She also links to similar and related discussions at places like The Mary Sue and Panels (see, “ In Plain Sight: On the Authenticity of Queer Characters“, 8 June 2015). While many of these notices essentially amounted to, “hey look, a core member of the X-Men is now gay,” other pieces, primarily at dedicated comics sites, address the politics and ethics of how Bobby is revealed as gay - he’s chided into coming out by Jean Grey - or seek to place this moment into a larger context of media representation of LGBTQ characters and experiences.Īlenka Figa’s commentary at Women Write About Comics is a good example of the more nuanced responses to the storyline.
The X-Men are significant enough pop cultural figures that when Bobby Drake, AKA “Iceman”, was written as gay in All-New X-Men #40, media outlets outside of the comics press published news items and commentaries on the moment, including CNN, The Huffington Post and The Advocate.