#FIRESTAR…stop saying gooning | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thebibliomancer · 5 years

Text

50 More Days of Comics! 32/50: Firestar #4 of 4 (1986)

Oh good.

This miniseries is kind of infamous. Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men made it into a kind of running gag.

Because its the one where Emma Frost kills a pony and tries to gaslight a teenager into becoming an assassin.

Its basically politics. Sebastian Shaw, Black King of the Hellfire Club, asked Emma Frost, White Queen of the Hellfire Club, to send one of her students to kill Selene, Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, because Shaw was afraid Selene was plotting a coup against him and by his muttonchops, he will not stand for that!

So Emma Frost has been training Angelica Jones/Firestar in how to use her powers, while keeping her socially isolated from the other students, and subtly nudging her towards complete devotion to Frost. And then she set the stable on fire and gave Butter Rum the pony a heart attack to convince Angelica that her powers were still out of control.

Alas, poor, sweet Butter Rum.

BEAR IN MIND: Firestar was introduced in the popular cartoon for kids Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

She appeared in an X-Men issue before this miniseries but this is the most substantive focus she got after the cartoon.

Hell of a way to introduce her into the comics continuity.

Anyway, the last issue of this miniseries starts with Emma Frost faking an assassination attempt on herself and blaming Selene for it.

In a very Emma Frost twist, once Angelica is out of earshot, she yells at her guy that organized the fake hit for hiring someone so careless as to let her get hit by a piece of flying glass.

The fake hit worked though. Angelica says that the thought of using her powers on a living being disgusts her but she’ll do whatever is necessary to protect the people she cares about!

She swears on this Symbolic Bracelet that Ms. Frost gave her which represents the BOND OF LOVE BETWEEN THEM.

Meanwhile, Frost has a call with Shaw where he goes ‘hey is my assassin ready yet i’m real sick of Selene’s shit.’

Frost laments that its wasteful to expend Firestar on a single obvious suicide mission after all the time and effort that went into training her.

Shaw privately worries that Emma actually feels something for Angelica.

Which is possible.

Aside from her entertainingly terrible she is, Emma Frost’s redeeming quality later on is that she honestly loves being a teacher and cares for her students.

Doesn’t stop her from forging ahead with the operation despite misgivings. Or killing a pony, like that time she did.

Meanwhile, Angelica’s assigned bodyguard, Randall Chase, has been getting suspicious of things. How an assassin snuck on campus when it has ridiculous security. How Emma Frost is taking Angelica to a dance at the Hellfire Club even though there was just an assassination attempt.

So he goes digging into things and learns about the plan.

Which leaves him lost as to what he should do.

He’s Angelica’s bodyguard and he cares about her. But he works for Emma Frost and he’s scared of her. Why, she might even be reading his mind even now!

And she is!

And she has a bunch of guys beat the shit out of Randall for sticking his nose places.

The next morning, Frost tells Angelica that Randall died BRAVELY uncovering a mole that Selene had at the school.

She also tells Angelica that she has just learned that Selene plans to attend the Hellfire Club dance so maybe dead Randall was right that it is too dangerous for Angelica to go.

Because she wants Angelica to think it is her own idea to go. So Emma lets Angelica ‘convince’ her to let her go to the dance to protect Emma after ‘one heck of a battle.’

Actually aware that she could die that night, Angelica calls home and speaks to her dad.

Angelica: “Daddy? It’s Angelica. Listen, I know you’ve never quite accepted the fact that I’m a mutant. I know you’re still afraid of me, but... I still love you, daddy! I never stopped.”

That’s the whole conversation because dad Jones doesn’t manage to say a thing.

Meanwhile, Randall is still alive. In a weird bit of mercy that’s going to bite her in the ass, like Freeza letting Dende go the second time, Emma Frost left him alive but imprisoned.

He breaks free but gets shot in the attempt. But he manages to make it to Angelica’s room. With his last words, he tells Angelica how Emma has been using her. And then he diiiiiies.

And Angelica dramatically rips off the Symbolic Bracelet in her grief and anger.

Dying Randall also told Angelica not to try to fight Emma but Angelica has her dander up.

So when Emma Frost goes looking for her when she doesn’t show, she finds that the school’s secret underground facilities have been torn through and an entire army of Hellfire goons have been beaten up.

And here’s a weird thing. Emma Frost is wearing her party dress. And then there’s an explosion which knocks her on her ass. And then she’s wearing her supervillain fetish wear.

Explosions only make Emma Frost sexier. She’s far too powerful.

Anyway, what follows is several pages of Firestar kicking Emma Frost’s ass.

Emma Frost: “Look at yourself, Firestar! Can’t you see what’s happening to you? Your power is growing with each passing moment! You’ll never be able to control it without my constant supervision, my training! You need me more than ever before! You can’t survive without me!”

Firestar: “You’re wrong! I don’t need you. I never did. I can make it on my own!”

And then with Emma against a wall, Angelica pretends to burn her face off. Just to give her a scare.

With that, Angelica makes Emma promise to leave her alone and never bother her again.

Firestar: “I don’t want you to ever forget that I deliberately chose not to kill you! So I’m going to leave you with a little something to remember me by...”

And then she blows up the underground facility.

Later, Emma Frost tries to baby word games her way around her promise to Angelica by getting Shaw to go after her but Shaw says they’ve wasted enough time and effort on Angelica Jones already.

On the last page we see that Angelica and her dad have made amends and she’s living back at home.

And Angelica realized that by letting loose, she’s realized that she’s always been capable of holding her power back. She can control her powers, she can start getting on with the rest of her life.

Of course, she’ll later discover that she can’t totally control her powers actually because they were activated too early. But rather than being a risk to others, she’s mainly a risk to herself. Extensive use of her microwave powers having a deleterious effect on her own health.

But Hank Pym will hook her up with a special suit that prevents the backlash on her and helped her acclimatize to the powers so she eventually wouldn’t need the suit anymore.

I guess the point is that she did get on with the rest of her life. Became an Avenger for a while even.

So that’s nice.

Butter Rum would be proud.

#50 more days of comics!#Firestar #Angelica Jones #Emma Frost #gaslighting a teen and killing a pony is wrong emma #stick to seducing married man you disaster #actually the funniest thing about Firestar's Avengers stint?#Janet van Wasp made her a new costume with a PLUNGING neckline #and angelica felt it would be rude to not accept it #so she just wore something under it at all times #jan really needs to ask what people are comfortable with before making them a thing

6 notes · View notes