Originally Posted by
Celestialbodies
This!!!
Emma and Jean are no where near one another when it comes to meaningful usage in this era, everything from Emma's roll out to how Hickman has re-established Emma in his era has been great. All the previous years of bs the character suffered he immediately fixed it, and she is presented across titles as powerful, a leader, and and her thoughts and emotions drives the narrative in Marauders. But Hickman has done something else, that many outside of Emma's fans may not realize. He effortless, positioned Emma in this era under her OWN thoughts and actions she is not bound to anyone or anything her ambitions and drives are her own. She entered this era like a BOSS, is being portrayed as someone who greatly cares for her students, and daughters, is a good friend who will go to hell and back to protect her own. But more than that, Emma has always been a peer to Xavier and Magneto, but he's positioned her as their equals and unlike many of the other long tenured "X-men" she in not in that mentor/mentee role she is one of the figureheads of mutantdom. Rarely do women get the focus, attention, or inflection of their male counterparts but Emma has entered an area that few women outside of Storm under Claremont, and Rogue under Carey receive and that's meaningful focus. I can think of 100 different avenues the next writer could easily pick up from this era concerning Emma and run with it. She's a businesswoman, council member, mutants rights activist, a teacher, a friend/confidant, and she is in a space related to the narrative that few others outside of Logan receive. She is in that special area where not only do writers WANT to write her, their inspired to write about her because of the unique and interesting circumstances she is thrust into.
Which brings us to Jean, often times readers bring up things like her being a former council member or X-force and the only questions I ask are? Between joining the council and leaving what has changed about Jean, what development did she receive directly related to her tenure on the council, what were the consequences? There were none, it is highlighted even moreso when you realize Scott didn't have to give up or lose ANYTHING. He's still the Captain Commander and he'll be joining the new X-men team with all his development intact. Heck even X-force which has been good to Jean has wrapped up her story completely, no big conflict no real changes. She left the same way she started the team, and guess a conversation can be had about her protecting her morals. But is that really the kind of story that excites readers or make them want to know more about her? I know I'm probably simplifying things more than they are but what are Jean's own thoughts, what does she even think of Krakoa? I've seen some state well Scott isn't any better off, but my confusion is panel time doesn't mean development. Scott has felt like himself or at least as close to it as Hickman can get. We know the relationship between him and Logan in this era, we know the depths he'll go to to save his children, or to protect them. We feel the fatherly relationships between Mags/Xavier and Scott their like proud dads rooting him on and supporting his decisions even when they don't agree. We seen both his relationships with his brothers and both are unique and different but he loves them both all the same.
Same with the mission, Scott is the guy who gets things done but can also be very flirty, he is very familiar and warm to his subordinates. We've even seen Scott when he's relaxed and lounging around, I know his reduce attention is striking for some but Scott feels like a person to me. Even in X-force Jean doesn't have any meaningful relationships outside of Logan and her "hate" for Beast, none of which pushes the narrative forward as Beast is continuously left up to his own devices. But the biggest thing for me, is Xavier and Storm, a father figure and sister died and nearly died and Jean while was directly involved in both stories, neither had real stakes for her and how she feels about them. No follow up on resurrecting Xavier, something if Emma did would have lasting effects at least across other books, nor was she even involved in the rescue mission to save Storm's life. I mean has she even talked to either of them in the last two years in a meaningful capacity outside of the issues they were dead or dying in? And this is all without mentioning her lack of a relationship with any of her friends or either of her children as we only witness them interact when Scott is around and from his perspective.
END OF RANT lol