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Saturday, December 12, 2015

Love on the Rocks

While a student at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Bobby Drake became smitten with a young woman named Zelda who worked at a coffee house in Greenwich Village (X-Men #7). They remained an item for the next 40 issues.

Zelda even organized Bobby's 18th birthday party (#32), but all the while she never learned that he was secretly Iceman. During this same period, classmates Henry McCoy (Beast) and Warren Worthington (Angel) kept their mutant identities secret from their dates as well.

Bobby's romantic life took and unexpected turn when he met Lorna Dane, a mutant who had spent a lifetime hiding her naturally green hair (#49). Almost immediately, Bobby felt protective and possessive of Lorna. But Bobby's passion went unreciprocated, as Lorna instead fell in love with Alex Summers (Havok), who joined the X-Men soon afterward.

This scene of Iceman and Lorna Dane comes from X-Men #51.

Bobby then spent weeks getting up the nerve to ask another (unidentified) woman on a date, only to send her home early so he could discreetly use his powers as Iceman (Amazing Spider-Man #92). Iceman had misconstrued that Spider-Man—widely considered a menace at this time—was intending to harm Gwen Stacy (girlfriend of Spider-Man's alter ego, Peter Parker).

In retrospect, this issue was eerily prophetic, as Spider-Man would later be blamed unfairly for Gwen Stacy's death (#121-122).

Amazing Spider-Man #72 (Jan. 1971) was published between X-Men #67 (Dec. 1970) and #68 (Feb. 1971). X-Men #67-93 reprinted earlier issues in the series. Iceman resigned in X-Men #95 (Aug. 1975).

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