X-Men's Iceman declares sexuality in new comic

It’s Bobby Drake’s time to shine. In the closing chapter of Uncanny X-Men #600, out today, a teenaged Bobby finds himself fully accepting the fact that he’s gay…and attempting to tell his older, present-day Iceman counterpart about his sexuality.

The character initially came out back in April, in Brian Michael Bendis’ and Mahmud Asrar‘s All-New X-Men #40, when a time-traveling Jean Grey read Bobby’s mind and deduced that he was not so much bisexual as he was gay. With Iceman being one of the original X-Men who first debuted in 1963, the decision to openly embrace Bobby’s sexuality marked a step in elevating the diversity of comic books.

Following the conclusion of Bendis’ run, an entirely new chapter begins today in Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramo’s All-New Extraordinary X-Men #1, where Bobby’s story will also continue. The series also launches an entirely new line of X-Men comics under Marvel’s All-New, All-Different banner. The series picks up eight months following the events of Secret Wars…and finds leader Storm rallying her team by telling them “the war for survival has begun.”