The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Seven....... Enter The Hellfire Club at your Peril

 Now if you go back and read the Phoenix Saga you will see that there are lots of clues that Jean or should I say  Phoenix was having problems mentally. When Phoenix first arrived Professor X was unable to use his mental abilities very much, and may be if he has been fitting fit himself he would have realised something was amiss with Jean.

Now we know why, she was acting strangely.  Her out bursts of aggression at times had all wondering could one person really control all that power or even if they should ? The truth about what really happened to Jean in space  would not come to light for many years.....and when the truth finally came out the story seems to be always gets more complex.

Behind the scenes and unknown to any one at the time, Jean's mind had been slowly manipulated. This had happened  over many months, and soon she would become a pawn of the Hellfire Club.

Bit by bit Jean's mind was being altered. At first she would have flash backs to the 18th Century where she was a noble lady and seemed to be courted by a hansom stranger called Jason Wyngarde.  Jean did not know if these visions were real or not, but what she had trouble with was the person she appeared to be in the past was hard and ruthless, and was not like her at all. However another part of her seemed to liked this "New"  Jean. 

These flash backs kept reoccurring and she realised that she was falling in love with this Jason. At the same time she felt that she was being in some way unfaithful to Scott.  Jean was confused.

The X-Men would discover what was going on with Jean when they finally encountered the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club.

By this point Wyngarde had complete control over Jean, and this new ruthless woman was introduced as the New Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. The fantasy life that been built up around Jean was now a reality. She had become a dark version of herself. 

Next Time we get to meet a new version of Jean. ..... even darker than The Black Queen.

Until then ENJOY !

The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Six From the Flames a New Hero Appears.

 Now the next part of the Jean Grey saga goes a little bit off. There is the story told at the time, then there is the version that no one knew about for years. 

Yes Jean had saved the team by piloting  the damaged space shuttle back to Earth. However, not before the Craft being engulfed in the Biggest Radiation Storm ever.  Everyone else onboard were safe as the shuttle bay had some protection against the radiation. However, Jean was not protected.

Her landing was not perfect, as she crashed landed at Kennedy Air Port and skimmed along the runway and ended up in Jamaica Bay where the shuttle sank. The X-Men managed to escape, and whilst they bobbed up and down in the water they realised the Jean must have perished.

Then out of the water rocketed a Woman Dressed in Green and Gold, It was Jean. 

She announced   "Hear me X-Men, No Longer am I the Woman you Knew . I am Fire and Life Incarnate ! Now and Forever .... I AM PHOENIX  ! "

And with that Jean passed out and fell into the water.

This is my take on The Phoenix from X-Men 101 #

The First take on the Costume showed the Phoenix logo on her chest a little bit smaller that it would later become. But on the whole Phoenix would remain very much the same. 

Here is the same  version with a larger Logos each time. This seems to work better in a larger form. 

Next Time we see the other side of the Phoenix.

Until then  Enjoy.

The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Five.... A Night on the Town, in that Long Black Dress.

 Although the X-Men was popular, it never sold like some of the other Comics at Marvel. The Avengers and Fantastic Four had been around a similar time as the X-Men, and they outsold the merry gang of Mutants. 

New characters had been introduced, Havok the long lost brother of Cyclops and a Green haired girl called Lorna Dane who was believed to be the daughter of Magneto.  When Lorna first met Magneto he claimed she was not his child. That Magneto turned out to be a Robot, so what he said was true. The real Magneto would turn out to be her real father , but that was only confirmed decades later.

Lorna aka Polaris started off as the Girl Friend of Iceman Bobby Drake , but soon she was an item with Alex Summers aka Havok.  Another strange fact was that Lorna would not be officially called Polaris until issue 97 # after being introduced in issue 49 #. She did go by the name Magnetrix for a short time.  

Marvel tried all ways to improve sales. They Killed of Professor X, forcing the X - Men to split up for a time. They brought Professor back to life (Ok he never really died it was all part of a ruse involving a shape shifter).  The X-Men started to be involved with new villains that were not Mutants, but sales did not really improve as vary few of the new villains made an impact.  They tackled Magneto again, and again...... but sells did not improve. 

