Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 5

Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men #5

by Chris Claremont (Writer), John Byrne (Penciller/Co-plotter), Terry Austin (Inker)

Collects The X-Men #132-140, Annual #4, Bizarre Adventures #27, Phoenix: The Untold Story #1

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 19, 2005

About the author

Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claremont and Byrne at their peak? The original Dark Phoenix saga? A team-up with Alpha Flight? Yeah, like this is getting anything less than five stars!

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

After watching the entire nineties X-Men animated series and the complete film trilogy, this take on Professor Xavier's mutants made for interesting reading. The last comic was unlike anything I've come across before in a comic omnibus: the story was bizarre, even for Marvel, and not only was the artwork in black and white--the rest of the book was in color, mind you--but, it was hard to see at times. While I know such a story would be considered a classic, it still could have used a bit of remastering.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hellfire Club and the conclusion to the Dark Phoenix Saga was absolutely fantastic. The Hellfire Club are great villains, and believable as rich assholes with their own internal power struggle between Sebastian Shaw and Mastermind.
Unfortunately Emma Frost was a mere side character (I don't think she was even in this, just referenced as The White Queen) but I look forward to her recurring at some point.

Then the X-Men get beamed to space and just fight against the Imperial Guard to try to save Jean's life, and in typically X-Men still this doesn't go well for them and ends in tragedy. Sure Jean has "died" I think three times at this point but this one feels more permanent, the comic takes time to explore the emotional effect on each member of the team, but especially Scott, and I found it genuinely moving.

I have watched the 90s cartoon, and most of the plots are the same even if the team is a bit different, but I don't think I'd noticed just how much the X-Men lose. I am having a hard time remember a time when they have a decisive victory! They spent most of the time captured and getting beaten up, and even if they do defeat the villain it's usually at some horrible cost. It's this that makes them so interesting, they keep fighting and they never give up.

The last few issues are Wolverine and Nightcrawler in Canada fighting the Wendigo with Alpha Flight. That gave a bit more background and development for Wolverine (including Kurt learning his name is Logan!) that added another delicious layer to the character.

It seems the next few issues are going to developed Kitty as a newest student at the School (which doesn't have any other students!).

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The death of Jean Grey is probably one of the most well-known events in Marvel history, and the story definitely lived up to the hype. This is where I'm jumping on to the Marvel/x-men ship, and I was able to follow everything easily and, beyond that, care for the characters and what happened to them. This, of course, applies the most to Jean Grey. And while I understand that the act of blowing up a moon and consequently wiping out a heavily populated world is something that's hard to come back from, I wish there was more. Dark Phoenix makes such a quick appearance, that it's almost easy to brush off her actions. I wanted more power! More evil! More difficulty in putting her down! But I guess that is to be expected in an older issue comic. Also expected: the cheesiness factor. Luckily, it wasn't too heavy here, what with the subject matter, but it's definitely not absent. I also wish there had been more of the impact on the other x-men shown. Cyclops is understandably destroyed by the events of this arc, but everyone else--Wolverine included--seem to be more than okay with the death of a close friend right from the get go. Rude, much.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the ultimate X-Men storyline, the one that changed everything and made the book the piece of comic's history it has become. Excellent collection, including rare extra material and the alternate ending version of the Dark Phoenix saga. Always fun to relive my adolescence, re-reading these books.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most noticeable things about the early Claremont X-Men is the fact they lose. A lot. Later on - once the book focused on anti-mutant prejudice as the X-Men's great metaphorical (and hence unbeatable) foe - this tendency became notorious, the X-Men a comic about pyrrhic wins and retrenchments in the face of inevitable future doom. More than anything, that's what set it apart from the rest of the 80s mainstream, in sales as well as tone.

