Let me be clear, I still don't really see the need for an Emma Frost ongoing, and I don't think this take on the character jibes particularly well with the more interesting and over-the-top portrayal by Grant Morrison that made her popular enough for a series in the first place. With that said, however, I took the time to check back in on this series with the beginning of its second arc and found it to be pretty well-written, an interesting tale of a young girl breaking free of her dysfunctional family and trying to define herself, as well as get a hold of the telepathic powers growing inside her. It does not read very much like Emma Frost, even given radical personality changes when she's growing up, but neither is it the exploitative cheesecake book that the covers would suggest or another case of a solo mutant book with the most generic of stories. Bollers has an interesting story to tell, and the artwork by Pagulayan and Crisostomo is a nice compliment to the script.
"Mind Games" gets off to a worrying start with a ridiculous scene of Emma being fired from her high-priced boutique job because she can't handle a rich client's peccadilloes. As someone in retail, I've seen willfully obnoxious customers and obsequious managers, but Bollers's scene takes it over the top and makes it ridiculous, and Emma's firing really shouldn't come as a surprise or read as some kind of great injustice. Like Bollers's take on Emma's family, it's believable tension taken to unbelievable lengths and made ridiculous.
Fortunately, the issue does improve from there, or at least improves once it gets past the predictable "sleazy landlord wanting sex to cover the rent" bit that is also a cliche needing retirement. Indeed, though Bollers's script draws strength from Emma's role as a single girl trying to make it on her own, the story actually gets much stronger when he introduces the unreal element of her telepathy beginning to manifest. Most telepathic protagonists adhere to a strict moral code that limits the interesting uses of their powers, but Emma is under no such restraints, and so we see some interesting uses of telepathic power. Making it even more interesting, the notion that she hasn't quite developed a manipulative skill or full control of her power leads to some unexpected consequences. This exploration of powers developing is the kind of thing that the "New Marvel" style is perfect for.
The heart of the issue, though, doesn't come until late in the game, when Bollers introduces Emma's friend and potential love interest Troy. Their relationship is believable and presents both characters as likable and somewhat inexperienced in the way the world works, taking joy in the simple realities of a new friendship and relationship. I especially like that Bollers doesn't immediately launch these two into a romantic relationship or worse, one of those friendships that seems destined for romance, but instead writes it as an honest-to-goodness friendship where both parties recognize the potential sexual tension but can laugh it off. That the friendship is bonded over an incident of violence could seem too coincidental, but Bollers sells it well, making it more believable than much of the more mundane opening sequence of the issue, and it makes for a strong bond that I can see leading the characters into some sort of dangerous scheme.
Carlo Pagulayan did fantastic work on Greg Rucka's Elektra before he was inexplicably replaced with someone else whose style didn't fit the book at all. Just as with his work on Elektra, with Emma Frost he is working on a character who could easily be done as a cheesecake style book but he instead delivers realistic artwork that makes their world real, and in so doing really reinforces the strength of the script. Pagulayan is working on a completely real environment here: real clothes, real people, real backgrounds, no costumes and very little in the way of fancy powers or action, and he does a terrific job of making each character distinctive and telling the story through their expressions and body language. This kind of assignment and subject matter isn't as glamorous or eye-catching as something like an Ultimate book, but it represents true talent, and I hope that it earns Pagulayan some more attention.
