All-New X-Men, #1

[airdreams]

Fantastic art. I'm curious about the mutantkind genocide thing really, and part of me is itching to see teen Beast choosing to side with Cyclops' revolutionary team, that would be hilarious.

[.A²]

I like the portrait of a young Charles with Gus over the hearth.

[Nyadnar17]

@$@#$ you Bendis. @$@# and your pretty art and my favorite characters(NuCyke and Young Cyke) combining to make me give you a chance to again.

[theDarkestKnight]

Love this, very interesting. Can't wait too see Scott's interaction with his future self

[Mutant Mind]

Nothing we haven't seen already, but I'm excited for this!

[ZNOP]

QUINTESSENTIAL

No More Morrison

[AcesX1X]

these previews are starting to become a real joke lately. old pages that are outnumbered by silly variant covers. how boring.

[darknessatnoon]

these previews are starting to become a real joke lately. old pages that are outnumbered by silly variant covers. how boring.

How many times are they going to announce that Jean Grey has a man's chin?

[ZNOP]

The Church of Jeanix does not support hate mongers...

[perdid06]

How many times are they going to announce that Jean Grey has a man's chin?

Actually Jean have very feminin features...on the other hand Emma is said to have very masculin facial features.

[AcesX1X]

Actually Jean have very feminin features...on the other hand Emma is said to have very masculin facial features.

cyclops chin is smaller than jean's on that cover.

[darknessatnoon]

Actually Jean have very feminin features...on the other hand Emma is said to have very masculin facial features.

Well I'm looking at a jaw that they could cut and paste onto Captain America and a flat chest.

[perdid06]

Well I'm looking at a jaw that they could cut and paste onto Captain America and a flat chest.

EMMA'S BODY AND APPEARANCE

The great importance of the body to hero narratives makes the analysis of any hero’s physical construction imperative. Emma's physical construction is overtly feminine. The lines that make up her body, especially around her torso, are almost
exclusively curvy, a trait which, as explained in the introduction, is a marker of 42 heterosexual femininity in comic books (Lee & Buscema, 1978). She has a slim waist, gently curved hips, and large breasts that are defined around their sides as well as their bottoms, as opposed to just the latter like several of the other female characters in the series. While she is far from waif-like, she has little muscle definition around her arms and legs, and the muscle definition of her abdomen varies from none at all to slightly muscular in a way that seems to suggest physical fitness more than strength.

In contrast to her body, Emma’s face is constructed in a more masculine manner. When viewed from the front, the lines forming her head are straight from crown to jaw line. Her nose is long and lacks excess bumps, her ears lay back close to her skull, and her eyebrows, while they do point downward toward the top of her nose, are drawn as straight diagonal lines that curve only at the ends. However, Emma is usually drawn with bvious cosmetics, including very pale blue eye shadow, unnaturally thick lash lines that seem to indicate mascara, and shiny, icy blue lipstick. Emma is topped off with thick
straight blonde hair pushed back from her face to reveal a large flat forehead.

The contradictions between Emma’s feminine body, hair, and make-up and her masculine face paint a complex picture of her gender. Her face, her only physically masculine feature, is the part of her body that is expressive and matches her often compassionless speech. For example, her speech to students attending the newly rebuilt Xavior's School for Gifted Youngsters at the beginning of the first volume, which includes, "They will always hate us. We will never live in a world of peace" (2004, p.10), or, when trying to get under Scott's skin during her attack on her teammates in the third volume, "Hank [Beast] is a genius and terribly good with people. Warren [Angel, 43 from the original X-men team] looked like a god. And Xavier picks you? To lead. Why? Because you had nothing else" (2006-2007, p. 36-37). Both statements feature a close-up or extreme close-up of Emma from a side view, emphasizing the points of her nose and chin and the straight lines between them. Emma’s cosmetics, which become clearer when she is positioned closer to the audience, accent that she is learning to perform femininity rather than it residing naturally within her, an important aspect of the heroine’s construction which will be discussed later in this chapter. Emma's feminine body, in particular her well-defined breasts, serves as a reminder of her sex. Unlike the overly masculinized heroine bodies discussed previously, there is no doubt that a female performs the actions stemming from this body. Furthermore, the feminine body matches a primarily feminine superpower, which, like her body, is the result of her fictional DNA within the Marvel universe.

Emma's feminine and heterosexually desirable physique makes her a prime candidate to be read as the object of gaze. Importantly, her costume both contributes to and detracts from the possibility. As her name might suggest, Emma Frost wears all white, a quality reminiscent from her status as the White Queen in the Hellfire Club prior to joining the X-Men. In civilian attire, she dons white pants and white tops of various sleeve and neckline styles that usually bare her midriff and always reveal her cleavage. Her hero costume, which she wears more often than her other outfits combined, is quite similar, although it is very different from her teammates' black, blue, and yellow patterned unitards. Emma's outfit again features white pants and a white top with stomach and cleavage exhibited. Her uniform top exposes her shoulders and includes 44 seams that are somewhat similar to a bustier, and a long white cape flows behind and around her, attached to the top of her shirt rather than around her neck or on her back. This cape is a key element as it allows for blocking the audience’s sexualizing gaze. In many of the shots where Emma's body would be shown, the cape instead covers her body by falling partially or completely around her body in a cylindrical shape. A great number of close-up shots of Emma’s and other characters'faces also achieves this subversion of gaze, cutting the covered or uncovered body out of the frame entirely. Of course, this artistic style may serve other purposes, such as making the text seem more cinematic or more melodramatic, but this does not change the fact that the feminine sexual body remains out of view.

[darknessatnoon]

Good. Emma is a promiscuous woman anyway.

[Jake Fury]

I feel filthy and dirty but I'm giving this a chance. Now I'm going to take a hot shower and repress my shame.