But even before the story that sets all this up - it's coming up next volume - the X-Men got their arses kicked a great deal. Sometimes it was because they couldn't co-ordinate as a team; sometimes it was because their enemies were too tough or numerous - but for a lot of this run the only fight they could reliably win was against the Danger Room (and even then it went wrong every second issue). The number of capture-escape routines Byrne and Claremont use would shame a Doctor Who 6-parter. Some of this was standard Marvel practice - the baddies win, the heroes regroup, the heroes win is a very solid framework for monthly comics - but with Claremont even the final victories were half-won, or won at terrible cost, or won via a deus ex machina.

All of which is to say that the later mythologising of X-Men 137 - the death of Phoenix - as a moment of unprecedented shock for readers seems a bit off. It's the most famous of the X-Men's losses but it's also wholly in keeping with the way Claremont and Byrne have been handling them - as a soap opera in which melodramatic tragedy is always an option and where the real wins are (ahem) the friends we meet along the way.

It's also wholly in keeping with the actual arc of the story. The original ending for Phoenix - included here alongside a generous helping of other ephemera - was famously changed by Jim Shooter, maybe his best ever decision as it entirely sucks. We've been reading a several year long story about a character being slowly corrupted by absolute power - all Shooter did was make the creators finish it.

With the kill order handed down, finish it they do. 137 is no straightforward classic - it's a glorious mess that pads out its central plot with a lot of weird distraction (Wolverine in the Watcher's gaff! Multiple new members of the Imperial Guard AND a bonus skrull!), but it all adds to the disorienting impression that the X-Men have had their story simply taken out of their hands. Jean's concluding action is a reclamation of narrative: the X-Men lose, but they lose with agency.

If 137 is weirder than you remember, the earlier parts of the story (the team's catastrophic infiltration of the Hellfire Club and the battle with Dark Phoenix) are genuinely as good as their reputation. The Hellfire Club are tremendous villains; the setpieces are thrilling; and the story improves on a later read when you can enjoy the sense of impending doom. These are perfect superhero comics, and as with every perfect superhero comic created under work-for-hire, we're doomed to read imitations forever after.

But that's for another volume. The rest of the work here ranges from good to terrible, but some of it has interesting ambition. The elegiac 138 is a chance for Byrne to draw the hits and Claremont to put a cap on his work developing Scott Summers as a character. The Jean solo story from Bizarre Adventures is an oddity - a black and white number that's more "mature" in that post Heavy Metal they-get-to-draw-the-nipples sense. But Claremont's adaptation of Dante in Annual 4 is his worst X-Men story yet, a literary infodump masquerading as an awkward and pointless Nightcrawler origin story.

And then there's 139-140, an enjoyable enough romp which sets up initial plot directions for Kitty and positions Alpha Flight for their eventual headline book. You'd never know from reading it, but it contains the incident which finally convinced Byrne to leave the book, when Claremont ignored his suggested dialogue for... the scene where Colossus pulls up a tree stump. By the time the fatal stump sequence saw print, Byrne had quit.

[Heather Fryling · Rating 5 out of 5]

The climax of the Dark Phoenix Saga, arguably the most famous story arc in all the X-Men.

If you want to jump into X-Men but don't want to spend all the time to read the early volumes, issue 138, contained here, summarizes the X-Men's entire history up to 1980.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume collects the famous Dark Phoenix Saga. I was a little nervous reading it that maybe it wouldn't be as good as I remembered it. It is. It's practically perfect.

I do feel a need to give a warning though. It's tempting when deciding to read this famous X-Men story to just pick up one of the many Dark Phoenix volumes, such as this one or X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga, without reading the ones that came before. I think that will leave you confused about what the fuss is about. To appreciate this arc, you need to read from at least X-Men #97 (Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 1) onward. It's more of a commitment but it's the only way to really understand what Claremont & Byrne are doing. Starting here is like starting A Song of Ice and Fire with Book 3 because you heard it's the best one.

[Aidan]

The gang from marvel continues to bring it, John Byrne’s space-scapes are something to behold, and Chris is mapping some great serialized character drama, but man are these overwritten, I am skipping the caption boxes like nobody’s business

Im still wondering tho, where is Iceman?? Has he been… frozen out of the book 👀

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume continues Chris Claremont's run in Uncanny X-Men with issues 132-140. I read some of these in my youth. I loved the 80's and 90's X-men comics and all the crazy crossovers that begin not long after this volume ends. Even over 30 years later, I am amazed at the ability of Claremont to complete the epic Dark Phoenix Saga in just a few issues.

