The Birth: When William Robert and Madeline Beatrice gave birth to their baby boy, little did they know that he would grow up to join the X-Men as the mutant known as Iceman. With Professor Charles Xavier and a few other, he formed the original X-Men in the X-Men #1.

The Alter Ego: Bobby Drake was still studying when he became a member of the original X-Men. He was always the joker of the group, clowing around all the time. There was a time when Booby fell for Lorna Dane (Polaris) but unfortunately she chose Alex (Havok) instead of him. When Booby Drake left the X-Men breifly, he completed his studies and then later rejoined Professor X's group.

The Legend: Bobby Drake was a founding member of the original X-Men but he left the group after the battle with the island being, Krakoa. This was the time when Wolverine and a few others joined in and apparently they did not like to take orders from a mutant who was younger then themselves.
Bobby left and completed his studies. Longing for action once more, he joined the newly formed Defenders founded by Angel and The Beast. While that group did not last long, most of the origianl X-Men- namely Jean Grey, Cyclops, McCoy and Warren (Angel) along with Bobby formed the X-Factor; a group meant to persue mutants while actually protecting them. As fate had it, X-Factor was taken over by the government and the prodigals soon returned to the X-Men.
A recent event in Iceman's history was when Emma Frost awoke and not only did she take over his body, but also used his powers far better than he ever had, for Bobby has not dared to use his powers at full capacity - apparently he feared that his body would genetically be changed into ice rather than the ice coating he wore over his human skin after transforming into Iceman. But with the passing of this episode, Bobby learned how to manipulate his powers and can now recover his form with ease.
Iceman again changed status to ex-member when his father was beaten by Graydon Creed, a mutant hater who was running for mayor. He stayed with his family for a short time till he was called to help in the Bastions Operation Zero Tolerance. He now resides in the Mansion with the rest of the group.

X-Men #1