itsinthetrees: Diamonds Are ForeverThe Essential Emma Frost Emma Frost is one of the most important characters in the present Marvel Universe.  Originally a villainous arch-foe of the X-Men and their allies as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, over the last two decades she has evolved into a pragmatic, complicated heroine and — alongside her lover Scott Summers (aka Cyclops) — leader of the team she once opposed. Origins There have been a number of retconned origin stories for Emma Frost, and none of them have been particularly good books, so I’ll spare you.  The gist is: Emma was born in Massachusetts to awful parents (Hazel and Winston) who were old money socialites.  Her best friend was her brother Christian, the eldest child, but her cruel sister Adrienne revealed to their father that Christian was gay.  Dad had Christian’s boyfriend deported, Christian became a drug addict mess and was eventually sent to an asylum, and Adrienne thought she’d become heir to the Frost fortune.  Not so!  Winston picked Emma, but Emma was so grossed out by her family that she struck out on her own.  To help put herself through school she took a job as an exotic dancer at the Hellfire Club’s Manhattan location, and that’s how she met Sebastian Shaw.  Emma later adopted Christian’s institutionalization by their parents as her own supposed experience, and during the early years of her reformation (in Generation X) she used this sob story to justify her time as a supervillain.By the time we meet her during the Dark Phoenix Saga, Emma has an engineering degree, is the established White Queen of the Hellfire Club, runs her own school for mutants (the Massachusetts Academy), and is also the CEO of her own large industrial firm (Frost Industries).  Emma’s supposed ascension to White Queen as a young runaway is somewhat difficult to reconcile with these mature first appearances, but it makes sense in retrospect to de-age her a bit so that she’s in line with the other core X-Men.  My general read is that Emma was a prodigy in her late 20s when she first appeared and is now pushing 40 (while Scott is pushing 35).  Emma herself claims to be 27, but that’s just Emma being Emma. The White Queen The Dark Phoenix Saga: In which Emma helps inadvertently unleash the scourge of the universe.  First appearance!  She’s not in the whole event, but the whole event is worth reading. Uncanny X-Men #151-152: In which Emma and Storm get into some bodyswap hijinks.  After this storyline Emma ends up in a brief coma, which I only mention because it gets mentioned in my next highlight. UXM #180 and New Mutants #15-17: In which we meet Emma’s students, the Hellions.  Note that during this period Magneto was reformed, and helped the X-Men by teaching the New Mutants (sort of the X-Men junior league) while Xavier was busy in the Shi’ar galaxy being royal consort to the alien empress Lilandra.  No, really. Firestar #1-4: In which Emma murders a teenage girl’s pony.  Despite all the people Emma has killed, this is the thing fandom can’t get over. NM #38-40: In which Emma takes in the New Mutants after their traumatic death and resurrection at the hands of the Beyonder. Classic X-Men #7: In which we witness, in flashback, Emma’s brutal ascension to White Queen.  Classic X-Men was a book that reprinted issues from the 70s, but as an added incentive it would add new material as a back-up story in each issue.  You can skip through the main story (part of an old arc about the X-Men in space) and go right to “Out With The Old”, a flashback sequence about Sebastian Shaw and Emma’s coup for leadership of the Hellfire Club. NM #53-54, #56-57: In which Emma convinces Magneto to become the Hellfire Club’s White King, in the process fostering more open dialogue between the two schools. NM #74-75: In which Emma comforts Magneto after the corruption of New Mutants member Magik causes a demonic invasion of Manhattan, then helps him battle both his former students and Sebastian Shaw. Transitions (or ‘Ugh, the 90s’) UXM #280-282: In which Emma and her Hellions are targeted by the mad time traveler Trevor Fitzroy.  Another coma!  (Comas are a major telepathic hazard, apparently.) UXM #313-314: In which Emma awakens from her coma by possessing Iceman’s body. Phalanx Covenant: In which Emma and Sean Cassidy (Banshee) meet the next generation of mutant heroes. Generation X: In which Emma and Banshee teach a new crop of students for Xavier’s cause, and Emma’s struggle to redeem herself leads to a final showdown with her sister Adrienne.  I never cared for this book — the Emplate plotline was incomprehensible, and apart from Monet, Synch and Jubilee I had no particular interest in the students — but I’ve collected all the key Emma (and Adrienne) issues here.  If the high school shenanigans aren’t your speed just skip ahead to issue #48, where the Adrienne plotline begins.  I’ve included two of the annual one-shots; the 1995 Annual goes after #7, while the 1997 Annual should be read before #40. Emma Frost, X-Man Grant Morrison’s New X-Men: In which Emma survives a genocide, turns into a diamond, joins the X-Men, and falls for the wrong guy.  This is the entire 41-issue run of New X-Men, which is best read as a complete work (in the manner of a novel) rather than cherry-picking Emma moments.  It’s worth it, and she’s one of the most important players; this is the book that elevated her to A-List status in the Marvel Universe.  You should read the 2001 Annual one-shot issue (The Man From Room X) between issues #116 and #117.  Note that the events of New X-Men were almost immediately very awkwardly retconned by the status quo-happy editorial, with the big villain in the final arc revealed as an ‘impostor’, thereby scuttling the whole damn point of the book.  It’s best to look at New X-Men in microcosm and pretend none of that stuff afterward happened. House of M #1: In which Emma is the only hero with any goddamn sense. Civil War #3: In which Emma tells Tony Stark to get the fuck out. After New X-Men the world is your Frosty oyster, really.  Most any X-Book is likely to have some Emma in it, but I haven’t really enjoyed most of the post-Morrison takes on the X-Men.  Many people really loved Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men, which picks up where Morrison left off, but I found his treatment of Emma (among other things) less than inspiring.  Fraction’s run on Uncanny had some good elements, but was overall a mixed bag and — most damningly — was like half Greg Land ‘art’, which I just can’t abide. Of late Emma has been serving as co-leader of the decimated mutant race with her lover Cyclops, carving out a new mutant nation on the island of Utopia.  For a while she got caught up in Norman Osborn’s cabal during Dark Reign, which was admittedly pretty fun and perhaps worth a look.  Warren Ellis’s X-Men: Xenogenesis features a grotesquely rendered Emma art-wise, but has some really great character stuff. Grant Morrisen’s New X-Men is so great!  I love it.

