Due to a bit of feedback in the Honorary Oakley section, we’ve gone all superhero once more for this Honorary Oakley. You may recall we had Wonder Woman as our Oakley back in February 2005, well now it’s the time of the X-Men as we honour one of their most prolific members, Jean Grey. What makes Jean Grey a great choice for the Oakley is that she’s an Omega Level mutant, one of the most powerful in the universe. If that doesn’t make for a kick-ass chick, what does?

Thanks to Danielle for the suggestion.

A Marvel-ous Girl…
Jean Grey is cool for numerous reasons, but not least of all—and specific to the Honorary Oakley—is the fact she was the first female member of the X-Men (firstly opting for the name Marvel Girl). Whilst attending the school for the gifted, Jean Grey meets the handsome young Scott Summers (Cyclops), and the two begin to fall in love. As with most stories, be they comic book or literary greats, the road to true love is never a simple one and the two drift apart as Jean follows her education. Strangely it’s even hinted that Xavier himself develops romantic feelings for Jean, but this storyline is quashed in favour of the more acceptable Jean & Scott love story. Jean has numerous adventures in her role as a senior X-Men member, until one fateful day when she accidentally and fatally unleashes all of her powers and is seen to rise again as a woman called Phoenix.

Rise of the Phoenix…
Phoenix is an awesome character with powers unlike any of the other X-Men, but the internal power struggle Jean Grey fights sees her also become a danger to her friends and X-Men team mates whenever she’s taken over by the Dark Phoenix. In order to save her friends (and indeed a whole load of other folk) this transformation leads Jean to take drastic action; suicide. Suicide, you say? Well this is a comic book, which means there will be various tangents and storylines that in the real world would mean the end for a character; yet, in comic book land (just like soap opera land) it just means a rewrite at a later date. Jean survives the Dark Phoenix event but in the process suffers the loss of her powers. It’s all pretty convoluted due to the rewrites, but, in a nutshell, Jean (post death) is once more brought back to life and found in a weird pod. She returns to her family and friends with slightly different powers, including hugely powerful telekinesis. During the time of her ‘death’ Scott has remarried, though he returns to Jean when he realises she’s alive—leaving his wife.

Convoluted Love Story…
The story of Jean and Scott is a messy one, there are affairs, multiple proposals, and, to make things even slightly more messy, Jean kills Scott’s wife (no, no, nothing like you’re thinking, his wife had turned to the ‘darkside’ you see, and it was either kill her or face the end of the world as we know it—or something along those lines). Due to the mind link Jean and Scott’s wife shared at the time of her death, Jean takes on her memories; memories of Scott proposing and all those other personal things—oh, messy. Not that it matters, because it’s that true love thing again, and eventually Jean and Scott get remarried when Jean proposes, but Scott (that silly man) has an affair (tut, tut) with Emma Frost. It’s sounding more and more like a bad soap, isn’t it? Well, let’s keep in mind that the story has been going since 1963, so a lot of madness has to happen to keep things fresh and juicy.

All in all, Jean Grey is cool. Despite a few rather dodgy storylines, Jean Grey has, for the most part, stood for good. The fact she’s an Omega Level mutant makes her all-the cooler, and let’s not forget that she was also the first female to join the X-Men. As far as female superheroes go, Jean Grey is one of the best. As far as the Honorary Oakley goes, Jean Grey is more than worthy of a place in its archive. Jean Grey, we salute you as our Honorary Oakley for November 2006.

Not everyone looks good in spandex!

Special Thanks to Bianca of Jean Grey Gallery for picture use.