Jean Grey #4 (2023) Review *spoilers*

[Mercury]

And let us never forget the role Kieron Gillen had Jean play in AvX—she prevented Phoenix-Scott from accessing the White Hot Room—nor how Marvel defined White Phoenix last month:



https://www.marvel.com/articles/comi...-phoenix-force

[Havok83]

Hope no biological Grey/Summers nor do I recall her ever being legally adopted by one...

what does that matter? She was raised by Cable and acknowledged as family.

[Grey]

I think it's clear, especially considering the final page of the issue, that Jean and Phoenix are still bound together, both transcendentally and physically. All she did was activate her Phoenix abilities to the degree necessary to allow Hope to mimic them. And based on Phoenix’s reaction to that choice, she may have made another mistake.

Respectfully, I took the phoenix’s chide as “so arrogant, so sure of yourself” to be a wink from the Phoenix, as if saying “yes. Trust your heart and your instincts. You’ve always been right when you do.”

Being sure of oneself to others can come off as arrogant. I took it as Phoenix commending jean for accepting that she can make judgment calls without stressing over if it was the right choice. Notice how jean seems so nonchalant and unworried, given all the question marks in those final re quotes if the Phoenix now and forever blah blah blah.

Anywho I loved this mini. I can see how it’s not for everyone but I think jean fans who like to dig beneath the surface have a lot to digest here.

[Mercury]

Respectfully, I took the phoenix’s chide as “so arrogant, so sure of yourself” to be a wink from the Phoenix, as if saying “yes. Trust your heart and your instincts. You’ve always been right when you do.”

I didn't. I took it as, "You still haven't fully learned the lesson." I think Jean's likely lesson, and the climax to her Krakoan story, will be: "I need to do this. Not Hope. Not anyone else. I need to do this in the same way I once repaired and rewrote reality..." (See her repairing the M'Kraan Crystal in Uncanny X-Men and rewriting reality in New X-Men.) Hence why everything is still in shambles in X-men Forever (2024) and, of course, the cover...

[Grey]

I didn't. I took it as, "You still haven't fully learned the lesson." I think Jean's likely lesson, and the climax to her Krakoan story, will be: "I need to do this. Not Hope. Not anyone else. I need to do this in the same way I once repaired and rewrote reality..." (See her repairing the M'Kraan Crystal in Uncanny X-Men and rewriting reality in New X-Men.) Hence why everything is still in shambles in X-men Forever (2024) and, of course, the cover...

Guess we’ll see! Either way I really loved this series.

[Mercury]

Guess we’ll see! Either way I really loved this series.

I agree on both counts!

[Havok83]

i love how this ends as an inverse of how it started

[Celestialbodies]

Love this issue, got everything I wanted out of this series, a character study. I thought this and Immortal did an excellent job of explaining and giving context to Jean's death and how she views things. So often her voice is left out of the decisions that happen around her, we always knew her next "actual" appearance would be in Immortal, I'm looking forward to seeing what Gillen has for us in IXM 17 & 18.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

To be fair, Eye Laser Man does have a history of being rather indiscriminate.

[Wiccan]

So, I liked this. But at the same time it was kinda just a thing that happened if you know what I mean. I think it would have been more impactful if it wasn't already obvious that Jean would be getting the Phoenix again, from X-men Forever being announced, the bits we know about the last few Immortal issues, etc.

I know that it ends up kinda feeling like the story was pointless, but I like that the big lesson Jean had to learn is that she shouldn't be regretting things and thinking about how to change the past. When Maddie starts saying she should've just accepted the Phoenix, I was kinda like "Oh, so that's the lesson here", and I would kind of agree because it's kinda how I feel about that plot point being a thing, but I like that Jean bites back with "But isn't it better that you got to be a person, to have Nathan, even to become the Goblyn Queen, than if none of that had happened?".

It's also a nice thing that the Phoenix is kind of being portrayed as the voice of reason here, compared to how often she's portrayed. And yet it's in a way where she's just kind of guiding Jean to find the answers herself rather than imposing something on her. It actually feels like they're in harmony now, so Jean's "together" rings true.

