Jean Grey #3 (2023) Spoiler and Review

[Frobisher]

Jean Grey has been tried twice for destroying the D'Bari's star... Three times, if you count the Judgement of The Progenitor.



How much more justice will it take?

You couldn’t pay off a debt like that given a million years. But it’s a good story to have her try!

[Icefanatic]

Dang, now I kind of want to read a Jean Grey Intergalactic Prison arc.

Orange Phoenix!

Noooo!

I believe the full idea from Shooter was to have Jean Grey chained and shackled to a toxic, radioactive asteroid from which she could not escape, but able to survive on the surface in her chained-up state for all eternity.

I don't remember anything about a time period nor monitoring by the Shi'Ar, or even if the imprisonment was to be in the Shi'Ar empire.

That is too unfathomable a fate for our beloved Jean Grey.

I don't know where you got any of that. AFAIK Claremont's idea for Dark Phoenix Saga was for Jean to be depowered. It was after Byrne drew her killing a planet with sentient life that Shooter (or everyone involved kinda) decided she had to die.

I got that from reading a variety of interviews over the years. The original 'plan' was to make Phoenix fully and permanently a villain, and Shooter had signed off on it. Then Claremont decided at some point against that and wanted simply to have Jean 'come back to the light' and again be a force for good. Then Shooter saw upcoming art where Phoenix caused the deaths of the Dbari and balked at that.

Shooter argued that only villains would do something like that and face no consequence. That a hero would accept responsibility and face punishment(that is also entirely consistent with Jean's character). Claremont proposed Jean accepting being tried and then simply de-powered by the Shi'Ar as punishment. Shooter argued that didn't go far enough and wanted her to accept being de-powered and then incarcerated by the Shi'Ar for an undefined period.

Claremont argued that the X-Men would never accept that. That they loved Jean too much. That every issue going forward would have to revolve around some effort by the X-Men to get Jean back. That nothing else would even be believable of them.

It was Claremont that suggested that the only punishment that could even work would be that Jean would have to die. Shooter accepted that but threw Claremont's own argument back at him, saying that if the X-Men loved Jean too much to accept the Shi'Ar holding her as a prisoner, how would they accept her execution?! Would not every issue going forward have to revolve around the X-Men seeking vengeance in her name?!

So we got Jean ultimately killing herself.

If not for Claremont, Jean would have been de-powered and imprisoned for a few years. Fans would probably have gotten some glimpses of that. At some point there would certainly have been a redemption arc(maybe a massive prison break but Jean saves the day, probably with the mysterious return of her powers!) and she would have been back with the X-Men. The fact that Claremont torpedoed that as even a possibility to force her death suggests he was already planning on somehow bringing her back at some point to further play into the Phoenix mythology. After her death he teased her return multiple times only to reveal they were tricks.

Keep in mind John Byrne was well ahead on art, when Shooter saw the art for that upcoming issue it was months from publication, plenty of time to simply have had the offending pages redone to make the star-system uninhabited, which would have negated the need for Jean to face any kind of punishment at all. Instead they proceeded on with Shooter and Claremont locked into an impasse, with Shooter insisting Jean had to face a significant punishment, and Claremont insisting the X-Men simply would never allow it. The only way out would be to somehow undo Jean's role in the deaths of the Dbari...

After she had already died, they wanted to bring her back for X-Factor but Shooter said she couldn't come back as a hero after what she did in Dark Phoenix Saga. So they went with the whole Phoenix clone/"impersonation" retcon.

So, Marvel had been wanting to do a new book with some of the surviving Original X-Men for awhile. They planned a spinoff X-Book with Iceman, Beast, Angel, Polaris, Havoc and Banshee done without Claremont; but he instead made a successful counter-pitch that became The New Mutants. Then there was a plan to reunite Iceman, Beast and Angel as Avengers. That was retooled to making them (New) Defenders instead. But Marvel still wanted all four back together as a reunited team and when Claremont wrote Cyclops out of the X-Men they saw an opportunity to create what became X-Factor, with another female character in Jean's spot. They decided to use Dazzler as her solo book was ending and they were looking for a home for her. There was actually some art done for that.

