The cover is pretty awesome. You have Jean front and center, and the Fantastic Four recoiling from her. It gives the impression that Jean is imposing and frightening. It makes sense, considering Jean was believed to have been the Dark Phoenix at the time.
"Like a Phoenix!"
Writers: John Byrne, Chris Claremont
Pencilers: John Byrne, Jackson Guice
Inker: Terry Austin
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Michael Carlin
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins with the FF returning home from an adventure in space. This comes from the events of Fantastic Four Annual #19 (November 1985), where they and the Avengers failed to stop a bomb from going off that stripped the Skrulls of their species' ability to shapeshift. They got that power back, as Secret Invasion clearly showed. The Avengers returned to Earth, but the FF decided to play "Star Trek" and do some space exploration for a while.
She-Hulk remarks that with all the detours that the group has taken, she had wondered if the FF would ever return home. Yeah, at the time, the Sensational She-Hulk had joined the Fantastic Four, as the Thing had opted to stay on Battleworld after the events of the first Secret Wars. The two of them attempt to land their craft at JFK International Airport, but they're told to divert to La Guardia instead. The air traffic controller explains an incident happened, but the Avengers had it handled.
Since Avengers Mansion doesn't have a landing place for their craft, they'll have to land at La Guardia and take a taxi. Heh heh, keep in mind, the Fantastic Four are famous celebrities. The idea of them having to call a taxi to get to the headquarters of another team of superheroes is hilarious to me. In case you're wondering, the FF have been staying at Avengers Mansion at this point because their old headquarters, the Baxter Building, was destroyed by Kristoff Vernard in Fantastic Four #278 (May 1985). The group arrive and Cap recounts the events of Avengers #263 to him. He then shows Reed the cocoon.
Yeah, if you read Avengers #263, you'd know it was Jean in there. Nobody recognizes her, which makes more sense than you think. The Fantastic Four encountered the X-Men for the first time in Fantastic Four #28 (July 1964). During that time, the X-Men were wearing their original costumes, which included masks. The two groups would meet again during the events of X-Men: The Hidden Years #8-9 (July-August 2000), but Jean still had a mask as part of her costume. Captain America worked with Jean during the events of Captain America #172-174 (April-June 1974), battling the original Secret Empire. If you want to learn more about the original Secret Empire storyline, I reviewed the climax of that storyline right here. None of the heroes at that point ever saw Jean unmasked, so it does make sense they have no idea who she is.
Johnny Storm, bored with the idea of waiting around while Reed does research, decides to go out on a date. She-Hulk agrees, as she wants to catch up with her beloved Wyatt Wingfoot. Despite this, She-Hulk admits she does find Hercules rather impressive. The next morning, Jarvis arrives to give them some breakfast, and Reed realizes they've spent the last eight hours at this mystery without break.
The time wasn't a complete waste, though. Reed managed to lock on to Jean's brainwaves, and he thinks she may be in a form of suspended animation. As for the pod's defensive energies, Jean's unconscious mind is the reason for them. Jarvis surmises that maybe she has superpowers. Remember, none of the heroes here have ever seen Jean Grey unmasked. They have no idea she was in the X-Men. Reed is going to try and wake her up, using a "gentle bio-radiant stimulation of her conscious mind". That's when the craziness starts. First it's Jarvis's coffee, and then it's give Sue Storm-Richards one heck of a wake-up call.
Sue realizes Reed did something in the lab again, and she'd better get down there. In the lab, Cap, Hercules, and Reed are been sent flying around, but it's not the pod. It's Jean herself. Reed activates a device that causes the pod to break apart, releasing Jean Grey.
The original X-Men member is back, still thinking she is dealing with the events of X-Men #98-100 (April-August 1976). She is confused when she realizes she's not at Steven Lang's SHIELD satellite, and Lang himself isn't there. Reed explains who he is and she's in Avengers Mansion. Jean isn't convinced. After all, last time she saw the Fantastic Four, they wore blue costumes, not black ones. The FF's suits were turned black due to the properties of the Negative Zone causing an inversion of their costumes' colors when they came back to Earth from it in Fantastic Four #256 (July 1983). Reed tells her he'll explain if she puts him and the other heroes down.