In issue 66#  they even took on The Hulk. That issue would be the last original story as from 67# onwards it was now a comic that offered no new stories just reprints. Then by issue 93# January 1975 the plug was pulled on the comic for good. The X-Men were no more. The reprinted stories had sold well, but the Guys at Marvel knew that they needed to take back the X-Men title, as they had exciting plans for it.

A few of the X-Men did and had guest starred or appeared in other comics after the time the original run had ended.,  Hank McCoy had been appearing in his own series The Beast, where he had actually mutated himself into a Big Blue Beast. He would go on to be a popular member of the Avengers. .... and show the world that Mutants could be good guys after all. 

Angel had come out to the world as a Mutant, and for a time he was financing and taking  part in a new Super Hero group based on the West Coast called The Champions. Bobby Drake aka Iceman was also a member along side Warren....... The Black Widow, Hercules, and the Original Ghost Rider.  Other members would join the group as time moved on.  The Champions only lasted 17 issues..... but they were a good read I thought at the time. Maybe too much like the Avengers for some readers. Plus stories about The God of Mount Olympus and  Soviet Union did not seem that original. It did introduce The Mutant Russian Dark Star, and gave a home to Bill Foster aka Black Goliath for a time. Even the Hank McCoy made an appearance in his new Hairy form.  It lasted 3 years, but remember many comics back then only published Bi -  Monthly. 

Alex and Lorna, had retired from the Super Hero business and were now off exploring and studying Geophysics in the desert areas of California. 

Not much was known what Scot and Jean got up to. In issue 66 Professor X had fallen into a coma. Maybe Scot and Jean stayed at the Mansion looking after him.  The series The  X-Men the Hidden Years published years later did try to address what the X-Men had been getting up during the period after they got cancelled..... but these stories although good, just placed our favourite Teenaged Mutants in with other heroes and villains such as The Fantastic Four, and people of the Savage Land, Magneto, The Sentinels , The Moleman and even Kraven the Hunter.   They even met a young girl who would later become know as  Storm. 

These tales took the reader up to the point where Hank aka The Beast had celebrated his 20th Birthday and was on the brink of leaving the Group to go off to be the scientist he always wanted to be. 

With the all new X - Men coming on the scene after Giant Sized X-Men 1 ( 1975 ) in which a new team was formed to rescue the old team it finally showed that the original X-Men had still been a team of sorts. We will gloss over that many years later it was releveled that the new team of X-Men were in fact the 2nd Choice... Another group had been formed by Professor X. to rescue the original team. This included Gabriel Summers, brother to Both Scott and Alex. They were believed to have died in their attempt to rescue the original team.  Professor X used his powers to basically wipe any memories of them from the minds of everyone. 

All the originals had returned on the Professor request, to help investigate a mysterious island, including Alex and Lorna. The only person missing was Hank. I am not sure why he was left off of the roster, but it maybe he was no ready to admit he was now big blue and furry.  A throw away comment from Scott seemed to imply that Hank was too busy with his new life to help the Professor. 

Now officially retired from the X-Men, Jean,  Bobby and Warren all then took some time out to be themselves. Hank remember had already left the team by this point. Scot had decided to remain and help train the new members on the team. His relationship with Jean would still continue.... at a distance.  The X-Men were now back, ok a brand new line up, but they were back.  Issue 94# saw the first "All New, All Different" Adventures of the New International Team of  Mutants. A big change from what came before. No longer were they 5 Five White America Teenagers. No along with Cyclops  were heroes from Russia, Africa, Ireland, Germany, Canada, and even a Native America Apache named Thunderbird. But he did not last very long.

In issue 98# Jean was back and was in New York to celebrate Christmas with Scot and the X-Men. Little did anyone know that this would not be a season to be jolly.

I have included this next outfit of Jean's as this iconic look would be the final time anyone saw the real Jean Grey for some time.  No spoilers here. It is far too complicated anyway. 

This is how Jean looked at the start of the date.  But after she had kicked off of her shoes, both  she and Scot ended up battling a Sentinel.  The result she found herself the prisoner of Steven Lang who had recently restarted the Sentinel Programme. She along with Wolverine, Banshee and Professor X had been taken to Lang's Space Station.  Lang explained that he wanted to destroy Mutant kind for ever.