As a teenager, I thought that Claremont was quite possibly the greatest writer in the history of comics. Since then, I have been exposed to Grant Morrison and several others that eclipse his ability, but he still stands as one of my favorites.

The only annoying thing about 1980's X-men (besides the nutso costumes) is the paragraph length thought bubbles that info dump the "story so far" and the "these are my powers, so I will try this..." kinds of info. Strangely enough, this is the same thing that endeared me to the X-men back then because I thought they writer was being more thorough and 'deep' by looking into the heads of our characters.

So, for Chris Claremont fans, X-Men fans, Marvel Comics fans, this volume is essential to appreciating the history and classic epics that have come before.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lennon and McCartney. Simon and Garfunkel. Claremont and Byrne. Like all great creative partnerships which produced art which has lasted through the ages, it was no picnic for those involved in the creative process. Two captains cannot steer a ship. The best creative partnerships can play off of the strengths of each creator involved, resulting in the sum being greater than the whole of its parts. Over time, things can become heated, and like the first two partnerships that I mentioned, Claremont and Byrne “broke up”...but that didn't happen until three issues after the ones collected in this book.

I have read these issues dozens of times, and their brilliance shines no less now than it did on the first read. Issue 132 metaphorically knocked the wind out of me as a teenager. The X-Men got their asses handed to them by the Hellfire Club. Time was that mutants were a rare, special thing, with only a dozen or two floating around the entire Marvel Universe. So it was a surprise for the X-Men to stumble upon this cabal of older, more powerful mutants who were more skilled in the use of their powers than The X-Men.

There was a time when Wolverine did not suck. No kids, I wouldn't lie to you. There was a time when a spray of bullets could wind the guy, where he could get knocked out in combat, or he could even get tired. The immortal, omnipotent ninja who heals instantly from an atom bomb did not exist when these issues were published. Wolverine was a feisty, cocky brawler. No “honor”, no martial arts discipline, only a slight healing factor. He developed a sense of smell during this era, “tracking” people by scent. His costume changed to the brown one that I grew up on in issue 139. Right around that time we found out his name: Logan. Wolverine was once one of my favorite characters. Now, he is unbelievable and unlikable on every level. I think that I even saw some promo art for a new series where he uses a gun for chrissakes. Yeah, because a guy with an unbreakable skeleton and claws needs a firearm. Sheesh.

Issue 133 is the first Wolverine “solo” story where we really see him cut loose. It's totally badass on all levels and should make anyone who thinks that immortal omnipotent ninja Wolverine is a good idea feel foolish.

Time was that Cyclops and Professor X were good guys, noble leaders even. Nowadays...sigh. It's a pity that these characters are dead to me, having been crapped up beyond redemption. I have not bought any new X-Men comics in years, and won't buy one ever again unless Claremont and Byrne reunite to bring the magic back.

The Dark Phoenix Saga...what is there to say, aside from comic book deaths once had meaning and weight. Issue 137 is brilliant, with the team in the fight of their lives with the life of a teammate hanging in the balance. This issue became a hot book after the fact because it was, first and foremost, a great story. Nowadays comic book deaths are a meaningless, dime a dozen marketing gimmick to be undone in a year's time. Those stunts have all but made a mockery of powerful stories like this. The rewritten word balloons in Phoenix: The Untold Story were crap. The original ending, as published in that one-shot, would have been forgettable.

