Jean Grey / Phoenix Appreciation 2021

[Havok83]

I agree with the objections to Jean's last death, how it came about, and more so to how long she was kept dead. However, it dawned on me while reading some of your posts that her deaths and prolonged absences have both underscored and contributed to her mystique and allure. Jean has always seemed elusive in the most captivating way. This is partly due to the fact that, overall, she has never been shoved down readers' throats. For the most part, save for a few arcs, she has been used conservatively and, dare I say, sparingly. But, as they say, less is more.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that random thought.

For the most part, but people were complaining about it back in 2018 when she returned. Teen Jean was leading Blue, Adult Jean was leading Red and Dissassembled and was being featured in Typhoid Mary, Venomized (teen), Return of Wolverine , Extermination and got a few oneshots in the form of the Red, Astonishing annuals and Exterminated

[Devaishwarya]

As a fan of Jean I love Morrison's run because I am also a fan of the other characters (I fell in love with Emma even more) and the art (Quitely, Jimenez, Silvestri were awesomeness) and the writing and plots overall (which was very different than what came before). Yes, the ending was an unsatisfactory cop-out but that does not negate all the good stuffs that came before.
I may be a fan of Jean... and Storm... and Emma... and Scott...and so many others, but I am fully aware that these characters do not exist separately from the books in which they appear.

[Mercury]

...she was bathing in the sun...

I love this image. I just pictured her taking fiery loofa to her body and luxuriating in the heat. 😂🤣😂🤣

For the most part, but people were complaining about it back in 2018 when she returned. Teen Jean was leading Blue, Adult Jean was leading Red and Dissassembled and was being featured in Typhoid Mary, Venomized (teen), Return of Wolverine , Extermination and got a few oneshots in the form of the Red, Astonishing annuals and Exterminated

And this is exactly why I don't complain much about her diminished role this era. (And even still, Hickman made her the one to found the new team of which she's now a co-leader.) I mean, she had an amazing run just before and after her return.

As a fan of Jean I love Morrison's run because I am also a fan of the other characters (I fell in love with Emma even more) and the art (Quitely, Jimenez, Silvestri were awesomeness) and the writing and plots overall (which was very different than what came before). Yes, the ending was an unsatisfactory cop-out but that does not negate all the good stuffs that came before.
I may be a fan of Jean... and Storm... and Emma... and Scott...and so many others, but I am fully aware that these characters do not exist separately from the books in which they appear.

Oh, Deva, you stop that now. I have lunch with Jean twice a week, once on Sundays.

[Starchilde]

I have a love/hate relationship with the run regarding Jean (overall I think it's a pretty good run). I liked a lot how Morrison displayed her powers, and her overall confidence and presence. One of my favorite moments happens in that run: when Jean tricks Cassandra and saves Charles mind. But I hate how she was killed there, the ending was horrible for her. After she embraced herself and her power that time in Alaska, to Morrison's run where she is super confident and powerful, to the end where she came back from the sun as the Phoenix... only to be killed by the most ridiculous villain (who dies in the next panel), it definitely saddened me a lot. It felt like a "know your place" moment. But as I said, Here Comes Tomorrow eased my rage a bit, since she saved the universe, and established her as THE Phoenix. And that was really cool.

[Mercury]

I have a love/hate relationship with the run regarding Jean (overall I think it's a pretty good run). I liked a lot how Morrison displayed her powers, and her overall confidence and presence. One of my favorite moments happens in that run: when Jean tricks Cassandra and saves Charles mind. But I hate how she was killed there, the ending was horrible for her. After she embraced herself and her power that time in Alaska, to Morrison's run where she is super confident and powerful, to the end where she came back from the sun as the Phoenix... only to be killed by the most ridiculous villain (who dies in the next panel), it definitely saddened me a lot. It felt like a "know your place" moment. But as I said, Here Comes Tomorrow eased my rage a bit, since she saved the universe, and established her as THE Phoenix. And that was really cool.

