Comic Book Review: X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong
X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong (2005)
X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong mini-series issues 1-5. Writer: Greg Pak, Penciller: Greg Land, Inker: Matt Ryan, Colourist: Justin Ponsor. Published by Marvel Comics in 2005.
For those that don't know, Jean Grey is currently dead in the comics world. It's something like her 6th or 7th death, so these things are hard to keep track of. The first time they killed her, in the classic Dark Phoenix Saga, it was a monumental moment in comic history, and the best story ever told in X-Men history. They found a way to bring her back by retconning the history a bit, but I felt it worked. There were more Jean Grey stories to tell, so I was fine with it (of course, this is probably because I started reading X-Men comics after she came back and didn't read the Dark Phoenix Saga until years later). But each time after that they faked out a Jean Grey death, I felt it was stupid. Like the writer couldn't think of anything else to do buy ape Claremont and Byrne. Like you haven't made your mark on the X-continuity until you've killed Jean Grey.
Apparently, Grant Morrison wanted to make his mark during the period of time when I stopped reading comics, because he went and killed her again. Unfortunately, when a character dies and resurrects as often as the Jean Grey/Phoenix character has, the impact is lost and readers don't believe for a second that it will last. Death is a pretty fluid state in comics in general anyway, but it's particularly true with this character. Basically, no one really believes she's really gone, and we're all just waiting til someone brings her back. Most everyone believed that Joss Whedon would do it in his Astonishing X-Men series "Gifted", but he faked us out and brought someone else back instead. But since 2005 is apparently the 25th anniversary of the Phoenix character, Marvel decided to release a five issue mini-series featuring Phoenix, death be damned.
Which brings about some questions that are unavoidable throughout the series. Is this canon? By all appearances, the answer appears to be yes. This isn't a What If? tale, it happens in the X-universe, just a bit out of continuity from the regular Astonishing X-Men title, but only because that one is in the middle of the six issue "Dangerous" arch. I suspect this fits in after that story, or perhaps between "Gifted" and "Dangerous". So it appears that the events in Endsong matter. The bigger question is if the mini-series has any other reason to exist other than to cash in on the popularity of the X-Men and the Phoenix character. Sadly, the answer is no.
Which isn't to say the mini-series isn't worth while. If you're a fan of the X-Men, then you should find this to be an enjoyable, worth-while read. However, when all is said and done, nothing really happens in these five issues that couldn't have happened during one of the other 5 or so monthly issues of main continuity X-Men tales. Moreover, nothing really happens in these five issues that could have just as easily not happened and nothing would have been lost in the big scheme of things. Basically, this series adds very little to the X-Men mythos and feels very arbitrary and hollow when all is said and done. It's not that this is five issues of people standing around doing nothing. A lot happens between issues 1 and 4, but then the events in issue five basically resets everything to status quo, making everyone who read it wonder why Marvel even bothered doing the story in the first place (the answer, of course, is money).
If you're wondering, the series does indeed deal with the Phoenix (the celestial force), which is resurrected prematurely by some Shi'ar scientists who try to obliterate it preemptively while it's still weak. This, of course, does not work, so the Phoenix Force returns to earth looking for a host, choosing to resurrect Jean Grey. So, yes, this series does bring back the Phoenix and Jean Grey, which should make it monumental (well, as monumental as resurrecting a character who has been dead for maybe a year and has already been monumentally resurrected before could be). Without completely spoiling the ending, I'll tell you that the series is far from monumental by the end, and you should not expect to see Jean Grey in the regular issues anytime soon.
I know I sound pretty negative on the whole series, but that's merely because it ended up accomplishing nothing and had no reason for existence other than to spike profits. However, as a read, it was pretty entertaining. As a fan, you could do worse than giving this a look. Had it been used as the fill-in issues between the time Joss Whedon and John Cassady leave Astonishing X-Men until they return, I'd have been pretty happy with it. Writer Greg Pak has a very good handle on the characters, showing a good understanding of not only the classic Dark Phoenix story (which he resets throughout, using all the X-Men that were involved with that story), but apparently shows respect and understanding to Morrison's run as well (although, I had to find that out from other sources, as I did not read the Morrison run). The best thing accomplished with the mini is the look Pak gives us into the Cyclops/Emma Frost relationship, giving it some depth and showing that it is more than a rebound for the mourning Cyclops. The scripting throughout is pretty strong, making the characters feel fresh and real. Unfortunately, the plotting fails to match the scripting, coming off disjointed and unwieldy at times. Although, I suspect a lot of the plot problems are the result of editorial mandates. If nothing else, this series proves that Greg Pak has some ability and should get a shot at something significant in the future.
The true highlight of the book is the artwork by Greg Land. In fact, besides being a cash-in of the X-Men's popularity, I think this mini was a vehicle for the artwork of Land, who previously was doing a lot of covers for Marvel. The art is stunningly beautiful, the kind of book that one can own just to flip around and look at. Some of the work leans a little heavy on a pin-up style, and some of it is too beautiful at the expense of characterization, but it's still breathtaking at times. Land has some work to do on his storytelling, but announces his presence on the comics scene with authority in this series.
Ultimately, the series is like a summer blockbuster. It's fun, exciting, cool to look at, provides a few laughs, but ultimately hollow and has little to no artistic purpose. It was a fine read for what I paid for it (which was nothing-- torrents rule!), above average in quality mostly because of the superior artwork, but nothing special. If you're an X-Men fan and were considering checking it out, then by all means do so and you'll enjoy it enough. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.
3/5
Related:
Astonishing X-Men - "Gifted"
Uncanny X-Men - "The Dark Phoenix Saga"
Uncanny X-Men - "Hope"