Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey #5

[lordultimus]

10 of 30 pages.

Comments

[dewinged]

I know it's about original Jean coming back (to be fair, she has been dead for quite a few years), but the teasing about other dead characters possibly coming back just to pull the football away was just needlessly cruel.

[long_silence]

The worst part is that it was pretty much completely pointless from a storytelling perspective.

The X-men weren't given a chance to have any actual reaction to seeing their dead friends, family and students used as bit players in Jean's nightmare coma fantasy and then being forced to fight these apparitions.

There's not going to be any followup in any of the books. The students aren't going to be traumatized seeing their dead friends die again in front of them, or bitter that it was only Jean who got to come back. Husk and Cannonball aren't going to talk about Icarus.

So what was the point other than to fuck with fans?

[theflames]

Can we get Cyclops and Emma back please, this is all I'm getting from this.

[arilou_skiff]

Ditto.

[mesmiranda]

That's kind of unfair. Jean is having a profound, heartfelt, emotional self-realization, and still it's all about the Love Triangle That Would Not Die?

[lordultimus]

Remember kids, the moral of the story is...

[flint_marko]

I mean, they brought Scott back just to kill him off again.

[mesmiranda]

Sure, but it's not Jean's fault!

[flint_marko]

Nobody said it was.

[bj_l]

Jeez, no one said it was. Not everything is a slight against Saint Jean.

[mesmiranda]

I know, I know. It just feels like any time Jean comes up, in comics or otherwise, it inevitably leads to a) she doesn't stay dead, b) The Love Triangle That Would Not Die, c) "Saint Jean", and she's way more than that )(and hell, Cyclops and Emma are way more than that), and I get overly defensive. I gravitate towards the characters that get tagged as "Saint Jean"--and "boy scout", for that matter--so for me seeing the whole "oh, God, here we go again with Miss Perfect Jean Grey" really sucks.

[bj_l]

I have to admit I have come around to Jean a lot more in recent years, but that's because I found stories where she's not an accessory to Scott! I still think she's a tricky character to get and too many writers fall into the trap of 'Saint Jean', but yeah, she has grown on me.

I truly believe she would have amicably ended things with Scott after the whole Twelve possession plus resurrection thing had he spoken to her.

[lucean]

To be more accurate, they brought Scott back to have him apologize to Jean and declare how she was his great love before dying off in a gruesome manner. Which rest of the X-Men just not react to.

By the way, I realize this story is written from the character perspective of Jean, but the way the current editorial treats Jeans/Scott and what it implies about Emma/Scott is making me slightly uncomfortable. It just reminds me so much about the MJ and 'Right kind of girl' talks.

[flint_marko]

I have mixed feelings.

I hate what Marvel did to Cyclops during the whole Inhumans storyline or how they've basically just replaced him with his younger self now, and I don't like how he was brought back just to die again, but I do think this is preferable to how he went out in Death of X. And I don't think him apologizing to Jean or saying that he loves her negates his relationship with Emma.

And compared to how Emma has been treated elsewhere, I don't really have a problem with her portrayal in this mini, when she helps them find where Jean is. It would have been nice if she had a larger role, or was there when Scott came back, but it's not like she was a villain or had the others acting like she had corrupted him.

[lucean]

Excellent and fair points on Emma here. I think that I'm still so much on the defensive on what Marvel did with Scott and Emma that I get a bit too easily riled up at times. I just don't have the trust towards the editorial here.

By the way, thinking and talking abotu Scott again made me realize something deeply amusing. I think everything post-Schism was in Marvel's eyes an attempt to elevate Logan even more, to have him become the actual leader of the X-Men and rise his staus even more if possible. Yet afterwards it feels like it kind of backfired as while Logan will always be Logan in terms of popularity, it does feel that Scott is the one the fanbase is more passionate about and how became a much more complex character as a result of the storyline. Seemingly against editorial's intent.

[bj_l]

No, it's about the fact Scott and Emma were in love and a great couple at Marvel with a far better dynamic than he ever had with Jean. There's not even a triangle. Scott and Jean were done when he married Madelyne. They should have remained done, but the X-Book editors (and eventually new Superstar Artist Jim Lee) wanted everything to regress not progress.

And then years later, someone decided Jason Aaron was the most important writer in the world and he decided Cyclops was a villain. And for some reason editorial and other writers except Bendis (and Mike Carey is his one glorious X-Book return) decided to agree. This isn't about a triangle. This is about a character being robbed of happiness and a future because of insane writers and editors.