I pretty much agree with you. I love everything thing about Morrison's run save for Jean's second death at the hands of Xorn or Xorneto or whatever the hell his name is. He should have just had her defeat him by immediately evolving into the White Phoenix, destroying him, and then flying away. Everything else could have stayed the same, including her healing the "wounded orphan universe." Then, they could have just put her in a solo - think something along the lines of Silver Surfer - and she could've popped in every once in a while to check on her family and friends.

[Daedra]

I love this image. I just pictured her taking fiery loofa to her body and luxuriating in the heat. 😂🤣😂🤣

Phoenix-Jean never forgot to enjoy herself, she used to be a pursuer of exquisite pleasures

[Devaishwarya]

To be honest, I do agree...Mags killing Jean with a "stroke" was grossly anticlimactic considering all Morrison did to increase Jean's powers earlier on and his use of her in HCT was...grossly meh. I simply chalked those errors in judgement due to Morrison evidently "losing steam" towards the end of his X-run. Dude was phoning it in like nobody's business.

[PwrdOn]

Morrison's Jean is an interesting case study because he clearly was using her as a proxy for his own failed relationships and was setting her up to be the bad guy, but in the process of writing that story ended up making her quite nuanced and grounded as an individual. By contrast, Scott and Emma, who we were obviously supposed to be rooting for, come off as shallow and self-absorbed by comparison. And for whatever reason, they felt that they needed to kill Jean off to make the Scott/Emma relationship work, because having Jean around would just make Emma look like an inferior substitute by comparison, which, sadly, pretty much ended up happening anyway as even the few moments that Jean had while she was dead drove that point home pretty clearly.

Also I feel like it's not mentioned enough that the near decade long relationship between those two ended with Cyclops losing his **** and going all Wayne Brady on her in AvX, which for how much Scott fans love bringing up that particular story always tends to get glossed over. At the very least, you could never picture him laying his hands on Jean like that.

[Phoenixx9]

To be honest, I do agree...Mags killing Jean with a "stroke" was grossly anticlimactic considering all Morrison did to increase Jean's powers earlier on and his use of her in HCT was...grossly meh. I simply chalked those errors in judgement due to Morrison evidently "losing steam" towards the end of his X-run. Dude was phoning it in like nobody's business.

Morrison's Jean is an interesting case study because he clearly was using her as a proxy for his own failed relationships and was setting her up to be the bad guy, but in the process of writing that story ended up making her quite nuanced and grounded as an individual. By contrast, Scott and Emma, who we were obviously supposed to be rooting for, come off as shallow and self-absorbed by comparison. And for whatever reason, they felt that they needed to kill Jean off to make the Scott/Emma relationship work, because having Jean around would just make Emma look like an inferior substitute by comparison, which, sadly, pretty much ended up happening anyway as even the few moments that Jean had while she was dead drove that point home pretty clearly.

Also I feel like it's not mentioned enough that the near decade long relationship between those two ended with Cyclops losing his **** and going all Wayne Brady on her in AvX, which for how much Scott fans love bringing up that particular story always tends to get glossed over. At the very least, you could never picture him laying his hands on Jean like that.

I agree with both of you.

[Omega_DCD]

Morrison's Jean is an interesting case study because he clearly was using her as a proxy for his own failed relationships and was setting her up to be the bad guy, but in the process of writing that story ended up making her quite nuanced and grounded as an individual. By contrast, Scott and Emma, who we were obviously supposed to be rooting for, come off as shallow and self-absorbed by comparison. And for whatever reason, they felt that they needed to kill Jean off to make the Scott/Emma relationship work, because having Jean around would just make Emma look like an inferior substitute by comparison, which, sadly, pretty much ended up happening anyway as even the few moments that Jean had while she was dead drove that point home pretty clearly.

Also I feel like it's not mentioned enough that the near decade long relationship between those two ended with Cyclops losing his **** and going all Wayne Brady on her in AvX, which for how much Scott fans love bringing up that particular story always tends to get glossed over. At the very least, you could never picture him laying his hands on Jean like that.

Great post, very much agreed!

Scemma was so contrived and forced...worse, Morrison attempted to bless the pairing in-universe by having Jean say stuff like "Wake up Emma, Scott needs you" and "Live Scott, live!". I've said this before, as if "Oh, well, if Jean HERSELF is cool with this, than it's all good y'all!"

