X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga (Marvel Prose Novels)

I wasn\’t sure what to expect from a novelization of the X-Men\’s arguably most beloved and well-known comic arcs, but, as The Dark Phoenix Saga is perhaps my favorite comic story of all, I knew that I had to try it when I saw it. Ultimately, Stuart Moore did a more than adequate job in changing the style of storytelling from graphic to prose novel, though not without its own downfalls. The strongest thing about this book is that the focus is mainly on Jean Grey\’s character journey, and that Moore was canny enough to include lines of both dialogue and thought processes lifted directly from the comics themselves. Beyond that, we do get some chapters or sections that give us quick insights into the other major characters, especially Cyclops and Wolverine and Storm, fittingly. The book also doesn\’t waste the readers\’ time with huge sections of exposition establishing the X-Men Universe; Moore assumes that the reader knows the world they\’re reading about and takes it from there. Moore also has an excellent way of succinctly describing the action and the fighting, both mutant-powered and physical. Jean\’s exercising of the Phoenix Force was visceral and immediate, and he also did a fairly good job with the psychic elements of the story – Mastermind\’s mental manipulations and hallucinations, the aftermath of such an invasive thing, and all the other psychics of the story (Emma Frost, Charles Xavier, and Oracle) get a great central focus. The complexity of Jean and Logan\’s relationship as well as his understanding her in his own way better than Cyclops was well-played while also maintaining a real strength to Scott and Jean\’s love for each other. There are two oddities to take into consideration when reading this, and that is that this novel is meant to stand alone, in a sense, so it is fairly reminiscent of the films in this way. So many forget that The Phoenix Saga takes place before The Dark Phoenix Saga, where Phoenix saves the universe – a beautiful story itself that\’s part of what makes her downfall that much more tragic. Here, that\’s completely skipped over, with Jean saving the X-Men in space and then Xavier sort of randomly being in Shi\’ar space with Empress Lilandra for no really explained reason. The story really picks up right after Phoenix\’s confrontation with Magneto in Antarctica with the supposed \’death of the X-Men\’ plot, and speeds the timeline up to catch Jean back up with the X-Men quicker as they meet Kitty Pryde. This is offset, however, by the author\’s excellent treatment of Emma Frost, adding in details and different interactions with Scott Summers that are influenced by the White Queen\’s later character development. The characters use cell phones and the slang is updated to set it in more modern times without being completely overt over the change. Kitty gets a few new scenes to deal with the prejudice against mutants, and more emphasis is given on the mental rape-like nature of Mastermind\’s assault on Jean\’s mind and the misogyny and racism of the Hellfire Club, giving the novel more social issue weight. Xavier takes the place of the Watcher, and has an interesting new plot with Wolverine that really worked for the story being a more contained X-Men story. The brief cameos of Dr. Strange, The Avengers, and Spider-Man are reminiscent of the animated series and some of Jean\’s struggles look like they were inspired by the approach taken by the films. The author also does a phenomenal job of balancing Jean\’s own culpability in her actions as well as establishing that the Phoenix is an alien entity as well, with Xavier researching Shi\’ar \’legends\’ of the Chaos Bringer explaining why the Shi\’ar knew about the Phoenix as well. Ultimately, it\’s a good, solid book that I tore through in a day that gave a solid story that made The Dark Phoenix Saga stand by itself as its own self-contained story. It\’s referential to the beloved 90\’s animated series, the films, and the comics all at once with a nice updated feel to the story. I would highly recommend it to fans of X-Men, and of the Dark Phoenix story, as well as sci-fi or Marvel fans in general.