The icing on this delicious cake is the Alpha Flight/ Wendigo two parter in issues 139 and 140. I met John Byrne at the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, Ohio in 2004, the last convention appearance that he made. He hosted a panel but everyone was too shy to ask him questions. Never one to know when to shut up, I proceeded to ask him endless questions. After the panel I stood in line to get my Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Volume 4 signed by him. (It was the current volume at that time.) I apologized for my endless questions and proclaimed my love for his work on this title. He told me a few tidbits of things that he intended to happen in issue 139 during the sequence where Nightcrawler went out to the Jeep to get their gear, and how it was colored incorrectly in the original issue (sun instead of moon, making it daylight instead of night time) and how there weren't supposed to be any words on that page. It was supposed to be colored red, like how the Wendigo would see things in infrared. He signed my book, and I got Chris Claremont to sign it at the Motor City Con a year or two later. It's like having a copy of Abbey Road signed by Lennon and McCartney.

Annual 4 marks the first time that future X-Men artist John Romita, Jr. took a stab at the title. I really miss comics that had such depth and characterization while being action packed.

John Byrne is my all time favorite comic book artist, with the power of Kirby combined with the fluidity of Neal Adams. Claremont is one of the greats. For as much as people complain that his writing is “overly wordy” they fail to understand how much depth he gave these characters. The fact is that without Claremont you would not have the X-Men today, period. He built the “franchise” into what it is, and for that he deserves more respect than he gets from fans these days. When he's dead and gone you'll all come out of the woodwork and state how much you loved his writing. I choose to say it while he's still alive.

I must also give props to Tom Orzechowski, the greatest letter in the history of comic books. His clear, artistic hand lettering lent an air of elegance to everything that he applied his pen to. Letterers are like the cable company or the utility company...you never notice them unless they are not working right.

These issues are art of the highest order and should be packed up, along with the entire Beatles catalog, and sent on an interstellar journey to show aliens what beauty the human mind is capable of conceiving.

Marvel Masterworks are my poison of choice. This particular era of the Masterworks program was one of transition, from one of embarrassing mistakes to becoming the gold standard for comics restoration that many companies now employ.

[Patrickderaaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once upon a time there was a young woman named Jean Grey. She was born a mutant with telepathic and telekinetic powers and joined Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, as well as the superhero team The X-men (feared and hated by a world they have sworn to protect). One day she flew to the stars and died. Then she was reborn with the powers of a goddess. But power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. She saved the Universe and then became the biggest threat to it. When faced with the choice, she knew what had to be done. Jean Grey could have lived to become a God. But it was more important to her that she die… a human.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains the Dark Phoenix Saga, which, for my money, is the greatest superhero epic ever produced. So there's that! The follow-up splits the cast for a breather. Cyclops heads off on his own, Kitty comes into life at the mansion and Wolverine and Nightcrawler go hunt the Wendigo, an arc that continues the humanization of Wolverine. It's decent stuff, but the heart of the arc is at the start.

Read digital versions.

[Matt Stocco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great collection of some of the finest X-men comics ever assembled. It does include one of the all time great stories (the Dark Phoenix Saga), and I also appreciated that they included comics after the Dark Phoenix Saga which dealt with the fallout. Additionally, it was nice to read a lot of comics that were from Cyclops point of view, showing evermore that what makes x-men great is thatit is a group comic series, not an individual one.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were published in 1980, and they're just a little too classic cheesy comic book style for me. The writing and the narration are clearly from before comics and graphic novels took a darker turn. The Dark Phoenix stuff is a really great storyline though that's also very central to the Marvel universe so it made me able to understand a lot of other stuff I've read.

[Toad Soup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s the deal, I don’t give a DARN TOOT about Phoenix’s death or whatever, what I’m here for is the fact that wolverine gave nightcrawler a portrait of HIMSELF for his birthday?????? Like fellas is it gay for you to get your best bro a larger than life portrait of yourself for his birthday. 10/10 bisexual representation, love that for Logan

[Edward Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Phoenix Saga continues and reaches it's epic conclusion, plus there's a two part story featuring Alpha Flight and an Annual guest starring Doctor Strange! And there's a rare look out how the Phoenix Sage could have ended. One of the best in the Masterworks collection.

