Writer Robert Kirkman
Penciler Ben Oliver
Inker Jonathan Glapion
Colors Jason Keith
Letters VC’s Joe Caramagna
Phoenix?, Part Three of Three
Cover Dated August 2006
We finish the Ultimate X-Men issues that I bought at Christmas 2014.
If you want to follow along, this spectacular website has all of the pages :
Previously, Sebastian Shaw froze Xavier’s bank accounts. Lilandra Neramani, Majestrix of the Church of Shi’ar Enlightenment, has offered to give Xavier the needed money – if she can get examine Jean Grey. She wants to do this as Jean is suppose to be the manifestation of their god, the Phoenix – of course. Xavier accepted, as he needs money. The examine has been quite painful for Jean. Emma Frost is trying to hold a dance at her school and the Brotherhood of Mutants has crashed it. Cyclops has brought a team to fight the Brotherhood. The X-Men have a new team member, Elliott Boggs, who will be named – The Magician.
The issue opens with The Blob on the attack. The Magician is trying new techniques to bring Blob down. Toad and Cyclops are fighting each other.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Jean is going full Dark Phoenix and Lilandra can’t believe it. The Phoenix manifestation isn’t suppose to be a sudden transformation, more like a gradual change. So she doesn’t believe Jean is doing it right. Xavier comes into the room and tries to calm Jean down.
The Academy of Tomorrow. Rogue still has Gambit’s powers at this point. Magician makes it so that everything around Blog is light so he falls off his feet. Once he is in movement, he is easier to deal with.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Xavier shuts down Jean and is knocked out in the process. Gerald comes inot the room, I guess he is a partner of Lilandra’s.
Emma Frost’s Academy of Tomorrow. These two couldn’t come up with a regular name for a school, I guess. The media starts calling Boggs, the Magician, they are really digging him. We start seeing that Scott isn’t a big fan of him. He’s all powerful so him being on a team seems unnecessary. He doesn’t last that long and gets his own three part storyline as the very next storyline. So this is a three parter and the next is a three parter, so that makes up a trade. Cyclops sees Angel, who was sent to Academy of Tomorrow, at some point. Scott has an awkward greeting with his brother, they really don’t get along well. Some things never change. Scott tells Colossus that if he wants a ride home, they are leaving soon so he should say goodbye to his boyfriend, Northstar.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Jean wakes up, not proud of her actions. Lilandra concludes that it must be the Phoenix that is coming through Jean. Gerald speaks up and states that Jean’s parents were members of the Church of the Shi’ar Enlightenment, so Jean must be acting out what she overheard as a child. Plus, her blood test results came back all wrong. Gerald states that Jean has a split personalities. This, naturally, makes Jean very upset as she has been called crazy, for all of her life.
Later. Kitty comes out of her room (I imagine she didn’t go to the dance, as she’s dating Spider-Man at this point) stating that the media is loving the Magician. Kitty is excited about being on talk shows, unfortunately, Xavier will never put one of his better and smarter students on the news. Even though, she is the best example of a non-threatening mutant – unless you really think about how deadly her powers are.
Storm wonders if Wolverine is back yet. Kurt is still not talking to Colossus, we learn in the second annual that it is due to Kurt being disgusted with Colossus’ life style – which is way too harsh and unfair.
Cyclops looks for Jean and Xavier intercepts him first, as he has to tell the young man the news.
Scott goes to Jean, she wants to be left alone. We see that goblins are all over Jean, but Scott didn’t see them, so she may be going to sleep. I do enjoy Ultimate Jean getting to experience the Goblin Queen and the Phoenix Saga, all in one go. That seems like a decent way to handle it as we will never get a Maddie Pryor in the Ultimate Universe, which is a real shame. Though I don’t recall exactly what happens with the goblin subplot, we will have to watch and see.
The Church of Shi’ar Enlightenment Headquaters. Gerald makes a call to Shaw, so we know he is a bad guy now. He tells Shaw the truth, Jean is the vessel for the Phoenix and he suspects they can use her. Actually, he is working for the Hellfire Club but not necessarily with Shaw. This is how the issue ends.