A review by eekayj
Iceman, Vol. 1: Thawing Out by Sina Grace

1.0

As a gay comic book fan, Iceman's coming out was a huge deal for me. Iceman has always been my favorite member of the X-Men, so I was thrilled to see that he was going to be getting his own book that would allow him to explore this "new" aspect of his identity. I'm obsessed with Kevin Wada's cover art, but the interior art leaves something to be desired. In terms of writing, I found it to be bland and overly reliant on gay cliches. Characters with little to no connection to Bobby (Daken) are brought into the story simply because they are queer, which is doubly disappointing considering how many queer or queer-friendly characters could have been featured more prominently (Northstar, Mystique, Anole, etc.) in their place. I enjoyed the conversations that he had with Kitty Pryde, but the dialogue with his parents felt a little forced. Having the Purifiers as one of the primary villains was a little on-the-nose, and Juggernaut was lazily written in his multiple appearances. While this volume was a big disappointment, I nevertheless pre-ordered volume 2, because Bobby deserves his own book and readers deserve a prominent gay character. Let's hope Sina Grace, and especially Alessandro Vitti, step up their game in future issues.