Generations: Phoenix & Jean Gray #1 Review - Marvel Monday

Generations: Phoenix & Jean Gray #1 Review

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Art Team: R.B. Silva, Adriano Di Benedetto, Rain Beredo

Marvel Comics                 

Release Date: August 9, 2017

Cover Price: $4.99

Burn It Like the Phoenix Would

In case you weren’t fully informed about Generations, by the end of this issue, it’s pretty clear, in concept, the direction this lineup is headed in. To me it’s now a shameless cash grab to help supplement Marvels comic book sales. The quality of the stories provided, for $5 per issue, is severely lacking an interesting thru line between the books, and I’ve lost complete interest two issues into this series already. So with that said let’s now discuss Generations: Jean Gray or maybe we shouldn’t?

This Generations issue starts exactly like last Generations issue only with Jean Gray magically transported into this ‘Vanishing Point’ in time, instead of Hulk … hey at least in this case Jean is sent to the beach instead of a desert to fight the army!

It’s not long before Young Jean stumbles her way into Older Jean, looking mighty fine in a bikini, as we begin our journey into being bombarded with endless narration throughout the issue. A creepy dude in a speedo, more on him later, tries to seduce Older Jean, who makes it clear she’s just here trying to relax and not interested in company. When the creeper with a bulge leaves, Older Jean calls out Young Jean for snooping and being present, as the two then begin chatting a bit.

Young Jean is initially overwhelmed by ‘the Phoenix’, and decides to take the opportunity to question Jean about this force in rapid fire style. Older Jean doesn’t think this is the place to talk about things (an empty beach area?) and the two head off to lunch where they continue not to talk about the Phoenix. We then follow the pair as they head off to a night club, for a night of dancing, and more of that creepy dude. This creepy guy popping up is revealed to be Mastermind (who has a history with Older Jean) but it’s simply that a call out to establish possible time and place of this setting, while also adding a layer of drama for some reason only Young Jean recognizes.

The two the leave the club, with Young Jean still seeking the answers she desires about the Phoenix, as Older Jean takes her into space. The pair of Jean’s fly among the cosmos and they eventually arrive on a planet far far away. Pretty quickly we get hints of shit going down here as the native aliens are discovered to be running for their lives. Terrax and Galactus are revealed to be responsible as they show up to be the issues big bad out of nowhere and a fight begins occurring.

Phoenix is first up to battle the threat, quickly dispatching Terrax, before moving her attention on over to Galactus.  Terrax begging for his life begins to distract the Phoenix force, which Galactus takes advantage of to get the drop on Older Jean/Phoenix knocking her out temporarily.  Sensing she’s the last line of defense Young Jean sucks ‘energy’ from everyone within range, including the citizens, bad guys, and the Phoenix herself, channeling this ‘energy’ into ONE punch that knocks ‘sense’ into Galactus, as he and his herald take off after that display of power with their tail between their legs.

The issue beings its conclusion with a final, mostly pointless, cameo from the old school Watcher.  He basically freezes time telling Young Jean she has a decision to make about what to reveal to Older Jean about her future, either Young Jean tell Older Jean about her future possessed by the Phoenix, or stays quiet? After some internal debate she decides to keep all she knows to herself and is whisked away back home as the story concludes.

Overall, after reading this issue, it was enough to allow me to make the determination that these Generations titles just aren’t for me.  The stories feel empty, in both this issues, with no information being given to the reader about the purpose for these meetings to take place.  This issue spends an entire majority of the page count telling you how powerful the Phoenix is, only to watch it defeated quickly, and for a non-Phoenix Younger Jean to solve the problem in one page, it just filler and a waste of time in my opinion. At this point the younger heroes are showing up the experienced heroes so whats anybody learning from all this?

The art is again about the only saving grace here as the locations and character models all look fantastic.   If you feel like spending $5 on something pretty to look at, that is a mild celebration of the Younger Jean Gray, this may be for you … for others stay away and save your dough.

Bits and Pieces

Generations: Jean Gray is another forgettable Marvel cash grab that doesn’t provide much of a story to enjoy but does find success artistically. Grab this ‘Generations’ Marvel imprint at your own risk and only if you are a completionist of character collecting.

5.0/10