After Lang struck a helpless and bound Jean,  an enraged Wolverine broke free his bonds and freed the others. Jean realised that fighting whilst wearing a long evening dress would not be ideal tried to tear her dress so she could run unhampered. Unfortunately she had trouble doing this. So Wolverine stepped in and the result was this.     

The result was much too short according to an annoyed Jean... who shouted to Wolverine sarcastically  " Thank You Very Much, I think ! "    Logan just laughed and said " Any Time Red "  This would not be the last time that Logan would flirt with Jean over the years. He really had a thing for Red Heads it would turn out. It was funny  for a lady who spent most of her late teenaged years running around in a very short green dress to get upset with Wolverine's helpful if over the top dress alterations. . !!!

This was the last sight the X-Men got to see of Jean, as she ordered them all to go into the secure section of the space shuttle that that had been used in the rescue attempt. However the cockpit had been damaged during the rescue. Jean knew that she could pilot the shuttle after taking that knowledge from the pilot who was injured during the rescue .... but would her telekinetic powers be enough to hold back the solar radiation storm that was soon to engulf them all.

To find our come back next time.

Until then ENJOY !

The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Four The Classic Little Green Dress

 In issue 39 #  it was all change for the X-Men.  They finally would be seen to graduate but they still stayed at the the school.  As a special present Professor Xavier gave them all new Uniforms, that he had had Jean design and make.  The group was so lucky she was on the team to all those jobs around the house the Boys could not coup with !!!!

Instead of them all dressing alike, these new Uniforms allow each one to show they were an individual. 

On the whole the new look was good, and made a much more colourful group of heroes. The yellow and blue look was now gone.  Colour in comics had come on a lot since The X-Men first hit the Newspaper stands a few years earlier.

Ok Cyclops still worn the original colours but less Yellow than before. The Beast's new look was more of less the same, with the Yellow being changed to Red. As for Iceman again he did have a full length White and Blue Uniform, but he tended only to wear the Shorts and his new boots, as he was always in his Iced up form so it never showed.  Angel had the worst Uniform. Too many colours, it looked like Jean had lost the plot when she designed this one. Warren would stay with this new look, but later on he started to dress a little bit differently. He was then starting to operate on his own. Very much like when he started out as The Avenging Angel before joining the X-Men. The look was a nod more to his original costume and much more stylish that came in either Red and White or Blue and White. that had his own halo logo.  

Then there was Jean, the new Marvel Girl still had her pointy mask, which now was Yellow. The big change was that instead of a all over Uniform, she now wore a short  Green Dress. The only thing that tied the  group together was that they all worn a matching belt, with the more squarish buckle with the a Big X on it. This would change over the course of the comics and become a little bit smaller than it was originally presented.

Here is the New Improved Marvel Girl.

Her neck line would change from time to time, and her belt and boots too. But the Green  Jean look was here to stay. 

Different artists always had a different take on the costume design and Jean's hair style.

All but Warren would their new this versions of their Uniform for many years.  Especially Jean. She even went back to it in resent years. 

Next time, some thing different as Jean dresses up to go on a date with Scot.

Until then ENJOY !

The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Three A New Take on a Classic.

 

As I continue with my look at the many different looks, costumes and uniforms  that Jean Grey has had over the years The number of inconstancies that many of the artist have shown us is worth mentioning. On the whole I will not being using these a great deal, as they really do not count, as I will not go into why Jean's hair parting seemed to move sides constantly. These small changes can be put down to Jean's sense of style not design.  

This added to all the changes to continuity over the years and story lines like "X Men the hidden Years" and "X Men First Class, Jean and some of the Team  had other costume changes too. ... But what I am trying to cover here is to show just the classic and main different looks that are most we have enjoyed over time..  

 

With Jean living with the Boys at Professor X's private school, she had the chance to look at up dating her and the others original Uniforms from time to time. Small changes to the boots and gloves manly. . Although the boys looked basically the same as they had in X-Men issue 1# this would change in issue issue 39 #, but I will leave that until later on.

