Where are the good Iceman stories???

Ok so Iceman's been with us for 60 years now, and it seems like he's always being used as the comic relief, and nothing else.

Don't get me wrong: I absolutely love him as the funny guy. I just feel like he's underused and that his character could be explored so much. I feel like Bendis making him gay (out of nowhere) was some kind of attempt to add some depth to his character, but it was a mistake. In my humble opinion.

So where are the good Iceman stories at? Why hasn't his character been explored more yet? Have I just not read the right stories?

You have probably just not been reading the right stories.

Iceman has been a pretty prominent member of the X-Men most of his existence and the only time he was not really used was from around 1975 to the early 80s, and even during that time, he showed up other places in the Marvel Universe and ran with the Champions of LA and the Defenders. A problem with Iceman is that he is not a character with a mysterious past like Wolverine, Fantomex or Gambit, or a member that has a bunch of family members and clones lingering around so, he just kind of always gets lost in the shuffle.

I think there's a pretty good 2 shot pre Claremont involving reflecting on his Background. (A lot more can be mined in this era despite the style and flaws)

There's at least 2 defenders stories where he has prominent story moments that people talk about.

About 2 major continuing personal plotlines from the OG X-Factor.

the arc where he gets possessed by Emma is cool.

Despite Iceman being a Dick in a few very bad stories, everything he's in from the start of Austin's run to the beginning of Fractions run (love triangles with Polaris and Havoc, insecurities with his powers and role on the team, relationship with Mystique, and a life lesson about his power, potential and maturity.) Make for a pretty good character growth arc where you can see him evolving.(waswas partially reset by WatX but you can see it).

And finally his whole Death seed story arc.

Most of his stories and character moments are of the personal nature, and he doesn't have many real "hero vs villain epic showdown" stories even including one shots. But Iceman has been in a straight up STUPID amount of first encounters and showdowns against big bads and during major confrontations.

He really was the ever present down to earth guy having regular personal problems alongside his superhero day job...at least before "gay" became a primary character trait. (Which is bad both for the character and for the social agenda associated with the decision)

Iceman had some good stories in late 80's X-Factor and X-Men in the mid 2000's. He has definitely had the least charecter arcs and time devoted to him when you compare him to the rest of the 05.

Try all new X-Men gay Iceaman is awesome.

Astonishing X-Men around 62 to 65 was a nice story.

The Emma Frost arc was about Uncanny 314.

I also like when he froze over in the old X-Factor issue after the Asgard crossover.

Yeah well I didn't read the right stories haha! It just seems like they are only small stories, just some chunks of backstories scattered here and there. Maybe it's just because there isn't much to tell, as you guys said. I guess there are a lot of other characters who have more interesting material to work with.

They are few and spread far apart. He wasn't ever a interesting charecter in my opinion.

Supernovas and Blinded by the Light has a good story arc for Bobby.

Id recommend X-Men Origins: Iceman. I thought it was a pretty great origin story for him that was emotional and relatable. It also seemed to have some parallels to being gay though that just may have been my interpetation, so maybe you wont like it.

Glad someone made this thread. Iceman was one of my favorite X-Men growing up and Ive been looking for some stories prominently featuring him.