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A review by odin45mp
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont
5.0
This is a classic X-Men story. Arguably “the” X-Men story.
This collects #129-137 of the Uncanny X-Men run, penned by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
This is an incredible ride. I can see why it is a classic storyline and has been used as the basis for two movies and an arc in the Animated Series. If only the movies could get the emotions and the plotting right.
As usual, Claremont doesn’t know how to not fill a page with words, but I’m mostly okay with it as it gives us plenty of insight into their motivations and outside actions and atmosphere that lend themselves to this story.
We find the X-Men headed home when Jean is overcome with a telepathic fantasy of herself married to another man, in period garb from the American Revolution. This comes up again throughout the story and is caused by a mental seduction by another mutant. The Hellfire Club is planning world domination, not just financial control and accumulation of wealth, and they need to get the X-Men out of the way before making their move.
This is complicated as the X-Men find 2 new mutants and go to see who they are, and if they want to join the team. This introduces two long-standing members: Kitty Pryde and Dazzler. We also see some tension as Cyclops and Professor X struggle with who should be leading the team, and their different leadership styles.
Ultimately, the Phoenix Force, a cosmic entity that has been inside Jean for some time (see other trade paperbacks for that part of the story), asserts itself in a violent way. The consequences of this fight for domination between the good and the evil inside Jean leads the X-Men to an epic showdown on the Moon against galactic forces. This was an emotional arc for me to read, even knowing exactly how it turns out. I can only imagine the impact if I had read it as a child or teenager when it came out. I strongly recommend this, but only if you have some knowledge of the X-Men before starting. If you need to know more, please check out www.xplainthexmen.com, one of my favorite podcasts, and where I have gained a large portion of my X-Men knowledge from.
The artwork is of “the style at the time” but quite good, with use of color and shadow to drive the emotions and story.
This collects #129-137 of the Uncanny X-Men run, penned by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
This is an incredible ride. I can see why it is a classic storyline and has been used as the basis for two movies and an arc in the Animated Series. If only the movies could get the emotions and the plotting right.
As usual, Claremont doesn’t know how to not fill a page with words, but I’m mostly okay with it as it gives us plenty of insight into their motivations and outside actions and atmosphere that lend themselves to this story.
We find the X-Men headed home when Jean is overcome with a telepathic fantasy of herself married to another man, in period garb from the American Revolution. This comes up again throughout the story and is caused by a mental seduction by another mutant. The Hellfire Club is planning world domination, not just financial control and accumulation of wealth, and they need to get the X-Men out of the way before making their move.
This is complicated as the X-Men find 2 new mutants and go to see who they are, and if they want to join the team. This introduces two long-standing members: Kitty Pryde and Dazzler. We also see some tension as Cyclops and Professor X struggle with who should be leading the team, and their different leadership styles.
Ultimately, the Phoenix Force, a cosmic entity that has been inside Jean for some time (see other trade paperbacks for that part of the story), asserts itself in a violent way. The consequences of this fight for domination between the good and the evil inside Jean leads the X-Men to an epic showdown on the Moon against galactic forces. This was an emotional arc for me to read, even knowing exactly how it turns out. I can only imagine the impact if I had read it as a child or teenager when it came out. I strongly recommend this, but only if you have some knowledge of the X-Men before starting. If you need to know more, please check out www.xplainthexmen.com, one of my favorite podcasts, and where I have gained a large portion of my X-Men knowledge from.
The artwork is of “the style at the time” but quite good, with use of color and shadow to drive the emotions and story.