"We come into this world alone and we leave the same way. The time we spent in between - time spent alive, sharing, learning together... is all that makes life worth living." - Jean Grey
No, he did not, he had her immobilize one Brood on panel, then had her exposition for like 4-5 pages none of which was personal or felt like Jean. Which is the only problem I have with how he's used her so far, she is literally just there to expound on what the author needs the reader to know. You could literally replace Jean with any other character and nothing about the stories he's used her in would change much.
My favorite was the 5 pages of explaining why she couldn't read a single Brood's mind even though:
And a throwback just for funs.
Wouldn't that be more applicable if it was a one off and not several different instances across several years?
Due to the era and the infrequency of X-books especially with a female focus, she never got as much credit. But this same era her psionic potential was described as limitless, in you above scan I believe she located Angel 6,000 miles away, tracked an electronic brain, stalemated Mesmero, blasted Juggernaut through his helmet with an assault he compared to Xavier, and telepathically dropped the Hulk. And she often used her telepathy as psychometry probing environments for information on who had last been present in the area.
No one is going to convince me that Hickman ONLY putting Jean in her 60/70 costume isn't some big joke at her expense. A year later and there hasn't even been a hint as to why she'd even want to be regressed so far back. It makes it worse that her peers Emma specifically has a new costume in every book she appears, Storm has recently worn a variation of her current costume. And everyone else is wearing either there recent costumes or slight variations. Thank heavens that Dauterman consistently puts her in the GSX costume, not that Hickman bothers to adopt it.
Although, rereading HOX/POX specifically the issue she dies in, something about those last few pages continues to make me question whether this Jean is the most up to date version. It's just something about the narration as she dies, "Look at how this always ends...with fire...and death...every victory ash. Then there's this:
[NOTE: It is possible for a telepathic operator to replace their own mind with a previous [legacy] version, but doing so is incredibly difficult and would most likely require a skilled and experienced operator.]
[NOTE: Charles Xavier has done this twice]
Something about that, where she died, the narrative, and even her first statement after returning, I don't know it made me start to question if this is all of Jean, might just be reading into thing but it seems odd.
Last edited by Celestialbodies; 10-11-2020 at 04:37 PM.
There are other examples like how she reacted to Lang and Wolverine in the right-before-she-merges-with-Phoenix story. Also, Jean at times had a temper in the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix years. Jean displayed anger several times in the X-factor years. I've said it before but Jean came across more settled/mature in the 90's (though I've read before where some fans argued it wasn't shown/earned this maturity but I think you can say it came with life experience during the X-factor years). Jean kind of became the den-mother to the X-men, and a very empathic compassionate character so we don't always see the more fiery side..especially when she's not Phoenix (though Teen Jean certainly displayed a lot of personality, temper, and angst).
I love scans from the original X-men days.
If I were still of the mind that Charles was actually more or less a villain and not a morally gray entity right now I'd still saying mind that he repressed the minds of certain characters so that they were as malleable as he needs them to be.
I think that Jean is still the Jean that we were seeing in Red and Uncanny when she was first revived, and if not that Jean then the Jean that we were seeing under Morrison. I just also think that Hickman isn't entirely as aware of these characters as people give him credit for and that even if he was he struggles to write characters in the first place. His thing is definitely sweeping epics and narratives. That said Jean in X-Force and in her small appearances in other titles have felt appropriate, and that includes GSXM Jean & Emma - likely in large part due to Dauterman more than to Hickman.
Last edited by Harpsikord; 10-11-2020 at 06:16 PM.
"We come into this world alone and we leave the same way. The time we spent in between - time spent alive, sharing, learning together... is all that makes life worth living." - Jean Grey
Very possible.
I also thought the manipulating characters abilities was weird, I don't think nearly enough attention has been brought to the potentially upgrading characters perhaps without their consent. Monet sticks out the most for me, like has it ever been explained who decides which abilities they get or keep. Because I distinctly remember Cassandra Nova stating she could access all the abilities in Xaviers genome. I wonder if that's true for other character during resurrection process. Which speaking of Cassandra and Xavier possibly being or becoming corrupted, wasn't Charles dressed exactly like Cassandra Nova in the forming of Krakoa? Some of this stuff is a little too coincidental:
And on your point about Jean you're probably right, there's just so much Hickman has already hinted at I'm curious to see where all this goes. I agree on his lack awareness of some of the characters, I'd hoped that he would expound on Jean taking a more active role in mutant affairs starting in NXM, then continuing in RED. But as with most development Jean gets outside of the Phoenix and who she's dating it's of course been forgotten.
Last edited by Celestialbodies; 10-11-2020 at 09:59 PM.
To be fair, the Phoenix development is always forgotten as well. Some lame woman-hater went out of his way to make her a victim and invalidate her Phoenix stories.
Jean is not the same Jean that was from the 60s/70s. Her relationship and affection for Cable makes no sense if that were the case. Hickman wrote her weak once nad people wont let that go. That has not been her narrative for the past year worth of storytelling
All things considered the Summer Council should actually be the hand of the Quiet Council that operates with all political arms of Krakoa; they're the ones that we should see reaching out to other nations and to the UN and doing things like what Autumn did in X-Men 4, except they wouldn't do it so shadily. Unfortunately it was Autumn that we've seen doing these things, and reaching out to Namor. I bet if it were Jean that reached out to Namor he would be more actively aligned with Krakoa.
In fact we don't know what the point of the Summer and Winter council are at all.
"We come into this world alone and we leave the same way. The time we spent in between - time spent alive, sharing, learning together... is all that makes life worth living." - Jean Grey
Besides sounding cool...the Summer Council has the most attractive members.
Jokes aside...Jean, Storm and Nightcrawler are decidedly the most morally level-headed and trust worthy of all the Council members. That's the perspective they offer and the balance they bring to the table.
Last edited by Devaishwarya; 10-12-2020 at 03:18 PM.
Lord Ewing *Praise His name! Uplift Him in song!* Your divine works will be remembered and glorified in worship for all eternity. Amen!
Ommadon: “By summoning all the dark powers I will infest the spirit of man So that he uses his science and logic to destroy himself. Greed and avarice shall prevail, and those who do not hear my words shall pay the price. I'll teach man to use his machines, I'll show him what distorted science can give birth to. I'll teach him to fly like a fairy, and I'll give him the ultimate answer to all his science can ask. And the world will be free for my magic again.”
yes to her using her powers! I love seeing the 3 family members in battle together. God, I cant recall the last time we got a teamup of just them 3, if thats ever even happened
It’s even more annoying that the characters have been drawn with more adult faces previously…
This de-aging doesn’t help to go into the story and to believe that, despite the change of writer and artist, it is the same characters than before…
For the origin, I blame a lack of love for the reality, where grown-ups don’t have smooth faces and have wrinkles…
“Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.” Goethe