RACHEL GREY/SUMMERS, the Phoenix/Mother Askani Appreciation

[Vaishakh]

It was great seeing Rachel as an antihero in her space adventures . It'd be really great if she went back to that

[Anodyne]

are the Shiar even aware of Maddie's existence?

Lilandra was. Xavier had to restrain her from attacking Madelyne on sight when Scott introduced his new love interest to the X-Men.

[Sardorim]

Rachel is from another timeline but she's a 616 resident.

Eh, folks, good news ! You can drop that discussion and start raving because Jeen is on the cast of Axis #4 but not Rachel.... #duckforcover -grin-

Well, RR forcing Tean, who should still be in UU, in the book yet Kitty and Rachel not playing big parts only reinforces that he knows nothing about the X-Franchise. Kinda wish CC would meet up with RR and educate him about X-History.

Rachel has already killed the ones responsible . She doesnt hold Shi'ar responsible and also helped them out during her adventures in space many times

No, read the current X-Men arc. The man that suggested ending the Grey Genome is alive and well. Rachel hasn't killed him but she was more than willing to leave the guy to die. Psylocke even felt bad about saving the guy after Rachel told her why she didn't save him.

It was great seeing Rachel as an antihero in her space adventures . It'd be really great if she went back to that

The only space team really around atm are Corsair's and Star-Lord's... I don't see Bendis being happy with Rachel being on either team even if the Cyclops team wanted Rachel. Besides, Rachel would be taken out of the other ongoings she's in if she went into space and would lose her leadership position, which she earned, in X-Men.

[grinningdemon]

Well, RR forcing Tean, who should still be in UU, in the book yet Kitty and Rachel not playing big parts only reinforces that he knows nothing about the X-Franchise. Kinda wish CC would meet up with RR and educate him about X-History.

I don't because CC can't even keep the histories of these characters straight anymore...or the characterizations...he'd probably just ask RR to have Rachel to show up in a scene to ship Jean/Wolverine.

The only space team really around atm are Corsair's and Star-Lord's... I don't see Bendis being happy with Rachel being on either team even if the Cyclops team wanted Rachel. Besides, Rachel would be taken out of the other ongoings she's in if she went into space and would lose her leadership position, which she earned, in X-Men.

I wouldn't get too used to that because I get the feeling the lady X-Men team isn't going to be around too much longer...they can't even lock down a creative team...and as the line-up changes maintaining it as all female becomes increasingly forced.

[Sardorim]

It at least has another arc after the Shi'ar one. Though they really should add some guys there as I know that all-lady has turned off a lot of possible readers.

Eh, Rachel seemed more like she didn't care if Wolverine and her mother hooked up. After all she didn't suggest they should, she only wondered if Wolverine found her.

[grinningdemon]

It at least has another arc after the Shi'ar one. Though they really should add some guys there as I know that all-lady has turned off a lot of possible readers.

Eh, Rachel seemed more like she didn't care if Wolverine and her mother hooked up. After all she didn't suggest they should, she only wondered if Wolverine found her.

It's Claremont's obsession...he can't resist pushing it whenever anything even remotely related to Jean or Wolverine comes up...it's way past ridiculous at this point considering both characters are currently dead. Beyond that, Claremont has proven incapable or uninterested in keeping up with events involving the characters outside of his own books and he can't even keep the characterizations straight from his own run so I really don't have a lot of faith in him as a writer anymore.

I know Lady X-Men is getting at least another arc but, unless something changes, I don't see it going too far beyond that without a relaunch.

[Sardorim]

To be fair, a lot of writers don't seem to be interested in stuff outside their books. Bendis and RR come to my mind.

A relaunch that is evenly male/female characters would do it good as it would possibly have some of the nayers, that didn't like it being all-female, end up trying the book.

They could even call it Astonishing X-Men as the relaunch title.

Personally I would have a relaunched title being..

Rachel Grey-Summers (Team Leader, officially put there by Storm)
Jubilee
Colossus (Where is he?!)
Nightcrawler (If CC is cool with it)
Monet
??? Member(s) - Would be happy with anyone else, though Boom-Boom would be amazing. Doctor Nemesis too but he seems to be tied to X-Force rather well. Forge is a supporting member of Storm's solo so wouldn't want him taken out of that. Kitty is also obviously sticking under Bendis and who knows how many hoops would be needed to be gone through for Captain Britain.


