To celebrate the release of Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost, AIPT proudly presents JEAN GREY + EMMA FROST WEEK – seven days of original articles and interviews about two X-Women so eXtraordinary, they don’t need codenames!
Welcome, X-Fans, to not just another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT, but the official kickoff of JEAN GREY + EMMA FROST WEEK! Yes, just like the X-Books we celebrate each and every week, X-Men Monday is crossing over with an event (it’s OK, though, it’s by the regular creative team).
Now, both Jean Grey and Emma Frost have already had their own, individual X-Men Monday articles… so, was there anything left to ask? How do you make a joint edition feel eXtra special? Then it hit me–we ask X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White everything you always wanted to know about about Jean Grey and Emma Frost and weren’t afraid to ask!
And then Jordan invited Emma Frost fan eXtraordinaire–and upcoming X-Factor writer–Leah Williams to join in on the fun. Hey, it’s what these two terrific telepaths deserve. Oh, and as an eXtra bonus, as it’s C2E2 week, Jordan teases what we can eXpect from the convention’s X-Men panel!
AIPT: Welcome back, Jordan! Let’s kick things off with something I’ve been thinking about for some time now. After “Inferno,” it was established Jean has the memories of the Phoenix and Madelyne Pryor. Is that still considered canon? And if so, does that mean the Maddie set to appear in Hellions has the same memories Jean has?
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
Jordan: Yes, that still happened—the Jean we all know and love has all the memories of herself, Madelyne and the Phoenix when it was impersonating her. The Madelyne who currently exists outside of Jean was a creation of Nate Grey, in an early prelude to his more recent and ambitious acts of creation. There are actually some conspicuous holes in her history, but that’s how it looks to me—this is more of a psychic entity that thinks she is Maddie… who kind of was never real? Anyway, up to the end of “Inferno,” both Jean and the current Madelyne both have Madelyne’s memories, but Ms. Pryor has her own memories thereafter.
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
AIPT: Thanks for confirming! Now, we know how you feel about Scott and Jean’s future daughter Rachel Summers… but how do you feel about Scott and Emma’s future daughter Ruby Summers from Peter David’s X-Factor run?
Jordan: I really like Peter’s run on X-Factor, and Ruby Summers is a really clever combination of Scott and Emma… but I honestly don’t spend a lot of time thinking about her. There are a lot of AU X-Characters out there.
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
AIPT: OK, speaking of Cyclops, Zachary Jenkins (@RevZachary) wanted to know why Jean and Emma settle for Scott?
Jordan: Harsh. Back when I did my informal, non-scientific Twitter poll of favorite X-Characters, Cyclops was the most popular character by a pretty wide margin. In fact, looking back at the results, he had more votes than Jean and Emma combined (he had 212, Jean had 115, Emma had 94). So, clearly Scott is a pretty likable guy.
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
AIPT: I mean, I like him! You know what else I like? Jean’s pointy face mask. But how does it stay on Jean’s face?
Jordan: She is a powerful telekinetic.
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
AIPT: Fair. So, you’ve mentioned Scott’s living his best life on Krakoa. Would you say the same is true of Emma? Based on her portrayal in House of X, Powers of X and Marauders, this seems to be one of the happiest times of her life (pre-Kate’s demise and upcoming funeral, of course).
Jordan: Oh, yes. In fact, if you go back to X-Men Monday #12, you would see me talking covertly about things that we were planning for Emma in Marauders. I said “Giving Emma, one of the best characters in X-Men, the screen time she needs to show off how great she is without necessarily putting her on the traditional X-Men team–is something we have put a lot of thought into. And I am probably not talking about the story you think I am talking about.”
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
I assumed most people would think I was talking about her actions in Uncanny X-Men, but I was talking about her role as the head of the Hellfire Trading Company. The next question was about how Emma uses her wealth for the benefit of mutantkind, and again, I said “Great question. And there are plans to explore exactly that in a comic you don’t know about yet.” I honestly think this is Emma doing what she does best at the top of her game.
AIPT: How old is Jean compared to Rachel and Cable?
