X-Men Red #1 Spoilers and Review

[DDM]

The entire premise for Red is lol. Basically Jean has some amazing plan for mutant peace and she immediately fucks it all up and they have to go on the run. She really does fail upwards, Jean and Scott were made for each other.

On the plus side Nightcrawler felt like himself for the first time since, god, maybe Aaron? His moment with Jean was nice even if they’re not exactly close.

And I agree, Ernst needs to be dealt with. Which hopefully means we get some Martha too.

[lucius121]

Strong issue overall I only felt the need to roll my eyes once at the dialogue which is good for Taylor, I like the vision they have for this book and I look forward to seeing where they take the story in the future. Art is good so far hopefully they can keep the artists more or less consistent.

B+ for me

[Harpsikord]

Forget the costume: Jean keeps changing of clothes in this issue (5 times I think)

Can I just mention how much I missed downtime like that in the X-Men? Just... plainclothes moments.

I thought it was great, initial misgivings of the roster aside. That art! Asrar completely fits my aesthetic. Just the way he draws Jean in regular clothes is breathtaking. And his panels are absolutely kinetic...everything always feels like it's moving. I think Taylor has Jean's voice down in the early going. She wasn't a snarkbot. We have Gabby for that, for better or worse. The new status quo is intriguing. Even though we've always seen mutants try and create a space for themselves, this still felt new and interesting. And then we get the twist at the end, just when you thought you knew where it was all heading. The plan goes up in smoke and the book becomes about fugitives on the run. Lots happening in one issue. Loved it.

I think the point was sort of that they weren't trying to find their own safe space here. And that's what makes it different, and good.

The entire premise for Red is lol. Basically Jean has some amazing plan for mutant peace and she immediately fucks it all up and they have to go on the run. She really does fail upwards, Jean and Scott were made for each other.

What happened to the UK ambassador was entirely out of Jean's control lmao. She just happened to fumble into Cassandra's plan by accident and Cassandra retaliated by fucking Jean's own up.

[Captain Nash]

This was a fantastic issue, storywise, if you over look the "searebro" and "The hate can't reach you here" lines. Honestly the only bad lines in the issue. The art leaves something to be desired as far as my tastes go, but it wasn't awful or anything. It was just standard art. I think it was that sometimes thinks came across as looking clunky, for lack of a better word. But I've seen worse as well as better. I really cannot get by without repeating how good the actual plot was. My only misgiving to it was I wish Jean was interacting with more of her actual friends in the X-Men, since we didn't get that in Phoenix Resurrection. But I didn't really think we'd get that here, I just had wished we would have. The line to Kurt though about needing the soul of the X-Men is so true. In many ways Jean and Kurt are the heart and soul of the X-men, more so than anyone. Kurt may not be part of the holy four-umverate but he's always been the moral center of the group. In that, he and Jean have much in common and it makes sense why they'd be together in this.

[DragonPiece]

Just reading some of the posts, I really love everything Taylor is doing here. This is the Jean I wanted to see if she was revived.

[lurkerforyears]

The entire premise for Red is lol. Basically Jean has some amazing plan for mutant peace and she immediately fucks it all up and they have to go on the run. She really does fail upwards, Jean and Scott were made for each other.

On the plus side Nightcrawler felt like himself for the first time since, god, maybe Aaron? His moment with Jean was nice even if they’re not exactly close.

And I agree, Ernst needs to be dealt with. Which hopefully means we get some Martha too.

I don't see why it should be so hard to deal with Ernst. It would be a Cassandra trying to reclaim her body/mummudrai soul story.
Ernst probably doesnt know what she is, and it would be quite dramatic for her to get revealed what she really is.

[victor borkowski]

I think that this book capitalizes on Grant Morrison's Jean too, as a Jean who was in charge and ready to be in charge and make a difference in the world, but back then her time was cut short. Here, even as referenced by the narrative during the conversation with Kurt and Jean, Jean will have the time to be the leader that not just the X-Men, but mutantkind as a whole needs. Things never would have gotten as bad as they did under Scott and Ororo if Jean were there.

It also kind of explains why Marvel's editorial needed her dead for their narrative between 2004 and 2015 to work.

Morrisons Jean was amazing. Let's hope they capitalize on that more.

[ariwl1]

This was great. I'm hoping this initial hiccup with the ambassador doesn't completely derail Jean's plan. I want to see her really try to push it forward.

[Nazrel]

I won't call it a bad issue, and it's probably irrelevant since it's all gone to hell, but I see practical issues with Jean's plan.

For one it would lock mutants out of positions of authority in many nations, as foreign nationals tend to be forbidden from holding public office (joint citizenship or not.)

Which is to say nothing about the basic issues of being a nation without, you know, a nation; a proposed unity without unity or land. Who gets to speak for and represent them? By what right would they rule? How would it be even applicable?

Are they expected to be exempt from the laws of the land? If not then what's the point?

