Astonishing Iceman #1 Review

Written by: Steve Orlando
Art by: Vincenzo Carratù
Colors by: Java Tartaglia
Letters by: VC’s Travis Lanham/
Cover art by: Jesús Saiz
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: August 2, 2023

Astonishing Iceman #1 follows Boby Drake/Iceman (or is he?) as he continues to evade Orchis security forces while he saves the day with a smile and a big, manly kiss.

Is It Good?

“Wait, what? Iceman is dead. In this year’s Hellfire Gala, he got stabbed with a blade that unleashed the equivalent of nanite napalm into his bloodstream, melting him from the inside out. How could he be alive? What madness is this?” you may rightly ask.

In Astonishing Iceman #1, Steve Orlando explains it all… sort of.
Orlando’s script centers on Iceman rushing here, there, and everywhere, saving kittens, smooching burly men without consent, and generally making Orchis security look like a pack of buffoons. When Iceman’s day of superheroics draws to an end, he heads back to his Fortress of Sol… err, I mean his ice palace in Antarctica to rest and recharge. Frustrated by their inability to catch Iceman, Orchis hatches a plan to attack Iceman where he’s most vulnerable – his family.

So how did Iceman survive?

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

He didn’t. This Iceman isn’t the original Iceman. He isn’t a clone of Iceman, nor is he a new person who has powers similar to Iceman.
Romeo was so grief-stricken by Bobby Drake’s death at the Hellfire Gala massacre, he went off to Antarctica and used his empathy powers to create an artificial construct of Iceman based on his feelings for Bobby. In effect, this Iceman is Romeo’s frosty Real Doll.

Real Doll Iceman needs to return to the ice palace regularly to rest and recharge while he spends time with Romeo. Yes, they have sex, in case you were wondering.

[END SPOILERS]

Okay, that’s weird, but is it a good story? Not particularly. Orlando makes Orchis look like buffoons, which is tonally at odds with how they’re portrayed everywhere else within the X-Titles. The explanation of Iceman’s survival gets creepier and grosser the longer you think about it. And the story barely passes the bar for a basic plot.

“Iceman” runs around doing superhero things, Orchis comes up with increasingly more complicated ways to catch “Iceman”, trap fails, rinse, repeat. It’s the X-Office equivalent of a Roadrunner & Coyote cartoon. What will that wacky Steve Orlando think up next? Beep, Beep!

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Astonishing Iceman #1 is an Iceman comic in name only when the Iceman you think you get is not the Iceman you really get, and when you learn who the Iceman you get really is, the less you want that Iceman to be what he really is. It’s weird, it’s creepy, it’s gross, it’s probably not suitable for kids, and it’s completely unnecessary.