X-Men 013 - 017 (2022)
I missed it. My bad. Mea culpa… etc etc etc
At the end of this year’s Hellfire Gala they announced the new X-Men team - and Iceman was to be part of it. But that’s not actually how I keep track of which heroes are on which teams in which comics - I mainly do it by looking at the comic book covers each week because they always feature pictures of the team members.
The X-Men comics follow the same pattern - except for the fact they keep neglecting to picture Iceman as part of the team. Issue 13 - Iceman feature issue, picture not on cover. Issue 14, Iceman feature issue - picture not on cover. With issue 15 they literally have drawings of TEN CHARACTERS ON THE COVER - BUT NOT FUCKING ICEMAN! Ditto 16. FINALLY this week issue 17 I see a picture of Iceman on the cover - discovering he’s been on the team for the past 5 months.
But, to make up for it all, at the end of one issue (I suspect it might have been the Pride Month issue) Iceman gives a beautiful press statement :
I only have a few moments before I need to get back to our giant-monster problem, but I did want to stop and introduce myself. I’m Iceman.At the school I grew up in, we used to call our mutant powers “gifts” even though they often were not. Me and my fellow students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, most of us were told to hold back, be reserved. We couldn’t afford to slip up in a world that always seemed to hate us. But playing it safe might have kept me bottled up in other ways.
Maybe…maybe it was good for the humans around us? It probably wasn’t good for me. Pretending to be something I wasn’t and would never be…it was like carrying a rock around in my heart.
There was an emphasis in the early days on fitting in, on coexisting, and I still believe in that. But why should we only dance to your beat? Maybe we had our own moves to bust. I did. It just took me a bit longer to find mine.
I was anything but “normal,” but I sure could look it if I wanted. Not all of my folks can look like your “normal.”
I don’t want anybody to thank me for what my friends and I did today. That’s never why we do it, but if you want to do me one solid, see me for who I am.
A mutant. A gay man.
I know that’s two strikes with a bunch of the folks I helped save today, and I’ll be honest…even after everything l’ve ever been through, it still hurts.
I can change my body. I can look like your “normal.” Lately, l’ve been wearing my ice because l’m proud of who I am, and I’m doing it for all the mutants who can’t look like humans and don’t want to. Maybe I can save some young mutants and humans some time and some grief. Don’t wait to be who you are, and don’t be ashamed of that person. Thanks for your time. I have to get back to our home. It’s still under attack. Thanks for listening.（G5V.NET）
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