In the second X-Men ResurrXion announcement this week, Marvel Comics has revealed details on the upcoming Iceman series, the first ongoing series for original X-Man Bobby Drake.
The new series will be written by Sina Grace (Self-Obsessed, Not My Bag) with interior art from Alessandro Vitti (Secret Warriors) and covers by Kevin Wada. You can see Wada’s promotional artwork for Iceman #1 below.
The new Iceman series comes not long after Bobby came out as gay as in the pages ofUncanny X-Men, confirming a long-running fan theory about Bobby’s orientation. Exploring his new openness about his sexuality, including a certain amount of focus on his dating life, will be a part of the new Iceman series.
“I wasn’t involved entirely in the story at that point,” editor Daniel Ketchum tells Nerdist. “But [former X-Men writer] Brian Michael Bendis was very wise to identify that all those threads that existed. We’re not in the business of pulling something out of nowhere and slapping it on to a character so he fits some quota, or for the sake of telling some story. This had to come from somewhere, and it did. And now wonderful talents like [series writer] Sina Grace get to take that storyline and move it forward.”
“I think the tension of this is what makes this the most interesting and fun project to work on,” Grace added. “Because it means that he’s been keeping something not only from his friends and colleagues, but also from himself. And if you even just look at his powers, it’s always just sort of been there, for the entire history of the Marvel universe. And leaning into it makes working on the character and understanding all the decisions he’s made to date that much more fascinating. And what he does with that information moving forward is going to inform not only his personal life, but also how he sees himself as a hero.”
“Iceman has never had a solo ongoing series before and we’re going to make sure we use every page to its fullest,” Ketchum said of the new series. “[He wants] to be known as more than just ‘that X-Man who tells jokes.’ When Iceman’s not bringing up the next generation of X-Men at the Xavier School, he’ll be spanning the globe, icing himself up and taking down the biggest, baddest villains the Marvel U has to offer.”
Iceman #1 will launch in the spring of 2017, following Marvel’s Inhumans vs. X-Men event series.
