Retro Review

Emma Frost could have been a great comic. With a female lead who was not just a copy of a more successful male super-hero, but a popular, complex and interesting character in her own right, it could have been a rival for DC’s success with Birds of Prey and Catwoman, but it lasted only 18 months and has been largely forgotten. The main problem with it is that it seems to have been edited by two different people, one working on the covers and marketing, the other on the interiors, neither knowing what the other was trying to achieve. It is a real shame, because it isn’t a bad comic: it just looks like one.

The cover of a comic book should be an advertisement of the content. It should draw the eye of the reader the story is aimed at. Perhaps the editor of this book never got that memo. The covers of Emma Frost are skillfully painted but truly wrong for the book. Here, for example, is the cover to issue one.

(art by Greg Horn, copyright Marvel Comics)

 If this was the book about Emma Frost the sexy, smart and sarcastic mutant telepath in her role as villain or hero, the cover might work, as this cover shows her as an adult, in one of her most ridiculous and flimsiest costumes. Not only does she not appear in that costume in the story, this art is also a slap in the face to the writer and artist who were trying to produce a very different book. Emma Frost is an origin story for the titular character, covering the period when her telepathic powers began to develop, and an intelligent coming-of-age story of a teenage girl who is having a rough time at school and at home. I cannot imagine many teenage girls seeing that cover and thinking this was a comic for them; this is a cover for fans of titles like Vampirella and Lady Death, and that kind of fan is going to be sorely disappointed with the story of family strife and power plays inside.

If only the first cover had been of this type, that might have been acceptable, but all the covers for the first six issues were of this type: hearts, flowers and big boobs, and no hint of the story inside. The cover for #4 is a particularly odd choice, making the book seem like some kind of weird flower fairy fantasy.

Even the potential to appeal to fans of New X-Men doesn’t explain the choice of cover art: they wouldn’t need to see her in costume to realize that the book was about one of Marvel’s popular mutants. The title alone or slapping an X on the cover (something Marvel were never shy to do) would have brought those readers in. However, that, like the art that was chosen, would have defeated the purpose of the book. Emma Frost was released in 2003 as a late addition to Marvel’s Tsunami line of new and different titles aimed at readers who were not traditionally Marvel customers, like the teenage girls this book was for. However, after the first issue, Marvel took the Tsunami logo off the book and folded into the main Marvel line, something they did with a number of other Tsunami books as it became clear that the experiment was not working.

It’s a real shame, because the book itself is a good read. Subtitled Higher Learning, the first six issues show Emma Frost as a plain teenager lacking confidence. She is having a hard time at school, where she doesn’t fit in, and at home, where it seems she can do nothing to please her dictatorial and unfair father, Winston. Her mother is distant, her two older sisters self-centered, and her classmates cruel. The only people who show her any care or attention are her older brother Christian, who has problems and secrets of his own, and one of her teachers, Ian Kendall, who she has a crush on. To make matters worse, she is suffering from intense headaches, and she sometimes thinks she can hear thoughts that are not her own. Is she losing her mind? Or is she becoming something more than human, and if so, what will she do with that power?

This story, by Karl Bollers, is a very familiar one - a girl who does not fit in must find her place in the world - but the execution is better than many of the books in that genre. All the characters have their flaws and secrets, including Emma: she is not a bland, good little heroine, but a realistic teenager who can be cruel or manipulative too, learning her dysfunctional family’s lessons well. Christian and Ian are both more rounded characters than they first appear to be, with far better arcs than merely being there to support Emma. The parents are the least developed characters, despite their importance to the story: Winston Frost is particularly clichéd. The story takes a few unexpected twists, and is surprisingly mature considering the company and the demographic, with themes of blackmail, homosexuality and drug abuse.

The interior art (penciler Randy Green, inker Rick Ketcham, colorist Pete Pantazis) is excellent. Mr. Green is a solid visual story-teller, with a good sense of pacing, and, more importantly for this book, a good sense of the female form. The women in Emma Frost are believable: the teenagers look like teenagers, the older women look like older women, and none of the characters look like they’re surgically enhanced, except the character who should, given her secret life.

Currently selling for cover price or less, the individual issues are worth seeking out if you enjoy stories of this type, or if you’re interested in the origin of one of Marvel’s better and more original female characters. However, if you’ve already read New X-Men or Generation X, you will find the story has the same problem as most prequels: you already know the ending, so some of the mystery is lost. If you’d rather not be seen reading a comic book with a T&A cover, then go for the collected edition, Emma Frost: Higher Learning, which also has a Greg Horn cover, but one that is relevant to the story inside, and far more likely to attract the people Karl Bollers was writing for.

Emma Frost #1-6, Marvel Comics. B for story and art, D for the Greg Horn covers, and a B for the flawed but noble attempt at reaching out to a new audience, to give a B- overall. Look for it in back-issue bins under Marvel Comics or X-Men comics, and in discount bins, and look for the trade paperback with Marvel’s digest editions.

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