X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga

$15.95 from Marvel Comics

Writing: Chris Claremont & John Byrne

Art: John Byrne & Terry Austin

"O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!...

Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play!"

-- Chorus, Shakespeare, King Henry V, Prologue

In 1980, now twenty years ago, Marvel Comics overleapt its humble origins and burst into full-scale pageantry. The story had been creeping up for a year, but when it came, it stood alone as one of the finest moments of melodrama Marvel had ever attained. The moment was X-Men #137, The Fate of the Phoenix. The bards were Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin.

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga reprints the issues leading up to Jean Grey's once-final fate, and it's worth more than a look if it's been a long time since you've read it.

The setup is this: Jean Grey, telepath extraordinaire, valiantly saved the life of the X-Men and was reborn from a watery grave as the bearer of the Phoenix power, a cosmic energy from the depths of space. Her powers grew steadily, and even though Jean remained a sweet upstate girl, her abilities soon became awesome: she could collapse whole stars if need be. But it was Jean, right? Soon, however, an evil telepath and master of illusion began unlocking the hidden evil depths of Jean's mind, evils that all humans bear. Except not all humans have the Phoenix power: soon Jean found herself transformed into the Dark Phoenix, a creature who lusts for power and pain. Like a trembling addict she grew more violent, finally turning on the X-Men.

Much of the story above is told in the issues reprinted here, but I wanted to get past them because they're just prologue, really, just the red carpet curling towards the ball. All of those issues, X-Men #s129-136 build in seriousness, as Jean goes increasingly mad, finally destroying an entire solar system and slaying nearly five million people. But they still feel like comic book stories.

X-Men #137 was something else entirely. Claremont and Byrne swept right over the top, hitting just the right note by starting out the story with The Watcher as a Chorus, "The Final Act is about to begin!" he cries. Now, as a human who has dared to touch the mind of God has been whisked off with her friends to the court of the Shiar to face her fate. There's a genuine sense of a curtain rising to find the X-Men gathered before the Queen.

What melodrama is packed into this one issue! Everyone has heart-breaking issues to face: Professor Xavier throws down a gauntlet to stall Jean Grey's summary execution, calling for a contest of champions, the X-Men versus whoever the court can throw at them. His challenge rips asunder his own love affair with the Queen, who must stand by her empire although she loves Charles. The Beast, fresh from committing mutiny against the US government to leave the Avengers unguarded and riush to the X-Men's side, acknowedlges that Professor X has overstepped his rights-- he has no place pledging the lives of the X-Men.

For a full night, Claremont and Byrne show the X-Men in separate quarters, preparing for battle to come and wondering whether to fight at all. Each has his own reasons to fight, and each has reasons to leave Jean to justice.

The battle comes with alternating scenes of preparation and action, attacks and feints. It takes place on the surface of the moon, and Jean Grey and Scott Sunmmers keep psychic tabs on the rest of their comrades, as they fall, one by one. There's a stunning moment when we know our heroes are enaring the end, and Jean and Scott wall themselves off behind a partition of hardened sand. Just to say good-bye, take a breath, then drop the wall and face the coming onslaught.

Then, the final moments, shocking even today, so much so that I still won't ruin it, even though everybody knows what happened. See!

This was Marvel Comics not as art but as melodramatic pop glory of glories, tragedy the likes of which had never been seen in comics. Was this what Stan Lee envisioned when he began, with all that thunderous prose and over-wrought drama of the early Spider-Man? Perhaps, but he could never have envisioned such scale.

X-Men #137 had the look and feel of a play, rising and falling in tension, hammering home with every step the inevitability of each move. The saint has become a sinner. The sinner has become a killer. The killer has become the condemned. The condemned has become the remorseful. And the remorseful has met her end.

See!

<I>X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga</I>