Emma Frost, the White Queen

Recently I've been reading Emma Frost, the short-lived series about the high school years of X-Men villain/ally The White Queen. The series only lasted 18 issues but is collected in three pocket-sized volumes.

The series is surprisingly interesting because there are no slugfests, super heroes, or skintight costumes. Instead, there's a high school girl slowly realizing she has psychic abilities while trying to deal with her manipulative, domineering father, her scheming older sister, and her boyfriend from the wrong side of the tracks. The characterization of each is extremely well-done and helps shed some light on how Emma Frost could go from the girl on the left to the woman on the right. On the other hand, one can also see why the comic got cancelled rather quickly; the collected volume and some issue covers (on the left) are marketed as "teen drama/romance" while some issue covers (on the right) make it seem like the comic is about the traditional full-fledged, super-powered White Queen. In other words, each potential audience was probably turned off by something about the book. Marketing aside, the comic is worth seeking out and the cheap collected editions are a good way to go about it.