The X-Men are one of Marvel‘s greatest concepts. The mutant team built around a civil rights allegory has proven to be very fertile ground, and the X-Men have starred in amazing stories. Looking over the X-Men’s six decade-plus history, there are a lot of great stories, but one of them is often considered to be above the rest — “The Dark Phoenix Saga” by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is a legendary story. The tale of the fall of Jean Grey to the cosmic force inside of her and the X-Men’s reaction is pitch perfect. Jean Grey was linked with the Phoenix forever, and the story changed the way everyone looked at the X-Men.
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“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is over forty years old and remains one of the classics of superhero fiction. Marvel has created a lot of great books over the years, but for me, Marvel’s greatest story is “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and it’s not even close. It brought comics to the next level and presaged where the comic industry would go in the 1980s and beyond.
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” Is a Greek Tragedy in Comic Form
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” ran through Uncanny X-Men #129-138 in 1980. At the time, Uncanny X-Men had become the bestselling book in comics, buoyed by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-plotter John Byrne’s brilliant work on the title. Claremont had been on the book since 1974 and had redefined the X-Men for a new generation of readers. He introduced the Phoenix Force in Uncanny X-Men #101, bringing Jean Grey back into the X-Men with the all-powerful fount of death and rebirth as part of her. Grey’s story developed over the next 28 issues, and “The Dark Phoenix Saga” saw that reach the next level. In a battle with the Hellfire Club, the X-Men are defeated and Inner Circle member Mastermind uses his mind-controlling powers on Phoenix, unleashing the darkness that has been building inside of Jean.
The Dark Phoenix is born and the X-Men have to decide how to stop someone that they loved dearly without hurting her. Things escalate when she destroys an entire star system, killing billions. Suddenly, the X-Men have an angry god on their hands, and non-lethal force might not cut it. Anyone who’s familiar with X-Men tales know where all of this going — the X-Men are able to bring Jean Grey back, only for the alien Shi’Ar to come and demand her to be punished for genocide. The X-Men battle the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard for the life of their friend, who takes her own life rather than fall to the darkness again.
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I remember the first time I learned about this story. In the ’90s, it was hard to find copies of it to read, so I mostly learned about it from friends and Wizard magazine. It would be years before I read it, but when I did, I completely understood why it was so beloved. Claremont is a verbose writer, but his writing style is perfect for this kind of story. Few writers can set the scene and bring readers into the heads of the heroes like Claremont, and that’s why “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is such a great story. Claremont’s often purple prose puts readers right in the middle of the action. We’re in everyone’s head and we understand their pain. Claremont wrings every ounce of emotion that he can out of every page, and it helps make “The Dark Phoenix Saga” a true tragic masterpiece.
The writing is only half of the story and that brings us to John Byrne’s art. John Byrne is one of the greatest comic pencilers of all time, and “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is the perfect example of why. Claremont’s emotional storytelling wouldn’t work as well without an artist who could bring it to life and that’s Byrne in a nutshell. Byrne’s character acting is top notch, taking the clay of the captions and creating masterpieces from it. His action scenes have to be seen to be believed as well; Byrne is able to create fluid action scenes that capture the power of the X-Men, Dark Phoenix, and later the Imperial Guard. The scenes where Jean kills herself are especially great, with Byrne helping Claremont force every tear out of the readers. It’s a heartbreaking moment unlike any other and is the perfect ending for this masterpiece.
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” Is The Epitome of What a Marvel Comic Should Be
Marvel made such a huge impact in superhero comics because it emphasized the human elements of the superhero. All of Marvel’s best stories have found a way to mix the human and the superhuman, but few of them can match “The Dark Phoenix Saga”. Claremont and Byrne told the story of a mad god in human terms, using the years of work they spent building up these charactes to present a tragic story unlike any the publisher had ever told before. Even now, 45 years later, it’s impossible to find a Marvel comic that is this good. Comics back in those days were mostly written for younger readers, but Claremont and Byrne found a way to make “The Dark Phoenix Saga” a mature comic, one that could appreciated by younger readers and adults.
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” doesn’t get enough credit for the role it played in the maturation of the comic industry. Sure, it doesn’t have any graphic violence, cursing, or nudity, but it deals with a lot of mature subject matter. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” shows just how deep a superhero comic can go, and Marvel has yet to match it. I’m a massive X-Men fan, so I’m pretty biased, but to me, “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is the perfect Marvel story. It takes everything that Marvel has done so well and intensifies it to the nth degree. It has cosmic craziness, it has human heart and soul, and it has amazing art. There have been some books that are better written. There have also been some books with better art. However, there’s never been a book that is able to blend the writing and art in such a perfect way. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is the creation of a team of creators, all working together, to create something that will last forever. There’s nothing better, and if you don’t believe me, read it and find out.
