This page describes the 2003 comic series. For the character Emma Frost, please see her character page.
A 2003 miniseries starring Emma Frost of X-Men fame. Written by Karl Bollers, the series lasted 18 issues. The first issue was released in August 2003 and the last was released in February 2005.
The series explores Emma's Backstory from before she became the infamous White Queen of the Hellfire Club and then a member of the X-Men. It starts with her as a teenage student at the Snow Valley School for Girls where she discovers her mutant powers of Telepathy and concludes with her life as she attends Empire State University in New York.
Tropes used in or associated with Emma Frost (2003):
- Abusive Parents:
- Winston Frost is an abusive Control Freak to his children, especially Emma and Christian. He sets high expectations for his children yet never gives them any positive reinforcement, always criticizing their every decision. When Emma expresses a desire to become a teacher, Winston views this as beneath the family name and threatens to destroy her crush Ian Kendall's teaching career by revealing the camera footage of him and Emma kissing. When he learns Christian is gay, Winston has him evicted from the townhouse he is living in to make him come home. He has No Sympathy for Christian when he attempts suicide and has him committed to a mental asylum after learning of his drug addiction.
- Troy Killkelly's mother left him and his father when Troy was young. Troy's father fell into alcoholism as a result and became physically abusive to his son.
- Academic Alpha Bitch: Matilda Brant, Emma's main academic rival at the Snow Valley School for Girls. She is outraged when Emma gets a higher score than her in the midterm exam and is convinced she cheated. She's actually right even if she doesn't know how Emma did it.
- A-Cup Angst: Matilda mocks Emma's flat chest in the first issue.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Frosts. Winston is an abusive control freak who also cheats on his wife and pits his children against each other to win his approval. His wife Hazel is implied to resort to drugs and alcohol to deal with the chaos of her family. The eldest daughter Adrienne is a manipulative sociopath who thinks little to nothing of hurting her siblings to get her father's approval. The second eldest daughter Cordelia is a teenage Goth rebel who frequently acts out to get her parents' attention. Christian is a closeted homosexual who turns to drugs after his boyfriend is deported. And of course, we have Emma who starts out as a decent person but will become the White Queen in the future.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Astrid Bloom at first seems like a nice person who only wants to help her fellow telepath Emma. In the final two issues, it is revealed that not only is she trying to make Emma solely dependent on her by driving all her friends away, but she murdered her own parents.
- Call-Forward:
- In Issue #6, Christian is is shown watching a news cast about the Original Five X-Men in his room.
- In Issue #16, Emma and Astrid are at the library and Emma finds herself bombarded by the thoughts of everyone else. Astrid tells her to visualize something strong to help her block out the thoughts. Emma visualizes a diamond, referencing her gaining the ability to become diamond in Grant Morrison's X-Men run.
- Driven to Suicide: Winston frames Christian's boyfriend Dante for drug possession resulting in him being deported back to Cuba. This drives Christian to depression and he attempts suicide, from which he is narrowly saved by Emma.
- Dye Hard: In-Universe, Emma dyed her hair blonde when she enrolled at Empire State University.
- Foregone Conclusion: Since this is an origin story, Emma Frost will graduate from Empire State University and become a member of the Hellfire Club.
- Gayngst: Christian. His father, who is already a nasty piece of work, disapproves of his orientation and has his boyfriend deported.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Emma when she finds out about Christie and Ian's relationship.
- Hate Sink: Winston Frost is an abusive father and adulterer. When Emma leaves home over Christian being committed, Winston disowns her and refuses to pay a ransom when she is held hostage.
- Intimate Lotion Application: In Issue #4, Adrienne gets a stranger to apply sun lotion on her back with a snap of her fingers, and he's all too eager to comply.
- Lack of Empathy: Winston calls his son a coward for attempting suicide even though it was a direct result of Winston controlling so much of his life and is more concerned with the incident making it into the news than Winston's well-being.
- Mugging the Monster: While walking through the park, Emma and Ian are accosted by a mugger. Emma uses her powers to make him drop his gun, strip down to his underwear and run away.
- Origins Episode: For Emma Frost.
- Psychic Nose Bleed: Emma starts getting these when her powers begin manifesting. She also has them when she uses them to control people as that takes a great deal of effort on her part.
- Puberty Superpower: In keeping with established X-Men lore, Emma's power manifest during her teenage years.
- Retcon: In Generation X, Emma said she was sent to a mental institution by her parents when her powers first manifested when she was a girl. In this series, Emma's older brother Christian is the one who is institutionalized and Emma leaves home after graduation in protest of this, with no mention of her ever being sent to a mental hospital.
- The canonicity of this is seemingly later retconned when Emma is shown in a later title in an institution. There it was because her telepathy drove her out of her mind, but being under the mental control of entities called the Evolutionaries appeared to have stabilized her.
- Riches to Rags: Matilda's family goes bankrupt, forcing her to drop out of the Snow Valley School for Girls since they can no longer afford her tuition. Emma also becomes this when she leaves her family to fend for herself.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Emma tells her father about Christian's drug problem hoping to get her brother into rehab. Instead, Winston has Christian committed. This is the final straw for Emma, and she turns her back on her father and leaves home.
- Selective Obliviousness: Hazel refuses to believe her daughter's claims of Winston's infidelity even when confronted with clear evidence. Not even Emma telepathically sharing the memory of her witnessing Winston's affair is enough to convince her.
- Sexy Packaging: The first few covers are pin-up shots of the adult Emma wearing a very revealing costume. The comic features Emma as a teenager, who usually dresses modestly and has a flat chest. Later covers are more in line with the actual content of the issue.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Both Emma and Christie fall for Ian Kendall. This is also what leads to the deterioration of their friendship at ESU.
- Town Girls: The Frost sisters, Emma, Adrienne and Cordelia. Cordelia is the butch, being a goth teen rebel with piercings, tattoos and a buzz cut. Adrienne is the most "valley girl" of the three sisters and has interest in being a model. Emma is neither as femme as Adrienne nor as butch as Cordelia.
- Upper-Class Equestrian: The obscenely wealthy Frost family keeps a stable on their estate; at one point Christian and Emma go riding.
- You Can Keep Her!: Winston Frost initially refuses to pay Emma's ransom as punishment for her leaving home. He only agrees to do so when Adrianne leaks information about the kidnapping to the media and the authorities.
