For those wondering what’s up with Emma Frost’s dialogue in All-New X-Men #3, writer Brian Michael Bendis has a response (Well, kind of):
i have my handle on the character and like those who came before me its going to take her somewhere new. new look, new look on life, new realizations… the woman has been through some gigantic traumatic things. some have happened to her and some she did to herself. she did some awful things last year. all of this will be examined.
As it happens, Tom Brevoort – who isn’t editing the book – has a far funnier reasoning behind it:
Emma? Do you have something to say to Mr. Bendis yourself?
December 11th, 2012 at 11:51 am
I actually thought Bendis was doing this very deliberately… it’s been stated many times (esp in Astonishing, I think) that Emma’s British accent is an affectation — a pretentious face she puts out there… I thought the change was cool — she’d been through a trauma and now she’s done with pretention.
December 11th, 2012 at 11:59 am
It’s not like this is unusual, though. Bendis makes all of his characters sound exactly the same. It’s only obvious this time because he’s done it with a character who has a particular way of talking.
The problem with his explanation is that she magically changed to fit his way of writing dialogue — how convenient!
I’ve always wondered why the editors at Marvel don’t ever try to get him to fix this writing tick of his. Once you notice it, it’s hard to not notice it all the time.
December 11th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Hey, Kyle! So what’s his writing tic on display here? Dropping consonants?
December 11th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
HEy RF! Bendis writing is so atrocious and you know this.
December 11th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
that’s why i hate bendi’s on team book’s all of the cast just blend with each other
December 12th, 2012 at 9:07 am
Reads like she’s channeling Wolverine. Maybe Bendis/Marvel has decided that’s what makes him such a popular character and now all characters will talk with that speech pattern. When will Emma start calling everyone ‘Bub’?
December 18th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
My knowledge of Emma’s background is far from expansive, but it’s my understanding that everything about the image she projects: the look, the clothes, the speech–is an affectation, a carefully maintained pose, to try and cover up the rough edges of her formative years and reclaim the veneer of sophistication she lost when she ran away from her family’s wealth. If that’s the case, then the way she talks here may just be how the “real” Emma talks, in an unguarded moment when she’s to tired to keep up the act.