Phoenix Resurrection #1

CHAPTER ONE: FRUSTRATE THE SUN

Written by Matthew Rosenberg
Penciled by Leinil Frances Yu
Cover by Leinil Frances Yu
Published Dec 27, 2017

   Two kids enjoy a bike ride when they happen upon a red headed girl bleeding in the street. When they approach, she rises and speaks backwards. Later another girl walks up and asks if they want to play frisbee. She throws a pigeon into the air and it’s transformed to the girl - now in white and the kids run away.

What kind of sick magic trick is THIS?!

   Two hours later, the X-Men are on the scene. The apprehensive local sheriff explains the situation - two children were found bleeding and floating a few inches off the ground. Armed with this info, the entire extended team gathers for a briefing at the Xavier Institute. Beast does his best to explain the events to everyone, and though nobody understands it, it was enough to put Rachel in the hospital again, apparantly. Further, three arbitrary spots displayed odd energy patterns - New York, France, and the North Pole. Kitty tells them that three teams will be formed to continue the investigation.

Ok, so 3 teams... Made up of our most popular and marketable X-Men only though.

   The Gold Team, mostly anyway, goes to the old Hellfire Club. Blue team heads for France and mostly Weapon X based members head for the Arctic. In the old mansion, they tread carefully when Nightcrawler realizes they have company. In France, they walk up the stairs when Rogue is attacked by some freaky, scary lizard guy. In the tundra, they keep walking when they see old Wolverine walking towards them.

Pretty soon there will be enough Wolverines in this timeline to form their own X-Men team.

   Jubilee bites one of the Hellfire guards, realizing they’re non-human. The X-Men attack en masse. Rogue takes a nasty spill from Lizard man, but when the rest of them realizes she’s out, they battle back. And as Young Man Logan closes in, Domino shoots him in the head. It doesn’t phase him much and he gets back, clawing Sabretooth in the neck.
   Back at the Hellfire Club, the X-Men realize they’re outnumbered. They move to retreat but realize the door is gone. Colossus lowers his shoulder and bursts through the wall. In France, Lizard Man evades their attacks. Eventually it has young Hank McCoy in a bad spot but Rogue punches it out. In the snow, the Wolverine clone is slowly knifing everyone that gets close to it until eventually, Old Man Logan and his younger clone are all that’s left. Suddenly, all three conflicts are immediately ended. The soldiers, Lizard Man, and Wolverine all disappear. But above all of them, the sun rages and they all look up to stare at it.

Just an FYI, I think it's bad for even mutants to stare at the sun.

   Elsewhere at an indescript diner, two waitresses stare into the sky. Jean doesn’t seem to think much of it but Gladys describes it to their boss as what looks like a bird in the sun. Jean shuffles over to take Mr Cassidy, aka Banshee’s order and later walks home. When she returns, she tells her parents she doesn't feel well and may take a raincheck on dinner. But when they say it might upset her guest, she answers the door and there stands Scott Summers with flowers in hand. Clearly surprised, she looks at him... shocked. But what happens next will have to wait as this issue is left to be continued.

Jean appears to have a hot date with the nerdiest, oldest looking accountant version of Scott Summers like ever.

   Immediately after this issue, there's a letter Matthew Rosenberg penned about how he never got a chance to mourn Jean Gray, and when he approached Marvel execs about a way to clear up Marvel Girl's return, they agreed to let him do it. The problem is that I don't know what reality Jean is in at the moment. Is this a version of her that didn't know Scott initially? Is the girl at the beginning her from some other reality? What connection does her future daughter Rachel have to it? It's poorly explained but like many first issues, the series deserves time to develop. I'm in - and if we've finally started down the path for the original Jean Gray to return, I couldn't be happier. I give this one an 8/10.

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