By issue 6 # Marvel Girl had a new mask.  Although some times the what Marvel Girl worn on the Cover of an issue would not always match what she worn on the pages inside. Her mask kept changing all the time. Again this was mainly due to the artists employed at the time. Cover artists normally did not always draw the internal pages.

This is the first change of look for Marvel Girl.

By issue 26 # her pointed mask was set to stay along with a new neck line. Plus all the team now had a new belt. A Red belt  that had replaced Yellow Version. 

On the whole this was Marvel Girl's look for the next 12 issues.

Next Time, Jean shows us that it really is easy being Green.

Until then ENJOY !

The Many looks of Jean Grey Part Two Meet Marvel Girl

If you look back to 1963 and the issue 1# of The X-Men, you would have seen that  Jean had not got fully  unpacked before she and the team were suited and booted and had gone off to take on Magneto who had taken over an Army Missile Base. 

The Master of Magnetism Magneto.

This was the X-Men's first mission and it always seemed strange that Miss Grey aka Marvel Girl went off into danger with little if any training. But this was later explained away that The Professor had known Jean for many years and had been helping to develop and train her  Abilities.  So Marvel Girl could hold her own with the Boys on the Team.

Which makes me think that Jean Grey was in fact Professor Xavier's first student, and therefore she was the first X-Man, or should that be Woman ? So Scot Summers step aside and give some credit to Jean for being the first..

At this point Jean was only limited to Telekinetic Powers. Again later she would develop the Telepathic Abilities, but the fact that she always had them was kept secret from the team, and even from herself.   Prof X has turned them off, as Jean had been unable to coup with them as a youngster. 

When Jean first saw her costume she thought it was very stylish.

Funny comment, but Stan and his crew always used to drop popular culture into their comments. Who had really designed the X Men Uniform, years later it was commented that  a certain Moria MacTaggert may have had a hand in its design. Although Moria would not appear in the comics until 1975  in issue 97#.  She must have been too busy being an expert on Mutants and Mutated genes, a Wife, a Mother and Scottish Laired, to make an appearance.  At the  same time she was working along side Professor X in secret at her base that was located on the remote Muir Island off of the coast of Scotland..  Running up uniforms for  Charles would have help fill her evenings no doubt.... But with Jean joining the Team, she was ideal to start to look after that aspect of keeping herself and the boys looking great in the Uniforms..   

Here is my take on  the First Appearance of Marvel Girl in Uniform from  X-Men Issue 1# from 1963

This look would slightly change after issue 1# with the mask and neck line showing a small change. Again this was down to the artist. 

For a costume that was worn by all of the team no two really looked the same.

It looked like one size fitted all. Ok Jean was a female, and her cowl was modified and showed her long red hair flowing down over her back. The others dressed the same but with small changes. Scot Summers aka Cyclops wore his Visor.  Warren Warrington III aka The Angel looked difference because of his Wings. Bobby Drake aka Ice Man only appeared to wear the Uniform Boots and as for Henry McCoy aka The Beast with his beefy build and lack of either Boots or Gloves made him also look also  different. Although in some issues of the early X-Men The Beast was seen wearing gloves. This was maybe a mistake by the artist at the time. ? 

 The Fantastic Four all dressed the same but managed to still look different, the same worked for the X-Men . Each of the FF had their own look.  Sue looked different as she was the Gal on the Team. Reed looked the same as Johnny in the male version, ok when the Human Torch flamed on his costume disappeared so had two looks.  Then there was Ben, he shredded his original uniform the same day he got it, but kept the bottom half and  cluing on to the Boots for a while. Later he discarded  all but the trunks. The main difference being that the FF wore their uniforms most of the time at home and when off duty, whilst the X-Men only wore theirs whilst either training or out fighting the bad guys.  

Next time Jean makes a change to her wardrobe.

Until then ENJOY. 

  

The Jean Grey Story..... First Seen X Men 1 # September 1963

 

As I said I am taking a short brake from My Doctor Who Story line, but do not worry the story will continue.  

I finally made a little change to the Cross of St John on the door as the one I did back in 2013 was not that good. Also I made a small change to the key hole. although you can not really see it in this picture. 

