Phoenix #1 Review
Summary: This is a rocky start. With some time, this book can definitely do some big things. It's got the right ideas, it just needs to be pointed in the right direction. Somebody get Jean a space map!
3
Death & Rebirth
Background – Jean Grey is once again the Phoenix. In other news, Rich Rider is back!
Writing – Jean saves a planet and a prison on the edge of a black hole while A prisoner escapes.
The book does have some great science fiction concepts, with suns and black holes and prisons on the edge of a cosmic precipice. But the execution has one very big problem.
Jean is once again the Phoenix, and with that she has the ability to do just about ANYTHING. In the first issue alone, she stops a sun from exploding and fixes a black hole. Hopefully the use of Perrikus as a villain should be able to give her some sort of challenge, but the question still remains: if she’s this powerful, shouldn’t the problem be fixed within the first 3 pages of the book?
The fact that most of the first issue is not told from Jean’s perspective but a young alien girl named Adani is a very different way of telling this story. Jean Grey may be on a mission to redeem the name of the Phoenix, but Adani and her people only know the death and destruction that the entity has caused. To them, the Phoenix means death, so when they are saved, they are quite surprised. With her father dead and Perrikus’s hand, it’ll be interesting to see if she blames Jean or not.
Artwork – David Curiel is fast becoming one of my favorite colorists at Marvel. His work is gorgeous, capturing just the right hue for the Phoenix force and providing some awesome colors for a black hole on the edge of space. Jean has never looked better and while he is only in a few panels, Cyclops looks more like his current age (thank goodness for that, because X-Men 1 looks like it has a 15 year old Cyclops leading the team.) The aliens all look unique and Rich Rider’s Nova suit looks fantastic.
Final Thoughts – This is a very by the numbers book that will hopefully last longer than 12 issues, although I doubt it. An overpowered protagonist, an antagonist that nobody outside of die hard fans will know, and a story that remains unclear all work together against this issue. That being said, the art is gorgeous (David Curiel is one heck of a colorist). Here’s hoping the book finds its mojo in the next two or so issues.
Final score: 3 out of 5
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Penciler: Alessandro Miracolo
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Artist: Yasmine Putri
Genre: Superhero
Format: Monthly
Release Date: 07/17/2024
About the Author
Matt Fischer Lover of all things nerdy. Reader of Comics for over 25 years. DC encyclopedia. X-Men historian. Spider-Man and Marvel lover. Indie side guy.
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