A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: Jean Grey (2017-) #7
Author: Dennis Hopeless, Alberto Alburquerque (Illustrator), David Yardin (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 3/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: September 22, 2017
Book Summary: Traveling the Marvel Universe preparing herself for her inevitable encounter with the Phoenix force, JEAN GREY has learned how to fight from the likes of Namor, Thor and Psylocke. But now she wants to know more about her opponent than the best way to punch it. She wants to know what makes it tick. She wants to know what it's made of. And to learn that, she'll go to one of the few women who've harnessed its power: Wanda Maximoff, THE SCARLET WITCH!
Book Review: In this issue, we find a young Jean Grey being "haunted" by the older Jean Grey. Haunted would not be the right word, I would think to describe the older Jean. I would think younger Jean would see her as perhaps a mentor of sort but younger Jean doesn't. She seemed to be more annoyed by the fact of older Jean's presence.

The two of them begin to butt heads and this makes a spectacle of herself since she is the only one who can see "ghostly" older Jean. It is at this moment that the Scarlett Witch appears. Once Wanda has placed all the innocent humans in another place, she tells Jean that she had heard from Doctor Strange and that young Jean was a bit wound up over the Phoenix force.

Older Jean is not quite happy with the idea of the Scarlett Witch butting in and she is even made more unhappy when she whisks Jean away to the Savage Lands to enjoy some relaxation (is that what they are doing?).

Then they head to Rio to take down a monster.

All this starts to make Older Jean rather unhappy that she hijacks young Jean's body and forces her to leave Wanda behind to meet an older acquaintance - Emma Frost aka The White Queen.

Okay this issue did not even impress me at all. They made older Jean the comedy sidekick. Please don't get me wrong I enjoy humor but I don't see it Older Jean's character to be anything like that especially when she is in the seat of mentor. I believe that older Jean is really trying to help out her younger counterpart prepare for what is to come but younger Jean doesn't seem to really appreciate it at all. Maybe if younger Jean was serious about being stronger when the Phoenix arrived, she would listen to any advice Older Jean had but that won't be the case at all.

Overall, I was happy to see the Scarlett Witch and even happy that she did not treat Jean like a kid in any way, but more like a younger sister. I just wish Wanda had offered something more than being just a filler character in young Jean's quest to halt herself from being taken by the Phoenix Force.

So let's see what Emma does in the next issue.

Title: Jean Grey (2017-) #5
Author: Dennis Hopeless, Anthony Piper (Illustrator), David Yardin (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: September 18, 2017
Book Summary: After an adventure with the legendary God of Thunder himself, JEAN GREY realizes that fighting the Phoenix will take more than just mettle…it will take METAL. Luckily, there's an X-Man who knows something about turning resolve into ordnance… Enter: PSYLOCKE!
Book Review: This issue takes us on our next adventure with Psylocke.

Here we find the two of them mediating surrounded by the bloom of cherry blossoms. Of course, Jean is anything but patient and decides that this is really not for her. As she walks off, Psylocke changes the scene to a club in Philadelphia. Since Jean was not impressed with silence, Psylocke believes the noise might be better for her and encourages her to find her weapon.

Unfortunately Jean fails at this and Psylocke once more changes the scene to a cavern filled with vampires (?). Again another fail. This time decides to bring her to a building where they are making members of the Hand.

Jean: You want me to jump down there and fight an army of ninjas?
Psylocke: No, I want you to sneak in there, set a load of explosives and sneak back out.

For Jean, the course of stealth never fully runs its course with her and she finds herself fighting the army of undead Hand ninjas. There is a point in this when Psylocke must come to Jean's aid but Jean has already taken out the ninjas. This impresses Psylocke immensely and two destroy the building.

This was an interesting read. I really like Psylocke here. She is the perfect mentor for Jean. I believe she could have offered her a lot more if Jean was a bit more patient as a student. Yet we have Jean hearing voices and not knowing who is talking to her. I suppose in our next issue we will find out who it is coming from.

Title: Jean Grey (2017-) #3
Author: Dennis Hopeless, Victor Ibañez (Illustrator), David Yardin (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: July 3, 2017 to July 4, 2017
Book Summary: Desperate to find any information that will help her stave off possession by the Phoenix, Jean Grey ventures to Atlantis to entreat its surliest former host: NAMOR, THE SUB-MARINER! But Namor has his own fish to fry…And when Jean is swept up in the Sea King's madness, will she find herself in over her head?
Book Review: Teenage Jean Grey does not want to be swallowed up by the Phoenix force like her previous counterpart that she sets out to seek out advice, train, and find a way that will stop the inevitable from happening.

In this issue, we find her in the underwater realm belonging to Namor. Namor had once tangled with the Phoenix Force and come out of it unscathed but did Namor really come out of it in such a way? The way we see Namor's expression in this issue tells me that the Phoenix Force did more than scar him in a way that it has not yet been explored yet. I can only fathom that Namor wishes at the moment to leave that part of his life in the past and never really have to deal with the consequences that he is still reeling from.

Namor ends this issue with a food-for-thought to Jean. What if she could take down the Phoenix force with her bare hands?

I know many people are not fans of Namor but I thought he did really well in this issue. After all, he has tangled with the Phoenix Force in the past but how scarred is he deep inside from his encounter with it? This issue did not explore it but we can see that he is still reeling from it....that it has affected him in ways that we do not know of.

I do like the idea of Jean teaming up with others and becoming stronger than she was in the beginning. I think she is growing as a character but I believe she is trying a wee too hard to escape the Phoenix Force. This could eventually lead to her own downfall because the Phoenix Force can eventually use this against her.

Overall, I am looking forward to seeing how this story plays out and the inevitable clash between Jean and the Phoenix Force.

Title: Jean Grey (2017-) #1
Author: Dennis Hopeless, Victor Ibañez (Illustrator), David Yardin (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: May 4, 2017 to May 5, 2017
Book Summary: When a teenage JEAN GREY traveled through time and arrived in the present, she learned the terrible fate that befell her predecessor: Possessed by a cosmic entity called the Phoenix, Jean was trapped in an endless cycle of life and death. Determined to escape that future, Jean set out to write her own destiny. But now, she's visited by a premonition that the Phoenix is coming for her…and in this new ongoing series by DENNIS HOPELESS (ALL-NEW X-MEN, SPIDER-WOMAN, X-MEN: SEASON ONE) and VICTOR IBANEZ (EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN, STORM), she's going to fight tooth and nail to escape becoming its next victim!
Book Review: Real Rating: 4.5

This is not the Jean Grey you know.

This is not the Jean Grey whom was consumed by the Phoenix and died time and time again.

This Jean Grey does not want to become that Jean Grey and she is going to do everything possible to change her entire destiny but she is having these promonitions that that the Phoenix is coming for her and that there may not be any escape from it.

I haven't picked up X-Men comics in over twenty years and I thought I would return to the X-Men universe with this issue. This issue introduced me to another Jean Grey. Since I haven't followed the X-Universe in a long time, I am a bit confused as to why this Jean Grey was ripped from her world and brought to this one but I suppose as the issue progresses I will find out.

Still this issue has promise as Jean Grey navigates through this new world as she tries to change her life so that she will not share the same fate as the other Jean Grey. I am quite looking forward to seeing how this story pans out and to see if Jean and can even keep the Phoenix force at bay.