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X-Men: Miniseries
X-Men: Phoenix - Warsong
The Phoenix is back! But where has it been reborn? Fire and pain await the X-Men. Can they handle what's to come?! Collects X-Men: Phoenix Warsong #1-5.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
7 people are currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Greg Pak
1,651 books583 followersGreg Pak is an award-winning Korean American comic book writer and filmmaker currently writing "Lawful" for BOOM and "Sam Wilson: Captain America" (with Evan Narcisse) for Marvel. Pak wrote the "Princess Who Saved Herself" children's book and the “Code Monkey Save World” graphic novel based on the songs of Jonathan Coulton and co-wrote (with Fred Van Lente) the acclaimed “Make Comics Like the Pros” how-to book. Pak's other work includes "Planet Hulk," "Darth Vader," "Mech Cadet Yu," "Ronin Island," "Action Comics," and "Magneto Testament."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
October 12, 2021
2.5 stars/
Marvel trying to do a sequel to an already hit story but its a ehh story.
This deals with the phoenix force returning to earth or maybe a portion of it and infecting the cuckoos and now they have to deal with that and they go to the world, the place where they were birthed and meet their other sisters (Clones of emma) and then we have to follow the fallout of that and the X-Men come here along with a shield agent hoping to stop the Cuckoo sisters but it is Celeste whose the main focus and she can't control the force and the Phoenix is unleashed again and so how will Scott stop them with his team and what loss will Emma suffer?
Its an epic story in the making but not so much but regardless it manages to shine a light on Celeste and calls back to Morrison's X-Men run but it doesn't come off as a proper story and while it has good ideas, no proper execution. Just rushed and it could have done better Emma moments but oh well, regardless a solid one time read.
Marvel trying to do a sequel to an already hit story but its a ehh story.
This deals with the phoenix force returning to earth or maybe a portion of it and infecting the cuckoos and now they have to deal with that and they go to the world, the place where they were birthed and meet their other sisters (Clones of emma) and then we have to follow the fallout of that and the X-Men come here along with a shield agent hoping to stop the Cuckoo sisters but it is Celeste whose the main focus and she can't control the force and the Phoenix is unleashed again and so how will Scott stop them with his team and what loss will Emma suffer?
Its an epic story in the making but not so much but regardless it manages to shine a light on Celeste and calls back to Morrison's X-Men run but it doesn't come off as a proper story and while it has good ideas, no proper execution. Just rushed and it could have done better Emma moments but oh well, regardless a solid one time read.
December 30, 2022
This is a story mostly centered on Emma Frost and her Cuckoos, who based on Endsong's ending, absorbed the Phoenix Force between the three of them. They develop telekinetic abilities which at first confuses the X-Men making them think the Cuckoos developed a secondary mutation. The sisters then acquire the ability to fly and generate cosmic fire and at this point, it's clear to everyone that they're possessed by the fiery entity. The story wasn't really engaging as it was muddled and not easy to follow. It lacks the emotional depth of Endsong, especially if you're not interested in the story of the Stepford Cuckoos. Long story short: an evil scientist reveals that the Cuckoos are actually Emma Frost clones and 1000 of them were created to absorb and control the Phoenix much more efficiently than other telepaths ever could. The scientist hoped to use them to drive the mutants to extinction. The Phoenix is divided up between all of them but a timely intervention by Celeste makes her wrest control and destroy all of the clones except her 2 other sisters. They absorb and trap the Phoenix Force in their diamond hearts but can never feel emotion again. Emma Frost vows revenge against the Phoenix. The end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2024
Et c'est reparti pour un tour. Franchement dites à votre pote le Phoenix de payer le loyer là. Il pourrait aller n’importe où dans l’univers, mais non, il revient toujours squatter chez les X-Men.
Bon clairement ce qui m'a le plus plu, c'est les Cuckoos. Entre elles, le lien est si fort qu’on pourrait penser qu’elles partagent le même cerveau (ce qui est un peu le cas du coup). C’est comme les Spice Girls, mais au lieu de chanter, elles détruisent des ennemis avec des pensées télépathiques. Et puis entre les répliques piquantes et les interactions entre elles, elles apportent une touche d’humour que j'adore.
Évidemment je ne peux pas parler des Cuckoos sans parler d'Emma. La gow a vraiment dit : "Vous êtes puissantes, et vous allez le prouver, mais d'abord, petite leçon de swag." Elle sait comment jongler entre ses rôles de mère, de mentor et de reine du sarcasme. Bref elle brille dans ce livre et elle peut me marcher dessus.
