Uncanny X-Men #314

Uncanny X-Men #314
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Lee Weeks

What Went Down: With only about a day spent in Bobby Drake’s body, Emma Frost has already learned to use his powers more effectively than he has over the course of several years. She starts out by escaping the X-Men by flying away. Storm and Archangel chase her, but she is determined to be reunited with her students, the Hellions. Despite being told that they are dead, Emma refuses to believe them, dives into the water, and freezes the entire river. This act also transports her three miles in five seconds. Banshee and Xavier are in the Blackbird, and Charles knows exactly where Frost is going.

In the Danger Room, Bishop is fighting a robot without using his powers while somebody taunts him off panel. Bishop finishes off the robot, and it is revealed that the person talking to him is a hologram of his dead sister, Shard. Jubilee interrupts the session, and Bishop explains who Shard is to her. When asked how she died, Bishop tells Jubilee that he killed her, although this later turns out to be an exaggeration, as really Bishop only blames himself for her death.

Emma returns to Frost Enterprises, but finds that she cannot turn her body back to human form. Some security guards try to stop her, but they are unable to. Emma then melts herself and slides into the building.

Once in her office, Frost uses her computer to try to find the Hellions; as she does this, she reminisces about how she used her powers in her past to accrue her wealth. The computer shows her that all of the Hellions are dead, except for Empath, and then shows her how they died. More security guards flood the office, but Emma is so heartbroken that she asks them to kill her. Xavier makes it just in time to stop the guards with his powers. Emma vents her frustrations, claiming that Xavier’s way was the right way since his students, the New Mutants, survived. She views the Hellions deaths as her failure. Banshee offers Emma a chance to come with them, which she takes. As they leave, Xavier looks at the screen and announces that never again will the blood of innocents be spilt in the conflict between mutants and humans, which seems like a pretty unrealistic goal.

How It Was: Well it’s only the third issue into his run as artist and Joe Mad already needs a fill in artist. This is a sign of things to come. Weeks’ work is about as far from Joe Mad as you can get; the characters have a much more realistic look to them, and everything looks more like your standard Marvel House Style, only colored a little darker. The opening spread is really awesome, except it’s hard to tell if the lines at the top of the page are rain or wind or something else.

As for the story, it’s fairly predictable, but still really well done. The part that makes the issue is Emma’s guilt and frustration over the deaths of her students. Perhaps Lobdell purposely underplayed the X-Men’s reactions to the Hellions’ deaths just to make this issue seem even more impressive…naah. The deaths of her students also make for a perfectly logical reason for Emma to reform and become a hero, something that has led to some really great stories down the line. The ending is kind of ruined by Xavier’s overly melodramatic and unrealistic statement, but otherwise this is a pretty good character piece for Emma. Unfortunately, we never get to see Iceman’s perspective in Emma’s body, and the two are switched back by the time we see them next. And I would love to know how Iceman can just fly through the air. Also the other problem is that the next couple of months feature Iceman whining about how much he is loser because he can’t control his powers as well.

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