Phoenix #5 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
PHOENIX #5
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artists: Alessandro Miracolo & Marco Renna
Colour artist: David Curiel
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Annalise Bissa
PHOENIX
Last issue, Phoenix fought Gorr and was seemingly killed by him. The final page showed her body stirring, Perrikus’ narration talked about how she always came back stronger from death, and the final panel showed her coming back to life surrounded by the Phoenix Force effect. But… no, this issue opens with her just dead again, and she comes back to life on page 11 in a way that looks different. So god knows what we were meant to take from the final page of the previous issue, but in practice we should apparently just ignore it.
While dead, Jean meets Eternity, who gives her a pep talk about needing to think like a cosmic entity instead of an overpowered human. A similar point was made in issue #1 when she let Perrikus escape the prison. Eternity is basically arguing that if Jean is going to be Phoenix, then that means transcending her humanity and ascending outright to the Marvel pantheon of cosmic beings – even saving the odd planet here and there is small scale stuff.
Jean was drawn to space precisely in order to ascend, but is resisting the loss of her humanity. Eternity argues that Jean would not be lost by an ascension, so much as transformed. Jean also worries about becoming Dark Phoenix again, but Eternity simply says that it isn’t a problem. This really doesn’t make sense, because the Dark Phoenix saga also involved the real Phoenix, and it turned into an insane genocidal killer. Eternity gives no real reason why it should be different this time, though they might plausibly have argued that it was precisely the attempt to be human and cosmic at the same time that went wrong in the past.
While “dead”, Jean appears as a normal human with the Phoenix as a firebird flitting around her.
On being resurrected, Phoenix reiterates to Gorr that she is not a god, just as she claimed last issue. This time, however, her claim is based on the fact that the cosmic entities are higher up the Marvel pecking order than the gods.
SUPPORTING CAST
Eternity gives a speech as de facto spokesman of the cosmic entities. Eternity is generally used as the personification of the Marvel Universe, either alone or in combination with his sister Infinity. His appearance here, with the stylised mask, is a redesign from the G.O.D.S. miniseries.
VILLAINS
Gorr. On returning to life, Phoenix promptly kills Gorr and turns him into a star. She claims that Gorr couldn’t be allowed to keep his All-Black weapon and would inevitably die without it. But Gorr was separated from the All-Black in King Thor #4, and it’s still less than clear how he got reunited with it to appear in this story in the first place.
Perrikus is ostensibly the main villain in this arc, but in this story he stands by and lets Gladiator make his argument for him. Gladiator argues, not unreasonably, that Phoenix is a law unto herself and that the Galactic Council shouldn’t tolerate this. When Phoenix addresses the Council directly, Perrikus does interject to point out that “Turning a living creature into a star isn’t the kind of help they were looking for”, and Phoenix seems to recognise him as the real threat.
The Galactic Council – Nymbis, Mentacle, Paibok, Smasher and Kuga – actually appear split on what to make of Phoenix. Most of them seem appalled by her demonstration of power against Gorr, but Paibok argues her corner, and Mentacle claims to be mostly concerned about the lack of due process.
Bizarrely, Perrikus offers to deal with Phoenix if the Council agree to surrender leadership to Thanos. I really have trouble with the idea that anyone could get a majority for that, especially on the spot. Phoenix isn’t that pressing a problem. To be fair, we don’t actually see the Council accepting the offer, so maybe they dont. The fact that Thanos shows up and declares himself owner of the galaxy seems an odd way of winning them round.
Adani somehow or other winds up in the same place that Phoenix chooses to rest after the fight with Gorr, and yells at her about letting Perrikus escape (thus leading to the death of Adani’s father in issue #1 and Adani’s own transformation at the God Quarry in issue #3). Phoenix offers to help reverse what was done to her, but she isn’t interested. However, Adani’s sword apparently gives her uncontrolled psychic abilities that let her hear people around the universe calling for help; Phoenix shuts that off in order to preserve Adani’s sanity, in what might be an echo of Professor X sealing off her own telepathic abilities (in Jean’s origin story from Bizarre Adventures #27). Adani interprets this as unwanted interference with her mind.
