly fine for someone to do this to another person.

It's not fine. You want to help a friend come to terms with their sexuality? There are much better ways to do so, and it should always end up being on their terms, not yours.

[poneley]

Oh yeah, I agree, it makes sense for Jean to do so, and yeah, that does happen in real life. Including the biphobia part, that happens in real life too.

But if you are gonna portray problematic stuff on a comic, you have to acknowlede that it's problematic IN the comic. Jean congratulates herself on it. The message the comic sends is that it's perfectly fine for someone to do this to another person.

It's not fine. You want to help a friend come to terms with their sexuality? There are much better ways to do so, and it should always end up being on their terms, not yours.

It'll be interesting if Jean's actions get acknowledged or are simply forgotten. I agree, it is very problematic.

[rdman]

Bobby will Become a switch hitter and has taken conversion therapy or professor x zapped the gay out of him.

[Viteh]

It'll be interesting if Jean's actions get acknowledged or are simply forgotten. I agree, it is very problematic.

I do get the feeling that Jean invading people's private thoughts will be dealt with, as it's been recurring in his run, but I don't know if this particular instance of it will be. I think all we'll get regarding Bobby is something with adult Bobby, not about how he came out, and the bi comment.