‘Immortal X-Men’ #4 is the issue for Emma Frost fans

Gillen, Bandini, and Mark Brooks give Emma Frost fans the feast we deserve.

July 13, 2022

Immortal X-Men continues to be one of, if not the best X-Men book (tied with Red of course) in the line right now. The character studies Gillen packs into each issue are thought-provoking odes to who they are. Last issue, we were treated to Destiny’s story in a near-perfect comic, this week, it’s Emma Frost’s turn.

Gillen’s Emma in this issue feels reminiscent of the Emma we saw in Chris Yost and Paco Diaz’s story, “Flawed”, in X-Men: Manifest Destiny #2.

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X-Men: Manifest Destiny #2
Marvel Comics

As a longtime Emma Frost fan, I’ve always considered the Utopia era to be some of my favorite Emma Frost — she was a powerful ruler, on equal standing with Scott in the protection of the kids and the island. But Emma was also a woman who was trying to redeem herself from her past, silently haunted by her demons and trying to hide it. This is so quintessential to the inner workings of Emma’s mind and it’s one thing Gillen nails in this issue.

Marvel Comics

The idea that Emma sleeps in diamond form these days is fascinating for a few reasons, but it feels totally organic for her to do now. Emma’s always been aware of what her looks mean to her, even chastised herself plenty of times for caring so much about them, but Krakoa has made her realize more than one fear. Aging itself isn’t just a fear because she worries about her looks, it’s because aging makes death that much closer. Being on Krakoa, constantly surrounded by children she loved, taught, and lost…of course death is at the forefront for her.

Emma’s subtle vulnerability has always been such a wonderful thing about her character because it makes those moments where she does open up to someone feel that much more monumental. It takes a lot for Emma Frost to trust someone, and Gillen puts Emma in a position that I’m really looking forward to see how it turns out. When Emma remarks that Scott laments when she turns into diamond, it reminded me of my favorite Emma comics from the 2000s.

Panel of Emma Frost and Cyclops from Marvel Holiday Special 2004

Marvel Holiday Special (2004)
Marvel Comics

Emma uses diamond form as a defense –she can’t feel anything in it, and now she admits she won’t age either. Such a seemingly superficial fear that masks a much deeper anxiety is the most Emma Frost thing. Scott has told her before she’s not “cold and hard and mean” (her own words from Phoenix: Endsong) like her diamond form makes her. She wants to be that unfeeling in those moments of extreme grief because not feeling anything at all means she feels no pain. These panels with Emma alone are an emotional character study, but they also prove once again how vital the people she lets in are.

Gillen understands that Emma Frost champions two things above all else: her kids and her people. The 2000s period was always my favorite Emma era because you saw her fiercely fight for both as a headmaster of the school with Scott and his co-leader on Utopia. The Quiet Council feels like the natural evolution for her, still vital in the nation-building but doing so from a place of love. Emma’s never cared if she has to get her own hands dirty if it means mutants — and most importantly, mutant kids — are safe.

The moment where she remarks that a part of her still feels a pang of anger towards Scott for the Phoenix situation does open up a really interesting path for her, I think. I’ve lamented time and time again that having Scott/Emma, Jean/Scott, and even Jean/Logan suddenly all be together feels fake because with all that history, how can they move forward? It had always felt like a disservice to just plop these characters back together in these relationships without digging into the surface of why it’s going to work this time and addressing the past.

The past still stings, but they’re still together — Emma was quite clear that she never stopped loving him in Uncanny X-Men (2019). I have the faintest hope that perhaps that line will lead to a deeper exploration of them and detailing what happened to not just get them to this place they are at now, but to the point that they’re willing to work past the pain of the past. Because this issue is after the Hellfire Gala when Scott shares the secret of who Dr. Stasis is (as well as her telling him about Moira), I also have the smallest hope that perhaps we’ll see the two of them scheming and in cahoots again. It’s such a great quality of Emma’s, I think, that she does the “dirty work” and will scheme behind the Council’s back if it’s what the nation needs. Scott also always worked best when he wasn’t a ‘by the books’ law guy anymore like he was in Utopia, knowing quite well that he has to make the hard choices to protect his people as well — and he can’t be too trusting of any government.

Emma’s love for mutantkind shines in this issue as she challenges world leaders on their requests to resurrect humans. From the start of the Krakoa era, I’d always wondered why resurrection wouldn’t work on humans from a technical standpoint. But this issue gives the best possible answer to that question when Emma all but says: don’t know, but it’s not my problem.

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With all that humans have done to mutants, Emma makes a firm stance that she is going to help her own kind first because it’s their technology. And she’s right, they’ve got millions of mutants to resurrect. So why should she concern herself with fixing humans’ deaths first? This moment is so Emma Frost, it made me cheer.

Sinister being outed to the Council and starting to get the ball rolling on getting him out of the Council is also a great inclusion in this issue. No one trusts Sinister — that much has always been clear. Now, everyone knows they were right and I can’t wait to see where this heads. The Sinister debacle has become quite interesting, so while I hope this ends with him getting kicked off the island, I’m sure he’d find himself operating as an X-Men villain still ala Moira –and that’s a really neat idea.

Gillen’s writing once again feels very respectful to the characters’ histories and he manages to capture such a wonderfully complex character like Emma Frost so well in this issue. Michele Bandini’s pencils really work in this issue, capturing Emma’s grace, elegance, and subtle vulnerabilities really well. Those panels of Emma in her room trying to sleep really capture the feeling of Emma’s loneliness in those moments. Oh, and that cover? Mark Brooks is a hero for that one –what a perfect Emma cover.