OTHER REFERENCES
Page 6 panel 5. “I assume my mind came here – a psychic pocket of some kind – as a defence mechanism after Gorr’s attack. Wouldn’t be the first time.” This is probably referring to Phoenix’s encounter with Death immediately after dying in the Dark Phoenix Saga, in Classic X-Men #43.
Page 8: An assortment of other cosmic entities are seen dancing around Eternity in this double-page spread (some of whom also appear in the background of later panels). Like Infinity, many of them received radical redesigns in G.O.D.S., which are used here.
- The black and white figure in the top left, with the four spikes coming out of its head, is Entropy, one of the children of Eternity.
- The yellow figure on the left with a similar mask to Eternity is Infinity.
- The yellow glowing figure dancing with Infinity is the One Above All, which personifies the creator(s) of the Marvel Universe – i.e., either God or Jack Kirby depending on who’s asking.
- The floating head at the top of the left hand page, with the giant extra eye and the tentacles, is Epoch, who has responsibility for the Protectors of the Universe, and was a supporting character in Quasar back in the day.
- The weird angular thing near the middle of the page is the Living Tribunal.
- The swirling, dragon-like thing is Oblivion.
- The black and white figure dancing with the dragon is the In-Betweener.
- The hooded skeleton is Death, of course.
- The blue glowing man in the suit dancing with Death is Fulcrum, from the 2009 Eternals series – another ambiguous God/Kirby figure.
- The four Celestials in the top right are Eson the Searcher (with the staff), Arishem the Judge (in red), Ziran the Tester (in blue and purple) and Nezarr the Calculator (in black).
- The robed guy in front of them is a Watcher, although you’d think they’d be a bit too far down the pecking order to qualify for this meeting.
So I think there’s a theme taking shape here, in a very clunky way.
Is this series going to be about everyone else trying to define Jean and who she should be:
* a cosmic menace in need of destruction
*a god who should transcend narrow human scope
* an unwelcome and incompetent meddler in cosmic politics
and Jean, in turn, ultimately must choose how to define herself?
That doesn’t quite square with the use of Adani, but it does seem to be what this issue brings forward. If this is the concept, it’s still not done all that interestingly or effectively.
On a side note, I’ve got to wonder how long those G.O.D.S. redesigns of the cosmic entities are going to stick around, given how little impact the actual series seems to have had on readers or on the sales charts.
Something I’m curious about, just based on Paul’s notes/reviews – is this actually an X-book? I mean, sure, Jean’s the lead, but it doesn’t seem like Phillips’ story has anything at all to do with mutants, or even Jean’s own history outside of her specific connection to the Phoenix Force.
It is in the sense that it was launched as part of the “From the Ashes” initiative. Brevoort stated he was using this X-character as a backdoor in order to increase the visibility of some of Marvel’s cosmic characters in the hopes of eventually spinning off a new cosmic line of books. I don’t see this comic accomplishing that goal. While I’m not reading this comic (and don’t see myself being alone in that), these reviews make the cosmic characters being used seem generic and boring. There’s not one that I am reading about and thinking that I wish there was a comic about them.
Corsair was in a couple of issues, and Gladiator & the Shi’ar are on the galactic council but other than that it’s basically just a cosmic book. I don’t even think Jean acknowledges Scott when she’s considering transcending humanity which seems like it should be a pretty big factor in the decision.
Jean typically shows more self-confidence — even arrogance — when she’s Phoenix. So the idea that she’s trying to figure herself out is misguided as a theme. I believe it is part of the book, but that’s probably one of the reasons why it rubs me the wrong way.
Also, once this book fails (as I assume it will), what are they going to do with Jean? I guess they could shunt her into some other cosmic series. But she can’t go back to the X-Men in her current form. She’s squaring off against the Black Guard here, but has trouble clearing neo-Orchis goons out of the mansion? It’s not going to work.
