Where we last left off Jean Grey, she had decided to face the Phoenix head on despite getting much reinforcements to assist her in the battle against the Phoenix Force but alas, it came at a price but has survived that price?
With the events of Phoenix Resurrection over and done with, the (sadly) final issue of Jean Grey can commence given issue 10 left off with a whopper of an ending where the Phoenix force straight up blew up the time displaced Jean Grey. It certainly left me dying to know what happens next.
The book written by Dennis Hopeless with art by Victor Ibanez has been a very engaging read for me even when it was first announced. I loved the writer, I loved Jean Grey’s new look and upon looking at the book, I was definitely entertained and it’s not just the best the time displaced Jean Grey had ever been written, it’s the best the character has been written-period. I love this character’s attitude and her responses to certain situations and what her future self has done, even with Emma Frost. It’s very engaging and entertaining and certainly the entire course of the book made her sympathetic to her plight about not wanting to have the same fate as her future counterpart. Hell, the lampshading on what came before was among the things enough to sell me on this book.
It’s among those that have me rooting for the character to survive especially with issue 10 as I was constantly worried if she was going to make it or not. Hopeless is extremely good at writing characters whether it’d be women or men. He brings a lot of energy and is able to make any character compelling to read even when they already were. If somebody wasn’t a fan of Jean Grey before, I’d like to think this would be the book to sell them on the character especially time displaced Jean.
While I’m sad that this is the final issue of the book, it does end up being the most appropriate way to end the title. The entire issue culminates into her jumping into different time periods of meeting different hosts to facing the Phoenix Force itself head on. And it’s actually pretty clever and it kind of felt like Quantum Leap meets Silent Hill in a way. Okay, it’s not graphic save for one moment as to how the time displaced Jean gets resurrected and brought back to Earth which felt something straight out of Hellraiser, but I mean more on the psychological side of things. Which culminates into a great moment where the Phoenix Force is pissed at her despite resurrecting the OG adult Jean Grey completely, it just hates teen Jean but she doesn’t let what the Phoenix Force say bother her. I don’t want to give it away completely but it encapsulates everything I love about this iteration of the character.
Dennis Hopeless really sells this issue. It seems pretty clear he knew this would be the final issue and decided to give it his all until the very end (and setting up what happens in X-Men: Red for Tom Taylor to write). The book simply never has a dull moment and how can it given what’s at stake for Jean herself? It’s well executed. The art by Ibanez along with assistance from Alberto Albuquerque help much as they provide plenty of fun facial expressions from everyone from teen Jean’s smirk to the rage of each Phoenix host. They certainly nailed those moments very well enough.
If you love the works of Dennis Hopeless or liked Jean Grey before, this is the book to pick up. Buy the trades, buy this issue or previous ones, whichever. I highly recommend this title through and through. Check it out!
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