While developing the planned series Bob Layton(writer/artist X-Factor) was lamenting that he wished there was some way to simply bring Jean back, but there seemed there was no conceivable way around the Shooter/Claremont impasse. John Byrne(writer/artist Fantastic Four) had an idea how to do it from a conversation he had had with Roger Stern(writer Avengers) who had mentioned an idea by a guy named Kurt Busiek. As Busiek has explained: "The idea that Phoenix was not physically Jean and she was still at the bottom of Jamaica Bay". It was "based on a few lines Chris had written in the book where Jean starting thinking of Phoenix and some other entity that wasn't really her. In the end, I don't think it was a terribly hard idea to come up with. 'It wasn't me that died, it was someone/something that looked like me' had been used in comics before -- it'd even been used in X-MEN before. That's how comics work, sometimes."

So the three of them(Byrne, Stern and Layton) made it happen with Shooter's okay, and without Claremont's knowledge or consent. All of which derailed whatever plans Claremont may have ultimately had for Jean's eventual resurrection, likely involving Madelyne Pryor.

So just blaming everything on Shooter is more than a bit simplistic and inaccurate.

[Grey]

This issue made me realize for the first time that, yes, jean has embraced, given away, and rejected Phoenix over the years and all of them lead to “bad” outcomes for lack of better word.

I’ve enjoyed this mini since issue one, but For the first time I feel like this series may actually finally give some of us jean fans something different. Literally what else is there to do when you’ve tried every option? (-/ mentioned, transcendence, destruction, mastery are possibilities. But from a simple viewpoint, jean has tried every damn thing with this bird and yet it keeps coming back. Even a revelation that “hey, I tried every option, I’m done feeling guilty” would be rewarding at this point.

Even if just a little bit, it will feel like an actual novel concept for there to be another way this ends

P.s. I love how dynamic the art has been in this mini. Every page is different, it’s just gorgeous and captivating.

[MechaJeanix]

Enjoyed this issue a lot. I've always loved the 05 and the X-factor years are some of my favorites. This mini has great art and a great writer, and while some may have wished for something more (or something all together different) I am enjoying Jean's journey into her past and her examination of her choices. Over the last year or so we have seen Jean still trying to make up for the Dark Phoenix, and coming to terms with her history. Ultimately in the last issue we'll see if she embraces herself (and the Phoenix) or what. I am excited to see how the last issue plays out.

I know some tire of Jean's reoccurring themes, but a lot of great characters have essentially the same story components come up over and over (just think of how many times they have examined Logan's past with Weapon Plus or whatever, or how many times Angel goes back to being the Angel of Death/Archangel, or Maddie being the Goblin Queen, etc.). While there are definitely opportunities for new stories Jean's big themes will probably always include her love(s), her growing powers, and the Phoenix.

Next issue we will either see Jean vs herself (as her greatest enemy) or Jean vs the Phoenix. My guess is that it will be herself and she will come to terms with her power and her destiny (and will have to do what must be done to save herself and to help save the mutants trapped in the WHR). That is my speculation but either way I am sure to enjoy this ride.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

I'll take the series as a whole when #4 drops, but as it stands, there just isn't much new content here. It feels like they could have been more ambitious, which is why it feels a bit like a one-shot that has been padded out.

[SugarMan]

I'll take the series as a whole when #4 drops, but as it stands, there just isn't much new content here. It feels like they could have been more ambitious, which is why it feels a bit like a one-shot that has been padded out.

LOL, literally everything is new. Everything Jean does is something she hasn't done. That's been the buildup to this point. She tried doing everything differently, and none of it worked.

[Micabe]

LOL, literally everything is new. Everything Jean does is something she hasn't done. That's been the buildup to this point. She tried doing everything differently, and none of it worked.

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