Written by Sina Grace

Art By Nate Stockman

Recap – Bobby Drake, also known as Iceman, has a lot going on. From teaching young mutants at the Xavier Institute to getting into the world of dating after years in the closet, Bobby is doing his best to have it all…but it’s never easy! An investigation into missing Morlocks put Bobby in the crosshairs of mutant supremacists- and while he managed to help save the day, he attracted attention from some very dangerous people …including Mister Sinister and Emma Frost!

Emma comes to Bobby for help with some sensitive family issues involving her brother, Christian. Bobby decides to help Emma, although he has some serious misgivings about her true intentions. Emma tells Bobby about her family life. Her father Winston, an abusive man, has a history of hurting her brother. Christian brought warmth and kindness to the Frost household but her father did all he could to try to extinguish it. Winston sent his son away for gay conversion therapy and this caused Christian to attempt suicide, which led Winston to institutionalize Christian. When Emma went to visit her brother, her father stopped her with powers she never knew he had.

Bobby and Emma arrive at the Frost mansion and bust through the front door to save the day and come face to face with Christian.  While searching for Winston, Bobby and Emma enter the only locked room in the house and a grisly discovery is made: Winston’s corpse sitting in a chair. When Emma and Bobby turn around to confront Christian, a projection of their father is borne from the rage and anger of Christian’s psyche and the realization of Christian’s mutant powers is made.

Bobby tells Emma to take Christian into his own mind to try to stop his rampage. As Bobby takes on the specter of Winston, Emma tries to reach her brother.  She promises she’ll do anything to help him heal, she won’t leave his side until he is better, and her heart will break if she can’t fix his. The siblings embrace and Winston disappears.

Emma tells Bobby that with Winston deceased and Christian in his current physical and mental state, she will take the reins of Frost Technologies. Bobby heads back to the X-Mansion and on his way home checks his dating app to see he has a match: a man that is cute, works with property development, and resides in Manhattan.

The issue ends with Mister Sinister working on a test subject, pumping him full of meds and transforming the individual into a monster, to attack and bring Iceman back to Mister Sinister’s lab for analysis and research.

Over the course of two issues, the theme of family has been the focus of this series. I was unaware of Emma’s family history and the reader learns that the normally cold, heartless, and wicked supervillain has a soft spot for her brother. It was nice to see Bobby put his differences with Emma aside to help save her brother. My favorite part of the issue was Bobby’s mindscape- an amusement park called Ice-Land. Pay attention to some of his memories and some of the different versions of Iceman sprinkled throughout this sequence. The threat of Minster Sinister looms large in the last page of the issue and it’s enough to make you excited and intrigued for what comes next.

Solicitation for Issue 3 – ICEMAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS! Guest-starring Spider-Man and Firestar! Iceman is on a blind date…but what’s a super hero date without a mad villain to crash it? What’s Iceman to do but call…his Amazing Friends?!

Release Date – November 7, 2018.