Iceman Switches Teams! (spoilers)
Hex
Posts: 944
"Original x-men member Iceman comes out full gay"
Oh brother...
as if the article title wasn't bad enough (what exactly is "full gay?).
This is so ham-fisted, shoehorned, and poorly handled for so many reasons. Mainly... if you want to introduce diversity into your books, please don't mess with a character that has decades of established history (and characterization), please just introduce a new character.
Discuss among yourselves. I'll be over here in stunned silence.
Oh brother...
as if the article title wasn't bad enough (what exactly is "full gay?).
This is so ham-fisted, shoehorned, and poorly handled for so many reasons. Mainly... if you want to introduce diversity into your books, please don't mess with a character that has decades of established history (and characterization), please just introduce a new character.
Discuss among yourselves. I'll be over here in stunned silence.
Comments
And they're not reforming the Champions?
Oh, well.
M
Next big twist, Northstar- 89% gay.
I think this is going to offend a lot of people. First, there will be the people, like Hex, who don't think you should retroactively change a character's sexual orientation. Then there will be the people who will say this makes it seem like being gay is something that can be switched on and off—which this does imply.
And then there will be the time travelers who will be outraged because this makes it seem like going to the future makes you gay (or at least gives you a 1 in 5 chance of turning gay).
I agree with your 3 points. This seems more off putting to me then a cool twist. Like when Booster Gold suddenly became Canadian in n52.
M
In addition to his awesome run on Ultimate Spider-Man, Mr. Bendis is famous for ignoring continuity and changing canon. Chances are, Bendis is going to have this young Iceman killed off eventually.
Brian Michael Bendis announced that Iceman's storyline will continue to evolve in future books, and that the decision to make the character a gay man was in "keeping with contemporary social dialogue around lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues."
Two yawns and a 'meh.'
His past self in our present may just have an easier time coming to terms with it.
*See: pandering
Goodbye, DC.
B-)
I should go back and re-read that issue where poor Bobby is ambushed by all his Ex-girlfriends at the bar for some sort of Intervention. This new information might put a whole different spin on that story. If only I could remember which X-title it appeared in.
The whole thing feels too forced and a bit of a stretch. It just doesn't feel right to me. Years ago when Marvel "announced" that Northstar was gay, it worked for the character (although all the hoopla surrounding the "announcement" didn't). Northstar was basically a blank slate as far as his sexuality. Aside from him being an arrogant dick, and being overly protective of his twin sister, there wasn't much in the way of character development for the guy. Northstar is gay? OK, sure. But retroactively slapping that label on Bobby after 50 years of history is too much of a leap. Even if this is "early days" Iceman, there is too much baggage mixed up with "current" Iceman. I'm not buying it.
Although I have to admit the couple of pages (in the preview/spoiler) where it unfolded were handled rather nicely.
I recall reading Stormwatch & when the reveal occurred with 2 characters, I recall thinking "interesting twist; did not expect that", then continuing on.
M
He's TOLD he's gay. So he feels like he must be. Many people have urges they don't act on. Unless he's thinking about men every second of every day, Jean can't possibly justify jumping to that conclusion when it's perfectly normal to question one's sexuality at that age without making a concrete decision.
Having him "outed" by a telepath to me feels lazy, contrived and offensive to the integrity of the character. Even the comment he made about Magik seemed forced, simply existing to give Jean a reason to pull him aside and expose him in the first place.
Bendis also pointed to several "examples" from the books posted on Tumblr, where it was hinted that Iceman is gay. I don't recall any of these (or perhaps I didn't read the books he's referring to) but I would be interested to see what these "examples" are. He promises to post them later in the week.
Regardless how it plays out, it feels forced. If he turns out "full gay" for real, from the beginning in Earth-616, then this is worst way to do it. I agree with Matt's comment above that it should have been a slow reveal and definitely on Bobby's terms (not Jean Grey's mind rape).
I think the reason I felt it was done better than expected was that the scene was a portrayed as private conversation between two old friends.
My complaint overall is, as you suggest;
"...feels lazy, contrived and offensive to the integrity of the character."
Assuming Bendis has this well written, he should be less defensive & more "just see where the story goes." Though, I do have to wonder if there are obvious hints in Drake's history, shouldn't he be able to reference them fairly easy? Why would he need 'by the end of the week' to show where he's pulling his citations?
The Jean tells Drake sort of feels like TMZ making the announce rather then him outting himself. Granted, the 'TMZ feel' is only for the readers & not within the universe...yet.
M
This wasn't a press release, or an article about diversity in the Times. This wasn't something they were talking up BEFORE orders on the issue were in. There was nothing in the solicit hinting that this was happening.
It was meant to be encountered in the context of the story before it hit Buzzfeed. But things didn't go that way. So instead of this being something Alonso talks about to CBR on a Friday, it became a reaction they were dealing with before the story was even being read.