I guess you can call me old and cranky, but I vastly prefer the older (classic?) designs for many of the cosmic figures. Frankly, I don’t think there was anything wrong with the old style for Eternity, Infinity, Oblivion, In-Betweener, Living Tribunal, etc.
I still don’t remember what the point was of the G.O.D.S. series, or what it even accomplished.
And seeing them all like this actually -reduces- their scope and impact. This Eternity is small and dull, not unfathomably big and awe-inspiring. And saying this is how they relate to Jean/Phoenix, whom they want to elevate to top-tier status… meh.
Either Jean does become Creation and fucks up horribly, or she doesn’t and goes on as usual.
GODS was supposed to be something about the battle between the forces of Science and the forces of Magic taking place behind-the-scenes of our three-dimensional reality, but the series got cancelled so quickly that it didn’t get much of a chance to establish, much less accomplish, anything. It read like a Warren Ellis series, or Hickman wanting to write Dr. Strange and being told the character wasn’t available (even though Stephen guest-starred in half the issues). It’s not surprising that most people have already forgotten it.
@Thom: I can’t tell you how frustrated I am to see the same arguments about power creep used to rationalize both Jean and Storm being kept away from the X-books. If fighting neo-Orchis goons is “beneath” them now, then maybe the X-Men shouldn’t be fighting neo-Orchis goons in the first place.
“Gorr was separated from the All-Black in King Thor #4, and it’s still less than clear how he got reunited with it to appear in this story in the first place”
Especially since All-Black is in Dylan’s possession and plays a major role in Venom War- Dylan uses it to strip Eddie of the King in Black powers. I honestly can’t believe that Breevort somehow missed that All-Black was playing a major role in a major crossover at the time these issues came out.
I’m not buying that Jean could only stop Gorr by killing him. Even if she couldn’t separate him from All-Black, couldn’t she just plant a.suggestion in his head to keep him from using it to kill anyone? She’s still an Omega-level telepath. right?Gillen had Xavier say that he did something similar to prevent nuclear war. It’s especially jarring because just a few pages earlier she says she has no limits.
@Diana: I agree. I find anti-mutant paramilitary groups beyond boring. And I find Jean’s current status quo ridiculous. At least you used to be able to ground her in
(comic book) reality by separating her from the Phoenix. But now she’s permanently attached to it or something?. Blech.
I’d love to see her back with the X-Men. But if she’s finishing a fight by turning her opponent into a star, then I’m not sure there’s much place for her in superhero comics anymore.
Same with Storm, honestly. She’s literally the queen of Mars. Let’s stop pretending these characters are superheroes and start telling sci-fi space sagas with them. Storm, Jean, Iceman, Xavier, Sunspot, a couple of others. That could be fun.
Oh, I should add: Kieron Gillen is killing it with The Power Fantasy, where he’s taking the overpowering of Omega mutants to its logical conclusion: political sci-fi intrigue. It’s literally inspired by his recent tenure on the X-books. Highly recommended.
@Thom H- I thought it was obvious what would happen with Jean once the writers no longer want her to be “cosmic”- there will be a major crossover called Phoenix War to rid her of the Phoenix powers. 🙂
@Diana- The problem is that the when the X-Men go on adventures, there has to be something for, say, Nightcrawler to do. So if one of the members is nearly omnipotent, the threat has to be ridiculously powerful but somehow vulnerable to the weaker members.
The issue with Storm is different though. The problem is her fans think she’s shouldn’t be a member of a team if she isn’t leading it. This problem is exclusive to Storm’s fans- Captain America, Iron Man and Thor have all been members of teams without leading them. Breevort’s solution was to make Storm a member of the Avengers and have Carol act as chairwoman but not as field leader. even though other Avengers chairpersons like Hawkeye and Wasp became excellent field leaders.
PHOENIX WAR
It’s the X-Men vs the Universe when the Galactic Council decides Jean Grey is too dangerous to live.
