Well, this is a nuisance.

My phone line's been down for two days, and although BT have got it working again, they haven't configured the broadband properly.  So that's not going to be working until, ooh, Tuesday.  This is what happens when you privatise utilities, you see.

Anyway, these reviews are probably not going to make it to the website until some time next week, but since I still have e-mail access via work, I'm going to write them anyway for the benefit of the loyal mailing list subscribers.  See how privileged they are.

Emma Frost moves into the second half of "Higher Learning", although with the whole cast relocating to Nice, it feels more like the start of another storyline altogether.  Emma's now left school, and the Frost family have gone to France for the annual family holiday.  Which, needless to say, they spend hating one another.

After Emma was thwarted by her father in the previous arc, she sets out to get her revenge by obtaining blackmail material to use against him.  Bollers appears to be taking the slippery slope approach here - Emma's actions are perfectly understandable in terms of equality of arms against her father, but it's obviously setting her on the path to her supervillain career.  Meanwhile, Emma discovers that her brother Christian is gay and, in a bit of a departure for this title, encounters an actual villain who she gets to drive away, if not actually defeat.

Bollers is fairly clearly heading towards the implosion of the Frost faimly heirarchy - and particularly the destruction of her father's authority.  That makes perfect sense, since the real tension in this storyline has come from Emma's struggle to escape the confines of the family.  It would be a typically Emma response not merely to get away from the family but in some way to destroy it altogether.  Mind you, that's not really consistent with what we already know about Emma's background (which would require the family to hang around for a while yet), so maybe we're not going for anything quite so drastic just yet.

Regardless, the issue climaxes with the collapse of her father's authority over the family, as all four children simultaneously go against his will and his infidelity is revealed to his wife.  This does feel a little artificial.  While Christian's had plenty of attention, Adrienne and Cordelia have been little more than ciphers in this series.  When they suddenly turn up to advance the plot out of the blue, you can see the strings.

All that said, the series is still proving to be surprisingly readable.  Granted that there's a set of rather two-dimensional characters lurking in the supporting cast, there's enough depth in Emma's character to lift the series above average.  But they really need to work on fleshing out some of those supporting characters, if they're going to insist on working them into the plot.

Rating: B+

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