Iceman #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIceman #1 (June 2017) holds a clear and documented place in Marvel's publishing history as the company's first ongoing solo series with a gay male lead character — a distinction confirmed by Marvel's own editorial retrospectives and multiple independent outlets. The series translated a major 2015 character development — adult Bobby Drake acknowledging that he had spent decades closeted, not wanting to be both gay and a mutant — into a sustained, ongoing narrative rather than a single story beat, making it one of the most substantive explorations of adult queer identity in mainstream superhero comics to that point. Writer Sina Grace, himself a queer creator, brought an autobiographical authenticity to Bobby's experience of coming out later in life: navigating conversations with ex-girlfriends, confronting his conservative parents, and reconciling a decades-long superhero career with a newly public self. The series was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award, and its strong trade-paperback readership after cancellation prompted a nearly unprecedented revival — a concrete sign that it connected with an audience beyond the direct market.
Iceman #1 (2017) kicks off with a fresh take on the mutant hero, as Bobby Drake faces a tangled web of personal chaos and high-stakes danger—juggling a time-displaced younger version of himself, a love life that’s still very much on ice, and a mission to protect young mutants from a ruthless, violent Purifier faction. Written by Sina Grace and illustrated by Alessandro Vitti, with coloring by Rachelle Rosenberg and letters by Joe Sabino, the issue blends emotional depth with urgent action. Kevin Wada’s striking cover captures the tension perfectly.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series emerged directly from Brian Michael Bendis's 2015 storylines in All-New X-Men #40 and Uncanny X-Men #600, in which time-displaced teen Jean Grey telepathically revealed young Bobby Drake's sexuality and the adult Bobby ultimately confirmed he had long repressed it. Marvel hired Sina Grace — previously known for indie memoir work and his editorial director role at Skybound Comics — to write the first ongoing title flowing from that revelation, with interior art by Alessandro Vitti (Secret Warriors, Avengers Arena) and a cover by Kevin Wada. Grace later publicly described a difficult editorial environment in which an editor warned the book would fail if it was perceived as 'too gay,' and characterized Marvel's internal posture toward the series as one of nervousness rather than active promotion; those disclosures, made in a 2019 Tumblr essay, became part of the broader industry conversation about publisher support for LGBTQ+ creators and content.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 7, 2017 by Marvel Comics as part of the Marvel NOW! 2.0 publishing initiative.
- Written by Sina Grace with interior art by Alessandro Vitti and a cover by Kevin Wada; variant covers by Damion Scott and Skottie Young were also offered at launch.
- Documented by Marvel and multiple independent outlets as Marvel's first ongoing solo series with a gay male lead character.
- Spun directly out of All-New X-Men #40 (April 2015) and Uncanny X-Men #600 (November 2015), in which Bobby Drake came out — first outed telepathically by teen Jean Grey, then confirmed by his adult self who explained he had hidden his sexuality to avoid being both gay and a mutant.
- The first arc pits adult Bobby against the Purifiers, the anti-mutant religious extremist group, while he simultaneously begins navigating coming out to ex-girlfriend Kitty Pryde and his conservative parents — with his time-displaced teenage self present as a counterpoint.
- The 2017 series ran 11 issues before cancellation; unusually strong sales of the collected trade paperbacks ('Thawing Out' collecting #1–5, and 'Absolute Zero' collecting #6–11) led Marvel to revive it as a second volume (Iceman, 2018, #1–5) — an atypical outcome for a cancelled direct-market title.
- The series received a GLAAD Media Award nomination, and received positive coverage in the New York Times in print.
- After the run concluded, Grace published a public essay detailing what he described as a lack of institutional support from Marvel for LGBTQ+ content and its creators — a disclosure that sparked broad industry discussion about the gap between publishers' stated diversity commitments and behind-the-scenes editorial realities.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Iceman #1 (2017), The Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection #191 (2020)
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