Jean Grey vol. 1: Nightmare Fuel

I’ve mentioned before that writer Dennis Hopeless’ run on “All-New X-Men” was the most pleasant surprise of the previous round of “X-Men” relaunches.  It’s why I decided to pick up his latest series the “Jean Grey” solo title.  Now, I don’t think the comics-reading world was really clamoring for a solo series about the time-displaced teenage Jean Grey.  Particularly one where she deals with the return of the Phoenix.  Again.  So it’s a credit to Hopeless that he makes the six issues collected here a lot more fun than that setup would suggest.

While these six issues are primarily concerned with Jean’s reaction to the Phoenix’s return, they also double as reasonably self-contained superhero stories where she teams up with a number of other heroes.  Expect to see the likes of Hope Summers, Namor, the Odinson, Psylocke, and Doctor Strange as Jean tries to get some insight into this impending threat… as well as the mysterious voice that’s knocking around in her head.  The stories are fun little tales with enough twists to keep boredom at bay.  Better still is Hopeless’ zippy dialogue which is both entertaining to read and captures the voice of each character quite well.

Though this volume also boasts four different artists tackling the six issues collected here, it’s not as much a cause for concern as you may think.  Victor Ibanez handles the first three and he turns in some well-rendered versatile work.  He’s makes illustrating a fight in Kyoto, fiery brain damage, and an undersea battle look credible and interesting to behold.  Harvey Tolibao gives us the Odinson’s story with an impressive level of detail attached to it.  Anthony Piper’s adventure with Psylocke doesn’t have that detail, but still delivers on characterization and storytelling.  Paul Davidson rounds things out and shows that he’s at his best when he’s given some really crazy stuff to draw while also taking us on a nostalgia-infused trip through Jean’s history.  That appears to be the series’ other aim as the reveal on the last page makes clear.  It’ll be a trip worth taking if Hopeless and company can maintain this level of quality.