ICEMAN VOL. 2: ABSOLUTE ZERO

After a fantastic first collection of Bobby Drake’s life as Iceman, Sina Grace returns this time with Robert Gill contributing the art in this second collection of the Marvel series. While the first volume focused on Bobby’s internal life, and his process of finding himself, this second volume highlights his interpersonal relationships and ends with a fitting tribute to his development (I won’t spoil because it was a very sweet ending). If volume 1 explores the internal workings of Bobby Drake, volume 2 offers us insight into how Bobby Drake works with others. The first story in this collection begins with Iceman traveling to Los Angeles to mourn the loss of Black Widow (who died in Secret Empire) with the other members of the Champions. Following this two part reunion story is a one shot where the time-displaced Bobby Drake teams up with the original Bobby Drake. Grace moves his arc to a close writing a two part epic story following up on a thread left behind during Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-force including Daken. And the final story is a one shot that nicely wraps up the psychological journey of a character whose internal psychology, frankly, none of us have borne witness to before. Each of these stories is an immediately classic Iceman story that will inform future stories. Once again, Grace approaches the series with astute psychological insight, and the partnering with Gill makes this book a fun, exciting read, and breathes new life into a character that I never knew I wanted so badly in my life. Grace has made Iceman a character whom I look forward to getting to know better.

This book goes all over the place with Iceman... he ventures out to Los Angeles and teams up with his old group The Champions, then bobby finds romance while dealing with his parents accepting the fact that he’s a gay man. The new artist of the book Robert Gill does great with all the action sequences (and there are a lot of them!) while balancing the rotating cast of characters who come in and out of the book (Shadowcat, Daken, etc). Lots of fun one-liners and a really touching final issue make this a bittersweet collection. Recommended to anyone who liked the first volume and wanted to see more Omega Level action .

While I loved my Stan Lee/Jack Kirby comic books growing up, how I wish this series had been around then to show a budding gay kid he wasn’t alone, that there was nothing wrong with him. It’s disheartening to become invested in series like these only for Marvel to cancel them

The second volume of Iceman continues Bobby Drake's (not always successful) attempts to balance superheroics, dating, and family since his coming out. Sina Grace and Rob Gill do very well giving Bobby a fair share of both triumph and heartbreak, and the humor is, as with the previous volume, pretty spot on. (Depending on one's tolerance for ice puns, of course.) My main criticism of this volume is that the storyline featuring the series' main antagonist wraps quite abruptly, and in such a way that the emotional stakes don't hit quite as hard as they could have. All in all, however, it's quite the enjoyable read.

If vol. 1 of Sina Grace’s Iceman was all about exploring the new status quo of Bobby Drake’s new life, then vol. 2 is about re-visiting his old life and making it work within the parameters of his new one. This volume is uber satisfying for continuity nerds, as Bobby spends the entirety of it dealing with former teammates and forgotten plot threads. All throughout the nostalgic action, however, Bobby continues to evolve and Grace’s consistently authentic voice serves him well on this journey.

I've always loved comics but rarely got too invested because I didn't feel represented or included. Finally we dive more in depth into a character I can relate to AND he's a member of The X-MEN! The cherry on top is that he's not just "another gay character" Bobby Drake has depth and "dad jokes" in his repertoire! So glad Sina was able to give us another Volume after this! (Vol. 2 was supposed to be the last).

Besides finally finding a queer character that I finally see myself in, this series features incredible writing, from clever wordplay to deep and meaningful allegory. Bobby Drake has become an astoundingly well rounded character. His balance of being a son, mentor, and superhero was simply a joy to read through

Y'all, they shouldn't have canceled this. Such a good series. Marvel should get behind more runs like this to expand their universe more organically, instead of 3 events/reboots a year.

It’s great to see Iceman being taken to the next level and even better to see him coming to terms with his sexuality and how his family and friends are taking the news as well. I wish I had something like this to read when I was younger. I always interpreted x-men being all about gay. Anyways, kudos.

Excelente.