Emma Frost begins its third story arc, "Bloom", with issue #13.  If rumours from Rich Johnston are to be believed, this could be the last storyline, which would mean cancellation at issue #18.  With sales continuing to glide downwards, that's fairly plausible - unless things turn round, the book would indeed be down in cancellation territory by that point.

Anyhow, this arc brings Emma to New York for the first time, where she enrols in Empire State University.  Given that she's funding herself with money stolen from her father, it seems a touch reckless to be enrolling under her own name, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that point.  Maybe it'll be dealt with later in the storyline.

This is a set-up issue introducing this arc's supporting cast.  There's no apparent antagonist at this point, but we've got Christie the chirpy and sociable roommate, and Max the intolerable jock.  Max keeps trying to get Emma to date him.  Emma doesn't like him much.  Quite why Christie is trying to set them up is beyond me - the story seems to want me to believe that Emma's acting unfairly in not giving him a chance, but he strikes me as a complete prat.  Emma's instincts seem to be on the money.

The main story is that Emma's having trouble controlling her powers, apparently because there are so many people around, although it's not quite clear why that didn't bother her before - the previous arc was set in the city as well.  Maybe it's meant to be something to do with her powers continuing to emerge.  And a character from the first arc turns up at the end.

That's about it, really.  Perfectly okay as a set-up issue but nothing particularly gripping.  Adriana Melo gets off to a solid start as the penciller for this arc.  The involvement of three inkers on her first issue is a slightly worrying sign, but it doesn't seem to affect the quality of the published work.

Rating: B

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