Then to put a bow on the whole mess, he has them make out literally standing on her grave.

Even if Scott/Emma was going to the end result, good lord, let the story breathe and put some RESPEK on the name of Jean's relationship with Scott up to that point.

[MechaJeanix]

I am a big Morrison's New X-men fanboy as most of you know I loved everything about it and I feel like for an X-men comic run it is near perfection. It also brings up memories of a very good time in my young adult life. I not only identified with Jean in the story but I also identified with Scott. Morrison's run had be loving Emma Frost and she became one of my top 10 favorites (I loved her when I first read her in Uncanny 281 but felt Generation X Emma was a little boring..).

Morrison's era Jean was powerful, confident, and capable. There were so many good moments from almost every arc. I loved Jean's friendship with Hank, Jean being an acting headmistress, her press conference, her feats in Xavier's mind to her feat in saving Xavier when she downloaded his mind. I can't describe the excitement I had reading the end of Germ Free Generation when Jean manifested the phoenix effect after defeating the U-men. I loved the Murder at the Mansion story. Planet X is also a favorite... from Jean's death by Wolverine as they head into the sun to her resurrection and confronting Magneto. The final death was a poor death but I felt that was the point. There was a line in Here Comes Tomorrow with Ernst (Cassandra) and Martha that was something about a bad death. I felt for Jean when she woke in the future and realized how long she had been gone. Here Comes Tomorrow was also special to me because we once again saw Jean as the White Phoenix and the classic X-men 43 was being referenced (it had been referenced earlier in X-men Forever mini). That panel with Jean floating wherever she was holding the "badly wounded orphan universe" gave me chills the first time I read it.

In my reading of New X-men I think it was clear that Jean had to die in Planet X because she was meant to be reborn in the future to carry out the "phoenix work" - to defeat Sublime and amputate that universe.

Yes, Morrison killed Jean off but she could have been brought back at any time. Morrison provided a way back via the Phoenix... it was an editorial choice to keep the character dead for so long. At least we got Teen Jean out of it, eventually. I would never blame Morrison for Jean's death because Morrison already established that as a phoenix she was to die to be reborn.

I might be in the minority but I love the X-men as a real school. I loved Beast and Emma as teachers. I loved Xavier as the headmaster. I assume that perhaps Jean was something like a guidance counselor before becoming headmistress but that is just my head canon. Cyclops leading the rescue and emergency division (I think he also taught combat courses with the students). I have a bias for schools and higher education so the X-men being a real school was great and it is something I miss (though I do love the current era).

[Mercury]

Morrison's Jean is an interesting case study because he clearly was using her as a proxy for his own failed relationships and was setting her up to be the bad guy, but in the process of writing that story ended up making her quite nuanced and grounded as an individual.

But Morrison also loved Jean, or so he has said in interviews. I think what you've pointed out has a kernel of truth to it, but I also think that, in the process of writing her, he ended up falling in love with her all over again. He handles her with such grace and dignity and strength without feeling the need to belabor the point of either. She just is graceful, dignified, and strong as hell. He also wrote her as someone who was slightly weary, which I appreciated. Everything about her characterization just gelled beautifully, including her opting not to blow Emma away which, considering her pain and rage and the Phoenix Force, she could have easily done.

By contrast, Scott and Emma, who we were obviously supposed to be rooting for, come off as shallow and self-absorbed by comparison. And for whatever reason, they felt that they needed to kill Jean off to make the Scott/Emma relationship work, because having Jean around would just make Emma look like an inferior substitute by comparison, which, sadly, pretty much ended up happening anyway as even the few moments that Jean had while she was dead drove that point home pretty clearly.

One thing that I do love about Jean's death and her healing the wounded orphaned universe is that she comes off even more above it all, i.e., literally and figuratively transcendent. I want to scream at her in that scene but the moment sweeps me up and I end up thinking to myself, "This is totally Jean. Self-sacrificing to the very end."