Cette histoire c'est aussi Cyclope et ses problèmes de cœur, épisode 157. Le mec a pas encore réglé ses traumas du premier Phoenix que bam, on remet ça. Scott, à ce stade, c’est plus un triangle amoureux, c’est une figure géométrique impossible. Donnez lui des vacances.
En conclusion (comme c'est un commentaire de texte tsais), je dirais que j'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé cette histoire, même si le Phoenix me casse les pieds. Mais bon, je peux pas faire le surpris de le voir dans un bouquin qui s'appelle littéralement 'Phoenix'.
Bon clairement ce qui m'a le plus plu, c'est les Cuckoos. Entre elles, le lien est si fort qu’on pourrait penser qu’elles partagent le même cerveau (ce qui est un peu le cas du coup). C’est comme les Spice Girls, mais au lieu de chanter, elles détruisent des ennemis avec des pensées télépathiques. Et puis entre les répliques piquantes et les interactions entre elles, elles apportent une touche d’humour que j'adore.
Évidemment je ne peux pas parler des Cuckoos sans parler d'Emma. La gow a vraiment dit : "Vous êtes puissantes, et vous allez le prouver, mais d'abord, petite leçon de swag." Elle sait comment jongler entre ses rôles de mère, de mentor et de reine du sarcasme. Bref elle brille dans ce livre et elle peut me marcher dessus.
Cette histoire c'est aussi Cyclope et ses problèmes de cœur, épisode 157. Le mec a pas encore réglé ses traumas du premier Phoenix que bam, on remet ça. Scott, à ce stade, c’est plus un triangle amoureux, c’est une figure géométrique impossible. Donnez lui des vacances.
En conclusion (comme c'est un commentaire de texte tsais), je dirais que j'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé cette histoire, même si le Phoenix me casse les pieds. Mais bon, je peux pas faire le surpris de le voir dans un bouquin qui s'appelle littéralement 'Phoenix'.
June 26, 2018
Ughhh, I didn't expect this to be worse than Endsong, but somehow it was. I figured not having Greg Land on art would be a step up, but Tyler Kirkham is almost as bad. On top of that, the story is a lot weaker, lacking the emotional gravitas of Endsong. I think I enjoyed the new origin for the Cuckoos, but the writing for the Phoenix just lacked any sort of exploration or innovation. It's like Grek Pak wanted to use the concepts of the Phoenix and the World (from Morrison's run), and just mashed them together, and it just fell completely flat. The X-Men (Whedon's line-up) were also written pretty poorly, even Emma. All of the dialogue just felt really stiff. Some of the concepts used here could've easily been cool, but the execution was extremely poor. The ending was also one of the most anti-climatic endings in recent memory. Just a very mediocre mini-series as a whole. Could be worth reading if you want to know the origin of the Stepford Cuckoos, but otherwise just skip this entirely.
4/10. Mediocre.
4/10. Mediocre.
September 17, 2024
J'ai pas tout compris, mais j'ai bien aimé ces dessins aussi, un peu jojo like, et c'est intéressant d'avoir plus d'infos sur les cuckoos
June 15, 2008
Greg Pak usually does a good job playing with other writers' toys. His work on the Hulk is the best stuff since Peter David's, and I enjoyed the few Battlestar Galactica comics of his I read. Here, he tinkers with a few of Grant Morrison's weirder additions to the X-Universe from New X-Men, but leaves the toys in worse shape than when he started.
The Stepford Cuckoos are three (though they were once five) identical blondes that share one cold, humorless, telepathic mind. They're the prized students of the cold, humorless, telepathic Emma Frost. In this book, we get their needless origin story, the confusing reintroduction of the previously confusing Weapon Prime, and the reemergence of the titular Phoenix Force.
The team of X-Men dealing with the bombshells gone bad is Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men lineup, but in Pak's hands, they have none of the pathos or humor, and come off as much less intelligent.
All in all, this is a needless origin story miniseries that isn't all that fun to read. Even the zombies aren't that entertaining.
The Stepford Cuckoos are three (though they were once five) identical blondes that share one cold, humorless, telepathic mind. They're the prized students of the cold, humorless, telepathic Emma Frost. In this book, we get their needless origin story, the confusing reintroduction of the previously confusing Weapon Prime, and the reemergence of the titular Phoenix Force.
The team of X-Men dealing with the bombshells gone bad is Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men lineup, but in Pak's hands, they have none of the pathos or humor, and come off as much less intelligent.
All in all, this is a needless origin story miniseries that isn't all that fun to read. Even the zombies aren't that entertaining.
