Emma Frost: The White Queen #4: Betrayal in Sin City!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! Or, at least, Emma Frost wishes it was so, for it would make keeping a low profile more feasible. Four issues into Amy Chu and Andrea Di Vito’s delightfully devilish White Queen prequel, its titular character has found herself exiled from the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle, framed for an act of treason she did not commit. On the run from the organization she once helped rule, Emma hops from country to country to expose the conspiracy against her. Her latest stop is glamorous Las Vegas, where an old associate may have the clues necessary to bust this case wide open.

It comes as no surprise that issue #4 continues to be a satisfying stroll down memory lane for Emma Frost fans. Chu writes her with sass pitch-perfect to that of her classic villainous era. Ms. Frost is no superhero, but also far from the traditional supervillain, and the stakes of the comic reflect that. It plays out not like your typical cape-wearing adventure, but rather an espionage mission akin to James Bond. Evasion and interrogation is the name of the game, as Emma stays one step ahead of her enemies and tries to use her history with powerful individuals as leverage for intel. Plenty stories have explored Marvel’s seedy criminal underworld, so it feels fresh to catch a glimpse of its inverse: the realm of white collar crime where felons do battle with secrets and checkbooks, not guns and knives.

If there’s one thing missing from this mixing pot, its a period-accurate level of ruthlessness. While strong and capable, Emma comes across passive, merciful and certainly more level-headed than the crime lords she cohabitates with. While intended to make her the underdog, these reserved qualities create doubt as to how she managed to climb the ranks of such a morally depraved world in the first place. It’s not up to snuff with the mustache-twirlingly maniacal Emma Frost of ’80s, who knew how to play dirty, but Chu is not the first writer to soften Frost’s image to smooth out the crinkles in her redemption arc, so the point is moot.

The climax ramps up as Emma is backstabbed by her informant, who secretly desires to be elected the new White Queen. Drugged and dumped in a Sentinel graveyard in the middle of the Mojave, Di Vito pencils a final battle which embraces Emma’s limitations, making the choreography desperate, chaotic and scrappy. Years before her diamond form and with telepathy rendered useless, she doesn’t have many tricks up her sleeve. Dodging, running and jumping with a grounded level of agility, Emma stays alive long enough to be rescued by Brotherhood leader Mystique, who surprisingly wants to help clear her name, for her own twisted reasons of course.