Writer: Karl Bollers
Pencils: Randy Green
Inker: Rick Ketcham
Colorist: Pete Pantazis
Cover Artist: Greg Horn
Alright, I’ll admit it… I picked up this series because the cover artwork by Greg Horn was just too alluring to pass up. It’s certainly obvious why Emma Frost is considered one of the most attractive women in the X-Men universe. Now I will never claim to be a die-hard fan of the X-Men, I’ve read a few issues here and there, but nothing overly devoted. I’ve seen the movies and played a couple of the video games, used to watch the cartoon on TV off and on when I was younger. I say all this so you get the idea of where I’m coming from and this isn’t any kind of realistic compare and contrast to the main X-Men issues.
All that being said… I simply loved what I’ve read so far! The first six issues are part of their own story titled “Higher Learning.” I know when Emma Frost was first introduced to the X-Men universe she was a villain, then later joined the team and she’s featured as a playable character in X-Men: Legends video game for X-Box. After reading this, I’m a bit more motivated to try out her character now. Usually I would just play as my other favorite X-Men; Gambit or Wolverine. Anyway, by the time she’s introduced she’s all grown up, well Karl Bollers has written a story outlining her origins for us all to enjoy. Color me completely impressed with this writing! Within the first issue I was completely hooked. You’d think with an X-Men related comic we’d have a decent amount of action, but there isn’t that much of that. The intrigue is completely generated by the Drama. Naturally this isn’t a happy or prissy story; after all we are talking about a character who was first introduced as a villain.
Emma comes from a very wealthy family that lives in Boston, Massachusetts. As can be expected her story starts off in high school. This is usually when the X-factor begins to manifest as the child goes through adolescence. As is typical in most storylines of this nature Emma feels very isolated in her condition. She’s afraid to tell people around her as she slowly figures out what her special abilities are. This lack of confidence and shyness is compounded by her estranged family life… of which Emma seems to be the most normal. Her father controls a Fortune 500 company and he’s looking for an heir to take over the financial empire amongst his children, of which there are four including Emma. Emma has no real interest in this, but her father is overly controlling of all his children. He drives them to sheer madness with some of his oppressive tendencies and their mother is practically numb to the truth of it. So you can see why Emma feels so isolated and afraid to talk to others. This is just an overview of the setting, I don’t want to give away much of the story because it’s so good that I want other people to enjoy it in full like I did. Basically this brings us through Emma’s high school life until the conflicts with her father escalate to massive proportions, especially since a lot of her siblings aren’t exactly helping.
The art by Randy Green is excellently done. It really captures the essence of this tale. The imagery is very vivid and you can see the bright potential in Emma dim as her life becomes more and more strained. Don’t get me wrong, she’s consistently beautiful as ever, but you know her psyche is on the verge of breaking sometimes. He really captures the emotional naiveté in her face in some of the most harrowing scenes. Although I will point out that the art isn’t as hugely realistic like we find on the covers. Then again that is rarely ever the case and I think one of the only times I have ever found that is in Joseph Michael Linsner comics. However, as far as capturing the scenes Randy Green is by far an above average comic artist and I think anyone will find his work in these issues wonderful to behold. I must confess that I may not have studied each scene in full detail because I tore through the story. I simply had to find out what happened next!
If you’re already and X-Men fan then I would definitely recommend this. Hopefully in the future issues the enthralling story will be kept up to par along with the wonderful art. As of now I am simply hooked and I suspect that part of me will be sad to see the series come to a close. Until then there are a few more issues to read starring Emma Frost and I can’t wait to read them!
Overall Rating: 4.5/5