Phoenix Resurrection #4 review 

It’s just another day for Jean Grey, small town diner waitress. Wake up in a house razed by fire, talk to the paper boy...




Jean isn’t noticing the fiery scenes just at the edge of her vision. 

Nearby, a mass of mutants have come to New Mexico, on the trail of recent Phoenix Force manifestations. They’ve found a dome, pulsating with light. There’s a door, but is it safe to go through? 

Who cares, they’re the X-Men and their friend Jean Grey likely needs help on the other side. 


What they find are more mutants. Dead, angry ones. 


I wasn’t impressed with the first issue of what was advertised as a game-changing mini series. The second weekly issue, though, addressed my concerns and, along with the third, got me seriously interested. Writer Matthew Rosenberg has been pacing the mystery nicely, tapping into a Twilight Zone eeriness. Again and again he reminds us just how powerful the amoral Phoenix Force is, begging the question: how the heck can a reborn Jean Grey resist its cosmic call? Surely she’s going to bond with it at any moment, and the universe will quake as the blazing bird feeds?

Too often writers forget - or ignore, for story convenience - the fact that Kitty Pryde is established as an awful lot smarter than most people. Here, though, she’s deducing what’s likely happening, giving her team - her world - a chance of survival. It likely helps her stress levels that she acknowledges the weirdness of X-Men mortality.  


The art by illustrator Ramon Rosanas and colourist Rachelle Rosenberg is sumptuous. The pages are ablaze with character and colour. It doesn’t matter whether they’re asked to conjure up a quiet moment in a cool diner or a chaotic fight in an inferno, they nail it. There’s also a nicely understated lettering job by Travis Lanham. 

Phoenix Resurrection ends next week, and on this form, it’s going to nail the landing with big, fiery wings. 

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Phoenix Resurrection #4 review, Matthew Rosenberg, Ramon Rosanas, Rachelle Rosenberg, Travis Lanham, Marvel Legacy, The Return of Jean Grey


Comments

  1. This has progressed nicely!
    Loved that page with things burning out of Jeans vision.
    I don’t recognize all the dead X-men. Did see Scott. When did he die.

    And young scott getting pushed out of the way by old Logan ... well... I felt for young Scott.

    Glad I got this.

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    1. I never read the stories in which Scott X-died, but this has all the details. https://io9.gizmodo.com/we-finally-know-how-cyclops-died-1789318347 Thanks for the comments!

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  2. I was a bit disappointed with the ending in the next issue, though this particular issue was very good.

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    1. I’m not sure how else they could have ended the final issue other than have Jean stare down the Phoenix... that it conceded defeat is surprising, but I really would like a good few years of non-Phoenix Jean. Peak Marvel Girl is enough.

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    2. What I'd hoped for, hence the root of my disappointment, is for the Phoenix Force and Jean to finally just become one with Jean fully in control and able to call on its power when needed. Plus, Jean's Phoenix costume is awesome. I think the ending was good, in that they concluded it and followed through with a rather good amount of emotion, but they dashed my hopes and now we can, again, look forward to another "Jean becomes Dark Phoenix" story in a couple of years.

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    3. I do hope not, but I suspect the Dark Phoenix storyline will always return.

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