Monday, May 8, 2017

Jean Grey #1 Review and **Spoilers** - Marvel Monday



Voices in my head sayin' that I knew better

Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Victor Ibanez
Colorist: Jay David Ramos
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Cover: David Yardin
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 3, 2017
Review by: Ryan Douglas

***NON SPOILERS AT SCORE AT THE BOTTOM***

Jean Grey is flying solo in her first ever ongoing series. Who would have thought it’d take this long to get her own title. It may not be the OG Jean Grey. But this version of Jean has own her story to tell. I wasn’t completely sold until I heard Dennis Hopeless was steering the ship. I’ve you’ve read my reviews for Spider-Woman you know I loved his run on that. Was also bummed when it ended. Knowing Dennis Hopeless can handle individual character books, let’s see if he can bring the same magic into this title.
We open the issue seeing Jean Grey eating ramen in Kyoto with baby Nightcrawler. She's reflecting on the differences between herself and the older version. We're shown a time lapse for many of the major events older Jean Grey has faced.





While Jean and Nightcrawler are enjoying their meal, the Wrecking Crew has also made their way to Kyoto attempting to rob an armored bank van. Jean isn’t having it though and plans to put them in their place. Being on a narrow street in Kyoto, Jean has no problem causing a ton of property damage to the town businesses and homes to take down the villains. At one point she even throws the armored van on top of powerline poll. Which really should have knocked out the power to the entire block. We’ll see if the Kyoto officials don't take this nicely and bills her for the damages. After almost killing a woman with a vehicle she attempts to lead the women out of her business which is about to collapse. The lady is scared out of her mind in shock and doesn’t want to move. So Jean takes it upon herself to project a horror scene into the woman's mind forcing her to run in tears and screaming for her life. She’s is scarred for life now and will never be the same. Thanks, Jean!




Heading back outside we see the Wrecking Crew attempting to scrounge up bags of money. Jean continues to ass kicking reign until a little voice in her head starts to talk to her. While Jean is dealing with voices this allows Piledriver to run off with a couple bags of cash. She shakes the weird voices and follows Piledriver into a parking garage. When she’s able to flush Piledriver out from hiding, the voices come back once again and Jean has a vision of the Phoenix speaking to her. Piledriver takes this as an opportunity to whack Jean upside the head and is able to get away. This issue ends with Jean waking up on the Blackbird surrounded by her fellow X-Men and she informs them the Phoenix is coming.


This title has potential to be great. But this first issue only left me questioning the characteristic choices. Like Jean’s disconcerting for the safety of people around her. Plus the poor lady she has scarred for life by projecting a horrific seen into her mind. I found myself overwhelmed at times with the amount of destruction being caused. Hopefully, these sort of actions will catch up with Jean as we move forward. I can’t see the Kyoto city being fine with the carnage she caused on this little strip of the city. I feel it’s pretty bold to introduce the Phoenix this early and have hopes Dennis Hopeless can deliver on that end. Also, I wonder if all these X-titles will stay in the continuity of each other. Lately, each of these titles is introducing huge plots that would feel as if they must connect at some point. Regardless, Jean Grey is a title I will stick around for to see how all this plays out. Out of all the RessurXion titles released to date, X-Men Blue and Jean Grey have stuck with me the most. As far as the art, I really dig Victor Ibanez’s pencils. But feel the colors don’t vibe well together. The pencils really tend to want to pop off the page but the colors are holding that back. Maybe we’ll see David Yardin hop on board soon for colors. Because his cover should reflect the interiors for me personally.

Bits and Pieces:

Some of Jean’s choices come off a bit out of character and makes me wonder if that will catch up to her. Dennis Hopeless waste no time introducing a piece of X-Men legacy into the mix leaving me wanting to stick around to see how this plays out. But was still left with some concerns moving forward on this book.

7/10



No comments:

Post a Comment