X-Men Red #1 Spoilers and Review

[DragonPiece]

Very much enjoyed this issue, I know the team didn't really even get together, but this is my favorite book and it's just one issue in. That's how low of a bar we currently are at with these x-men titles.

[jmc247]

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.

Mutants without a centralized population and army will thus be heavily subject to the will of other nations within the UN for protection and the UNSC of course for protecting the global mutant community.

So, which X-Men do people think will support Jean's grand vision of a mutant nation existing in all nations, but not as an entity with centralization? Besides the obvious of course that will be in Red.

[ariwl1]

I am eager to see them expand on Jean's ideas. Hopefully the fact she's now framed for murder won't derail that exploration.

[Sardorim]

Too bad we won't see Jean meeting up with Cable or Rachel in this.

And way for Kurt to not mention to Jean that he's currently dating her daughter.

[ClanAskani]

Too bad we won't see Jean meeting up with Cable or Rachel in this.

And way for Kurt to not mention to Jean that he's currently dating her daughter.

This. Could we pause the ongoing plots to actually deal with the characters?

[healed1337]

Too bad we won't see Jean meeting up with Cable or Rachel in this.

And way for Kurt to not mention to Jean that he's currently dating her daughter.

It's way too early to say neither Cable nor Rachel won't show up, but if they do, it most likely won't be in the first story arc.

Anyway, great start for a series with a lot of potential. This team actually feels like a family, something I've been missing from X-Men team books for a while.

[SugarMan]

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.

Actually, Storm has always been the moral center of the group. But I guess they are busy using more logical characters for Jean (she has not one, but two Bobbys, Warrens, and Hanks to choose from) in other books. Storm is supposed to be getting her own bid, but they could have devoted a page at least to her having a discussion about her plans. It's not like this is something Jean would throw past Storm or at least talk to her about it, whether or not they agree.

Just as I figured, very little interaction with friends and loved ones after her return. Aside from nightcrawler everything else is as usual off panel. Sigh.

It's a good role for Jean, everything just seems rushed now, even knowing that this is supposedly at least 2 months after Resurrection. It wouldn't have killed Marvel to give is a reunion issue as a gap filler, or released that issue the same week for those who would like to see a progression to this point. But we've gone from barely getting Jean back to having her jump head first into controversy. The woman had a school named after her in her absence, it would have been nice to see her reaction to the current state of things with the X-Men. But she's just sitting around watching the news, just what I'd do if I ever came back from the dead.

It was a good first issue. Set everything up, like the roster so far and we'll where it goes. I'm glad they didn't waste time coming out with a bunch of reunion stuff. That probably belonged in Resurrection, but would've killed the momentum here. I'm not a fan of Cassandra, but since the Shadow King is tied up elsewhere, I guess she'll do.

Cassandra said it best. You're not the Phoenix anymore Jean, you can't rise. We all know that Cassandra will be defeated though.

It's also why Jean had to reject the Phoenix. If you have a fully functional Phoenix on your team, you are not the underdog in the fight.

It's been said before. The Avengers can get by with multiple gods on a team, but god forbid the X-Men get a truly powerful character. It only takes a little brain power to find a creative way for Jean to be active on earth and still be Phoenix. Rachel was Phoenix as a member of Excalibur. Jean can power down, as was shown during the original Phoenix arc. And Storm has been on the team for years, but we don't get tornados throwing villains around every issue.

[MosSuperman]

Good issue, though I do agree with some that Jean's plan is a flawed one that will never come to be real and if somehow it does I don't see nothing changing for mutants anyways. I do appreciate that's it's trying to be different from the other X-men books. If this is the way Taylor is approaching this story I'd like to see a more grey area explored in the future, not just you're average white prejudiced man screaming why mutants aren't trusted and Jean fighting against that.

[remydat]

Mutants without a centralized population and army will thus be heavily subject to the will of other nations within the UN for protection and the UNSC of course for protecting the global mutant community.

So, which X-Men do people think will support Jean's grand vision of a mutant nation existing in all nations, but not as an entity with centralization? Besides the obvious of course that will be in Red.

This is true of any citizen living abroad in another country which was the point of my post. A dual citizen has rights from both nations. If one nation doesn't respect those rights, he still has another nation to appeal too.

And the mutant army would be the X-men no? Pretty powerful army if you ask me because they can destroy **** without the massive military spend. Although my point was less about the military and more about diplomacy. Having the X-men or some group of mutants as representatives of all mutants serves as a deterrent to abuse.