Jean refuses, believing that they're robotic duplicates. At the time, Jean had just had an encounter with the X-Sentinels, robotic duplicates of the original X-Men created by Steven Lang. If he could create robotic simulacrums of the X-Men, he could do ones based on other heroes, too. She's knocked to the ground by an invisible battering ram. Jean tries to attack the arriving Sue, but her powers do not work on the First Family of Superheroes' matriarch. Sue explains that her powers are working, it's just her forcefields are able to cancel them out somehow. Taking advantage, she traps Jean in a force bubble, and the other three heroes fall to the ground. With that, Jean gives up.
Reed realizes that Jean is Marvel Girl of the original X-Men. Jean demands to know why Lang is doing this. She will not beg. She will not grovel. She is an X-Man, and she is stronger than that. Cap explains that Marvel Girl vanished years ago. Reed orders Sue to drop her forcefield, saying they can convince her they are the real deal by putting themselves at her mercy. Jean is left confused...and very tired.
Jarvis gives her a chair so she can rest, and offers her some tea. Jean is very confused, and recalls the last things she can remember, the Sentinel attack on Christmas Eve, Steven Lang's attempt to kill her, the battle with the X-Sentinels, her seemingly sacrificing herself to help get the other X-Men back to Earth, that kind of thing. She knows something else happened, but can't remember. Reed does recall that Sentinel attack, and Cap claims the government disavowing any knowledge or support of Lang's little genocide attempt.
Sue points out that none of it explains how Jean ended up in the bottom of Jamaica Bay. She suggests that Reed try the Bio-Stimulator again, but Reed refuses. He said he would not have used it in the first place if he knew Jean had mental powers. To use it again could give her permanent brain damage. I'm guessing people with mental powers have some sort of sensitivity to the system or something like that, I have no idea.
Jean suggests they take her to Professor Xavier, as he may be able to help her. He's one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth. If he can't help her find her lost memories, no one can. She needs the X-Men. Cap says that is not such a good idea right now. Recently, after an attack by the superhuman Nazi twins known as Fenris, Xavier got badly hurt. Evidently, his injuries were so severe he needed to go to space to heal. As such, he handed over the Xavier Institute to Magneto. Jean takes it well.
Sue confirms it, having seen the X-Men and Magneto work together during the first Secret Wars. Jean is shocked and horrified. The change seems to be a bit much for her. It's kind of understandable. She's lost several years, and her old friends have seemingly joined up with their oldest and greatest enemy. She begs the heroes to take her to her parents' home.
Reed advises against this, saying that he has no idea about her family's status, and they may not take her suddenly being around after seemingly being dead for years. Sue tells Reed that Jean is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and she needs people she loves and trusts around her right now. She can empathize, as she's still dealing with the mental trauma of the Psycho-Man's emotional assault on her in Fantastic Four #280-282 (July-September 1985). Jean needs familiarity in some form. Reed relents. Hercules agrees to come along, as he feels it is ignoble to ignore a woman in need. Cap agrees to come along as well, but he has to check something first.
Some time later, Reed, Sue, and Hercules take Jean to her family's home in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Yes, it's a real place. However, Sue only keeps getting an answering machine. Hercules notes the door appears to be locked. So, he deals with this problem the only way he knows how.
Hercules in the 80s tended to be a bit of a lunkhead. Jean tells him off and shows a key hidden under a fake rock. The group go in, and Hercules find a odd-looking little crystal ball with Jean's image in it. When he picks up the ball, he ends up getting...feelings. He feels Jean's essence, everything she is in it. Reed realizes the ball is a "holempathic matrix crystal", an advanced device that transmits a person's essence upon touch, a very intimate device. This was given to Jean's family by Lilandra, Queen of the Shi'Ar in X-Men #138 (October 1980). Why they didn't take it with them when they clearly moved out is anyone's guess.
However, the Grey family's forgetfulness is a benefit for Jean. Reed suggests that Jean touch it, as it may help fill in the blanks of her memory. Jean Grey is naturally a bit frightened to take the device. Back at Avengers Mansion, Captain America is trying to do some research on Jean, but he's drawing a blank. He then realizes she was in the X-Men...with the Beast! And Beast was an Avenger himself once! Cap then recalls a file Henry McCoy made about Jean. He basically recaps the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sagas, expressing that if Phoenix were to return, humanity could be doomed.
