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.
