Jean Grey #4 (of 4)

Comic Watch

This final issue contains a story that is nothing short of stellar. Words and images work together with fiery force to reveal new psychological depths hidden within the titular character.

The Super Powered Fancast

The Story: Simonson crafts a thoughtful, introspective and highly entertaining story in this issue. Everything in the issue works perfectly with the character and the tone established in the beginning of this series. I really enjoyed this story and how it evolves Jean as a character. I look forward to seeing what’s next for the character. The Art: Chang delivers beautiful art on every page of this issue. The minimal backgrounds brilliantly emphasize the characters and emotions of moments.

ComicBook.com

Few characters in the X-Men mythology are as nuanced or complex as Jean Grey, and that couldn't be more evident in Jean Grey #4. The final issue of Louise Simonson, Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo, and Ariana Maher's series reframes the confronting of Jean's past traumas in previous issues in a way that solidifies the character's sense of calm and confidence that she's captured in the Krakow era, while also creating the space for genuinely healing moments. The issue wouldn't work without reframing those past events, but when that clicks, it really brought everything together in a truly satisfying way, and the teases of the future for Jean and the X-Men as a whole provides a welcome hopeful flicker for both. Chang and Maiolo deliver stunning work throughout the issue, though the sequences involving the Phoenix absolutely steal the show. While the beginning of the issue could have sped things up a bit, it's a small complaint for an otherwise stellar finale, and I'm eager to see what's next for all involved.

AIPT

In Jean Grey #4, Jean bonds with the Phoenix once more, rising from hellfires of her own making. She may not love every choice she’s ever made, but Jean is beginning to understand that not giving herself some grace about those mistakes would lead to even greater disaster for her and those she loves now. Jean has to trust herself; at the end of the day, that’s all she has.

Major Spoilers

It is an unfair reality that the biggest weakness of Jean Grey #4 is a matter of timing and placement, falling in the middle of a dark, brutal, and very post-modern period of X-works, with the best parts of Simonson’s script feeling out-of-place or dated, but the art balances out that well. If I had my way, modern Big Two comics would stop siloing these sorts of character moments into multiple miniseries rather than as part and parcel of one book, but if that trend is going to continue, we can at least hope that they’re all this readable.