August 9, 2010
oh gosh.
not having a solid grasp of what "the phoenix" is outside of "some version of jean grey that isn't always her" and not really understanding who the cukoos were (outside of the Astonishing run), made this poorly written, poorly drawn book even more convoluted and confusing.
more work was put into the variant covers than anything else. was it really anything more than an excuse to draw teenage triplets in various outfits?
not having a solid grasp of what "the phoenix" is outside of "some version of jean grey that isn't always her" and not really understanding who the cukoos were (outside of the Astonishing run), made this poorly written, poorly drawn book even more convoluted and confusing.
more work was put into the variant covers than anything else. was it really anything more than an excuse to draw teenage triplets in various outfits?
February 4, 2018
Continuing the great X-read of 2017 that has now stretched into 2018...
Okay. So I am way behind on reviewing these x-books that I have been reading. So I am going to just kind of ramble about all of them and copy/paste my thoughts. Which will make for a bit of a mess and I am sorry. Quick ramblings:
Cable and Deadpool continues to be surprisingly good though a little more scattered in these couple of volumes.
X-Men the Blood of Apocalypse was rushed in my opinion...
Phoenix Warsong was pretty decent. Melodramatic but not a bad story. (and when is a Phoenix story not melodramatic?)
New X-Men is a good series with some great characters that grow volume by volume.
Uncanny First Foursaken was not my cup of tea really.
Black Panther: The Bride was probably much better to BP readers. As part of an X-Men run, it can probably be skipped.
Wolverine Origins born in blood was not particularly memorable.
Astonishing X-Men will possibly get its own review as it is a reread and interesting as such...
Civil War was one of the first times in my life that I could say that the movie was better than the book. For the most part, it was really boring to me. The X-Men universe tie-ins were only slightly more interesting to me.
X-factor continues to be a delight.
Exiles continues to be great.
I need to get back to writing reviews of these as I finish them. Reading them in quick succession like this, I begin to forget what happened in individual books (which I suppose equally speaks to the books themselves and my memory...)
Okay. So I am way behind on reviewing these x-books that I have been reading. So I am going to just kind of ramble about all of them and copy/paste my thoughts. Which will make for a bit of a mess and I am sorry. Quick ramblings:
Cable and Deadpool continues to be surprisingly good though a little more scattered in these couple of volumes.
X-Men the Blood of Apocalypse was rushed in my opinion...
Phoenix Warsong was pretty decent. Melodramatic but not a bad story. (and when is a Phoenix story not melodramatic?)
New X-Men is a good series with some great characters that grow volume by volume.
Uncanny First Foursaken was not my cup of tea really.
Black Panther: The Bride was probably much better to BP readers. As part of an X-Men run, it can probably be skipped.
Wolverine Origins born in blood was not particularly memorable.
Astonishing X-Men will possibly get its own review as it is a reread and interesting as such...
Civil War was one of the first times in my life that I could say that the movie was better than the book. For the most part, it was really boring to me. The X-Men universe tie-ins were only slightly more interesting to me.
X-factor continues to be a delight.
Exiles continues to be great.
I need to get back to writing reviews of these as I finish them. Reading them in quick succession like this, I begin to forget what happened in individual books (which I suppose equally speaks to the books themselves and my memory...)
June 2, 2022
The Phoenix is back! ...aaaaaaaaaand now its gone again.
You know I really enjoy the work of Greg Pak. His work on Hulk was some of the best, and whenever I read a Pak'ed penned Marvel story, they're usually pretty good. This... unfortunately was not. Don't get me wrong, its not terrible, but its very convoluted yet at the same time, half thought out. I'm not sure how that's possible but here we are.
The Phoenix decides to attach itself to the cuckoo sisters, which leads them to a path of self discovery. That discovery is that there are 100's if not thousands of them in a lab within "the world" (from the Morrison run). A program with the personality of the villain "Sublime" has control over them and with the Phoenix force, will let him take over the world. It all ends with the three remaining cuckoos trapping the Phoenix in their brains, and them turning their brains into diamond, so they wont feel any emotion ever again, but it will keep the Phoenix locked in. Yeah...
Unless you are a die hard X-Men completionist, I would say its safe to skip this one.
You know I really enjoy the work of Greg Pak. His work on Hulk was some of the best, and whenever I read a Pak'ed penned Marvel story, they're usually pretty good. This... unfortunately was not. Don't get me wrong, its not terrible, but its very convoluted yet at the same time, half thought out. I'm not sure how that's possible but here we are.
