Art by Mark Brooks
- Name: Rachel Anne Summers (Aka: Grey)
- Code Names: Phoenix, Marvel Girl, Mother Askani
- First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #141 (Jan 81)
- Powers: Telekinesis, Telepathy, Occasional Phoenix Host
- Teams Affiliation: X-Men, Excalibur, Starjammers, Jean Grey School
About
In the post apocalyptic waste land of 2013, Franklin Richards had a girlfriend who could send someones mind into the body of their younger self. Little did we know that the plot device known only as Rachel would become one of the most convoluted, and loved characters to ever step foot on Graymalkin Lane.
Created by Chris Claremont and John Bryne at the end on their monumental X-Men run, Rachel (not yet reveled to be Summers) was a survivor in the Days of Future Past universe (Earth-811 for those of you playing at home). She wasn’t a big character but her and Kate Pride were the only X-Men left from the slaughter. Her life hadn’t been great to say the least, after her parents (Jean and Scott) died she was forced to become a “Hound”, a telephathic soldier hunting other mutants. She would forever be scarred by hunting her own kind, leading to their death.
Art by Chris Bachalo
Eventually she made her way to the 616 and hung out with the New Mutants and the X-Men, becoming good friends with everyone’s best friend Kitty Pryde. She also went around telling EVERYONE except Scott that her last name was Summers. He was married to Maddie Pryor at the time and Jean was as dead as she ever was. Rachel had a big crisis of faith about, you know, ever existing. She got Phoenix powers during this time but was never as powerful as her mama, she also never ate a sun so she probably was the better host. This colored her entire time on the X-Men but it was during the Paul Smith/JRJR era so everything was great. Sadly after some stuff that gets complicated, Wolverine stabbed her and she went off to the Mojoverse to become a movie star/recover.
Art by John Romita Jr.
She was supposed to star in a 6 issue mini series by Claremont that got lost in development hell. It was going to delve into her history (which was mostly untold at the time) and whatever she was doing in Mojoverse (which still today is just kinda skimmed over). Sadly it got canned because the art looked fabulous!
Art by Rick Leonardi
She next showed up in Excalibur and they had loads of adventures. She came out as existing to Scott and Jean (alive again) and eventually everyone was a big happy family. Pretty much right after watching her parents get married, she got lost in the time stream and eventually became the head of a Phoenix cult calling herself the Mother Askani. She raised her half brother Cable to make sure he didn’t turn into a robot due to the techo-organic virus. Thanks to time travel and Cable (who, to clarify, is the alternate universe half-brother that she raised when he was a baby and she was grandma age) she made her way back to the 616 proper at about her normal age and everything reverted to the status quo again.
She took the code name Marvel Girl (and being mad that her dad cheated on her mom the last name Grey), had some unimportant adventures, and decided to get closer with her mothers family. Then the Shi’ar murdered everyone related to Rachel in 24 seconds for fear that they will become hosts of the Phoenix Force. Rachel did not take this well. She swore revenge and had no problem going to space and fighting Vulcan (her uncle who was in charge of the Shi’ar Empire) and joined the Starjammers with her other uncle Havok.
Art by Chris Bachalo
They all came back and she became a teacher at the Jean Grey School and joined a couple of field teams whenever she got the chance. She has yet to show up post Secret Wars but I’m sure she will pop up soon enough.
Must Read
To me the best Rachel Grey story is End of Greys by Chris Claremont and Chris Bachalo (who are my who favorite creators in X-Men history). It takes place in Uncanny X-Men #466-471. It is a dark story right after House of M (when pretty much every X-Men story was as dark as it gets) that brings Rachel back to the tragic points that were so prevalent to the character in the 80′s. It is a master class in story telling, especially the issue 24 Seconds. In that issue (#467) Claremont stretches the insanity of the twenty-four second assault on the Greys family reunion to an entire issue. It makes every minor character death hit like a semi and you really feel the chaos and loss. You can find these issues on Marvel Unlimited or as a trade on Amazon but it is out of print and really expensive.
Art by Billy Tan
Ranking
So I like Rachel and I know there are fans who absolutely LOVE her, but of all the recurring X-Men characters, she is the most take it or leave it to me. Being a big Cyclops fan, she holds a certain appeal to me but I don’t think writers ever know exactly what to do with her. Even Claremont (hallowed be his name) once thought the best idea with her was to turn her into a dinosaur person.
Art by Alan Davis (WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER)
She gets shipped off to the Mojoverse, lost in the time stream, or sent to fight her crazy space uncle all the time because good writers can’t find a good hook for her. She is at her core a tragic character and works best when she is channeling that like in her original appearances or after End of Greys. The problem is what else can she lose?
So at the end of the day she is doing to be the starting point of my definitive list of X-Men and related characters. Until I find someone I am just as lukewarm about, pretty much every comparison will start with “Do I think they are better or worse than Rachel?”. This isn’t a bad place to be and I may just be forgetting how much I dislike some of the other concepts in X-Men.
Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
