Phoenix: Endsong

Phoenix: Endsong 1-5

I’ve forgotten a lot of the lead up to this series, but here’s what’s going on: Jean Grey is dead.  (Again.) The Phoenix Force was scattered across the galaxy, but slowly coalescing back into form. Some fanatical Shi’ar accelerate the process so that they can destroy the Phoenix for good.  (Stupid stupid Shi’ar!) They fail, and the disoriented Phoenix returns to Earth, resurrecting Jean.

Pak hits all the right notes.  He primarily uses the classic team - Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Wolverine, Kitty, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus.  Emma Frost has to be involved as Scott’s new love interest, and Quentin Quire is the wildcard. Like the New Mutants relaunch, there’s an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia here.  The specter of the Dark Phoenix saga looms over everything that this team does.  The horrors from that trial, with the death of five billion souls and the emotional trauma of Jean’s death, remain seared into their psyches.  

The same holds true for the readers.  At the time of publication, it had been twenty-five years for them.  For me reading it today, almost forty. Yet the events remain just as fresh in my memory as they do for the X-Men.  It’s a powerful thing.

That history lends such emotional weight to the whole affair that I was completely sucked into the drama of the story from the get go.  Pak mixes the action with pitch perfect character moments. Some of my favorites:

Logan’s weary acceptance what he needs to do, then his brutal follow through.

Scott dealing with the same anguish as Logan:

Emma’s acknowledgement that she’ll always be second in Scott’s heart.

Emma in a rare vulnerable moment.

Colossus’ little moment with Kitty as Pak writes him out of the story.

Justify it with the story all you want, Pak.  You just didn't want to juggle another piece for another two issues.

Storm kicking ass.

Land draws a mean Nightcrawler, too,

Emma and Kitty continuing to snipe at each other.  

Scott’s heart skipping a beat.  And how Kitty is able to tell.

I’m not a fan of how love saves the day or the ambiguous final page, but with something as cosmically powerful as the Phoenix, that’s usually how this sort of thing has to end.  Greg Land’s art was mildly distracting in its usual way, but managed to stay on the “pretty enough for me to not care” side of things.

This was a really fun read, and another reminder of why I love the X-Men.  Few other titles can draw upon their history to create something this powerful.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good