Volume 02: Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Author: Chris Claremont  |  Illustrator: John Byrne

"I can pick your mind clean in the blink of an eye — "

I like the X-Men, but not to the extent that I'm unable to acknowledge the collective's many flaws. Scott Summers is a bore. Jean Grey is overpowered. Wolverine overshadows all the others. (Actually, that last point is also a strength; they'd be less interesting without him.)

It's only my second post and already I'm going against popular opinion because, as you've probably guessed, Volume 02 is mostly about Jean and while it's much-loved by fans of Jean it bores the shit out of me.

John Byrne's art is excellent and there's a potentially great storyline smothered beneath the rigid text, but it's a victim of the Marvel need to make the team seem more mature by having them be super-serious even during times of outright stupidity. That approach coupled with the usual complex-nearing-convoluted events that have come to define the X-Men series over the years make it difficult to connect to the characters. Or maybe that applies only to me? I don't know. I read the book twice to try and overcome any kind of unfair dislike that I may have unconsciously created. It didn't help. It mostly served to make me cringe even more at the overuse of self-commentary.

Some positives to end with: Prior to the book's central arc, Jean had died but hadn't, the team were killed but weren't, and the world was saved. Because together they're so powerful, a pattern develops where over time the enemies have to get bigger and stronger in order to seem threatening. For a while the primary villain in the Dark Phoenix saga instead goes smaller, attacking from afar, quietly and unnoticed. It was absolutely the correct approach to take in order to achieve the specific goal that the author was hoping to address.
I thought the design of the Black Queen was fantastic.
Wolverine is seen reading Penthouse; that's good characterisation.

The book collects together Uncanny X-Men #129-137.

Verdict: