Jean Grey / Phoenix Appreciation 2023: “A Red Dragon”

[Phoenixx9]

Reminds me of some of the 1960's Dr Strange space scenes.

[brightnessatmidnight]

Shower thought after looking at Jean Grey 3 Preview:

What if everything the readers have seen up till now for all continuities/retcons/AU's has been nothing but Jean in the WHR testing out different realities and choices? We might even be able to attribute Jason Aaron's slip slop over the Phoenix mythos to Jean. (Allowing her to clean up that mess as well.) This mini-series potentially creates a Watsonian solution or at least interpretation to the Doylian problem that Aaron and others have contributed over time with Jean and the Phoenix mythos.

[Celestialbodies]

just re-read this. It is so well done. I got goosebump. I wished this is exactly how writers would remember to write Jean Grey from now forward. Big hopes for Gillen's take on the character!!!

Ugh, he wrote her so well, and honestly no disrespect to any other fans but I get why some people hate Jean. When she's good she's the absolute BEST, no one in comics is as compelling as Jean at her best because she demands focus. Too bad we're only getting a hand full of issues of Gillen's Jean and yet I feel like he's saved the best for last.

You’re speaking about her here as if she were two separate entities. (She both attacks and has utter confidence in herself. She both denies and flaunts who she is.) Then again, it’s people’s impulse and compulsion to fragmentize Jean that often produces banal takes on and interpretations of her as a living, breathing, ever-shifting myth. To be clear, that’s not a jab at you. But in any event, I don’t have that problem. Stalking and finding the through line between her contradictions—and there is a through line—thrills me. Ultimately, Jean is just too big of an icon and iconoclast to be comfortably contained within any single notion fans’ might have of who or what she should be.

And I love that about her.

EDIT: But I respect and accept your distaste for Jean’s time displacement and resurrection eras. However, I simply cannot part with or dismiss any aspect of her mythos.

I think it's okay to disagree, I won't ever feel the same way about Ghost Jean as some of you, and that's okay. She wasn't meant for me, what I can say is current Jean is in the best place she's ever been in. Simonson is over-delivering for me, and based on some spoilers I've seen it looks like things about picking up.

[Portsian]

Just read Jean Grey 3, I liked the last few panels, but not sure about the rest of it. I’m not gonna post any spoilers though….. it’s strange issue 1 I loved, 2 &3 less so, but am looking forward to its conclusion big time.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

Literally 1 page is worth reading, maybe, if and only if it means something different from what recent history has beat us over the head with. If I never have to read about Maddie or Cyclops in the context of Jean Grey ever again it will be too soon.

The art is nice but the rehashing is unnecessary. 1 page had the actual story beat.

[SugarMan]

Just read issue #3. Now we’re getting somewhere. Just have to wait for the next issue.

“Flames of Fear” is what they’re calling this series.

[Braxxer]

Jean solo is disappointing. I mean I didn’t expect something wow because writers like Claremont or Louise don’t get stories that strongly affect current status quo etc. But idk how many times they want me to read about jean madelyne inferno. Imo marvel let that min happen only because there was a gap between Jean’s death and her big return next month so they said “why not try to make more money and let a legendary writer to write something what’s halfy tied into the ongoing stories” but the sells aren’t good Issue 2 wasn’t even in top 50 last month.

Idk that mini only makes me less interested in jean/phoenix. The writing is good. Louise is a great writer but the story itself isn’t so interesting

[SugarMan]

There’s a final issue to read. It’s set up to be a very significant issue, possibly the biggest moment in the history of Jean Grey. We’ll wait to see that happen, but if people aren’t buying the book, they probably weren’t going to anyway. People want to see something significant, and it looks set up to give us that. BTW, the events of the last 3 issues are probably more significant than people are thinking. This is not just Jean going down memory lane, but as it says in the beginning if the issue, Jean’s mind is “untethered in time and space”, just as I suspected. There’s more story here than people are giving credit for.

[PotniaTheron]

Jean solo is disappointing. I mean I didn’t expect something wow because writers like Claremont or Louise don’t get stories that strongly affect current status quo etc. But idk how many times they want me to read about jean madelyne inferno. Imo marvel let that min happen only because there was a gap between Jean’s death and her big return next month so they said “why not try to make more money and let a legendary writer to write something what’s halfy tied into the ongoing stories” but the sells aren’t good Issue 2 wasn’t even in top 50 last month.

Idk that mini only makes me less interested in jean/phoenix. The writing is good. Louise is a great writer but the story itself isn’t so interesting

Jean Grey#2 was released in the last week of last month, so the monthly sales list reflects only a few days of sales. Moreover, according to the weekly sales list provided by Bleeding Cool, the sales volume of Jean Grey#2 was higher than that of Ms Marvel#2, which was released on the same day. Not to mention Marvel's production cost of Jean Grey solo book is definitely much less than that of Ms Marvel. I don't think the book sold badly.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

This tweet
https://x.com/iemonade/status/1717221089057669395?s=20

[Icefanatic]

It's funny how Jean keeps thinking the problem lies in her choices, when the problem most likely lies within her.

Jean Grey is Jean Grey is... But what if it's not the right Jean Grey. Maddie is a clone of Jean, with some of her memories, but in no way is she a right match for the Phoenix.

Teen Jeen didn't have Jean's moral compass or ethics or principles. She made choices in the first issue of this series that Jean would NEVER do outside of being all-but-taken-over by some massive corrupting influence. Why did adult Jean come back as a Black Phoenix?

Something is wrong with Jean...

[Phoenixx9]

You're welcome, love!

Her psyche flits between memories of her vast life, alternate realities of her own making, and her seemingly resurrected body traversing a mirage-like desert occupied by mutants confronted by their own fears—all while in the White Hot Room… Who’s inside of whose mind?

And this 👇🏻 begs the questions: Who is “Jean Grey’s greatest enemy” and how do they relate to the fact that “the most powerful telepath on Earth still doesn't know the extent of her own mind”…? 🤔

In the words of movie Apocalypse, "All will be revealed!"

[Phoenixx9]

Love this piece by Yoo Yongwoo from NYCC 2023:

Once Jean sets things right, I would love to see Jean team up with some other heroines in a space adventure, preferably with their pets!

[Phoenixx9]

P.S. “A Red Dragon,” the subtitle to this thread, is how the Progenitor described Jean in this now iconic and pivotal scene:

Jean WILL solve the problem and save Mutantkind!

[Phoenixx9]

I think everyone has raised some interesting points, but we may all be off just a bit.

Jean herself, like her history, is very complex, convoluted and a spectrum of different alignments.

If anyone can solve the mystery and bring Mutantkind back from this verge of destruction, it is Jean Grey!