 

But in the meantime I originally planned to drop this little feature on my Blog on the run up to Christmas.  Unfortunately  I never found the time. So I decided to make time and I hope you enjoy my journey through the many looks of one of my favourite leading ladies from Marvel.

 Marvel and their Female Characters used to come in either, The Mother - Sister - Fiancée  guise, as in Sue Storm or in the Girl Friend guise, Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson , Alicia Masters etc. There was some female Super Heroes, but far too few.  One of which was young heiress Janet Van Dyne. Who met a dashing Doctor named Henry Pym.  She fell head over heels in love with the Blue Eyed widower, who just happened to be a scientist like her Father. Little did she know that Henry aka Hank was secretly new hero on the block The Ant - Man..

After Hank injected Janet with some untested cells he had been working on, that ended up  making her  a " Human - Wasp Combo, he announced that she was now his partner. Remember back in the 1960's referring to a person as your " partner  " meant something very different to what it means today.   !!!!! All Janet wanted was  wanted an engagement ring,  but had to settle for what Hank gave her...... Antenna's and some Wings. Lucky Girl ? And her original costume that Hank had just happened have just in case..... No wonder Janet went on to redesign her look and every week. The Original Helmet would have done nothing for her hair do. 

The Original and one of the many Janet has worn over the years.

Sue Storm  has around since 1961 was one quarter of the Fantastic Four, but early stories treated her as the victim who needed to be saved and protected.  She by return was seen as the " Home Maker" who served as chief Cook and Cleaner at the Baxter Building. She looked lovingly at her Boyfriend Reed, looked after  Reed's best friend Ben when he got emotional about his condition, and  acted as Mother to her Hot Headed little Brother Johnny. She did the cooking, cleaning even designed the original FF costumes. What would the boys had done without her ? Sue on the main stayed looking the same. The FF Uniform worked so well it was not updated for year. The Only changes made to the Team was getting The Thing look perfected..... which did not take long.... and the other was Sue Storm's hair. If you look back at the early days of the Fantastic Four Sue always seems to sport the hair do of the time. A small thing, but at least that showed she was all woman. 

Her original power of turning Invisible was manly defensive, and may be  Sue was treated like a bit of a liability in some stories.   In Fantastic Four 22 October 1963, with a bit of help from Reed Richards, Sue's powers where developed and improved on. It was suggested that she had other powers all along, but did not know how to use them. Lucky Sue had Reed to show her what she could do. ?

Now Sue was able not  just turn herself invisible, but other objects and people as well. She also had the power to create invisible force fields.  She went from being the weakest person on the team, to being possibly the most powerful. Although she would and the others would have to wait many years until the Invisible Girl became her own Woman. See FF 281 from 1985. And what a powerful lady she became..... an no longer just an Invisible Girl...... But now an Invisible Woman who needed to be seen.

So Sue ended up the most powerful member of the Quartet, and some would say the most deadly.  Telling Doctor Doom that she could have killed him many times over the years, as she could easily place one of her Force Fields inside his Brain causing him to Die. Victor had the wind taken from his sails with that one. The female of the species can be deadlier than the male indeed.

Other heroes on other teams were sometimes seen as being eye candy. Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp was not even an Official founding Member of the Mighty Avengers. She even named them in issue 1, but at first she was just the "Partner" of Ant Man, who was an official member. Ok later Janet's past was rewritten making her a Founding Member of the Team...... but many of the early stories she was just treated as the Victim that needed saving.  She had a habit of always wanting to powder her nose and stare lovingly into the eyes of her team mates. All fluff and no substance. I am not sure if she had time to do this with The Hulk, maybe that was why he decided to leave the team after a couple of issues.  Ok he had anger issues, and maybe he needed a hug once in a while. As Kermit said " It is not easy being GREEN ! "

