Iceman, one of the origal X-Men, will e out as gay this week - The Verge

Contents:

• ORIGAL 'X-MEN' CHARACTER ICEMAN CONFIRMS HE'S GAY
• MARVEL’S ICEMAN JT ME OUT AS GAY
• ICEMAN, AKA BOBBY DRAKE, OUTED AS GAY BY JEAN GREY
• FOR LGBT FANS OF X-MEN, ICEMAN COMG OUT AS GAY HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMG
• ICEMAN, ONE OF THE ORIGAL X-MEN, WILL E OUT AS GAY THIS WEEKICEMAN, ONE OF THE ORIGAL X-MEN, WILL E OUT AS GAY THIS WEEK

ORIGAL 'X-MEN' CHARACTER ICEMAN CONFIRMS HE'S GAY

4, the young Iceman, or Bobby Drake, out officially as a gay man while nontg his olr self. Gay and lbian characters are beg creasgly visible the ic book universe. In 2012, Marvel Comics announced that s first openly gay hero, Northstar, would marry his longtime civilian boyiend, Kyle Jadu, an issue of Astonishg 's g out, however, is noteworthy given that the character was one of the five origal "X-Men" members, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Comics Edor Daniel Ketchum told The Huffgton Post that he was particularly proud of the new issue, llg Iceman's character jt another example of how the anchise has always strived to reflect "the human experience.

The X-Men are signifint enough pop cultural figur that when Bobby Drake, AKA “Iceman”, was wrten as gay All-New X-Men #40, media outlets outsi of the ics prs published news ems and mentari on the moment, cludg CNN, The Huffgton Post and The Advote. While many of the notic sentially amounted to, “hey look, a re member of the X-Men is now gay, ” other piec, primarily at dited ics s, addrs the polics and ethics of how Bobby is revealed as gay — he’s chid to g out by Jean Grey — or seek to place this moment to a larger ntext of media reprentatn of LGBTQ characters and experienc.

MARVEL’S ICEMAN JT ME OUT AS GAY

In addn to qutns about how this episo is wrten, pecially regards to Jean’s role and Bobby’s own fort/disfort wh beg gay and also the qutn of bi-sexualy, which appears to be dismissed wrer Brian Michael Bendis’ dialogue, I also thk that there are unwrten assumptns about sexualy and sexual inty this sequence that should be unpacked to better unrstand the signifince and implitns not only of Bobby beg gay, but also of his g out. Jean is prompted to prod Bobby to admtg his gayns followg a remark he mak about Magik’s hotns, Magik beg female and a woman. Their dialogue nclus wh Jean sayg, “Bobby … You’re gay.

Neher wrer Bendis nor artist Mahmud Asrar shows what, exactly, Bobby was thkg when Jean read his md and nclus, or, maybe affirms, that he is gay (the start of the dialogue — “Why do you say thgs like that?

ICEMAN, AKA BOBBY DRAKE, OUTED AS GAY BY JEAN GREY

Was he thkg, “I am gog to say somethg het dubro-like about Magik now so that no one knows I am gay”? Or was he, fact, thkg, “I’m gay”?

FOR LGBT FANS OF X-MEN, ICEMAN COMG OUT AS GAY HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMG

“I’m gay. “I’m gay! “I’m gay?

“I’m … gay. “I’m … gay?

GAY!

ICEMAN, ONE OF THE ORIGAL X-MEN, WILL E OUT AS GAY THIS WEEKICEMAN, ONE OF THE ORIGAL X-MEN, WILL E OUT AS GAY THIS WEEK

As Figa not her mentary, even though Jean is shown to be “helpful” to Bobby by phg him to adm to beg gay, and the dialogue ends wh hugs and jok, havg one’s md vad by another and beg told what your own thoughts mean is more disempowerg than empowerg, no matter how tthful the other person might be their terpretatns of your self. In particular, monly available words, like “gay”, may be nvenient, but that nvenience n also rult exprsns of feelg that may seem flawed or aquate or limg.

In this se, as noted by Carolyn Cox at The Mary Sue, whether tend or not, Jean and Bobby’s dialogue participat the normalizatn of a bary view of sexualy — you’re eher gay or straight — which, regardls of how posively Bobby’s g out is treated or received, still lims the range of exprsn for sexualy and, particularly, margaliz inti, like bi-sexualy, which plite this dualism (“Brian Michael Bendis Unnvcgly Deni Bi-Erasure All-New X-Men“, 22 April 2015). She bsh past Bobby’s prottatns wh an assertn that whatever he thought mak him “full gay”.