Jean is a better character single and finding her place in the world. I say this as someone who doesn't really like Jean apart from the original Phoenix storyline and Morrison for the most part.

[lucean]

To be fair, I don't think the Aaron and the editorial decided that Cyclops was the villain, but rather that Wolverine was completely right about everything and was the bestest there was. Which unfortunately required Scott, in turn, be a deeply misguided person whose actions were those of a villain despite never actually doing anything that villainous and constantly being shown having a pretty good rationale for his actions while also avoiding collateral damage much better than rest of the X-Men.

I don't actually mind Scott being a tormented character as he was such a magnificently complex and compelling character due to him actually having to be a leader in dark times, but the reactions from the rest of the books were borderline insane at times.

[bj_l]

I'd need to find the quote but I'm sure it was confirmed that while most X-Men writers and editors absolutely sided with Wolvie as right but Aaron took it firther in thst he absolutely despises Cyclops.

I honestly have to add Bendis to the unfortunately short list of writers who 'get' Scott. His X-Men run had a lot of problems but Scott Summers was not one of them.

[lucean]

Out of curiosity, I actually tried to find if there was such a quote. And while I couldn't find such a thing, I did end up reading on Aaron's X-Men run and his treatment of Cyclops during and oh boy was it a lot worse than I had remembered/realized. Although, I guess in the name of fairness, there were complaints how he treated other characters as well in his efforts to push Wolverine as the greatest.

Reading the past story-arcs by the way highlighted how bizarre it all was as they seemed to genuinely want to present these morally complex situations, but at the same time kept presenting one side as being clearly in the wrong while being bizarrely hypocritical of those reasons. The approach is just so mystifying, although at the same time it is hilarious that they seemingly accidentally managed to make Scott one of the most compelling X-Men characters in a long while.

[theflames]

lol, I meant I want Scott and Emma back together, alive. Jean can do whatever she wants, no love triangle needed, she still got the hots for Logan? She should go for that.

[mesmiranda]

Ha! I agree. :)

[shadowpsykie]

yeah. and if they had brought back jean in this fashion the way they did scott people would be up in arms... and honestly, Scott and Jean and been over for some time before the mental affair.

it was a nice moment... but scott as a character worked better with Emma. Jean worked better by herself as a leader.

[kd_the_movie]

lol at nobody giving a shit about Scotts dead body.

Also hank can still fuck off.

[zachbeacon]

Remember when Beast wasn't terrible? I miss those days.

Actually Scott is the only one of the originals they managed to do anything interesting with in recent years and ... then he got to die a magnificently stupid death.

[mizerous]

Beast: Welcome back, Jean!
Jean: My husband is dead!
Beast: Welp :D

[crinos]

Seriously.

Are we just gonna ignore that Jean just straight up murdered Scott right in front of everybody?

[flint_marko]

He was dead before, and the only way he was going to stick around was if Jean accepted the Phoenix back, so it looked like he agreed with her.

[sanjuro]

The hell is up with Jeans forehead

[gnarll]

I never found the original 5/6 X-Men interesting. White WASP teen team, much like a 50s saccharine wholesome kids book. Famous Five.

Jean with the Phoenix was interesting. Jean without, not. I don't think that's going to change.

[blueprintstyles]

I still don't get why the phoenix doesn't bring back Scott. He actually did things with the Phoenix that had a major impact, he seems like a better choice.

[siamesa]

Jeannie's back!

Seriously, I was not expecting this rush of joy at seeing a years-old otp kiss, particularly under ... these circumstances, but there it is.

(Although the tone of Upcoming Events suggest I may end up spiteshipping Jean/Emma harder than ever, but then again spiteshipping Korrasami had /glorious/ results, so I'll see where the road leads.)

[silverzeo]

I thought you needed a giant blue blunt space sword to deal with the Phoenix force... I mean, the Shi'ar empire STILL killed all of Jean's family to ensure the PF doesn't seek a host close to Jean, right?

[crabby_lioness]

The words "dull" and "repetitive" should never have to be used with an X-Men book. Yet, here we are.

[kore]

I don't like the art but I liked that Scott and Jean got a goodbye. I hope it is a goodbye to those draggy issues, and that we don't have any more Evil Cyclops or the love triangle and that Jean gets to be more of a character on her own without the Phoenix.

[shadowpsykie]

I love Jean being back. I hate that they screwed over the phoenix in order to do it...

[kore]

Apparently Phoenix may be popping up in flashbacks to the B.C. Avengers in the new Avengers book by Jason Aaron? :-/

[sarahnewlin]

Am I the only one who doesn't like Scott? He just screams douche to me imo