Also I feel like it's not mentioned enough that the near decade long relationship between those two ended with Cyclops losing his **** and going all Wayne Brady on her in AvX, which for how much Scott fans love bringing up that particular story always tends to get glossed over. At the very least, you could never picture him laying his hands on Jean like that.

This is the first time I'm hearing/reading about any of this. I need to read this stat. If you don't mind, what issues does this story take place in?

Great post, very much agreed!

Scemma was so contrived and forced...worse, Morrison attempted to bless the pairing in-universe by having Jean say stuff like "Wake up Emma, Scott needs you" and "Live Scott, live!". I've said this before, as if "Oh, well, if Jean HERSELF is cool with this, than it's all good y'all!"

I could see why you would feel that way. Still, as I wrote above, I think she comes off transcendent throughout. I mean, if what you say was indeed his intent, it failed because they are the ones that look worse for wear. However, Jean simply glows. From her decision to not shatter Emma's mind to reviving her and later "fixing" reality so that they could be together, more than a plot device, she seems like a woman who has grown, moved past her own hubris and the debris that was once her life, and has her eyes set on the stars.

Then to put a bow on the whole mess, he has them make out literally standing on her grave.

This I did and do find a bit distasteful, but, again, Jean's "performance" throughout manages to transcend these slimy moments.

Even if Scott/Emma was going to the end result, good lord, let the story breathe and put some RESPEK on the name of Jean's relationship with Scott up to that point.

I can agree with you here.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

Morrison's Jean is an interesting case study because he clearly was using her as a proxy for his own failed relationships and was setting her up to be the bad guy, but in the process of writing that story ended up making her quite nuanced and grounded as an individual. By contrast, Scott and Emma, who we were obviously supposed to be rooting for, come off as shallow and self-absorbed by comparison. And for whatever reason, they felt that they needed to kill Jean off to make the Scott/Emma relationship work, because having Jean around would just make Emma look like an inferior substitute by comparison, which, sadly, pretty much ended up happening anyway as even the few moments that Jean had while she was dead drove that point home pretty clearly.

Also I feel like it's not mentioned enough that the near decade long relationship between those two ended with Cyclops losing his **** and going all Wayne Brady on her in AvX, which for how much Scott fans love bringing up that particular story always tends to get glossed over. At the very least, you could never picture him laying his hands on Jean like that.

I think killing her and more accurately, disallowing her return, was less about them worrying about Emma being overshadowed and more about them simply not wanting Jean to exist if she is not going to be with Scott. They are *still* very precious about what she means for Cyclops' manhood to this day lol.

They are highway-robbing Jean by just slotting her in as "Cyclops' love interest" as if Scemma didn't happen. It's so crass and gross.

Great post, very much agreed!

Scemma was so contrived and forced...worse, Morrison attempted to bless the pairing in-universe by having Jean say stuff like "Wake up Emma, Scott needs you" and "Live Scott, live!". I've said this before, as if "Oh, well, if Jean HERSELF is cool with this, than it's all good y'all!"

Then to put a bow on the whole mess, he has them make out literally standing on her grave.

Even if Scott/Emma was going to the end result, good lord, let the story breathe and put some RESPEK on the name of Jean's relationship with Scott up to that point.

To be fair, Cyclops dated another redhead the second Jean died and then decided he was done with 2nd redhead the moment Jean was back. It wasn't exactly a positive relationship even before Morrison.

[Wiccan]

To be fair, Cyclops dated another redhead the second Jean died and then decided he was done with 2nd redhead the moment Jean was back. It wasn't exactly a positive relationship even before Morrison.

The fact that he started dating a woman because she looked just like Jean and then went back to Jean after she returned supposedly says something against his love for Jean? Huh

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

The fact that he started dating a woman because she looked just like Jean and then went back to Jean after she returned supposedly says something against his love for Jean? Huh

I wasn't referring to his love (or perhaps comfortability?) for Jean in that comment. I meant that I don't consider those events, and therefore the ship, to have been especially positive or unbreakably solid before Morrison ended it.

Hindsight being 20/20, I don't think Morrison's actions regarding the ship were egregious outside of killing Jean so she didn’t get to move foward at the same time.