In this feature we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.
Today we take a look at the retcons involved with Emma Frost's origins...
It is odd, for someone as famous as Emma Frost, we really didn't learn much about her background until she was around for over FIFTEEN years. In an early issue of Generation X, we learned that she had a sister, but it was not until Generation X #24 that we actually learned how Emma Frost got to where she was, in a story written by Scott Lobdell....
A few months later, James Robinson elaborated on what happened to Emma Frost in the years after Generation X #24...
The issue ends with Emma Frost striking up a bargain with Dark Beast (they never really seemed to do much with that relationship).
So that was her status quo. Notably enough, there was no stripper background.
In Generation X #49, we learn that Emma Frost also had ANOTHER sister, Adrienne.
In 2003's New X-Men #139, Grant Morrison dramatically changed Emma Frost's origins. First, he introduced the final Frost sibling, Christian, who he then gives Emma's OLD origin. Here is Emma's new origin...
Karl Bollers then wrote an eighteen issue Emma Frost series based on Grant Morrison's new origin for Emma.
In Deadly Genesis #5, Ed Brubaker also shows us Charles Xavier's first meeting with Emma Frost...
Xavier wipes this meeting out of Emma Frost's memory (which is what Emma actually did at the end of Generation X #-1 to Banshee, who she met at the time).
However, in 2010's X-Men Origins: Emma Frost, Valerie D'Orazio shows Emma's NEW first meeting with Xavier...
One thing the Bollers series did, also, was to change Emma's original hair color for whatever reason. D'Orazio stuck with that. She did a really good job with the issue, by the way. It's a fine read.
In 2011, Christopher Yost re-retconned the mental institution part of Emma's origin BACK into her history (thanks to commenter Michael for the head's up)...
I presume current Emma Frost writer Brian Michael Bendis now has the freedom to pretty much pick whichever version of her origin he wants to use if he ever wants to look back at her past.
If you have a suggestion for a future edition of Abandoned an' Forsaked, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!