The Phoenix decides to attach itself to the cuckoo sisters, which leads them to a path of self discovery. That discovery is that there are 100's if not thousands of them in a lab within "the world" (from the Morrison run). A program with the personality of the villain "Sublime" has control over them and with the Phoenix force, will let him take over the world. It all ends with the three remaining cuckoos trapping the Phoenix in their brains, and them turning their brains into diamond, so they wont feel any emotion ever again, but it will keep the Phoenix locked in. Yeah...
Unless you are a die hard X-Men completionist, I would say its safe to skip this one.
September 26, 2021
Se completa el díptico de Greg Pak para la saga de Fénix Oscura, revelando que el personaje en el cual gira esta Warsong y Endsong es Emma Frost. Algo totalmente comprensible debido a ser el actual interés amoroso de Scott Summers y siendo la Fuerza Fénix como es tan pasional y destructiva. Esta vez, la fuerza ardiente cósmica posa su vista en las Cucos, las telépatas unimente protegidas de Emma. Las cuales verán su verdadero origen revelado, uno que trastocará aún más la vida de la sra. Frost.
Al igual que Endsong, esta miniserie posee grandes elementos y momentos por parte de Greg Pak pero que se ven opacados por el interés de ofrecer un continuo bombástico espectáculo (aunado al nuevo dibujante que parece provenir de alguna editorial tipo Wildstorm o Top Cow) que termina haciendo caer la lectura en un simple divertimento pasajero más que una historia trascendental como fue la original de Claremont.
Al igual que Endsong, esta miniserie posee grandes elementos y momentos por parte de Greg Pak pero que se ven opacados por el interés de ofrecer un continuo bombástico espectáculo (aunado al nuevo dibujante que parece provenir de alguna editorial tipo Wildstorm o Top Cow) que termina haciendo caer la lectura en un simple divertimento pasajero más que una historia trascendental como fue la original de Claremont.
December 11, 2020
There are some interesting ideas here and it fits in nicely with Morrison's X run. The central premise should have been as emotionally satisfying as Endsong but isn't done as well. I'm not a fan of the Top Cow style brought by Kirkham and the rest of the team, and the book doesn't even look as nice as Land's mostly lifeless tracing. Worth a read for the interesting backstory to the Cuckoos, but not much else.
July 22, 2018
Where did the cuckoos start? I don't know.
Where did John Sublime start? I don't know.
By that, I mean, where did these characters appear. It seems kind of murky and out of order maybe. Anyway, all OK even if this SHIELD agent is basically a character only Pak cares about.
(Has any SHIELD agent ever been loved?)
Where did John Sublime start? I don't know.
By that, I mean, where did these characters appear. It seems kind of murky and out of order maybe. Anyway, all OK even if this SHIELD agent is basically a character only Pak cares about.
(Has any SHIELD agent ever been loved?)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2018
A very underwhelming ending.
July 14, 2019
Oof, another book in French completed! Found myself reading faster and easier than the first. Plus, no matter the language, it's always fun to see old school x men in action😊
March 5, 2020
I miss the art from Endsong.
November 5, 2021
Muy flojo de guión y diálogos.
May 10, 2022
Everyone in this story is tired. Like can't you come back when we aren't dealing with M Day? "Awesome, Thanks for rescheduling Phoenix."
September 14, 2024
ailen 4 x-men mashup kinda its a decent story
March 22, 2025
Probably would have rated it higher if I was familiar with the x-men universe but I had stopped reading them some years before this. I don't recall how I came to have this
March 13, 2017
The story was not as strong as Endsong--not as emotional--but it was a lot stranger. If you were a fan of Grant Morrison's work, this is a nice continuation. It's really weird.
The art is much better than Endsong, thankfully.
The art is much better than Endsong, thankfully.
June 22, 2019
******second reading******
Yep, still good. Short, sweet, offers an interesting Stepford Cuckoos origin, and well drawn.
*******first reading********
I really hated Greg Pak’s “Phoenix: Endsong” as well as his “Silver Surfer: Devolution,” and about 60% of everything else I’ve read from him...
...so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to read this enjoyable story.
And it WAS enjoyable indeed! It focussed on some of the more interesting mutants. Specifically, I was able to learn a bit more about the weird (and sexy) Stepford Cuckoos and my home girl, Emma Frost. It also managed to add some interesting layers to the Phoenix Force, which is definitely one of the strangest metaphysical concepts in all of Marvel.
Did it always make sense? Not quite... but it wasn’t boring, rarely made me roll my eyes, and featured some fascinating and gorgeously rendered sequences. In a way, it felt at home within the Morrison/Whedon X-verse. That’s a very good thing, because that’s when X Men truly hit it’s prime.
