X-men: The Dark Phoenix Saga [Anglais] [Broché]

Actually, this trade paperback collection has two distinct but related storylines. "X-Men" #129-134 constitutes the culmination of the Hellfire Club plotline. Jason Wyndgarde has been playing mind games with Jean, laying the groundwork for a seduction that will turn her to evil. His goal is to make her his black queen, the counterpart to his white queen Emma Frost. But when he unleashes her dark side the result is the birth of Dark Phoenix. This is actually the better story arc in this collection with a lot more happening than in the issues specific to the rise and fall of Dark Phoenix. We have the introduction of both Kitty Pryde (#129) and Dazzler (#130), and when the Hellfire club takes out most of the X-Men that sets up the stage for an unleashed Wolverine to make a rescue attempt (#133). Apparently all of the Hellfire minions he slices and dices in that issue were acceptable casualties in Shooter's ledger (or maybe they were all saved by emergency surgery; you never know).

Although there are flashes of Dark Phoenix where Jean battles the Hellfire Club, she only announces her presence with authority at the end of #134 (the fact that her costume turns from green to scarlet is a big clue as well). At that point things happen pretty quickly, even for a comic book and especially from the perspective of today when virtually every story arc lasts five or six episodes. Dark Phoenix only rampages through the universe in #135, the X-Men and Professor Xavier bring her down in #136, and then they end up on the Shi'ar imperial dreadnought of Empress Lilandra's grand fleet for Phoenix's trial. The fact that Jean has been "cured" does not enter into the equation, and it is as Marvel Girl that she faces her fate. The point at the end is not the battle, but the sense of self-sacrifice, which was not only going to be the original endgame for this storyline but which was also set up at the end of #136 when Jean acquiesced in her own defeat. Otherwise, I am wondering why they managed to bring back both Angel and the Beast, the latter on the roster of the Avengers at that point, but not Iceman for what is essentially the last hurrah of the original X-Men.

Yes, when several years later it was revealed that Jean Grey did not really die and had never become Phoenix it was another one of those moments when a comic book resurrects a character and ruins a memorable death. Not as bad as Gwen Stacy's clone, mind you, but not good, I can tell you that. But then Scott Summers had already married Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean created by Mr. Sinister, which would be the part where the love affair between Scott and Jean jumped the shark. Fortunately, none of that nonsense has happened in these nine issues and we can enjoy this walk down memory lane and forget about what is going to happen. Even if the ending is not as good as the set up it still has a certain power simply because Jean and Scott had been star-crossed lovers more often than not from the very beginning.