The short of this – This book is expertly written by someone who is familiar enough with my friends from the comics that their characters and stories remain intact. When I\’m reading the comics and I dramatize it in my head – this book captures what\’s happening in my imagination. This isn\’t just a copy/paste job frame for frame of the existing epic comic series. This is putting into paper all the daydreams and fantasies we have about what must be going through their minds. It\’s adding in the stuff that we surmise without seeing in the comics. But – in the age where Hollywood has time and again butchered the stories we love leading to so much disappointment – somehow it does all of this without ruining the existing story. The characters are just like they are in the comics but expanded. They are punchy without being overly campy. (If you directly translate some of those snappy comic dialogues, it wouldn\’t work well for a novel.) They are a little more realistic in that regard – easier to identify with on a deeper level (which i didn\’t realize was possible). There are also some BEAUTIFUL cameos at the end of Act 2 that made me scream with delight. (No spoilers.) The relationships between the characters really capture the essence of the story as well. The relationship between Jean and the rest of the cast – Scott, Logan, Xavier, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, her biological family, the Phoenix, and herself are all written perfectly. Particularly those last two. Jean\’s inner dialogue as she struggles to figure out which parts of her are her, and which parts are the Phoenix, will be familiar to anyone who\’s ever had to conquer inner demons. The settings are drawn beautifully as well – to the point that i feel like those who aren\’t picturing the comic/cartoon sets will be able to imagine things more complex than our 2-D memories. It\’s updated to take place now (a smartphone here, a reference to Google there, you know the drill) but the original story isn\’t compromised in the process. (It was already futuristic at the time. Spaceships, you know?) If you haven\’t read the Dark Phoenix Saga in comics, you may still like this book. If you haven\’t read any of the X-men comics, you may still like this book. If you\’re like me, you will probably love this book: If you latched onto X-men when you discovered them as a teenager; if you, as a teenage girl, felt instantly connected to Jean Grey to the point that you started your own amateur novelization of her introduction to Uncanny X-men; if your connection to her remained into your adulthood to the point that you, i dunno, got a Phoenix tattoo; if you still get goosebumps watching the end of X-2 because you\’re trying really hard not to focus on what\’s about to happen in The Last Stand; if you cry when Jean comes back in DOFP; if you screamed \”PHOENIX!\” when you saw Apocalypse in the theater…. i think you\’ll be pleasantly surprised. This story has resonated with me since i was too young to grasp its many complexities. Now that i\’m an adult and I\’ve been through my own Hellfire Club, it resonates with me so much more than it ever did before – and this book just nails it all – the centerpiece being the classic (and mostly untold) story of being in an abusive relationship where your partner is re-programming your reality so you don\’t know which way is up (see also: Thanos and Gamorah, via the Reality Stone). At the end of the day, i would not say this is a female empowerment story, any more than the comic was. It\’s not even necessarily what i\’d love to pigeonhole it as – the redemption of the victim, one of my favorite tropes. It\’s an epic superhero story with some awesome parallels to real-life struggles… and isn\’t that why we love superhero stories in the first place? If you ask me, Joseph Campbell would be beside himself with excitement. Thanks for another brilliant re-telling of this classic. I can\’t wait to read Civil War!!

The Phoenix Saga happened at the height of my collecting days. I was young and the sweeping, melodramatic tale reverberates with me even today. Unfortunately, this novel has no soul. It\’s a dry, retelling and little more. Characters I loved are treated as cliches and cardboard cutouts. There is little to no character development or insight. I was hoping for at least a good read, but instead I got a stale retelling, where events are left out or washed over, apparently for expediency\’s sake. It\’s probably my fault. I was hoping for a beautifully-crafted, emotional retelling that would appeal to me as an adult the way the original appealed to me as a kid. My hopes were too high. The writing is very surface-y. The characters never become real, but rather remain slaves to their original incarnation, pale echoes of greatness. Kids might like this, but if you\’re a thinking adult hoping for a powerful, dramatic read, with living, feeling characters, you might be very disappointed.

The story of The (Dark) Phoenix has always intrigued me, having first seen it adapted in the 1990s X-Men cartoon, but not quite taking in how complicated the X-Men/Marvel universe was at the time and more recently with the X-Men/Fox film franchise that started in 2000, culminating in 2019’s “Dark Phoenix”, starring Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. So, in the build up, I go looking for material and I come at this as a fan of the film franchise, which created an Earth based singular X-Men universe, rather than an aficionado of the comic books/Marvel universe which incorporates other characters from Marvel’s universe with crossovers from other series as well as multiple timelines. Here we have a twenty first century novelisation of the graphic novel that is recognised as a classic within the X-Men canon, a difficult task by Moore’s own admission since the original Dark Phoenix Saga was published back in the 1980s, this version is complete with Skype and mobile phones. The characterisation of the X-Men reminded me so much of the cartoon series. Did I like it? Yes. Would I have enjoyed it more if I were more aware of the Marvel universe and read the comics before hand? Yes.

Llego algo dañado pero la historia está bien

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