itsinthetrees:

Diamonds Are Forever
The Essential Emma Frost

Emma Frost is one of the most important characters in the present Marvel Universe.  Originally a villainous arch-foe of the X-Men and their allies as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, over the last two decades she has evolved into a pragmatic, complicated heroine and — alongside her lover Scott Summers (aka Cyclops) — leader of the team she once opposed.

Origins

There have been a number of retconned origin stories for Emma Frost, and none of them have been particularly good books, so I’ll spare you.  The gist is: Emma was born in Massachusetts to awful parents (Hazel and Winston) who were old money socialites.  Her best friend was her brother Christian, the eldest child, but her cruel sister Adrienne revealed to their father that Christian was gay.  Dad had Christian’s boyfriend deported, Christian became a drug addict mess and was eventually sent to an asylum, and Adrienne thought she’d become heir to the Frost fortune.  Not so!  Winston picked Emma, but Emma was so grossed out by her family that she struck out on her own.  To help put herself through school she took a job as an exotic dancer at the Hellfire Club’s Manhattan location, and that’s how she met Sebastian Shaw.  Emma later adopted Christian’s institutionalization by their parents as her own supposed experience, and during the early years of her reformation (in Generation X) she used this sob story to justify her time as a supervillain.

By the time we meet her during the Dark Phoenix Saga, Emma has an engineering degree, is the established White Queen of the Hellfire Club, runs her own school for mutants (the Massachusetts Academy), and is also the CEO of her own large industrial firm (Frost Industries).  Emma’s supposed ascension to White Queen as a young runaway is somewhat difficult to reconcile with these mature first appearances, but it makes sense in retrospect to de-age her a bit so that she’s in line with the other core X-Men.  My general read is that Emma was a prodigy in her late 20s when she first appeared and is now pushing 40 (while Scott is pushing 35).  Emma herself claims to be 27, but that’s just Emma being Emma.

