[REVIEW] ASTONISHING ICEMAN #1

Krakoa may be in shambles after the latest Hellfire Gala, but Bobby Drake is here to keep things cool in Astonishing Iceman #1.

If you somehow missed last week’s catastrophic Hellfire Gala issue, the most important developments are as follows: Orchis crashed the party and immediately killed all but one of the new X-Men team, Jean Grey and Iceman are also goners (more on the latter in a minute!), and most of Krakoa’s mutants —including all of the Five— are presumed dead by Xavier. Not looking good for anyone!

If you’re asking how exactly there’s a new Iceman book despite Bobby’s very gruesome death at the Hellfire Gala, look no further than Astonishing Iceman #1. Reports of Bobby’s death are proven to be greatly exaggerated when we learn that his on/off boyfriend Romeo, an Inhuman empath, used his powers to build a Bobby snowman and imbue it with his memories of the deceased X-Man. (This is not the only Frozen homage in the issue.) But there’s a catch or two: Bobby is stuck in his ice form, and his survival is tethered to Romeo’s emotional connection to him, with the latter serving as mission control from within Bobby’s new ice palace base. (That’s the other homage!) So not only does Bobby need to keep things cool with Romeo to stay alive, he also needs to stay alive in the midst of a targeted, personal attack from Orchis. Just another Wednesday for the average homosexual male.

Astonishing Iceman #1 sounds heavy from the above premise, but it’s actually quite breezy. Writer Steve Orlando “gets” Bobby’s voice straight away, presenting him as the classic class clown of the X-Men, always cracking jokes even in the face of danger — even if it comes at the cost of damaging his personal life. Despite knowing that he may permanently die after years of relative immortality, Bobby puts on a brave face for not just Romeo and the world at large, but himself. Such is the experience of trying to survive as an LGBTQ person.

Orlando’s own identity as a queer man allows him to tap into very authentic discussions of being othered and persecuted. For example, one choice panel has Romeo warning Bobby that Orchis (conservatives) won’t stop at hunting mutants (trans people) because eventually they’ll just come for Inhumans (gay men) like himself. It’s not outright stated that this is Orlando’s intention, but it’s hard to ignore the applicability of that dialogue in a time of increased transphobia and homophobia from the political right, fostering division and a lack of solidarity among a population who should be united. The best (or worst?) part is that this is likely to go over some people’s heads; it’s simultaneously blunt and subtle.

Vincenzo Carratù’s art is also very good in this issue; the pages set in Bobby’s ice palace in particular give him a lot to work with, between the actual scenes themselves as well as the flashbacks to Bobby’s snowy resurrection, framed with ice shards between panels. Combined with Java Tartaglia’s colors, which are bright and vibrant, I think the visual package of Astonishing Iceman #1 befits its title character, optimistic on the outside while hiding existential darkness on the inside. In the decade or so since Bobby came out, he’s given so much interesting material for writers to work with, and I’d really like for this book to have a decently long run so that Orlando and his artists have the space to examine Bobby’s psyche more. 

Astonishing Iceman #1

3.99

7.5

Premise

7.5/10

Execution

7.5/10

Script

7.5/10

Art

7.5/10

Credits

• Writer: Steve Orlando
• Artist: Vincenzo Carratù
• Color Artist: Java Tartaglia
• Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
• Cover Artist: Jesús Saiz

Credits (cont)

• Editor: Mark Basso
• Publisher: Marvel Entertainment