Iceman #6 (spoilers!)

[Anduinel]

OK, for real this time.

- As the issue opens, Bobby's in LA already. The Champions of old have assembled at their old HQ to pay tribute to on of their fallen, the Black Widow. Or that was the plan. Turns out their old digs have been converted into a trendy gym. Bobby is majorly annoyed. His old teammates are bit more low-key about it.



- They go to a bar to trade stories about the first time they each met Natasha. Bobby is reluctant to share the tale of his first meeting with her, citing embarrassment. He's saved from having the tale needled out of him by the arrival of Sabra, who is pissed off with the world in general, and LA in particular.

- Later, Bobby and Warren hang out on the Hollywood sign. The reunion hasn't helped either of their moods. Warren confides to Bobby that he's frightened by how detached he's been from his own emotions, and asks Bobby to help him laugh... namely by telling him the story about his first meet with Natasha.

- Bobby manages to put Warren off by pointing out that someone below has a huge friggin' Sentinel head sitting in their backyard.

- A former henchwoman named Leti is trying to go legit by turning cast-off Sentinel parts into mobile practical effects so that her start-up effects house can grab the attention of the local studios. Bobby and Warren drop in and let her know that is severely Not OK to use an engine of genocide as a demo reel. Leti protests that the Sentinel's not even functional; the mutants aren't in a mood to hear it, ice-spike the Sentinel, and leave.

- Bobby revisits some of his old haunts from his student days, trying to shake off the feeling that he might not have grown all that much as a person since his time with the Champions. He hits up a bookstore, then gets hit on by a confident/kind of pushy guy named Judah. After some chatting up, Judah declares Bobby cute and invites him out for drinks.

- Bobby texts the Champions for back-up/wingman support. To Bobby's credit, he's genre-savvy enough to suspect this might be a trap of some kind.

- Back to Leti. She's decided that the best way to get the attention of a studio is to have her assembled Sentinels fighting X-Men. ...sometimes I think Magneto was wrong to ever rethink his "I'm wiping out humanity!" phase.

- At the bar. The Champions arrive! There's no ambush waiting! Hercules is the best wingman.



- The date goes overall well, with a couple of smoothed-over awkward spots due to Bobby being new at this whole dudes-dating-dudes thing. There is a smooch. Judah seems to be quite into Bobby and invites him back to his place to talk.

- Bobby's not terribly convincing attempts at playing it cool are cut off by -- you guessed it! -- rampaging Sentinels. The Champions charge into action, which is where we'll presumably pick up next issue.

The overall tone of the story is more relaxed and upbeat than what we've had recently, despite the fact that the team is meeting up to revisit memories of a dead friend. I get the feeling this issue was meant to cleanse the metaphorical palate a bit after the heavy emotional beats of the first arc.

Gill's art is sketchy, but has a good energy, so no complaints there. Interestingly, Bobby's back to his Champions-era ice briefs here instead of his current costume. I also suspect Judah is going to be a learning experience for Bobby as opposed to a recurring love-interest, which is fine by me. Overall, an enjoyable issue. The one disappointment was that Herc wasn't checking out any dudes himself.

[WhiteQueenEmmaFrost]

he goes to a "bookstore" a gym and a club LOL yea he's looking for something alright

[Wiccan]

Honestly I can't deny that I'm completely disappointed that his first kiss/love interest/whatever that may or not be later is just a random new civillain character.

[cc008]

Honestly I can't deny that I'm completely disappointed that his first kiss/love interest/whatever that may or not be later is just a random new civillain character.

It's Mystique, bwahahah

I kid, I kid.

[Crimz]

I knew the love interest would be a basic flatscan.

I just wanted more interactions with the team as the little we had was the highlight of the issue.

[Anduinel]

Honestly I can't deny that I'm completely disappointed that his first kiss/love interest/whatever that may or not be later is just a random new civillain character.

I'm pretty all right with it. It's more of Bobby getting comfortable with being gay, figuring out what he goes for, all of that. If it's going to be a hearts-and-violins level kiss, I'm OK with waiting until Bobby knows himself (and what he wants) a little better.

[Wiccan]

You know, when the guy said "I got an idea" and then it's a panel of him looking at Hercules... For a second I really thought maybe things would get real interesting and Bobby would overcompensate for all his time in the closet right away...

It's Mystique, bwahahah

I kid, I kid.

I have always been 100% against that idea but that might as well be more interesting that what we got lol...

[cc008]

I have always been 100% against that idea but that might as well be more interesting that what we got lol...

It's probably not good that my very first instant thought was, "Imagine it's just Mystique effing with him?"

[Fokken]

Hercules crushes it with only TWO visible bits of dialogue in this thread. Gawd I love that Demi-Gawd.

[Andru]

I could read this series all day! So refreshing & relatable.

Always good to see Herc

[SpiderClops]

I have confused Silver Surfer and Iceman too!

[Digifiend]

I bet their Legacy corner box headshots would've been hard to tell apart, if Norrin had one.

Bobby approves of the new Champions, I see.

[cc008]

I have confused Silver Surfer and Iceman too!

My favorite line of the comic.

[maxhilary]

Another great issue, and I especially enjoyed Bobby finally putting himself out there! I too would have preferred his first kiss or whatever to be with an established character but it's not exactly surprising, and I still liked it all the same.

The rest of the ex-Champions were fun too, I enjoyed the talk with Angel. And there were some genuinely funny bits too!

[Harpsikord]

I can totally see why you might think that Judah is going to be a learning lesson but at the same time...

Sina is making it a point to make it so that Judah isn't really a gay stereotype so I don't know if he's gonna be about That Hookup Life.

Also, I really just enjoyed this. It was very good.

Anyone else think that Judah's name is a reference to Bobby's love interest from his origin story? Her name was Judy.