Storm has her own solo and a school to run, so I would rather she take a guest role and be the one that sends them on missions and letting the team handle it in her stead. Sorta like how Cyclops oversaw other teams in the past without actually going into the field with them.

Psylocke is nice here but I would rather she be dedicated fully to an X-Force relaunch.

[grinningdemon]

To be fair, a lot of writers don't seem to be interested in stuff outside their books. Bendis and RR come to my mind.

A relaunch that is evenly male/female characters would do it good as it would possibly have some of the nayers, that didn't like it being all-female, end up trying the book.

They could even call it Astonishing X-Men as the relaunch title.

Personally I would have a relaunched title being..

Rachel Grey-Summers (Team Leader, officially put there by Storm)
Jubilee
Colossus (Where is he?!)
Nightcrawler (If CC is cool with it)
Monet
??? Member(s) - Would be happy with anyone else, though Boom-Boom would be amazing. Doctor Nemesis too but he seems to be tied to X-Force rather well. Forge is a supporting member of Storm's solo so wouldn't want him taken out of that. Kitty is also obviously sticking under Bendis and who knows how many hoops would be needed to be gone through for Captain Britain.


Storm has her own solo and a school to run, so I would rather she take a guest role and be the one that sends them on missions and letting the team handle it in her stead. Sorta like how Cyclops oversaw other teams in the past without actually going into the field with them.

Psylocke is nice here but I would rather she be dedicated fully to an X-Force relaunch.

I know a lot of writers don't pay attention to other books but, in my opinion, Claremont should be held to a higher standard...and, like I said, he can't even keep his own stuff straight anymore.

Colossus and Nightcrawler are both in Amazing X-Men along with Storm, Firestar, Iceman, and Wolverine (until now).

I know you want it to stick, but I wouldn't get your hopes up on Rachel as team leader surviving a relaunch...I'm cool with it but I'm not sure it will take.

I'd also pull Firestar from Amazing and put her here instead because, while I like her being an X-Man, I don't like the way she's been treated in that book as an amateur and almost an Iceman groupie (ugh!)...I wouldn't mind Justice joining up too since New Warriors is ending and he's a mutant that has never been on an x-team and has history with Firestar.

I wouldn't mind a couple of the New Mutants or New X-Men characters not being used anywhere being put in like Magma or Elixir.

I'd also like to see an Excalibur revival with some of the MI 13 characters like Cap Britain, Meggan, and Pete Wisdom and possibly send Psylocke over there for a bit (she has history there and I think the X-Force concept needs to be shelved a while before they bring it back). Is Wolfsbane still alive? Because she'd be good for this book too...or Siryn (who may be dead too for all I know as I haven't kept up with PAD's X-Factor)...and, speaking of X-Factor, Polaris will need a home after the current series ends so she'd be a good addition to either of these teams. Hell, you could even toss Nate Grey into Excalibur as a nod to Rachel's time there and to actually give him something to do.

[Sardorim]

I suppose it really depends on the writer, I can see many that are currently on the X-Books completely ignoring Rachel's newfound Leadership role and growth in X-Men. A real shame as not a lot of characters are allowed to develop when apparently when development happens it gets forgotten when a new team comes along.

I would like an Excalibur revival but it wouldn't be Excalibur to me if Rachel, Kurt, and Kitty aren't in it as well.

[Vaishakh]

I wish they did a proper Excalibur relaunch with the o6(Excalibur)

I also would love to see Rachel getting Legacy title

[OmegaPower]

I suppose it really depends on the writer, I can see many that are currently on the X-Books completely ignoring Rachel's newfound Leadership role and growth in X-Men. A real shame as not a lot of characters are allowed to develop when apparently when development happens it gets forgotten when a new team comes along.

I would like an Excalibur revival but it wouldn't be Excalibur to me if Rachel, Kurt, and Kitty aren't in it as well.

I keep reading your comments about Rachels's newfound leadership role... Let me tell you something, as much as I would like this to be true, It isn't. Rachel is not the leader in X-men. Like the author said in his first interview, Rachel is the hearth of the team and gives the book the emotional kick. What we've seen so far is not Rachel being a leader or being even interested in that role, but Rachel being impulsive and doing pretty much what she wants, which is so her. Rachel doens't like to lead or follow. She has always been an emotional character and a solo material. In x-men we have Rachel doing what she does while having Psylocke and Monet following her and her decisions, simply because, she won't follow theirs.

