UNCANNY X-MEN #340: Relativity

In the aftermath of a violent attack, Iceman considers his future

Originally Published January 1997

We begin at the hospital, where Bobby Drake is sitting by the bedside of his father, comatose following an attack. He is joined by a few of his compatriots in the X-Men...

It's because of the cards, Bobby. Do you not pay attention?

Storm asks -- as if one needs to guess -- who is responsible for this heinous act.

Wow, did they take him too far "Higher"?

Later, atop the hospital, Bobby relates his tale to Storm. In the early morning hours, he was in the limo with Graydon Creed, undercover as part of his entourage, when the candidate began to ask him cryptic questions about the relationship between fathers and sons.

He sends Bobby out to a clearing, alone, to "solve a problem," which ends up having a familiar face...

So, does that mean I'm off the campaign team?

It would appear that the Creed people found out that the man who disrupted his interview was the father of "Drake Roberts" -- I guess that pseudonym wasn't as ironclad as they thought. It's unclear exactly how much Creed knows, if he's a mutant, etc etc, but in a touching moment Father Drake claims he didn't give his son up.

Back in the here and now, Bobby gets choked up thinking about how he and his father always had a rough relationship, and now, shockingly at this late hour, Mr. Drake is revealing himself to be a stand-up guy.

Down in Atlanta, the X-Men's other undercover brother, "Samson Guthry," is having some personal time with the candidate. Again, the topic of fathers comes up. Sam answers with the truth -- his dad was a saint who sacrificed everything in the mines of Kentucky for his eight children.

And Graydon's own father? Well, the very question provokes a somewhat visceral reaction.

No, they weren't close, and they apparently didn't see much of each other growing up, which is enough to give anyone a complex without considering the fact that Creed's bio-dad is the killer known as Sabretooth.

But, Graydon has a clever euphemism for the role his paterfamilias played in his life...

Back at the hospital. Gambit watches over Bobby's dad, who wake up and has a few questions about why the X-Men do this whole "protect the world that hates and fears them," noting that Gambit looks 'normal enough,' (aside from the black and red eyes, sure), why bother putting his ass on the line instead of hiding his true nature?

Gambit flips the question around -- you are a "normal person," so why stick your neck out for mutants like us? Drake seems to have realized that anti-mutant persecution has started to hit home, and that by and large it isn't right. 

Outside, some Friends of Humanity are squatting in a van, ready to snipe the various mutants they've located within the hospital. Unfortunately, they've got company.

When it comes to sales? Yeah

Up on the roof, Bobby continues to reflect on how his relationship with his father hasn't always been a bed of roses. Storm reflects on the fact that she never knew really her parents, which has left her with a lot of questions about how they would feel about what she has become and what she does. 

In a way, it's easier for her -- they're ghosts, memories, and they can say whatever she wants to believe they'd say. But, she thinks, it would also be nice if they were real, if they were here to argue with and even possibly disappoint.

Down in Atlanta, Jean makes contact with Sam to let him know that Bobby's cover is blown and they can pull him out if they need to. Sam declines -- he's in this until the end.

Sitting by his father's bedside, Iceman reveals his decision not to come back to the X-Men for a while so he can focus on rebuilding his relationship with his father. It's kind of the thing to do when something bad happens around here, you know?

And with that, a father and son are left on their own.

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Further Thoughts:

There's a lot to be said for allyship. How does someone who is not part of a group become part of that group's fight? Oftentimes in life, it involves having someone you care about be part of it. It shouldn't be required, but all too often we need that personal connection to remember that people who are different from us are actually just people too.

I've been griping and whining for a while now about the languid pace this series -- both of them -- have taken since the end of Onslaught. One solemn, reflective issue is good. Two is pushing it. Several weeks of staying stuck in first gear really starts to grate as the book spins its wheels, teasing but never delivering action beyond a few quick flashes. The series -- plural, since Lobdell is overseeing X-Men with Ralph Macchio right now -- is more about selling us these smaller personal moments with only hints at larger conflicts to come, which can read as inertness.

Not all issues are created equal. This issue is certainly very light on action (the Wolverine appearance in particular feels tacked on) and "Bobby's Dad gets beat up" hardly seems like a storyline to get fans whipped into a frenzy, but what it does it take that relaxed pace we've been seeing and it nudges it forward in a suitable direction with an appropriate tone. This issue knows exactly what it wants to be -- a bittersweet examination of Bobby's relationship with his father -- and it goes full bore into that, building out its tale as sensitively and with as much nuance as it can muster. It may not be a sales sensation but it's a real moment of grace that I suspect Scott Lobdell has been chasing for a while.

The success of this issue proves that its creators clearly do have a strong grasp of the characters and themes at work here. At its worst -- which this is not -- it's still strong material.

I'm not predisposed to particularly care about Iceman, but it's fairly clear he ranks high on Scott Lobdell's list of X-Men to focus on because he's gotten a lot of foregrounding in the last few years. Lobdell dragged me kicking and screaming into caring about Iceman's drama once before and by gar he's doing it again.

So look. This may not be my platonic ideal vision for that the X-Men series is week after week, month after month, but at times like these, it works, and when you are holding a comic that is as successful at doing what it hopes to do, you have to admit it.