One of the most controversial elements of the Marvel NOW! relaunch is the return of Jean Grey and a new X-Men book by Brian Michael Bendis. Regenesis was just a year ago in which Uncanny X-Men was relaunched with a new #1 and Wolverine and the X-Men debuted. Now the man who reshaped and guided the Avengers franchise for 8 years is taking on the Children of the Atom. This is the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, Iceman)from the 60’s transported to the present day. These teens do not like what they say.
“The X-Men is a tough nut to crack,” Brian Michael Bendis tells Entertainment Weekly. “It’s the Robert Altman movie of comics. There’s thousands of characters, all of which have a website dedicated just to them. I wanted to make sure I had a take that was unique.” So when it came time to plan for Marvel NOW!, Bendis — who’s been Marvel’s go-to Avengers guy for close to eight years — remembered an idea that had been floating around the Marvel writers’ retreats for a long time. “It was about the original X-Men. If they saw what the Marvel universe was now…well, it’s so much worse than the Days of Future Past that they’re always worried about. This would scare the crap out of them.”
Jean Grey in all her incarnations is one of the most beloved characters. It was a question of when she would come back from the dead (again.)
“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.”
Stuart Immonen (New Avengers, Fear Itself) is the artist on the title debuting in November. For more of the Bendis interview here’s the EW link.
By Editor