Naturally, as the mutants and the great powers of the galaxy — the Kree, Shi’ar, Skrulls, etc — go to war, friends and allies on both sides are drawn into the conflict. The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy both want the war stopped, but for different reasons. Hulking and Wiccan are caught up on opposite sides, fighting one another in an unprecedented turn of events.
The core series runs 7 issues, with about 10 3-issue minies, an anthology mini to cover the war’s “frontline” and a bunch of one-shots.
In the end, a new Phoenix host is chosen– WICCAN — and nothing will ever be the same again. Jean Grey, depowered and humbled, joins the Starjammers as their new leader to honor Corsair’s heroic sacrifice, blah blah blah…
In the wake of this, we get relaunched STARJAMMERS and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY series, as well as COSMIC X-MEN as the mutants set forth to train all the alien mutants discovered in the course of events…
I know the Shi’ar are paranoid when it comes to the Phoenix, but Gladiator isn’t usually quite this insane. “Phoenix killed an evil monster who attacked her! This means she’s going to kill us and our only hope is allying with a Dark God!” is some crazy logic.
@The Other Michael: This is uncannily believable. Well done.
G.O.D.S. was actually awesome, although it ended in quite the cliffhanger. Loved it. I would dearly love to have Al Ewing handling Doctor Strange at some point.
Paul raises some valid points about the plot, particularly with the Thanos reveal at the end. I can only expect that there is something to be revealed to explain it next issue.
Overall, though, I am well predisposed towards this series. It seems to be wanting to try new approaches to very tired corners of the MU. Instead of declaring (again) that such and such characters are the ultimate cosmic omega bee’s knees definitive plus ultra and therefore we all ought to feel compelled to follow his current stories, it seems to be coming from the opposite direction and attempting to make actual characters out of Eternity and company.
By that perspective, the X-books connection is indeed feeble, accidental even. That is no bad thing far as I am concerned. It is probably not possible at this point to ever truly contain the power levels inflation of the X-characters now, nor to shape the Phoenix into anything that might someday have coherence. Might as well roll with that and take explicit advantage of those contradictions in order to shake up and redecorate the cosmic pantheons of Marvel and keep Jean busy somewhere with a role that does not amount to red-haired plot dispenser.
I wonder what they will make with Thanos now. He has been turning up quite a lot lately, and lost “gravitas”. If ever there was a time when it would be good to reposition him and give him a clearer role, this is probably it.
Is there a Phoenix War checklist? I don’t want to miss a single issue!
@Thom H.: There is, but it leaves out the six-issue Daredevil tie-in where he flashes back to that time he had a rooftop talk with Echo when she had the Phoenix. Best wait for the omnibus.
All the cosmic entities are above, outside, indifferent to the council’s laws. Also, the council seems to be composed of different empires super soldiers. So, that’s awkward.
I second Thom H.’s recommendation of Gillen’s and Wijngaard’s THE POWER FANTASY.
I also agree with Luis Dantas that G.O.D.S. was pretty awesome. I liked the designs for all the characters too except for Reddwyn, who did indeed come off far too similar-looking to Dr. Strange-like (a comparison that Skottie Young went so far as to make on his variant cover for the first issue). I did find it weird that the series ended like it did, considering the cancellation wasn’t a surprise; I forget if it was the letters page or somewhere else, but I remember it being explained in the beginning that the book was planned to run eight issues with the option to continue if it found a certain level of favor with readers (which I guess it didn’t).
@Luis
Yeah, I really enjoyed G.O.D.S. too, but I thought it ended pretty conclusively.
Jean’s my favourite character, but this book so far has barely given readers anything like I’d expect from a Jean Grey book. It’s random cosmic stuff happening, with characters often acting out of character to force the plot along, with pretty uninspiring art. It’s not bad…. but.
That cover makes it look like Jean is fighting Hordak.
Without JRJR’s distinct pencilling style playing up the Kirbyesque design elements, I think most of the Dark Gods from that late 1990s Thor series look pretty generic.