Jean is scared of what the crystal will reveal, but Reed assures her that she is strong enough to handle it. She is one of the original five X-Men, after all. Jean, feeling reassured by Reed's words, touches the alien device. Reed, Sue, and Hercules find themselves in the memories of the crystal, silent observers. The device replays Jean's sacrifice to save the X-Men from re-entry...but something else happened. A weakened Jean, dying from radiation poisoning, starts seeing a strange light and hearing an equally odd celestial music, like the stars themselves are singing a soothing song to her.
She refuses to quit, as Scott and the X-Men need her to get the shuttle safely to Earth. A being of pure light approaches her.
Reed theorizes Jean was visited by some energy being while she was dying in the shuttle. Hercules notices that everything has seemingly paused, which Reed believes is the energy being causing time to go still somehow. The being explains that she has come in response to Jean's need for aid. The being wonders how Jean is able to endure the radiation like this, and Jean remarks she is too stubborn to quit, and she wants to save the X-Men...especially Scott "Cyclops" Summers. The being explains that it is "the Universe", basically some kind of cosmic being. She came to help. Jean wants her to save the X-Men...and admittedly, she's scared of dying. The being tells her she can help...but at a price. The energy being touches Jean, and this happens.
Cap believes the being that crashed the shuttle was Phoenix, believing it was Jean, but was actually a being of pure evil. But Jean was able to stop it. Reed recalls the being knew the risks of taking a human form. Jean fears that her humanity turned the Phoenix evil, maybe it somehow drove it insane. Cap believes that the being's power rebelling against Jean's will caused it. When the Phoenix took Jean's place, it duplicated her down to the atom, imitated her so perfectly even a telepath like Charles Xavier didn't notice. Sue sums it up: She gave the Phoenix humanity. She gave it a soul. Phoenix willing to kill itself on the Moon rather than let it rampage again, and to Cap, it shows the power of the human spirit, that it can triumph even over the cosmic-level power of the Phoenix.
I love Jean's face in this panel. I know it's supposed to be relief, but I can't help but imagine that she's also fangirling out a bit about Captain America talking to her. Next comes the epilogue. Jean is staying at Avengers Mansion in the meantime. She's decided to save contacting her family and friends until she can figure out a better way to explain her return to them. She's also dealing with her telepathic power being damaged. The story ends with Reed Richards picking up the phone and making a call. As for who Reed is calling? Well, you'll have to read X-Factor #1 to find out!
This comic was...perfectly fine. Admittedly though, I do find the attempt to explain and differentiate the Pheonix from Jean is a bit awkward, but there is a reason for that. You see, Jim Shooter had ordered a last-minute change to the ending of this comic. Chris Claremont and Jackson Guice had stepped in to provide the new ending.
John Byrne's original ending had established that the Phoenix being was always malicious. The reason why it acted as Jean for so long was because in an attempt to stop Phoenix, Jean telepathically transmitted all her memories into the being. The changes from this version Shooter ordered angered Byrne, and he demanded his name be taken off the comic's credits. It does make the book a bit disjointed as a result. If you want to see some of the original Byrne pages, I'm sure Google has them, and they've also been reprinted in X-Factor Epic Collection Vol. 1: Genesis and Apocalypse.
Some may find the callback to previous stories a bit of a slog. Me, though? I love it. I love when previous stories are called back to and built on. It gives the feeling that these events had an impact and that they mattered. I love continuity and history. I love the callbacks.
Both Guice and Byrne turn in some great art. Byrne is in his prime here, and admittedly, I didn't notice Guice's different style at first. I thought it was Byrne at first.
Do I recommend reading this? Well, for the historical value at the very least, I say so. It was a controversial moment at the time, as some fans felt bring Jean back weakened the impact of the Dark Phoenix Saga. This story would also lead to further retcons and reinterpretations of the relationship between Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force, making things more confusing. To me, this is a forebearer to how confusing and crazy the X-Books will get continuity-wise in the future.
Next time, we travel to the DC Universe, as Superman deals with a certain..."fantastic" foursome...
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