Warning: Spoilers for Marvel's Voices: Iceman Infinity Comic #1
Queerness and Marvel Comic's most prominent and publicly gay superheroes, but he has consistently struggled to find love and in his new comic he its that he is struggling to figure out his place in the queer community of Krakoa.
Bobby Drake's coming out story is anything but simple, although his queerness has been subtly hinted at in comics for decades, with the time displaced young Jean Grey outing the young Iceman, who then confronted the older Bobby about why he has remained in the closet for so long. This non-consensual outing led to a major identity crisis for Drake, explored in his 2017 Iceman series, and he continues to search for love and his place in the queer community to this day, although he has had brief relationships with the Inhuman Romeo and Emma Frost's brother Christian.
Marvel's Voices: Iceman Infinity Comic #1 - written and illustrated by the wildly talented Luciano Vecchio - is the first Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic and is 4-issue limited series "...that celebrates life, love, and all the beautiful complications in between." While the first issue already has a bunch of action, displaying his casual relationship with Christian Frost, leading Rictor to state "So you're single and having fun." Bobby agrees with Julio but also reveals he is more interested in an old-fashioned romance than he lets on before reflecting, "...but now a bunch of Krakoans are experimenting and polycluster-ing. Where does that leave me?"
Krakoa is not just an island paradise where mutants can be safe, it is also a place to separate themselves from the rigid societal expectations put on them by human society, such as sexuality and gender expectations. It makes a lot of sense, seeing as the X-Men have been used as an allegory for queerness and marginalized identity for decades, plus there are many mutants whose biology is simply not human... Glob Herman is a literal ball of paraffin wax, and he deserves to experiment however he wants to figure out how intimacy and sexuality works for him! a new transgender mutant who will debut during Pride Month, Escapade.
This scene from Marvel's Voices: Iceman #1 is particularly important because Luciano Vecchio makes it clear that while Bobby Drake is not judging these Krakoans who are experimenting, Iceman also feels like he is more of a monogamous partner, showing a real path of queer identity formation that many LGBTQ+ people experience, while also formally acknowledging how queer the X-Men truly are.
