Emma Frost: The White Queen #1 - Marvel Comics

Emma Frost: The White Queen #1 - Marvel Comics

Emma Frost: The White Queen #1 Review

Hey everyone! Anthony here from My Kind Of Weird. I hope you're doing well.

Today we're going to be talking about an X-Men character whose had the first issue of her own series been dropped. A character who has played bad guy as much as good guy. A character who gone from evil seductress to teacher, surrogate mother and back again. A character who doesn't like to wear pants. That's right everyone: Emma Frost: The White Queen #1 has been released - and it's time we talk about it.

A complex character, Emma Frost has long been a morally complex character who either plays thorn in the X-Men side or a superior ally who will do anything for the good of mutant kind. It was X-Men: The Animated Series which first introduced me to Emma Frost as a high ranking member of The Hellfire Club and as Sebastian Shaw’s second-in-command. So, this return to an era in X-Men history where Emma Frost played antagonist is incredible, and a power move by series writer Amy Chu.

Emma Frost: The White Queen #1

At the start of the issue, Emma Frost is overseeing a celebration of The Hellfire Club’s chapter in Buenos Aires, Brazil. Flanked by her personal assistant, Noor, she’s doing one final mind scan of the room to make sure the endless hordes of seedy politicians and bankrolled billionaires are only here for their own selfish reasons — and not to make life hell for Emma. Now, it’s important for the reader to know that this iteration of Emma Frost is much more like her character as depicted in the X-Men: The Animated Series tv show and less like the surrogate mother figure as depicted in more recent runs of the X-Men. Because when a young protester breaks into this Hellfire Club branch and almost escapes, thanks to his own mutant power, Emma has no issues with overloading his brain with her telepathic abilities and causing him to collapse unconscious. After ordering her guards to stow him away out of sight for her to deal with later, she heads down to greet her guests and hold a toast to them.

Shortly after, Emma and the other Inner Circle attendees, most noticeably of whom is Tessa, Azzedine, Ismail, Wo Han and Liu head to another floor for a meeting to induct the new Black Rook. But before the meeting can get underway, Nightcrawler bamfs his way into the secret meeting, looking for a young mutant. Turns out the young mutant who broke into Hellfire Club earlier is the exact mutant the X-Men are looking for. After Emma screams for her guards, Nightcrawler bamfs to rendezvous with Wolverine, Storm and Colossus in the same room where Emma held her toast. Pretty soon the four X-Men come face to face with Emma, her goons and Noor, who displays a remarkable ability of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, perplexing Wolverine for a moment, but not before the seasoned X-Men flips her over onto her ass.

Emma Frost: The White Queen #1 - Page 12

As the other three X-Men are engaged in battle, Nightcrawler bamfs into the room where the young mutant, Arnoldo, is being held in a cage. With Arnaldo in tow, the X-Men escape with Storm’s powers creating a much needed cover as she literally blow the roof of the Hellfire Club clean off. Andrea Di Vito’s art certainly elevates the story to cinematic heights. This leaves what’s left of Emma, her goons and the rest of the Inner Circle to head down to the Inner Circle meeting room. Where she reports to Sebastian Shaw that the X-Men could’ve only pulled off this heist if someone in the inner circle is a traitor.

What do you guys think? I’m keen to hear who is revealed to be the traitor. My money is on Azzedine. It could be Tessa but she’s already rubbing Emma the wrong way and it feels too obvious. As for the writing and art? Look, the writing is fine. It sets up some interesting intrigue for an X-Men baddie thriller conspiracy whereas the art is clean and singing with finesse. Though, there’s points in the issue where it feels a bit too safe.

That’s it for now. This has been an interesting first issue in a series on Old School Emma Frost. A character which is basically Basic Instinct era Sharon Stone in the shoes of an X-Men villain. At least that’s how I’ve always read her. Let's see how this series evolves over time and if it's sink or swim.

Anyway, my name is Anthony from My Kind Of Weird. See you on the next episode.