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A review by captwinghead
Iceman, Vol. 1: Thawing Out by Sina Grace
4.0
Wow, this may be the third X-Men book I actually liked? The other two were Vaughn's Mystique series and Kyle's X-23 book. X-Men books just don't really work for me. I've read quite a bit but it's all pretty much the same: a lot of white people explaining oppression to people of color through an outdated metaphor for racism (so glad Deadpool 2 sorta understood that).
But this was surprisingly enjoyable for me. As I said, I've only read bits of Bobby Drake in older X-Men books, X-Men: Season One and All New X-Men. I haven't read enough to say if this is personality or not but if it is, I wish Gabby Rivera had read over this a bit before writing America because Grace has got the dialogue down. I laughed out loud several times reading this and Bobby was such a charming character. Best of all, Grace mastered writing comedic dialogue and the emotional stuff was well written, as well. As a person who often hides pain with sarcasm and humor, it was much appreciated to read it here.
Bobby's struggle with his parents was so real. I've had similar, uncomfortable conversations with my mother (though not about Elsa powers) and it was painful but necessary to read them here. You feel Bobby's discomfort at trying to get out what he needs to say but also trying to respect that his parents are trying in their own way. Although, I do think they could have tried a lot harder. His mother went from "We're doing our best, give us time" to "All the muties and queers come from your side of the family, Will" and it was jarring. Poor Bobby.
I enjoyed seeing the others rally around him. I had some issues with Kitty stopping at a very inopportune moment to confront him about their lack of communication though. They had a job to do and that was so not the time.
I gotta say, I greatly enjoyed the issue with Daken. The chemistry there was really cool to see and I hope they have more interactions. There's a spark there I found really interesting.
So, I really enjoyed this.
Gotta say, all the complaints about Marvel "making Bobby gay" make me laugh because it's predictable and very sad. Marvel has very few lgbt characters and even fewer that are actually big stars in the books they appear in (America, Angela, Loki and now Bobby). Even knowing that the number of these characters is so infinitesimally small, dudebros still complain about their existence. When Bobby's dad was ranting about how Bobby and others were shoving their existence in his face, I feel 99% certain that was Grace's message to the bigots.
I've heard it all:
“Stop making everything gay." Gay people exist and writers should reflect the world around us.
“Stop making straight characters gay". Later in life gay people do exist. Because of the homophobia you guys so lovingly cling to, it was less acceptable and even more dangerous to come out previously so more people are open to accepting themselves these days. By the way, you can identify as straight and come to the realization that you're not later on. Even more hilarious, dudebros complain when we make "their" characters gay yet they bitch about political correctness when writers create new gay characters. Just say you don't want to see them at all since you can't make up your minds.
“Why does anyone have to be anything?" (Yes, this is an argument I've seen). Because, when you don't provide representation of different types of people and different types of sexual orientations, especially as heroes, you get people like me growing up where the only characters they can relate to are villains or minor characters who don't even get last names. Representation matters and if dudebros spent more time reading the bland books they liked instead of bitching about diversity, the world would be a better place.
If you don't want to read books about lgbt characters, there are like 5 million books starring straight people. Can you maybe leave us alone with the little representation we have and go read those instead? Thanks.
But this was surprisingly enjoyable for me. As I said, I've only read bits of Bobby Drake in older X-Men books, X-Men: Season One and All New X-Men. I haven't read enough to say if this is personality or not but if it is, I wish Gabby Rivera had read over this a bit before writing America because Grace has got the dialogue down. I laughed out loud several times reading this and Bobby was such a charming character. Best of all, Grace mastered writing comedic dialogue and the emotional stuff was well written, as well. As a person who often hides pain with sarcasm and humor, it was much appreciated to read it here.
Bobby's struggle with his parents was so real. I've had similar, uncomfortable conversations with my mother (though not about Elsa powers) and it was painful but necessary to read them here. You feel Bobby's discomfort at trying to get out what he needs to say but also trying to respect that his parents are trying in their own way. Although, I do think they could have tried a lot harder. His mother went from "We're doing our best, give us time" to "All the muties and queers come from your side of the family, Will" and it was jarring. Poor Bobby.
I enjoyed seeing the others rally around him. I had some issues with Kitty stopping at a very inopportune moment to confront him about their lack of communication though. They had a job to do and that was so not the time.
I gotta say, I greatly enjoyed the issue with Daken. The chemistry there was really cool to see and I hope they have more interactions. There's a spark there I found really interesting.
So, I really enjoyed this.
Gotta say, all the complaints about Marvel "making Bobby gay" make me laugh because it's predictable and very sad. Marvel has very few lgbt characters and even fewer that are actually big stars in the books they appear in (America, Angela, Loki and now Bobby). Even knowing that the number of these characters is so infinitesimally small, dudebros still complain about their existence. When Bobby's dad was ranting about how Bobby and others were shoving their existence in his face, I feel 99% certain that was Grace's message to the bigots.
I've heard it all:
“Stop making everything gay." Gay people exist and writers should reflect the world around us.
“Stop making straight characters gay". Later in life gay people do exist. Because of the homophobia you guys so lovingly cling to, it was less acceptable and even more dangerous to come out previously so more people are open to accepting themselves these days. By the way, you can identify as straight and come to the realization that you're not later on. Even more hilarious, dudebros complain when we make "their" characters gay yet they bitch about political correctness when writers create new gay characters. Just say you don't want to see them at all since you can't make up your minds.
“Why does anyone have to be anything?" (Yes, this is an argument I've seen). Because, when you don't provide representation of different types of people and different types of sexual orientations, especially as heroes, you get people like me growing up where the only characters they can relate to are villains or minor characters who don't even get last names. Representation matters and if dudebros spent more time reading the bland books they liked instead of bitching about diversity, the world would be a better place.
If you don't want to read books about lgbt characters, there are like 5 million books starring straight people. Can you maybe leave us alone with the little representation we have and go read those instead? Thanks.