Chronological X-Men - Iceman Review

Iceman!

Iceman #1 – The Fuse!

Iceman #2 – Instant Karma!

Iceman #3 – Quicksand!

Iceman #4 – The Price You Pay!

Well it’s been a while since we’ve seen Bobby Drake so I guess now is as good of a time as any for the Iceman limited series to come in. Right now Bobby is suffering from a bit of Peter Parker syndrome where he’s struggling to decide between a normal college life or being a super hero – trying to prove to himself that even though he’s a goofball he can still make his family proud. I’ve always liked this theme when it comes to Bobby because his father never fully accepted that he was a mutant so it wasn’t just a matter of letting his family down by his actions it was Bobby learning to deal with the fact that his father would be upset by the simple fact that he even existed. I don’t really get the point of Bobby coming home for his father’s retirement party but that’s mostly due to the fact that all the stories I’ve read where Bobby interacts with his family has been on the sliding timeline where Bobby’s parents are around their 40s but that’s really a small nitpick. The villains are kind of a little bit out there and off the wall with White Light and The Idiot but they don’t stick around long before we get into some serious business with Kali, Oblivion and Mirage III (Dani is the second Mirage but she hasn’t taken that name yet.) It makes for interesting storytelling because the progression of villains metaphorically mirrors Bobby’s own growth. I do like the storybook fairytale format of the first few pages of the issues it does make for a more interesting story and it’s a nice switch to flop between the magical fantastic world and something as mundane as Bobby fighting with his dad about not wanting to be an accountant.  Another thing I was surprised to enjoy was the fact that Marge’s ability to create and control her ‘family’ and her constant threats to wipe them out of existence and the fact that she actually does that when they disagree with her reminds me a lot of classic Twilight Zone episodes – there’s one specifically about a boy who can control the entire town with his mind and everyone lives in fear of him… I can’t remember the name of it right now but you know what I mean.  I was surprised by the fact that I didn’t completely hate this story, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit but it did make me wonder why Bobby never got an ongoing series of his own. I mean if Wolverine, X-23, Rogue, Mystique, X-Man, Cable and Gambit can all have series of their own why not Iceman? Is it because personality and circumstance wise he’s too close to Spider-Man? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Iceman get his own series at some point.

Iceman #1 – The Fuse!: B

Iceman #2 – Instant Karma!: A

Iceman #3 – Quicksand!: A

Iceman #4 – The Price You Pay!: A