New X-Men #138

Archive

Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: Riot At Xavier‘s Part 4: The Prune of Miss Emma Frost

Written by: Grant Morrison
Penciled by: Frank Quitely and Avalon Studios
Inked by: NA
Colored by: Chris Chuckry
Lettered by: Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne
Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: Marvel

“Riot at Xavier’s” comes to a sudden stop as Kid Omega dies as a result of the premature activation of his secondary mutation/power: clairvoyance (or is “liberated from his physical cocoon and born into a higher world” as Xavier coldly describes it), and the Xavier Institute holds it’s equivalent of graduation day, which brings shocking revelations to certain members of the X-Men.

White Queen gets the bulk of the spotlight as the Stepford Cuckoos, in the wake of the death of one of their own during the riot, tell Emma to get bent and announce that they are leaving the Institute rather than continuing to follow Emma around and ending up dead. The scene gives us a chance to see Emma, not the cold-blooded dominatrix/quasi-hero but as the dedicated teacher who can’t catch a break when it comes to her students. The sequence where the Cuckoos accuse Emma of causing the death of one of their group of worshippers, after Emma gave them a speech about how she wished they would show the same drive and fighting spirit the Hellions and Generation X kids showed, is probably the most powerful moment of Grant’s run. Emma’s reaction to the Cuckoo’s accusation that she should not be allowed near impressionable minds due to her poor track record of having students die on her does a lot to advance Emma’s character development.

Meanwhile, Morrison finally carries out his promise of a pregnant Trailer Trash Angel as she announces to Beak that she is pregnant with his child. This will be interesting to see develop, given that Morrison’s writing it. Especially with the added twist of having the White Queen deciding to take Trailer Trash Angel under her wing as her new protégé now that the Stepford Cuckoos have abandoned her.

In other news we get the revelation of Xavier, in light of being made to look like a fool in the eyes of the media by the Omega Gang, announcing that he is stepping down from the position of headmaster of the Xavier Institute come the beginning of the fall semester. This should make for an interesting storyline in terms of who Xavier picks to serve as a ringer while he takes a leave of absence and whether or not Morrison will explore this storyline or just randomly stick an X-Man into the spot until he decides to reinsert Xavier.

And finally, to set up next month’s highly anticipated “Murder at the Mansion” arc, Morrison has the Stepford Cuckoos expose Emma’s psychic quasi-cyber sex affair with Cyclops. The arc ends with a dramatic showdown as Jean catches her husband and Emma doing the telepathic equivalent of stripping in front of a webcam right before engaging in cybersex.