The White Queen

  • The Dark Phoenix Saga: In which Emma helps inadvertently unleash the scourge of the universe.  First appearance!  She’s not in the whole event, but the whole event is worth reading.
  • Uncanny X-Men #151-152: In which Emma and Storm get into some bodyswap hijinks.  After this storyline Emma ends up in a brief coma, which I only mention because it gets mentioned in my next highlight.
  • UXM #180 and New Mutants #15-17: In which we meet Emma’s students, the Hellions.  Note that during this period Magneto was reformed, and helped the X-Men by teaching the New Mutants (sort of the X-Men junior league) while Xavier was busy in the Shi’ar galaxy being royal consort to the alien empress Lilandra.  No, really.
  • Firestar #1-4: In which Emma murders a teenage girl’s pony.  Despite all the people Emma has killed, this is the thing fandom can’t get over.
  • NM #38-40: In which Emma takes in the New Mutants after their traumatic death and resurrection at the hands of the Beyonder.
  • Classic X-Men #7: In which we witness, in flashback, Emma’s brutal ascension to White Queen.  Classic X-Men was a book that reprinted issues from the 70s, but as an added incentive it would add new material as a back-up story in each issue.  You can skip through the main story (part of an old arc about the X-Men in space) and go right to “Out With The Old”, a flashback sequence about Sebastian Shaw and Emma’s coup for leadership of the Hellfire Club.
  • NM #53-54, #56-57: In which Emma convinces Magneto to become the Hellfire Club’s White King, in the process fostering more open dialogue between the two schools.
  • NM #74-75: In which Emma comforts Magneto after the corruption of New Mutants member Magik causes a demonic invasion of Manhattan, then helps him battle both his former students and Sebastian Shaw.

Transitions (or ‘Ugh, the 90s’)

  • UXM #280-282: In which Emma and her Hellions are targeted by the mad time traveler Trevor Fitzroy.  Another coma!  (Comas are a major telepathic hazard, apparently.)
  • UXM #313-314: In which Emma awakens from her coma by possessing Iceman’s body.
  • Phalanx Covenant: In which Emma and Sean Cassidy (Banshee) meet the next generation of mutant heroes.
  • Generation X: In which Emma and Banshee teach a new crop of students for Xavier’s cause, and Emma’s struggle to redeem herself leads to a final showdown with her sister Adrienne.  I never cared for this book — the Emplate plotline was incomprehensible, and apart from Monet, Synch and Jubilee I had no particular interest in the students — but I’ve collected all the key Emma (and Adrienne) issues here.  If the high school shenanigans aren’t your speed just skip ahead to issue #48, where the Adrienne plotline begins.  I’ve included two of the annual one-shots; the 1995 Annual goes after #7, while the 1997 Annual should be read before #40.

Emma Frost, X-Man

  • Grant Morrison’s New X-Men: In which Emma survives a genocide, turns into a diamond, joins the X-Men, and falls for the wrong guy.  This is the entire 41-issue run of New X-Men, which is best read as a complete work (in the manner of a novel) rather than cherry-picking Emma moments.  It’s worth it, and she’s one of the most important players; this is the book that elevated her to A-List status in the Marvel Universe.  You should read the 2001 Annual one-shot issue (The Man From Room X) between issues #116 and #117.  Note that the events of New X-Men were almost immediately very awkwardly retconned by the status quo-happy editorial, with the big villain in the final arc revealed as an ‘impostor’, thereby scuttling the whole damn point of the book.  It’s best to look at New X-Men in microcosm and pretend none of that stuff afterward happened.
  • House of M #1: In which Emma is the only hero with any goddamn sense.
  • Civil War #3: In which Emma tells Tony Stark to get the fuck out.

After New X-Men the world is your Frosty oyster, really.  Most any X-Book is likely to have some Emma in it, but I haven’t really enjoyed most of the post-Morrison takes on the X-Men.  Many people really loved Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men, which picks up where Morrison left off, but I found his treatment of Emma (among other things) less than inspiring.  Fraction’s run on Uncanny had some good elements, but was overall a mixed bag and — most damningly — was like half Greg Land ‘art’, which I just can’t abide.

Of late Emma has been serving as co-leader of the decimated mutant race with her lover Cyclops, carving out a new mutant nation on the island of Utopia.  For a while she got caught up in Norman Osborn’s cabal during Dark Reign, which was admittedly pretty fun and perhaps worth a look.  Warren Ellis’s X-Men: Xenogenesis features a grotesquely rendered Emma art-wise, but has some really great character stuff.

Grant Morrisen’s New X-Men is so great!  I love it.

(via inkstone)

Tags: reblogs x-men emma frost