Written by Dennis Hopeless / Drawn by Victor Ibanez
After a disappointing first issue that didn’t suggest anything new or fun was going to happen to one of Marvel’s oldest characters in her first solo series, issue 2 ramps up the excitement levels to the point that it feels like an entirely different book – a book written by the same Dennis Hopeless who gave us the wonderful Spider-Woman series which wrapped up at the start of the year.
After sensing that the Phoenix Force is on its way to find her, Jean Grey gets in touch (via Cerebro, naturally) with every previous Phoenix host she can find – which includes established characters like Colossus, newer ones like Quentin Quire and “oh yeah she’s still around!” characters like Hope. Hopeless handles the different interactions Jean has with each of her fellow mutants deftly, and artist Victor Ibanez clearly had a ball drawing each of them, especially during their chaotic fight with the Reavers. Jean Grey #2 feels like a more genuine celebration of X-Men history than both X-Men Gold and Blue have tried to be since their launch.