With the young X-Men stuck in the present, it seems that Marvel finally plans on giving ‘Jean Grey’ her own series which kicks off this May. We’ve known that there would be hints of her growing as her own character and deal with the Phoenix sprinkled into the book and our first look and the synopsis confirms just that. It seems like perfect time to see this announcement come the week after ‘Thanos’ #5 was released which Thane had spent the issue working to free the imprisoned Phoenix Force to harness its power and take on his old man. While it is unclear if this plan will allow Thane to take down Thanos once and for all, this is likely how we’ll see it end up once again on a return course to Earth where it just can’t stay away.
While we’ve seen Jean Grey having life-changing moments before and even this iteration of her mixing things up, Dennis Hopeless (‘All-New X-Men,”X-Men: Season One’) and ights (‘Extraordinary X-Men,”Storm’) have an entirely new endgame in mind. Things kick off right off the bat with “A vision. A premonition. A warning.” which you can see here before the action begins.
In it, we’re told that “The Phoenix is coming back to Earth.” Only, we aren’t told when. This younger Jean swears that she is not going to “succumb to the fate that befell her adult counterpart” which means she has a lot of work to do. At this moment in time, she is not ready to be able to withstand the awesome might of the Phoenix Force, so this stand-alone adventure will have her traveling “across the Marvel Universe, honing her gifts under the tutelage of the greatest heroes and teachers.”
While it will be cool to see a ton of cameos from some of Marvel’s Finest, it also feels that the timeframe almost needs to leave this book ending with her coming in contact with the Phoenix in this book or in the main X-Men title(s that she is in shortly after. So, this could be a setup for a major crossover event that spans the X-Titles and might even be responsible to some of the Marvel characters which are soon to return to the land of the living.
Are you excited to see ‘Jean Grey’ go out on her own and find herself? Which major characters do you think will make appearances to help guide Jean in her quest to prevent the Dark Phoenix from returning? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
Oh, and I did mention that we had the first look so here are four unlettered pages from the book which include the Phoenix vision that she has. While not stated, these are likely the first four pages from the first issue:
‘Jean Grey’ will be blazing her way into comic shops on May 3rd, 2017!
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
