The X-Men are proving their place as Marvel’s premiere superteam. The “From the Ashes” X-Men books are selling well, and we’re currently in the middle of a Ms. Marvel/X-Men event with the Giant-Size series of books. These books have taken readers back in time, as Ms. Marvel has to stop the Legion of the future, the loss of David Haller meaning that his sinister alters are in control, from destroying all of creation getting into the White Hot Room. Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 takes readers back to one of the X-Men’s best stories, as Ms. Marvel and the X-Men have to deal with a team-up between Legion and the Phoenix Force. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is an all-time great, and revisiting it in Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 is a reminder of what made it so great.
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“The Dark Phoenix Saga” was the culmination of the early years of Chris Claremont’s landmark Uncanny X-Men run. When most people think of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” they think of the big battles, as the X-Men try and continually fail to defeat the all-powerful Dark Phoenix or when the X-Men fought the Imperial Guard in order to save Jean’s life. However, as great as they battles where, they weren’t the focus of the story, something that Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 does a great job of highlighting. The focus was the X-Men and their relationship to the woman they were fighting.
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” Focus on the Characters Makes it Great
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is a piece of art in every way. The art, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Terry Austin, and colorist Glynis Wein, is gorgeous. These are some of the greatest scenes in the history of the X-Men, and the emotion drips off the page. The writing is also sensational. Chris Claremont’s dialogue and caption boxes do a tremendous job of building up the conflict between Jean and the Phoenix Force, the conflict between the Dark Phoenix and the X-Men, and the conflict that the X-Men feel in their battles against the Dark Phoenix. That last conflict is the most important one in the story. See, the X-Men don’t want to stop the Dark Phoenix to save the universe; that’s just the icing on the cake. What the X-Men want is to save their friend Jean Grey, to find a way to get back the woman they’ve all grown to love. They are a family, and they don’t want to see a member of their family in the kind of anguish she’s in. This is a very important thing that I think a lot of people get wrong when they think about “The Dark Phoenix Saga.” People forget just how much the relationship between the X-Men and Jean Grey is the most important factor in the story. Even after they’ve found out that Jean was responsible for the death of billions when she ate the star of the D’Bari homeworld, they weren’t willing to give her up. They believed that she was innocent and were willing to fight against anyone who said otherwise. This isn’t a team concerned with the damage that their actions could cause. They’re only concerned with helping their friend and protecting her.
I think that this is what makes “The Dark Phoenix Saga” so special when compared to other classic Marvel stories. The best Marvel stories reveal the core of the characters and use it to inform them. So, for example, the Avengers in “Under Siege” never give up in their battle against the Masters of Evil, constantly trying new strategies until they find one that works. The X-Men, at their core, are about a group of people pushed together because of circumstances, and they’re all they have. Humanity has pushed them away, and they’ve created a new family for themselves. This family is the most important thing to them, and that attitude is a major thread throughout “The Dark Phoenix Saga”. At no point does anyone blame Jean; none of them are angry at her. All of them want to figure out a way to break through to their best friend under the Dark Phoenix, and solve the problem that way. All of their plans involve non-lethally dealing with her, cutting her off from her powers, because they don’t just want to win. They want their friend back. One thing that comes across when reading “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is this idea that all of them would die for Jean. Every member of the X-Men would have sacrificed their lives if that was what needed to happen to save Jean from the Dark Phoenix. In fact, they all basically do that in story, when they battle the Imperial Guard to keep Jean from facing punishment for her crimes. It was never about beating the Dark Phoenix. It was always about saving Jean Grey.
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” Is About the Power of Love
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is the greatest Marvel story ever, and I will scream that from every rooftop every day of my life. It has everything that a great superhero comic needs to shine. It has the highest stakes, multiple twists and turns, action the likes of which no one had ever imagined before, and it is populated by multi-faceted characters, all of them fighting for the same thing — love. The X-Men love Jean Grey and want to save her. That love is more important than any other factor in the story. Jean proves that she deserves that love by killing herself, ending the conflict with the Imperial Guard that could have cost one of her friends their life. Love is the most important thing in “The Dark Phoenix Saga”, and it’s there on every page.
What does Mastermind do to Jean Grey but use love against her? The X-Men’s love of Jean Grey sees them do everything they can to save her. Jean Grey’s love for her friends defeats the Phoenix inside of her, and love causes her to end her life instead of allowing her friends to lose theirs. Reading Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 will remind you of all of that. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is one of the X-Men’s darkest hours, but it’s also one of their most beautiful.
Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 is on sale now
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