Is this mandatory reading? Nah. But it’s a short, fun little tale that will make your imagination run wild and keep you entertained and happy for an hour or two.
Well done, Greg!
Yep, still good. Short, sweet, offers an interesting Stepford Cuckoos origin, and well drawn.
*******first reading********
I really hated Greg Pak’s “Phoenix: Endsong” as well as his “Silver Surfer: Devolution,” and about 60% of everything else I’ve read from him...
...so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to read this enjoyable story.
And it WAS enjoyable indeed! It focussed on some of the more interesting mutants. Specifically, I was able to learn a bit more about the weird (and sexy) Stepford Cuckoos and my home girl, Emma Frost. It also managed to add some interesting layers to the Phoenix Force, which is definitely one of the strangest metaphysical concepts in all of Marvel.
Did it always make sense? Not quite... but it wasn’t boring, rarely made me roll my eyes, and featured some fascinating and gorgeously rendered sequences. In a way, it felt at home within the Morrison/Whedon X-verse. That’s a very good thing, because that’s when X Men truly hit it’s prime.
Is this mandatory reading? Nah. But it’s a short, fun little tale that will make your imagination run wild and keep you entertained and happy for an hour or two.
Well done, Greg!
April 29, 2010
I missed this when it first came out and a friend loaned me her copy. My reaction mostly consists of me wanting to re-read things to see how the addition of this story shapes my reaction the other stories. How does it fit with Endsong? Does the characterization of the Cuckoos in current continuity match this? Mostly it illustrates one of my main frustrations with the X-Men comics - a storyline is done with some loose ends left over and all those loose ends are then dropped once the writer moves on to something else. Characters come and go depending on whether or not the writer likes them; characterization is variable. Still, as a stand-alone story it worked for me once I figured out what was going on and recalled some of the previous miniseries. Emma remains a fascinating character although somehow I doubt that we'd see such a small reaction from her in main continuity following the revelations here; Emma is so protective of those who are simply her students, I can only imagine how protective she would be of her actual children.
August 25, 2015
Es una serie interesante aunque un poco extraña luego de la gran "La última canción del Fénix", resulta difícil qué se quiso demostrar o el argumento que guardaba poca relación con la anterior o por lo menos había muchas diferencias en la expresión del Fénix.
En este caso las propietarias del Fénix van a ser las gemelas Cuckoos de Stepford, las cuales van a alojar el poder del Fénix entre las tres, cosa que servirá en adelante para explicar por qué su corazón se vuelve de diamante.
Así mismo la parte más interesante resulta en la explicación de la relación entre las gemelas y su "madre" de siempre Emma Frost.
En este caso las propietarias del Fénix van a ser las gemelas Cuckoos de Stepford, las cuales van a alojar el poder del Fénix entre las tres, cosa que servirá en adelante para explicar por qué su corazón se vuelve de diamante.
Así mismo la parte más interesante resulta en la explicación de la relación entre las gemelas y su "madre" de siempre Emma Frost.
January 18, 2020
Very strange, but overall okay. I think "Cuckoo Warsong" would have been a much more appropriate title.
Second reading, Apr 2014. I liked this volume a little better this time. It certainly fills in a lot of holes that were left from past plotlines. But it's almost all action, and very little substance. And there's just no getting past the Top Cow art.
Second reading, Apr 2014. I liked this volume a little better this time. It certainly fills in a lot of holes that were left from past plotlines. But it's almost all action, and very little substance. And there's just no getting past the Top Cow art.
August 11, 2013
I adore having not just an origin for the Cuckoos but also a pretty interesting one. The whole Phoenix bit, on the other other hand, is murky and not the most interesting part of the story. At least it seems to have some repercussions in the end (though they've been largely thrown out as other writers decided to use the Phoenix YET AGAIN).
October 28, 2015
Hate the art, didn't much care for the story (I've loved Pak elswhere but not on this) which reveals the mutant "Stepford Cuckoos" are actually nanotech creations designed to take over the Phoenix Force for a mutie-hating bad guy. Uninspiring, uninteresting story, and did I mention the art was awful?
April 5, 2023
Needless sequel to Endsong, & I don't love its origin for the Cuckoos or the state it leaves them in, but, at least, the art's somewhat better than Endsong's. He might be more interesting in Agents of ATLAS, but here Jake Oh is incredibly bland
February 7, 2009
This terrible "story" does not even have decent art to save it. Just awful.
July 10, 2009
Melodramatic and overcomplicated
May 26, 2011
Nice art an interesting story. As a continuation of Endsong, there are some really mind-blowing revelations in this book and overall I'm very satisfied with this purchase.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews