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Jean Grey #8 Review: Continues The Investigation, But Not A Good Jumping-On Point

Jean Grey #8 from Marvel Comics by Dennis Hopeless and Victor Ibanez is the first issue in the series falling under the Marvel Legacy banner, continuing the teen Jean Grey's mission to try and find a way to stand up to the Phoenix Force that is making its way to Earth — and it may be out to take her over.

Unfortunately, as it continues this story of Jean fighting to keep her mind and sanity against the cosmic entity barrelling towards her, it means that this issue doesn't make for a great jumping-on point for new readers. As part of Marvel Legacy, part of the hope is to attract new readers to their titles, but with this one, I'll be honest — even I had trouble following the start of this issue.

Jean Grey
Jean Grey #8 cover by Mike Mayhew

The beginning of the issue takes a bit of a jump since the end of the previous one, and even as someone who's been following the series from the start, it is a little bit disorienting. However, once I got up to speed, I enjoyed the fun back and forth between the teen Jean lead star and her backup, the spirit of her adult self.

The pair is inside the mind of Emma Frost, which entertainingly looks like the Grant Morrison era of X-Men. The pair are on the hunt for something — now, in the previous issue, adult Jean's ghost was making a point of not telling anyone what that was, so to just hear them talking about looking for this mysterious thing does feel jarring.

However, Ibanez's art is some of the best of the series so far, and seeing them play with the Morrison era Frank Quitely designs is pretty fun.

Once we see what that mysterious thing that the Jeans is after is, it makes sense — to those who have already been following the series, at least.

It's a fun story, it's got great artwork, and in the grand scheme of the story through the series, it is a great and logical next step. It takes into account some old, forgotten plot threads, which is nice to see for existing readers. Unfortunately, I think it would overall be a little confusing to anyone coming into this fresh.


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Joe GlassAbout Joe Glass

Joe Glass has been contributing to Bleeding Cool for about four years. He's been a roaming reporter at shows like SDCC and NYCC, and also has a keen LGBTQ focus, with his occasional LGBTQ focus articles, Tales from the Four Color Closet. He is also now Bleeding Cool's Senior Mutant Correspondent thanks to his obsession with Marvel's merry mutants. Joe is also a comics creator, writer of LGBTQ superhero team series, The Pride, the first issue of which was one of the Top 25 ComiXology Submit Titles of 2014. He is also a co-writer on Stiffs, a horror comedy series set in South Wales about call centre workers who hunt the undead by night. One happens to be a monkey. Just because.
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