What if? Astonishing X-men #1
What if? Astonishing X-men #1 deals with the possibility of Jean’s return to the X-men at the hands of Ord of Breakworld.
Astonishing X-men began in 2004 nearly immediately after Jean’s death in New X-men. It was written by Joss Whedon and penciled by John Cassaday. Whedon gave the readers “subtle” hints that Jean Grey would be making her return early on the series but instead of going with the this idea, he decided it was time to resurrect Colossus who had died at the start of the new millennium.
What if? Astonishing X-men #1 is written by Jim McCann (New Avengers: The Reunion) and pencilled by David Yardin (X-men Origins: Gambit). The story basically deals with the return of Jean Grey and how her friends and ex- husband deal with her return. Emma Frost, (naturally enough) is less than thrilled at Jean’s return and basically wants her out of the mansion. Jean herself gets a piece of action at the start, defeating Ord with her mental abilities and it appears that she also no longer possesses the infinite powers of the Phoenix Force. The X-men even have a “Welcome Back Jean” party which everyone will probably laugh at. She even has a slightly redesigned costume, with the black neck of her Phoenix costume stretching across the shoulders.
What if? Astonishing X-men #1 will be in your local comic book shop around the 23rd of December and will make a perfect stocking filler for any Jean Grey fan this Christmas!
Link to the preview for images.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=4111&disp=table
Jean Grey vs. Emma Frost
It’s the fight you have all been waiting to see and thanks to CBR, I’ve found a battle between the two telepathic goddesses. In an X-men 2 film special edition of the magazine called Wizard, Grant Morrison (New X-men writer at the time) shared his thoughts on who would win in a fight between the Phoenix and the White Queen.
Jean Grey’s Return
In February 2004 Jean Grey perished at the hands of Xorn, a man who looked like and had the same powers as Magneto, the Master of Magnetism.
In June 2005 Jean Grey was resurrected in a story called Phoenix Endsong which saw her being resurrected by the Phoenix Force once more. The Phoenix Force used Jean to take on a life of its own and buried Jean within the ice in the North Pole. The malevolent entity possessed Emma Frost and attacked the X-men. Suddenly Jean Grey rose from her icy grave and her and the Phoenix became one. She became the White Phoenix of the Crown and went to the White Hot Room to collect the missing pieces of the Phoenix Force.
Since then it looks like 2010 will be the year of the Phoenix. In 2009 Rachel Grey lost her connection to the Echo of the Phoenix Force (a less powerful form of the Phoenix Force) and muttered the words, “please…not now…mom”.
On the island of Utopia the Stepford Cuckoos lost the fragments of the Phoenix Force which they had imprisoned in their diamond hearts during the Phoenix Warsong event. They are currently in a coma.
These two events suggest that Jean Grey is calling back all the fragments of the Phoenix Force in preparation for her next resurrection.
Emma Frost recently encountered a woman who resembled Jean Grey in her mind when she was attacked by Regan Wyngarde a.k.a. Lady Mastermind of the Sisterhood of Mutants. The woman freed Emma from Wyngarde’s psychic trap and disappeared.
Since the events of the Messiah Complex a girl with red hair and green eyes was born and was named the Mutant Messiah. She was taken to the future by her adoptive father Cable and is now a teenager who bares an uncanny resemblance to Jean Grey. The so called Mutant Messiah has also displayed twin phoenix raptors in her eyes.
All this evidence points to Jean Grey’s resurrection and with Second Coming (the return of the Mutant Messiah to the present) arriving in March, you have to admit that this title may be more than meets the eyes.
Conor McKenna
Welcome Our New Writer at Jean-Grey.com – Conor McKenna
Hi everyone! I’m the new writer at Jean-Grey.com. I’ll be writing about Jean Grey a lot now.
I first saw Jean Grey in the first X-men movie and the animated series X-men Evolution, so I’ve been a Jean fan for nearly ten years. My first Jean Grey comic was from the New X-men series and it was a story called Murder at the Mansion. I sympathised with Jean when she found out that her husband Scott Summers, was having a telepathic affair with Emma Frost, the White Queen. When I saw Jean Grey’s awesome powers in one of the splash pages I was crying out for more. I went to my local comic book shop the next day and bought the first volume of the X-men. I read it within the next seventy two hours and loved it.
I felt that Jean Grey was a symbol of power back in the sixties, where many women were usually oppressed. Especially in the comics where the Invisible Girl was getting barely any action in the Fantastic Four and Wasp’s role in the Avengers comics was getting as small as her size. Over the years Jean has established herself as an essential member of the X-men and a loving and compassionate character who would do anything for her husband and her friends.
Now Jean Grey fans, as we know, Jean Grey has been dead for nearly six years now and the purpose of Jean-Grey.com is to keep her memory alive! If you want to see me writing about anything you can post it on the website (or email us at admin@jean-grey.com) and we would also love to hear your opinions of the character. As her dedicated fans it is our job to keep Jean Grey’s memory alive in the world as it is today.
Conor McKenna
Review of Jean Grey in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is based around the story of the Civil War comics event that took place in 2006-2007. The game itself is similar to its predecessor with the added feature of a new attack known as a fusion, which sees two heroes combining their powers to defeat an opposing enemy or threat to them.
In July 2009 Jean Grey fans were happy to hear that she was indeed playable in this installation of the series. The game developers said in an interview that they had always planned to include Jean in the game and that she was one of the characters who was favoured by a lot of the game developers.
In the game Jean possesses both her telepathic and telekinetic powers and even has access to some Phoenix powers such as resurrection. Her default outfit in the game is her Phoenix outfit and her alternate outfit is her X-men First Class costume. She is unlocked by collecting five pieces of the M’Krann Crystal throughout the course of the game. She has special conversations with her son, Cable and the Young Avenger, Patriot. In the game Jean is listed as being a crowd control character.
Overall Jean Grey really lives up to her name in this game and she is a valuable asset to any team in the game. Her telepathic and telekinetic powers are very powerful and her Phoenix powers are kept at a certain level, so fans can experience her as a superhero rather than a goddess. She has excellent fusions with other characters such as Cyclops (only playable on the PS2 and Wii platforms) and Storm. Jean Grey is really all the fans expected and more in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
Conor McKenna