Though Jean Grey perished many years ago, her legend lives on. As a founding member of the Marvel Comics' X-Men, Jean had a long, and distinguished history with the popular mutant team. Thus, she's as remembered for the power she wielded as a host to the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix as well as the compassion she showed her friends and teammates.

Since her death, an adolescent version of Jean time-traveled to the present, where she's been haunted by the legacy of her adult self. Soon, she and her fellow X-Men will get to see first hand what the adult Jean Grey is capable of, because the X-Men's original Phoenix is about to put the Earth in danger by rising from the ashes.

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Her return takes place later this month in the pages of Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey, a five-issue miniseries by writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Leinil Yu. CBR spoke with Rosenberg about the scope and scale of his tale, his take on Jean Grey's legacy, and the core cast of the event.

CBR: Matthew, Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey is your first major X-project. What do you find most interesting about Jean and her legacy?

Matthew Rosenberg: It's the X-Men! That's all they ever have to say to me, and I'm in. But really, Jean Grey is the heart of the X-Men in my mind. She's at the center of so many of my favorite X-Men stories, she is such an amazing character, and she is so often the missing element that changes a story from being a "super hero story”: to an "X-Men story". So the chance to bring back this character I have loved since I first learned to read, this character who means so much to the X-Men, to the Marvel universe, and to comic fans in general? How could I pass on that?

EXCLUSIVE: Phoenix Resurrection art by Leinil Yu and Gerry Alanguilan

As to what makes her and her legacy appealing, I think it's a lot of things, literally. Jean is so fascinating because she is so many things to the X-Men. A leader, a teammate, a sister, a mother, a best friend, a partner, a person to admire, a person to fear, a poor kid in over her head, and a god-incarnate. If you've been with the X-Men long enough, you've watched her grow up from that unsure kid to this amazing leader, and then she died. Her death was tragic and beautiful and everything it should be. Our goal here is not to erase that, but to honor that and tell what comes next.

Before your series begins, a number of developments will have happened with Jean Grey across the X-Men line, especially in Dennis Hopeless' ongoing series starring her younger self. I know you want Resurrection to be accessible to new readers, but do those other books lay some of the ground work for your story?

Well the X-Men office editors -- Mark, Darren, Chris, and Christina -- do an amazing job of coordinating all of us and keeping the whole universe in line. So yeah, going in we knew we needed a book that anyone could pick up and understand. We wanted to make sure if it was someone's first X-Men book that it wouldn't be their last. But, at the same time, I've lived and breathed X-Men my whole life. I love these characters and their history and wanted to play into that. And a big part of that at Marvel is being part of a bigger picture. So I wanted to nod to other people's books and stories. So stuff like Dennis Hopeless' great Jean Grey series or the Generations one shot, those will definitely add something to our story and vice versa. You don't need to read any of our books to understand the others, but if you do you get a bigger picture of the whole world.

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The solicits seem to suggest an almost apocalyptic horror vibe to Phoenix Resurrection. Is that what you're aiming for?

The feel of the book, like Jean and the Phoenix, has a duality to it. There is epic, end-of-the-world stuff in here. For the X-Men it's all hands on deck, fighting for their lives. But there is also a small, personal story about Jean as well. We really are trying to examine what her life and death were, what she'd want her life to be if she came back from the dead. Also what is it like for Jean to have her life hijacked by this planet eating god? There is a creepy, surreal story there that I really wanted to explore. Jean's life is so tragic and her attempts to escape that have been heartbreaking. So the epic, the personal, the horrific, the surreal, and the tragic elements of Jean and the Phoenix are all part of this. This is an examination of all that stuff.

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As you said, the return of the Phoenix is all hands on deck situation for the the X-Men. I imagine, then, that you have a pretty huge cast. Can you talk about some of the characters you'll focus on in particular?

EXCLUSIVE: Phoenix Resurrection art by Leinil Yu and Gerry Alanguilan

Yeah, we put a ton of X-Men in there. They don't all get big moments, but if you haven't seen Dust, Boom-Boom or Hellion in a while, we got you. But there are a few characters who are more front and center for sure. Kitty Pryde is running the show. She is in charge of the X-Men these days and this is her biggest crisis since she took over. Beast is another one. His history with Jean, mixed with his scientific acumen make him crucial. Old Man Logan, Cyclops, Cable, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Storm, Iceman... Yeah, there's a lot. And we definitely have some real surprises too. Some folks are going to be real surprised.

Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey has an event book feel to it, especially since your collaborator, artist Leinil Yu, is a veteran of several of Marvel's big events who's capable of expertly conveying anything you throw at him. What's it like working with Leinil on this story?

It's an honor. I don't think that's too strong. Leinil is well on his way to being a legend in comics, and it blows my mind every single day that I got to ride his coattails for this. I am lucky enough to work with a ton of amazing artists, but it's rare that when you get a book back every single panel is better than how you saw it in your head when you wrote it.

I think the big thing about Leinil, and why he works so well for these event books, is he is equally good at these small human moments and these big action packed ones. There is a panel in issue #1, it's just a close up of Old Man Logan, but it's my favorite image in this gorgeous oversized issue. It's just flawless. But the fights are badass, the creepy moments are real creepy. He's just good at all of it. It makes it a lot easier for me.

Finally, Is this story just an earthbound X-Men event? Or might we see some cosmic characters and other Marvel teams like the Starjammers, the Avengers, or the Guardians of the Galaxy?

EXCLUSIVE: Phoenix Resurrection art by Leinil Yu, Gerry Alanguilan and Rachelle Rosenberg

No, this is terrestrial only, and the reason for that will become clear as the book goes on. As much as I'd love to throw my boy Rocket in, or have Ch'od mix it up with our teams, this one is just going to be X-Men only.

I hope folks give the book a chance. If you've ever been curious about the X-Men I think we made a good introduction, but for those long time fans there are going to be some real deep cuts. A couple of the nods and moments in the book will definitely get the X-Men historians going. I think we made something pretty cool and not at all what people are expecting. And that's scary as hell, but it's a real thrill. I can't wait for people to read it.


Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey #1 will be on shelves on December 27, 2017.