A review by gsroney
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont
5.0
In spite of all its flaws, I still give this a high rating. I read it as a teenager, and have seen manny adaptations of it, but I still think it holds up to re-reading, in spite of some dated dialogue. It’s the culmination of a lot of X-Men ideas introduced by Chris Claremont: The Hellfire Club, Mastermind, Kitty Pryde, Phoenix, Shi’Ar and the Imperial Guard, with cameos by Dazzler, the Kree, and the Skrulls.
It does have the same issue that many comics of its time did, in that it tried to deal with many unrelated plotlines and characters that are not core to the story—but that was the nature of serialized storytelling at the time. This was a long game, and took around a full year to tell.
John Byrne’s art is truly great here, and it was always interesting to see the subtle manipulation of Jean by Mastermind end up having truly cosmic consequences and a tragic and heartfelt ending.
It does have the same issue that many comics of its time did, in that it tried to deal with many unrelated plotlines and characters that are not core to the story—but that was the nature of serialized storytelling at the time. This was a long game, and took around a full year to tell.
John Byrne’s art is truly great here, and it was always interesting to see the subtle manipulation of Jean by Mastermind end up having truly cosmic consequences and a tragic and heartfelt ending.