If a mutant for example is enslaved in a country, the Mutant nation can demand the release of its citizen. If they offending nation refuses then the mutant nation can seek redress from the UN and only if that fails can then declare war which would then mean any deaths are not murders but casualties of war provided no war crimes are committed. So being a nation affords you the ability to protect your citizens while providing the legal protections that come with waging war rather than being deemed a terrorist or murderer.

For example, when the X-men intervened in Genosha they were legally terrorists and murderers if any deaths resulted. If they instead were a nation that declared war on Genosha then they would not be terrorists or murderers.

[wano]

It's not a good plan, Israel works because they've got nukes and all Jews are united under Judaism as a political - religious ideology, but Jean has nothing of that and without enough firepower and nations supporting them all mutants would be easy prey for governments that want to oppress them. Also if mutants are part of a different nation I'm sure Chinese or Americans would use that as an excuse to question their national loyalties

[Dementia5]

Could we pause the ongoing plots to actually deal with the characters?

100% behind this. Take a month and let the characters connect, talk, vent, hug it out, deal, settle things, etc. before moving on to the plots. TV series have done this on occasion for years.

[maxhilary]

Ok this was a strong first issue! I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and I especially loved Jean's interactions with Kurt. She really sounded like Jean, and quite different from Jeen.

I loved the story so far. Jean's dialogue was spot on, I even heard TAS Jean's voice will reading it! I loved how she felt she needed to fly out into the sky to get away from all the noise and thoughts. The meeting that she had with all of the great minds of the world was awesome, and her set up by Cassandra Nova as a terrorist who just killed an ambassador for the world to see was truly evil on Cassandra's I can't wait for Jean to tear old testicle face a new xxxhole!

Same here!

[Sundowhn]

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.

I agree. This will be the first time the "heart and soul" of the X-Men have been shown working together on something.

Too bad we won't see Jean meeting up with Cable or Rachel in this.

And way for Kurt to not mention to Jean that he's currently dating her daughter.

Well, it's the first issue. As far as conversation between Jean and Kurt, it was down to what is this idea, rather than personal matters. I expect as the series progresses, they'll be some "down time" moments for those personal conversations.

Also, there appears to be a time leap going on. I'm wondering if this will end up taking place after the (potential) Rachel dark arc or not. I guess we'll see as it unfolds more.


On the issue itself. This was a really strong first issue. It addressed the reason behind the formation of the group and how at least the first five ended up there. I liked that it feels like they formed organically, rather than another 'just because' team. Another poster said they believed Ororo may be the character being set up to disagree with Jean's methodology and I tend to agree. It would make sense for her to be the one, imo. (I am afraid it may end up being Kitty, though )

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this. I like Jean's voice in this, and Kurt is written sounding like himself for the first time since his resurrection arc.

[ariwl1]

It's been said before. The Avengers can get by with multiple gods on a team, but god forbid the X-Men get a truly powerful character. It only takes a little brain power to find a creative way for Jean to be active on earth and still be Phoenix. Rachel was Phoenix as a member of Excalibur. Jean can power down, as was shown during the original Phoenix arc. And Storm has been on the team for years, but we don't get tornados throwing villains around every issue.

When first introduced the Phoenix was meant to put Jean on Thor's level, but now it's way beyond that. For this kind of story I'm cool with Jean not having it. She's plenty powerful without it but still has to work within limitations to face the threats coming. As currently portrayed, the Phoenix would just be an extra distraction and if it "powers down" to a level where it's not a threat of being a deus ex machina it begs the question of why it's even there. It would likely just lead to more "Is Jean going to go dark again?" musings which is way past boring at this point.

[Badou]

I thought it was a decent first issue. It moved very fast and tried to cover a lot of stuff and it threw me a bit because this is Jean's big return and it didn't really feel like that. It felt like she has been around a while and they skipped over her connecting with everyone again. I guess that will happen in other books? So the pacing felt a bit off, but not that much. Also I don't really know if I care that much about the whole "world tolerance" thing when just a year ago they were all proclaiming Cyclops as Hitler. It is all sort of eye rolling because you know it won't lead to anything substantial and the mutants will always be persecuted because Marvel isn't going to remove that aspect of their story despite others in the MCU doing far worse, but I like Taylor's voice for Jean and I especially like the villain choice. So the positives outweigh the negatives for me in the issue. Can't wait for Gambit to show up in a couple issues.