It’s like Marvel’s comics division felt they were being overshadowed by the impending release of Age of Ultron and said, “We better do something to get people talking about us!”
And it worked, because here I am dedicating column space to one of the most inane and insulting character assassinations the company has ever published…and I’m not talking about the one you think.
In last week’s All-New X-Men #40, writer Brian Michael Bendis wrote a long, shudder-inducing scene where it was revealed the Bobby Drake, the hero better known as Iceman, was gay. That’s great…there’s nothing wrong with another gay superhero in the universe. Marvel especially has done a great job introducing gay characters into the world.
What bothers me is how the revelation came to light. Bobby and Jean Grey were talking about comments Bobby made about Illyana Rasputin’s “hotness” (which is cringe worthy in and of itself) but it’s the invasion of Bobby’s thoughts that makes it worse. Jean read Bobby’s mind without his consent and told him that she knows he’s gay. He denies it, but she presses on like a lioness after a wounded gazelle.
Jean all but forced Bobby to come out without actually making him come out, which was something he clearly did not want to do. Within a few panels they’re hugging it out and Jean makes a joke about Bobby’s orientation. Maybe Jean should have considered that her friend didn’t want to come out just yet. Maybe she should have let the situation play out rather than make him admit it. The whole sequence left a rotten taste in my mouth.
Having Bobby come out is fine, as I said above. If you pay attention to his dating past, you’ll see some red flags: Polaris and Opal Tanaka just losing interest in their relationship with Bobby and a comment Cyclops made, saying maybe Bobby just doesn’t know he’s not straight yet. I doubt Stan and Jack had this in mind when they first came up with the character in the 1960s, but that’s the fluid nature of comics.
No, my problem is with Jean. She dealt with Bobby’s situation with the delicate touch of a sledgehammer, which is to say not at all. It was completely out of character from the Jean I remember, and this new Jean is one I don’t find myself liking much. At all.
Bendis has said that “this isn’t the final statement on Bobby’s very unique story.” That made me wonder if the whole thing is going to be retconned at the end of the Secret Wars don’t-call-it-a-reboot reboot later this year. After all, it’s not like Marvel has ever done a crossover where nothing changed when all was said and done *cough* Fear Itself *cough*.
