Emma Frost continues her college years, and finally gets around to introducing something that's been notably missing from the series so far - rampant, anti-mutant prejudice.

Granted, this is an idea which has been beaten into the ground over the years.  That may explain why it's been so comprehensively ignored for the first year of the title.  But if we're going to do the history of a mutant character in the Marvel Universe, you've got to get round to it eventually.  So, after spending a few days in seclusion, Emma emerges to find that anti-mutant hysteria has broken out.  Since Emma immediately emerges from her seclusion at the beginning of the story following some fairly minor prompting by Ian, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is an attempt to keep pace with continuity without having to acknowledge Bolivar Trask or the Sentinels over New York, none of which would remotely fit with the style of this book.  Emma simply slept through all of that.

It's anti-mutant prejudice of a fairly hamfisted sort, unfortunately.  Although Bollers makes a point of having otherwise perfectly nice characters be anti-mutant, nonetheless their anti-mutant views have the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and the apparent absence of any competing viewpoints (aside from Emma herself) seems artificial.  To be fair, I suspect that Astrid Bloom, who turns up at the end of the issue, is there in part to offer that counterpoint - but when Emma's arguments are so sensible, surely somebody in the room ought to be agreeing with her.

However, Bollers does make a nice point of showing how the anti-mutant hysteria takes Emma another step along the way to becoming a villain.  As she gets increasingly defensive about her natural abilities, she starts to toy with the idea that it can't be wrong for her to use her god-given talents.  In keeping with the slow burning, "slippery slope" approach Bollers is taking with the character, we're not seeing her toy with anything villainous.  It's just that her sense of ethics is starting to noticeably erode - even as she remains the mouthpiece for a range of completely sensible and morally justifiable viewpoints, and holds the audience's sympathy.  The balance is struck well.

A little lacking in subtlety, but the general direction of the title is working well.

Rating: B

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