When the Original line up of the Avengers all took a short " Retirement"  Wanda the Scarlet Witch became an Avenger, along with Hawkeye, Quick Silver under the tutorship of Captain America.  Wanda like Jan and Sue was also treated very much the same.... As a Victim.  Her Brother Quick Silver treated her like she needed saving from everyone. Especially her Team Mates.  Her Power Set were not great, too uncontrollable at times to be reliable.  Plus after using them poor old Wanda always seemed to need a little lay down to recover.  Thank God that Wanda has developed over the years. Again she is one of the most powerful of the Avengers... Remember she wiped most of the Mutants of the planet with her " No More Mutants " line, and she nearly killed all of the Avengers in a fit of rage. Wanda was not really a victim, but she was treated the part by many over the years.  Her back story has been changed so many times over the years, it is hard to work out who Wanda really is. She was once a Mutant, now she is a Mutated Human. Once she was the Daughter of an Eastern European Romany Leader and a Witch, this changed a while later so that she was the Daughter of Magneto. This has since changed back.... but she still calls Eric Daddy !. Wanda married an Artificial Man called the Vision. Who used the brain patterns of a then DEAD Wonder Man.   Simon Williams would later tell her that he loved her too. Very complicated for Wanda to understand no doubt.  Ok that was after her Husband had been taken apart by the Government and lost his "Humanity" and his love for Wanda. She at least  had her Twins, by the Vision, but these turned out to be fake.  She had created them using her powers. Ok again Tommy and Billy would come back into her life as young adults called Wiccan and Speed, but that is another tale for another time. No Wonder Wanda it could be said that she is a few Hex's short of a Spell Book.

Wanda's Original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants look and her later updated 1970's outfit.

The early years of Woman in Marvel may not be seen as great, but there was one Character that seemed to have her own strong place on the team she was on. This was Jean Grey...... aka as Marvel Girl. 

She was one 5th of the team The X-Men.  Unlike Sue, Jean was not treated as the victim. Ok she had to fight off the advances of 4 horny teenagers who fell in love with her the moment that they first saw her. But there would only be one person who she felt attracted to, and that was Scot Summers.  Hank was older but too much a Chunky Monkey, Bobbie was too young, Warren was a multi millionaire, with the looks of an Angel, but this was not for her. It was Scot, and it it always was. She liked the shy silent type. He felt the same way about her. However, he would never let Jean know how he thought about her, as he worried he could hurt her by accident if he let slip the energy of his optic power blasts.

Jean's powers would increase over the years, her Telekinetic Power, would be later joined by her regaining her Telepathic abilities that had been "buried" by Professor X after Jean had a childhood trauma.  Her Powers grew to god like proportions after her many encounters with the Phoenix Force. Again a VERY complicated back story, that has changed and has been expanded many times.

That would come to be many years in her future.... But here is my take on the First Time Miss Jean Elaine Grey appeared in print.

X-Men Issue 1 # 1963

Next Time Jean gets Suited Up for a date with Magneto.

Until Then ENJOY !

SORRY ........ Normal Service will resume soon !

 I must apologise for no posts recently. I have been having a spot of bother with my Laptop.

I decided to buy a new Laptop over Christmas time, as my old Toshiba was over 10 years old and was starting to be a problem.

It still ran on Windows 7, and now would not get any more system up dates, So I up graded to a New Laptop from ASUS that runs on Windows 11. This is where the problem is for me. I have been so used to using the old system that trying to do what I do on the new one is taking a lot of relearning on my behalf. Things take twice as long to figure out what I am doing.

I am getting there slowly. Lucky I have some Dawgs that I have worked on before the switch over, and I plan to post those soon.

So whilst me and my crack team of experts try to get to grips with the "NEW" way of working I may take a short break from my current story line.  Don't worry, The Doctor will return and continue his recruitment drive very soon.

But until then Enjoy !

Here is my crack team of experts working at helping me master my new Laptop.

" This manual makes fascinating reading , but it does not make much sense to me  ! "  Said Phooey trying to find out what error code 51# meant

" I think my Cybernetic Brain is approaching Melt Down !!!! " Yelped Reggie

" What's Katy Manning doing with that Dalek ? "  Exclaimed The Doctor after clicking on a dodgy link to the Doctor Who Web Page. 

" Have you tried turning it OFF and ON again ? " Said Jack trying to be helpful. 

Normal Service will resume very soon.......... We Hope.

Best Wishes to All

Noel