One of the biggest surprises of the year in comics so far is the coming out of original X-Man Bobby Drake. Or was he forced out?
Bobby Drake was called out by Jean Grey in All-New X-Men #40. The teen telepath saw the truth in young Iceman’s mind.
Justified or invasion of privacy?
Right or wrong?
What does writer Brian Michael Bendis say about the story now that some time has passed and how will it impact the final issues of his X-Men run?
“Now that the dust has settled, I kinda want to talk about it. The two things people were mad about, the more enlightened commentary about Iceman coming out was about the idea that making him gay is bi-erasure, but it’s not. It’s only him dealing with his journey. And [the other critique was in regards to] Jean outing him. There were two camps in this, [one that said] “What a bitch, she just outed him.” And there was another camp that was like, “It’s kinda not cool to come up to someone and say that but I’m gay and I had a friend who came up to me and said, ‘Hey are you gay’ way before I was ready to tell anybody or even deal with it on my own, but it happened.” I’ve seen this happen; I’ve been witness to it, but I haven’t actually done it to someone. I’ve witnessed this interaction so I know it to be something that happens in the world where your friend will come up to you in the guise of friendship and say, “Hey, are you gay?” Not with any judgment or any damning or any agenda other than that they love them and want to talk about this — and if they’re wrong, can we talk about that,” Bendis said on CBR’s X-Position.
“People would write me the whole week, while I was being screamed at about this happening, how wrong it was that she did this. People would scream at me that it was wrong that she did this and then tell me it happened to them. You’re not convincing me that it’s bad writing if it happened to you. I know it happens, I’ve seen it happen. You might not have appreciated it, but that’s different than it being wrong and setting the stage for it not to be allowed. That’s not what this is about. It’s two specific people with very specific thing.
Some people got the wrong impression, and again it was because it was leaked and people didn’t read the whole scene where she pulls him aside. She pulls him aside out of earshot and they have a whisper talk away from the others. She didn’t stand up in front of the group and go, “Hey, are you gay?” That’s a completely different move and that did not happen at all. At the end of the conversation, he appreciated it. These are young people who are trying to find themselves in the world, and not everybody has all the education of all the issues out there that some people online have. Some people are very aware of all the sensitivities and issues that come within this community, but that doesn’t mean people don’t turn to their friends and say this.
I don’t think it was Jean being a bitch, I don’t think it was Jean being awful and I don’t think Jean should be punished. I get a lot of this, that Jean should be punished for what she did, she’s awful. She did it in friendship and it ended up being an act of friendship, according to [Iceman]. I’ve said this online a bunch and I’ll say it here: there are people that read that scene and think that’s the final statement on all of this. The scene, or this storyline, continues in “Uncanny X-Men” #600, and I happen to know from knowing the plans of what’s happening after me, [it continues] beyond me. So it’s a big part, and it will be interesting to some people. Whether they like it or not, I don’t know, but you’ll see a big chapter unfold in “X-Men” #600. That chapter will be drawn by Mahmud Asrar who drew the other part [in “All-New X-Men” #40]. I’m eager for people’s reaction to that.
An issue so important as this, this is where monthly comics and “to be continued” is good and bad. It’s good that people are talking about it, but it’s bad that so many people are quick to jump to conclusions about certain things and get their feelings hurt about certain things without actually waiting to see if the story is going to do any of those things.
But my recommendation, and some people were able to do this and some were not, is to step outside your individual story and feelings about how you may have been outed and how you outed yourself or where you feel about yourself along the spectrum and realize that so many people have so many different stories and so many different feelings about that. What I knew before and certainly learned it again this month, is that no one is wrong as far as people who are gay and represent themselves as bisexual or gay — whatever your feeling on that is completely right for you. But so many people have so many different opinions; people were mad about the bisexual nature of the story and other people were like, “I’m bisexual and I’m not mad at all; in fact I’m curious about why people are mad.” It was right down the middle. I felt bad that people couldn’t step outside their own experiences to see that other people have had different experiences. Iceman’s, with his ice powers and Jean’s psychic powers and time travel, is a very unique story and not in any way intended to represent all things to all people.”
One of young Bobby’s questions is…is the older version of himself gay, bi or straight?
Will Jean pay a penance for probing Bobby’s mind?
Will any of the original X-Men stay in the present?
Their stories continue in All-New X-Men #41 with a return to Utopia and Uncanny X-Men #600.
By Editor