[ZNOP]

I keep reading your comments about Rachels's newfound leadership role... Let me tell you something, as much as I would like this to be true, It isn't. Rachel is not the leader in X-men. Like the author said in his first interview, Rachel is the hearth of the team and gives the book the emotional kick. What we've seen so far is not Rachel being a leader or being even interested in that role, but Rachel being impulsive and doing pretty much what she wants, which is so her. Rachel doens't like to lead or follow. She has always been an emotional character and a solo material. In x-men we have Rachel doing what she does while having Psylocke and Monet following her and her decisions, simply because, she won't follow theirs.

Not unlike her mother, huh? The apple never falls far from the tree

[butterflykyss]

I keep reading your comments about Rachels's newfound leadership role... Let me tell you something, as much as I would like this to be true, It isn't. Rachel is not the leader in X-men. Like the author said in his first interview, Rachel is the hearth of the team and gives the book the emotional kick. What we've seen so far is not Rachel being a leader or being even interested in that role, but Rachel being impulsive and doing pretty much what she wants, which is so her. Rachel doens't like to lead or follow. She has always been an emotional character and a solo material. In x-men we have Rachel doing what she does while having Psylocke and Monet following her and her decisions, simply because, she won't follow theirs.

#truth!!!! Excellent post

[Sardorim]

I keep reading your comments about Rachels's newfound leadership role... Let me tell you something, as much as I would like this to be true, It isn't. Rachel is not the leader in X-men. Like the author said in his first interview, Rachel is the hearth of the team and gives the book the emotional kick. What we've seen so far is not Rachel being a leader or being even interested in that role, but Rachel being impulsive and doing pretty much what she wants, which is so her. Rachel doens't like to lead or follow. She has always been an emotional character and a solo material. In x-men we have Rachel doing what she does while having Psylocke and Monet following her and her decisions, simply because, she won't follow theirs.

It is, did you not read the book? Rachel early on wanted leadership. Storm demanded that they all follow her (Storm) and Storm ONLY decided on a vote, later on, because Rachel had a point and Storm clearly saw that the team was divided (Monet and Psylocke favored Rachel, Omega Sentinel (No longer on the team) favored Storm, while Jubilee remained neutral.) due to Storm expecting Leadership instead of earning or being elected to lead. Not to mention when conflict came up (Like with Omega Sentinel) the team disobey'd Storm in favor of Rachel and when Storm irrationally acted against Bloodline it was Rachel who restored Order.

Rachel has also been the one in-charge of the team's tactics, keeping the team coordinated, and coming up with plans which Storm even follows (And Monet follows much earlier than all the others even when Storm was still demanding they follow her lead). Monet has even come to call Rachel their Boss (She hasn't with Storm) and Psylocke, an experienced leader, has followed Rachel's orders without question as she trusts Rachel completely.

Where did Rachel EVER say that she would't listen to Psylocke or Monet or anyone else on the team? Fact is that Rachel has listened to their input and ultimately they deferred to Rachel in the end and Rachel, thus far, has been proven right in every situation that she took the lead.

Also you're incorrect, Rachel was the one that brought up the Leader issue early in the series and has taken command, without Storm knowing and Monet mainly following her, despite knowing that Storm wouldn't be happy yet she still followed anyway, than later Psylocke (Psylocke chose Rachel over Storm in regards to Omega Sentinel and now chose to follow Rachel without heading back to Storm). Storm never would have called a vote if Rachel didn't want to lead as no one else on the team expressed desire to be Leader over Storm but Rachel. Not to mention that no one else put forth the effort to lead, and thus earning Leadership, but Rachel.

I suggest re-reading the X-Men series again if you have it as what you described isn't the case at all.

That author isn't writing the current arc and the fact is that if that author wanted Storm as the leader than they've done a VERY poor show of it as Rachel has continued to take up leadership duties, with even Storm deferring to her, and Rachel ending up being correct every time Storm butted heads with her.

[Wind Rider]

I keep reading your comments about Rachels's newfound leadership role... Let me tell you something, as much as I would like this to be true, It isn't. Rachel is not the leader in X-men. Like the author said in his first interview, Rachel is the hearth of the team and gives the book the emotional kick. What we've seen so far is not Rachel being a leader or being even interested in that role, but Rachel being impulsive and doing pretty much what she wants, which is so her. Rachel doens't like to lead or follow. She has always been an emotional character and a solo material. In x-men we have Rachel doing what she does while having Psylocke and Monet following her and her decisions, simply because, she won't follow theirs.

X2 Quoted for truth