I need to get more into the books at all to be able to appreciate what's going on, cause tbh I have fell off and just followed this mini cause I didn't want to ignore a Jean solo. It definetely had a bunch of "filler", but I'm glad for where things seem to be leading, even if the ending of the issue is still a bit vague.

[Hakka84]

I know that it ends up kinda feeling like the story was pointless, but I like that the big lesson Jean had to learn is that she shouldn't be regretting things and thinking about how to change the past.

Perhaps I'm off, but I think this connects nicely to teen!Jean as well. Her reasoning to stay (and why she imposed herself on Warren twice) is that she wanted to change her future (Jean's past) to avoid the Phoenix and her death. She eventually understood that they were meant to live the life as it was written, for the future to not change. But she did try to change things. Apparently Jean needed to learn that lesson again, and this time we hope it stays - she just need to stop questioning her choices, she needs to grow more secure of herself, and she must embrace fully what she is.

My reading of this.

[Exodus]

the series also helped me to understand that Madelyne was indeed just another version of Jean Grey and that in the end of INFERNO both characters were intended to merge with each other. Madelyne died but her memories and the Phoenix Force went to Jean Grey.

The moment when Jean says to Madelyne that her rejecting the Phoenix Force paved the way of Madelyne actually becoming a real living person, is really beautiful and even more of a closure for both characters than what Dark X-Men has tried to do in such a clunky boring way ("Buhuuu, I want to remember mymotherhood"). I think this moment alone, has given the new series a lot of value.

---

Issue 4 overall really gave the series meaning and importance. I liked it for what it was. I just wished the author would have decided to bring Grant Morrison's Jean Grey/Phoenix to her storyline. It would have made for a more complex storyline than retelling the same Jean Grey story clichés we have seen discussed a million times before.

I am also really not a fan of the Phoenix Force in such an anthropomorphic way: A little speaking cartoon bird. It made sense in the context of the series to showcase the benevolent nature of the force and that Jean is in control over it but I prefer a mystical cosmic force that transcends Jean's humanity in unknown ways. The Phoenix Force is Jean ultimate potential as a psy but also something else we cannot really fathom. Sorry to repeat myself, BUT GRANT MORRISON (and Claremont) DID IT BEST!

As a Jean Grey fan, it is about time that the Force is back in her hands!

[Havok83]

the series also helped me to understand that Madelyne was indeed just another version of Jean Grey and that in the end of INFERNO both characters were intended to merge with each other. Madelyne died but her memories and the Phoenix Force went to Jean Grey.

The moment when Jean says to Madelyne that her rejecting the Phoenix Force paved the way of Madelyne actually becoming a person, is really beautiful and even more of a closure of both characters than what Dark X-Men has tried to do in such a clunky way. I think just for this moment, the new series has a lot of value.

Issue 4 really gave the series meaning. I liked it for what it was. I just wished the author would have decided to bring Grant Morrison's Jean Grey to her story. It would have made for a more complex storyline than retelling the same Jean Grey story clichés we have seen discussed a million times before.

Thats not really anything new though as this was already done in Inferno. Thats always been my intepretation of what Louise did 30 something years ago

As for Morrison, Im fine with her not doing a whole lot with it a I feel that era has been revisited a bit. Teen Jean did that when she was on her mind tour of the Phoenix

[DarkMagnus]

Im Glad Jean and Phoenix worked things out.

Jean has to admit the Phoenix is like her "Lockhead" just vastly more over powerful and capable of resurrect people.

Also The Vengers had Thor, Vision and Wanda. Lets the X have their own nuke.

[Icefanatic]

I went into this series with more excitement and anticipation than I have had for a comics in quite some time. Did this issue, and the overarching series, fully satisfy me? No. Was it supposed to? No, I don't think it was.

This series has functioned much as a prologue and an appetizer for a story to come. It also served to get Jean; and specifically in her relationship with the Phoenix to a better place after they parted in Phoenix: Resurrection, and it archived that. We also got beautiful art and solid characterization, easily some of the best the character has ever had. We got answers to long-held questions by fans, but what if Jean had... And Jean answered those questions, for us and for herself.

Would I have liked something more from this story? Sure, but what I want is likely in the story to come and that's probably a good point to leave readers in this final issue, effectively fans are in the same place Jean is in the story and that's a good thing.

Bring on Immortal X-Men and X-Men Forever!