Jordan: I’ve addressed this definitively—Jean is 57, Rachel is 39, Cable is 34.
AIPT: Mauro Garcia (@TheSpotlightIsOn) was curious, what kind of music do Jean and Emma listen to?
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
Jordan: I do enjoy music a lot, but I am a 40-year-old guy, I doubt I have a lot of similar taste to them. BUT! Writer Leah Williams has actually tackled this already, and just sent me her Jean and Emma playlists!
AIPT: Ooh, thank you very much, Leah! Another question about these two, this time from Pedro X (@mutantofx)–when Jean and Emma go out for drinks, what do each of them order?
Jordan: I have actually never had a sip of alcohol, so I am really unqualified to answer this. But since I was already bothering Leah about music and I know she spends a lot of time getting into the heads of these characters, I asked her to weigh in. Here’s what she said:
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
Leah: I could see it going two ways. 1) Emma tries to show off by drinking whiskey neat and then succeeds in getting fabulously drunk in front of Jean, or 2) Jean wants to try some kind of wine spritzer which Emma begrudgingly agrees to while mocking how infantile it is, even though she’s secretly charmed by it. Emma would have weird hang-ups about the optics of whatever alcohol she drinks while Jean is just going to be like “lol.”
AIPT: This is good X-Men Monday content. Let’s keep it going! Adam (@BiokineticGold) said given Jean’s previous history as costume designer for the X-Men, do her and Emma ever get into lengthy discussions about fashion design?
Jordan: Guys, I promise I was not TRYING to get Leah to do my homework for me, but I mentioned this question to her and she had a lot more and better thoughts on it than I did. :) I said I thought they probably did have conversations about this, and Leah chimed in:
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
Leah: Yeah, I’d agree! I think they’d also communicate some of these feelings with some telepathic nudges. They can probably recognize each other’s telepathic thoughts the way they’d recognize each of their voices out loud.
Jean’s wearing some dirty-ass hiking boots when suddenly a very dry “?” appears firmly in her thoughts. It’s Emma raising an eyebrow from across the Quiet Council.
Where Emma is fastidious and obsessive about haute couture and fashion, Jean’s style is relaxed, casual and more about comfort. Where they meet in the middle is both agreeing how artful and adept high fashion is, when done correctly. They probably would disagree some about which fashion houses are doing it correctly.
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
One of the few designers they’d disagree on is Alexander McQueen because Jean would be like, “his runway models are always in pain” and Emma would be like, “that’s literally the point he’s making” and then it would spark this whole other debate between them about art vs. ethics.
AIPT: Right now so many X-Fans are hoping Leah lands a Jean and Emma ongoing about these very topics. OK, one final question about these two. Forget Jott and Scemma. If you could set Jean and Emma up with another Marvel character outside the X-Universe, who do you set them up with? Let’s create some new ships, Jordan! (What could go wrong?)
Jordan: Well it’s already been canonically established that Emma is going to marry Tony Stark, so I guess who I am I to stand in the way of that? As for Jean, well, we know Tony Stark has a thing for redheads, so…
Image Credit: Marvel Comics
AIPT: Temma? Tean? Jony? Anyway, C2E2 starts this Friday. What can you tease about the X-Men panel?
Jordan: It’s going to feature nearly all the X-Line writers, we’re going to announce our big summer story and Jonathan will almost assuredly say something I wish he hadn’t. I cannot wait to see you all there!
AIPT: I will not be there, unfortunately, but I wish you and the X-Writers all the best and hope you have a blast in Chicago! And thank you to you and Leah for taking the time to kick off JEAN GREY + EMMA FROST WEEK in grand style!
Remember, X-Fans: This special week runs through Sunday, so be sure to visit AIPT every day for all-new, all-different Jean and Emma articles–including later today! And a quick note–due to all the work that’s been going into this week, we’ll be taking next Monday off. But then, we’ll be back for our GIANT-SIZED 50th-anniversary edition!
Finally, to help ensure you have an eXceptional JEAN GREY + EMMA FROST WEEK, please enjoy these six eXclusive preview images (featuring my new favorite Scott and Jean picture, which also happens to be my new phone background).
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