Marvel's New Beginnings: Marvel NOW!
As I previously reported earlier, the Jean Grey tease that we all got may have been bullshit, but it did tie into Marvel's next big initiative for the post-Avengers vs. X-men world. They're calling it Marvel NOW!, but they might as well be calling it (Suck it, DC! We can do this shit too without dumping the continuity!). Marvel is calling it a relaunch, but it is NOT a reboot. The continuity, including shit like the Clone Saga and the Chuck Austin run on Uncanny X-men still stands. But they promise to relaunch multiple books over the course of several months, mixing and matching superhero teams so that the Avengers and the X-men effectively blend. It's a whole new superhero world complete with costume redesigns. Once again, it promises to put Marvel on the same level as DC in terms of relaunching titles into a new class of books. Details are light, but chances are Marvel is waiting until Comic Con where they can announce these details to a hoard of female cos-players dressed as Emma Frost.
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| Can't say I blame them. |
And what about Jean Grey? While I did make my dismay over using time travel to bring her back painfully apparent (sue me, I was sober), Brian Bendis did offer this in the article:
And of course, the time-travel shenanigans at the center of All-New X-Men will bring fan-favorite character Jean Grey back to the mainstream comics continuity for the first time since her (second) death in 2004. “It’s the one thing X-Men fans have always asked for is: They want Jean Grey back. But they want Jean Grey. Not reincarnated Jean, or the ghost of Jean. Well, you’re getting Jean back. And Jean is gonna be looking at a world that rattles her.” And Bendis brings up an intriguing personal connection when he talks about writing the beloved character: “I love feisty redheads. I’ve been married for many years to a very feisty redhead. But I’ve never applied that to writing before. I didn’t even realize what I was doing, but Stuart Immonen is drawing the book, and looking at it I realized: ‘Ha ha, I’m doing my wife!’”
So could there be hope? For Jean Grey fans, probably not. But at least Marvel isn't ignoring it. I still plan on getting drunk and reviewing the shit that happens along the way so expect plenty of ranting in the meantime! If more details emerge, I'll be sure to blog them (again, if I'm sober). But before I go, I want to end this entry on a positive note so here are some hot Marvel women to celebrate this new beginning for Marvel comics.
I don't know if I should be insulted or excited about time travel Jean. We'll see Bendis better have a lot of Jean in this book.
ReplyDelete1960's Jean coming to this timeline could be hilarious if done right. Imagine a racist/anti-Semitic/homophobic Jean Grey. Her interactions with Storm, Kitty Pryde, Northstar, Karma, and Xfactor would make people wet themselves with laughter. But seriously, I'm looking for gingers with a grudge to go into marvel HQ dressed as Jean and declare Jihad in Jean's name. The trollish thing is that they even said "marvel fans have wanted this since 2004" and we still get some fucking time traveling Jean, just bring the fucking woman back!!
ReplyDeleteFrustrated ginger here. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm actually kinda curious to see what they do with young Jean. While the new Marvel isn't exactly a complete reboot, bringing Jean into a storied present could have some serious ramifications. What happens when she finds out about Phoenix/Dark Phoenix? I just hope they don't drag that scenario out like they did with Hope.
Excellent! The Red Army is one step closer to destroying marvel. Your passionate frustration and hatred will be molded into a firey blade of blood for those bastards at marvel! They. Will. SUFFER!
DeleteI know I shouldn't get too excited about a fucking time travel story. Besides, I think we already had that shit with Iron Age when Iron Man traveled back in time to take on Dark Phoenix. It was decent, but it didn't change jack shit. If Bendis is just going to tell a simple time travel arc that shows Jean Grey being pissed at how fucked the future is, then that's not much of a story if it doesn't change anything. If it somehow leads to her return, then I'm all for it. But if it's just her and the others seeing their world fucked up, I say fuck it. Just say no to bullshit time travel. It's akin with clones and replacement character, two things Marvel has already done to death with Jean.
ReplyDeleteJack
if it is the real jean doesn't that just fuck up her continuity even more?
ReplyDeleteOh they'll probably all be mind wiped before they go back to the past. The youngin's will be none the wiser and the older counterparts will be forced to acknowledge how bleak their lives really are. Or something like that.
DeleteYou're probably right. If Marvel is serious about NOT rebooting and NOT fucking up their continuity, this time travel story will be just as ineffective as Iron Age. Bendis says it's a character story, as if seeing how fucked up your life gets is anything else. If by chance it leads to Jean doing something that allows her old self to come back, then fine. But I don't get why Marvel went out of their way to tease Jean Grey's return before announcing this shit a few days later. It just seems like a dick move. Maybe we'll get more details from Comic Con, but for now I'm just seeing this whole time travel element as another bullshit way to avoid bringing Jean Grey back yet again.
DeleteJack