An Emma Frost Salon
by Ken Kneisel
Welcome to White Queen Wednesday, gentle reader. Today I discuss Emma Frost’s fast friendship with Henry McCoy, the brilliant bouncing blue Beast. After so much discussion of Emma’s animosities with characters like Storm, Firestar and Jean Grey, it will make a nice change of pace to talk about her much more pleasant relationship with Beast. It’s really no surprise that they’re such good friends, considering they share such sparkling intellect and wry wit. Beast has been one of Emma’s staunchest and most vocal supporters from the moment she first joined the X-Men, helping her understand the secondary mutation to transform her body into living organic diamond which she had recently aquired.
He is quick to her defense, fiercely deflecting Agent Brand’s insinuations regarding Emma’s loyalty.
But they also joke around a lot, like the time Beast teased Emma about her kinkier proclivities by suggesting that she might like to see “young men in tight clothes wrestling in front of” her.
Beast attempted to console Emma with champagne, flowers and fine literature after her devastating confrontation with Jean Grey.
But when he discovered that she was shot, Beast was so devoted to Emma that he attempted to recompose every last piece of her shattered diamond body, which later allowed Jean Grey to use her Phoenix powers to bring Emma back to life.
When Emma later suggested that she might leave the X-Men following her clash with Jean and subsequent resurrection, Beast told her that she would be missed and complimented her teaching skills.
They kept each other company when their plane was sabotaged and they were left stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Plus they really seem to know each other very well, like when Emma told Beast that she was absolutely certain he is not gay (it’s a long story) and he warned her against interfering with the marriage of Cyclops and Jean Grey. Incidentally, I absolutely love Emma’s look here, with her reading glasses, long dramatic cigarette holder and maribou-trimmed smoking jacket.
It’s also important to note that when Beast recently became disenchanted with the X-Men and left the team to join up with his girlfriend Agent Abigail Brand’s SWORD organization and later accepted the offer of Steve Rogers to be a member of his Secret Avengers, he did so based on his disagreements and disappointments with Scott and not Emma. Although it could certainly be argued that this has something to do with Emma’s influence on Scott’s character, Henry himself never made any such claim.
I also simply love the way Emma Frost and Beast look together. Her buxom blonde bombshell looks and his big blue furry form make for a striking visual.
Thank you for joining me for White Queen Wednesday this week, gentle reader. Until next week…
