Iceman #5: It Takes a Village

Art: The covers of W. Scott Forbes have been exemplary this whole run. Some iconic images of the Amazing Friends and last issue and again here we have the almost Phantom of The Opera style face off with Sinister, making him look more in keeping with the modern era he now lives in than I’ve seen in years. While the art has been less of the focus here than the last series, this has been a more story driven run. The art of Nathan Stockman didn’t take itself too seriously and did it’s job admirably here, as did the coloring of Andres Mossa & Federico Blee. All of which made the action and fight sequences pop. The whole art team managing to not take over the story, rather allowing the action to flow and the narrative to take center stage. There were still some particularly great moments here with Emma critiquing the fashion stalls and giving the barkers a slice of her trademark snark.
Not to mention some seriously fun action packed scenes such as the entrance of the Morlocks fighting alongside X-Men, Shade using her powers for much more than a grand stage entrance and of course the flashback moment on the beach. All that was missing there was the From Here to Eternity clinch in the waves. And the flashback itself, though a bit unnecessary to the story, was a nice reminder of Bobby and Judah. Thank you Sina.
Characters: Other than the little flashback to Bobby and Judah there wasn’t much done in the way of character development this series. And I have to say this was not really a problem for me. We’ve had the in depth analysis of Bobby Drake several times now anyway. Sina himself had all the angst and drama the last run. We know his family issues, his limits and his lows. This is a celebration of his highs. And celebrate it does. The whole series overall was fun and full of bad dad puns. From Spider-Man and Firestar to the Frost family drama and Iceshop, this has been a romp. And here with the Mutant Pride parade going off without a hitch, thanks to the Morlocks acting all heroic side by side with the X-Men there was much to be happy about. There is also the first time of seeing Christian Frost in action with Emma and of course some more Shade.
Story: And of course a mention has to go out to the fact Iceman goes toe to toe with the BIG big bad alone here. To have the recognition of Sinister is not to be sneezed at and I’m pretty sure he will have plenty to keep him busy with the return of his pet project soon enough. And I had to laugh at the so called brilliant geneticist falling for not only the ice dupe when he captured Drake, but also trying to stab him with a scimitar, not once but twice, knowing full well it failed already. That’s right folks, the definition of insanity is trying the same trick twice and expecting different results and Sinister falls into the category here perfectly. And Iceman exhibiting his secondary mutation…bad puns.
Topped off with a heart warming moment between Kitty and Bobby, this couldn’t have had a better ending. But who’s that we see in the shadows? Ice Gandalf? This does NOT bode well, can’t wait to see how that plays out. I really am all for calling him Old Man Bob now too.