Phoenix #9 // Review
Rocket and Nova are a little concerned. She just faced Thanos himself and immediately went into a psychic cocoon. When she came out, she was looking a lot more cosmic and a lot less like Jean. So naturally Rocket’s going to ask: is she okay? The answers to that question are explored in Phoenix #9. Writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Alessandro Miracolo explore the life of Jean Grey at a major turning point. Color comes to the page courtesy of David Curiel. The latest issue continues Phillips’ ambitious attempt to redefine one of the most enduring characters in the Marvel Universe.
She’s really concerned about the structural integrity of the universe itself. It’s not something that some rich girl from upstate New York would normally have to deal with, but Jean’s been through a hell of a lot over the years and now she’s dealing with cosmic-level power that accompanies cosmic-level responsibility. Nova and Rocket can only look-on and wonder what Jean must be going through as she confronts powerful shadow creatures and the light she must bring to reality in order to turn back the ever-encroaching darkness. Somewhere in the heart of the darkness lurks someone looking to remake reality itself.
Phillips is moving through quite a lot. It's very difficult to respect the complex history of a character like Jean Grey while moving forward forward with new stresses and conflicts. The overall continuity of a character that has been so loved by so many people across so many generations is really difficult to do justice too. Phillips does pretty good job, actually. there is a clever, poetic balance between the character that Jean has been prior to this series and what she is becoming in the course of it.
Miracolo gives Phoenix a whole new look that actually works quite well. It's somewhere between Phoenix and the abstract entity of Eternity. so it's kind of a fusion between design styles that would have been developed byJack Kirby and those that would have been developed by Steve Ditko. As powerful a fusion as it is, it wouldn’t be nearly as powerful were it not for the Curiel’s colors which REALLY lend a powerfully cosmic look to the cosmic power of Phoenix. Miracolo maintains the drama of Jean Grey as read across the face and poise of Phoenix in a visual package that never loses track of the overall humanity beneath it all.
The progression of the Phoenix Force as witnessed in Claremont’s original run had a beautiful gravity about it. The corruption of Jean Grey...her death and her redemption through the transformation of Rachel Summers was one of the more powerful storylines of the 1980s. Phillips and company find new life in old power in another thoroughly satisfying issue that still manages to break new ground for a character who has been around for over half a century. It’s a fun adventure that continues to ride some very compelling gravity into the current era.
