X-Men: Black - Emma Frost Review

Writer: Leah Williams

Artist: Chris Bachalo

Colourists: Antonio Fabela, Dan Brown, Carlos Lopez, Chris Bachalo

Letterers: Cory Petit

Publisher: Marvel

Overall, the X-Men: Black series has been pretty steady, honing in on some of the supplemental things that make the X-Men brand so unique and serve as a reminder to why readers love it, from covering major key players in recent events like Magneto, or characters that have stood out in the test of time like Mojo, and even bringing in classic named talents like the prolific X-writer himself- Chris Claremont. The five-part even finally comes to a wrap with none other than the White Queen herself, Emma Frost.

This final chapter simply just reads so good. Writer Leah Williams has proven herself as a reliable voice for the X-Men, and of course to bring along Chris Bachalo who has quite the resume under his belt when it comes to penciling mutants. With the combined talents of Williams and Bachalo, X-Men: Black - Emma Frost, reads like a classic X-story.

The first hit of just seeing Bachalo’s unique designs, should immediately take a reader back- Generation X, New Mutants, Wolverine and the X-Men, it doesn’t matter. Any fan will find his work recognizable and comforting. With the need to take stories forward, series’ are constantly in a battle to push characters and take them farther than previously taken in order to create new drama in the never-ending narrative that comics take us on, but this, this just takes it all back to reminiscing, reminding us why we love the stories that we did.

Complementary to Bachalo’s artwork is Williams’ writing. Emma is perfect, demanding, haughty, and succinct. She’s also human and suffers the same hangups everyone else does. There’s a moment where she’s essentially waiting alone and imitates certain X-Men to amuse herself. It's also a classic tale when it comes to Emma Frost, it opens with Emma in an overstated somewaht fashionable outfit of all white and she's dealing with X-Men who don't necessarily trust her. What are they dealing with? The Hellfire Club. Who in particular? Sebastian Shaw. Check. Check. Check. It's quintessential Emma Frost narractive but it's never boring, it just feels right. 

As a long-time Emma fan, it was nice to see all the points of what makes Emma such a desirable character prevalent in all the pages that followed. She’s a dominant, powerful, tenacious, unstoppable force, decked in all white (which was so great to see again- the classic Emma outfit), and she gets what she wants if she’s set to it, but her motive is always a little more complex. Her actions can easily been seen as selfish, especially because that’s the perception of her she allows others to see, but there are always layers to what she does, and it’s that complexity that Williams latches onto in a satisfying way.

This is easily a must-read for any Emma fan or X-Men fans of previous iterations, it’s both nostalgic and current in a way that’s wonderfully balanced for a satisfying read.