COMIC FIRSTS • Jean Grey #1: Not That Jean Grey

[quote]Comic Firsts, a feature where I talk about the first issues of comics that I’ve bought, received, or borrowed. It’s all about first impressions, what I like or didn’t like about the issue, and whether I would keep reading it beyond the first issue.[/quote]

[quote]When a teenage JEAN GREY traveled through time and arrived in the present, she learned the terrible fate that befell her predecessor: Possessed by a cosmic entity called the Phoenix, Jean was trapped in an endless cycle of life and death. Determined to escape that future, Jean set out to write her own destiny. But now, she’s visited by a premonition that the Phoenix is coming for her…and in this new ongoing series by DENNIS HOPELESS (ALL-NEW X-MEN, SPIDER-WOMAN, X-MEN: SEASON ONE) and VICTOR IBANEZ (EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN, STORM), she’s going to fight tooth and nail to escape becoming its next victim! — Marvel Comics[/quote]

Jean Grey—no, not the Jean Grey that got possessed by an intergalactic firebird, turned into Dark Phoenix, and went to destroy the world. This is a different Jean Grey—the kid who’s trying to live her best life and live it happily, but it’s hard having the other Jean Grey’s legacy follow her around like a shadow.

In Jean Grey #1, young Jean Grey is in Kyoto, having a bowl of ramen with Pickles, the teleporting demon that looks like Nightcrawler if he was a young kid. She’s just minding her own business, enjoying the quiet, when masked men emerge, trying to wreck into an armored truck. Now, this Jean is still trying to figure out how to work her powers. She isn’t as quick as she like to be with her powers, and things happen—like a vehicle being thrown into a restaurant shop’s window—that she can’t prevent because juggling all her powers to stop these guys falls apart.

This Jean Grey is very conscious about the Jean Grey who we—as readers—know really well. She’s trying to do her best and be her own Jean Grey, but everything she does, she’s so fearful of becoming that Jean Grey—the Jean Grey who destroys herself and everybody she loves. She doesn’t want that.

I liked the art very much. Victor Ibanez does a beautiful job showing the worry and the anger Jean Grey feels, the tranquility of the setting, and the chaos that follows with bad guys and shops being wrecked. With the help of Ramos’s colors, which accentuates and brings the scenes to life, the art in Jean Grey is bright and fresh.

Jean Grey finally has her first solo series, and it’s about time!

Who will enjoy reading Jean Grey #1? People who love X-Men and Jean Grey. (Especially Jean Grey.) People who want to see an entirely different Jean Grey.

Will I continue reading Jean Grey #1? Yes! I want to see how she fights becoming the Jean Grey she fears.

[note note_color=”#DDB349″ text_color=”#ffffff”]Are you convinced? Go buy Jean Grey #1 from your local comic book store, or these online retailers: Comixology · Midtown Comics · TFAW. The first volume is actually out now! So check these retailers for Volume 1: Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository · Indigo · Comixology.[/note]

Do you want to read a comic about Jean Grey? A different Jean Grey that didn’t turn into Dark Phoenix and destroyed the world? Will you be reading Jean Grey #1?