Okay,
X-Men Red is officially ****ing good with possibilities of being kinda great. There hasn't been nearly enough progress on the "mutants being accepted into human society" front since Grant Morrison, mostly just one near extinction after another, or just high-action hijinks. Here we have a freshly resurrected Jean Grey wasting no time to try to get mutants recognized by the international community as an official "nation". It doesn't go as planned and prejudice is ramped up, but along with the usual anti-mutant violence that the X-Men have to deal with we see this through a modern lens of hatemongering pundits shouting down non-hatemongering pundits and manipulative social media.
What makes me really like this series more than previous X-Men comics though is the positive attitude it takes to dealing with anti-mutant prejudice. Too often you get the negativity counterbalanced by grim determination and yet another declaration that Professor X's vision isn't being lived up to, but nobody really offers up much in the way of hope, just a stiff upper lip. Jean Grey is perfect for this because she's the heart and soul of the X-Men. Xavier has the dream but gets bogged down with at times downright amoral pragmatism that makes him less than effective as a moon-eyed idealist to make you feel like fighting the good fight; Cyclops is too busy feeling sorry for himself and deciding that he really doesn't have all that much faith in humanity after all; and Wolverine is... Wolverine.
But Jean inspires through both her sheer strength of character and her infectious conviction that the human race can co-exist without hate. When she's not being written as Cyclops' girlfriend or the prize in Cyclops' and Wolverine's love triangle she gives me much the same feeling that Superman or Captain America do in how they're shining examples of what we can be if we let go of our petty nonsense and aspire to be something more. As much as I love Emma Frost the X-Men simply haven't felt the same without Jean and this comic gives me that feeling again and I'm hopeful that the quality will continue and isn't simply reflecting some of the shine from Morrison's
New X-Men. There's only six issues out so far so it's the perfect time to jump in.
P.S. Gabby/Honey Badger is delightful.