The former would render the governments toothless to redress public concerns about, say, exploding babies; and would just aggravate public issue and give rise to greater extremism (people might avoid the purifiers, do to the religions connections; but The Right [or whatever nations equivalent], is lival to have a resurgence.); assuming nations choose to actually acknowledge it, irregardless of what the U.N. says; but assuming they do for political reasons, well that's what discretely supporting terrorist groups they have no official connection to is for.

Would this separation disqualify them from partaking in their host nations social services?

The only real value I see, would be maybe to be able to declare war and have it seen as legitimate, if you can somehow get your "nation" behind it.

So I'm failing to see how this separation without separation, could possibly have resulted in anything but the worst of both worlds... I mean unless this is meant as a first step towards a legitimized war and conquest of all anti-mutant nations.

This all just the top of my head stuff.

[Soulsword323]

I loved everything about this. I'm typically not a big fan of "getting the band back together" issues, but this was done really well, and kept a pace that moved briskly, but still answered most of the necessary questions. Asrar was really bringing his a-game imo, and a lot of the panels looked gorgeous. Jean being sensitive to the worlds pain is just so Jean Grey, and I'm happy that Taylor is the one handling her return. He said all the right things about her in interviews, but sometimes that doesn't translate into the story itself, and I was happy to see that the idea and concepts he mentioned made it into the book. Jean's compassion and empathetic nature was at the front and center of her character, with all the authority and grace, and a touch of humor, I would expect for Jean. Also, the idea to create a think tank of some of the greatest minds on the planet, was really neat imo. Her moment with Nightcrawler was adorable, and I'm glad to see that Nightcrawler will be more reminiscent of what he use to be. Wolverine, Namor, and Gabby, all had some nice moments here as well. Nova as the villain is everything. Jean needs a powerful, and conniving, threat to go against her, and doesn't get much bigger than Nova.

Trinary and Gentle are nonexistent in this issue, and I'm sure that'll be rectified in later issues. Overall, really strong start, that has me wishing this was being released twice a month like the other titles.

[Master of Sound]

So Gentle was not even in the 1st issue?

[ariwl1]

So Gentle was not even in the 1st issue?

His and Trinary one panel preview appearance is all we see. Neither of them get lines. We should see more in #2 as Trinary is shown as part of the squad that's doing a break in.

[Daniel22]

[QUOTE=DDM;3432875]The entire premise for Red is lol. Basically Jean has some amazing plan for mutant peace and she immediately fucks it all up and they have to go on the run. She really does fail upwards, Jean and Scott were made for each other.

On the plus side Nightcrawler felt like himself for the first time since, god, maybe Aaron? His moment with Jean was nice even if they’re not exactly close.

And I agree, Ernst needs to be dealt with. Which hopefully means we get some Martha too."

How did Jean mess it up? Cain was totally out of her control.

[remydat]

I won't call it a bad issue, and it's probably irrelevant since it's all gone to hell, but I see practical issues with Jean's plan.

For one it would lock mutants out of positions of authority in many nations, as foreign nationals tend to be forbidden from holding public office (joint citizenship or not.)

Which is to say nothing about the basic issues of being a nation without, you know, a nation; a proposed unity without unity or land. Who gets to speak for and represent them? By what right would they rule? How would it be even applicable?

Are they expected to be exempt from the laws of the land? If not then what's the point?

The former would render the governments toothless to redress public concerns about, say, exploding babies; and would just aggravate public issue and give rise to greater extremism (people might avoid the purifiers, do to the religions connections; but The Right [or whatever nations equivalent], is lival to have a resurgence.); assuming nations choose to actually acknowledge it, irregardless of what the U.N. says; but assuming they do for political reasons, well that's what discretely supporting terrorist groups they have no official connection to is for.

Would this separation disqualify them from partaking in their host nations social services?

The only real value I see, would be maybe to be able to declare war and have it seen as legitimate, if you can somehow get your "nation" behind it.

So I'm failing to see how this separation without separation, could possibly have resulted in anything but the worst of both worlds... I mean unless this is meant as a first step towards a legitimized war and conquest of all anti-mutant nations.

This all just the top of my head stuff.

A bit much to expect all of the above to be addressed in a single issue. I will just say, dual citizenship is not that difficult a concept. Many nations allow dual citizenship and many people have passports from multiple countries. For example, once you are a US citizen, you remain one even if you acquire another citizenship. You can't lose your US citizenship unless you renounce it.

I would presume the point would be if a mutant is being mistreated by say the US then they can appeal to their other nation and that other nation can take up their cause. It gives that other nation standing to intervene on behalf of their citizen. So if a mutant is both American and part of the Mutant nation then abuses against them by America can be taken up by the Mutant nation.

From a practical standpoint, all you really need is an embassy in a country as an embassy is considered the sovereign land of said nation.

[Confuzzled]

Cassandra being the first villain of Jean's title lines up with my suspicions about the Jessica Chastain villain's identity in Dark Phoenix. Let's see if that's indeed the case.