[nae · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole Dark Phoenix storyline was awesome, really really good. And the consequences of this event are big, it shows in the next issues. I loved Jean Grey through all this and Ororo won my heart too. The introduction of Kitty Pride has me excited of what will come.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Dark Phoenix saga

[Tony Romine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dark Phoenix Saga is the most famous X-Men storyline from the classic era, it's featured constantly in 'best of' lists and seems to be an arc that will always be in print. This Masterworks collection houses most of the storyline, skipping the first three issues that introduces Kitty Pryde and Dazzler (they don't appear in the rest of the issues), the Hellfire Club, and the Dark Phoenix. Instead we get the bulk of that story as well as two issues that feature Alpha Flight and a one-shot annual. Also included in this collection are various bonus material related to The Dark Phoenix saga.

Without revealing too much about it, The Dark Phoenix saga is a story arc that has aged extremely well. Jean Grey's powers, way back in issue 101, manifested themselves in an extreme way and made her pretty much the ultimate X-Man, Phoenix. However these powers take their toll and she becomes very worried each time she unleashes them until issue 129 when The Hellfire Club's plan to make her their Black Queen changes her permanently to the Dark Phoenix, an evil, power hungry Godlike being who is a threat to reality itself. What follows is a very dramatic, fantastic story of the X-Men doing everything they can to save Jean and everyone else in the universe. The finale is heartbreaking and intense, something that will stick with any reader long after they finish.

Issue #138 is an essential read for anyone who desires to jump into the X-Men comics without reading almost 20 years of back issues (where's the fun in that though). It's a recap of X-Men history and hits on every event in the series history up to that point (not even just major one, minor stuff that might be of interest as well). If anything it really makes THE DARK PHOENIX SAGA really a great starting place for someone looking to get into the X-Men comics.

Annual 4 is a bizarre little one off that is mostly about Nightcrawler and his backstory. It's all framed around Dr. Strange and the X-Men going into Dante's version of hell to save Nightcrawler, who is put through these trials by a mysterious figure from his past. It's okay and fun enough, but kind of overstays it's welcome.

Issues 139-140 are a two-parter about Wolverine and Nightcrawler traveling to Canada to help Alpha Flight find and fight Wendigo (the villain that Wolverine fought during his first ever appearance in The Incredible Hulk. I've always found Alpha Flight kind of bland and boring, especially when they are featured as guests in other books and this is no exception. It's just not very interesting to me and I see it as a very poor way of fleshing out Wolverine's backstory. On a more petty level though: Wolverine's real name, Logan, is revealed for the first time in these issues. It's done in passing with a stupid 'wait that's you name? why didn't you tell us before!' 'no one ever asked' exchange between the two X-Men. It's skippable, but also not the worst way to finish off the book.

The bonus material is interesting, especially the transcript of a roundtable chat between the creative forces behind the X-Men during this era. They discuss how the Dark Phoenix Saga came to be a reality, how well it was received, and even some directions they might have gone if the issue ended as it originally was written (this alternate ending is featured before the interview and is also quite intriguing). Finally there is a very long artifact of the era, Bizarre Adventures #27. It's a collection of profiles of three X-Men (including Jean Grey) as well as three short comics featuring them. Sort of interesting, but also entirely skippable if it's not your thing.

When paired with Volume 4 of the Uncanny X-Men Masterworks series, you've got quite the powerhouse of 70s X-Men stories. On it's own though, volume 5 is still an essential read for any fan of Marvel Comics and the X-Men. It's not to be missed.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y después de reunir de nuevo a la Patrulla-X en su enfrentamiento con Proteus en Escocia, llegaba el momento de volver a casa y de resolver un tema que había ido apareciendo y desarrollándose desde el número 101 y que había ido cobrando importancia en los últimos tiempos: los límites del poder de Fénix. Desde que Jean Gray surgiera con su nueva identidad de las aguas de Jamaica Bay, sus poderes telepáticos y telequinéticos habían aumentado a niveles cósmicos, y además, en los últimos números habíamos ido viendo como tenía momentos de fuga en los que revivía la vida de una hipotética antepasada, Lady Jean Grey, que pertenecía a una entidad llamada el Club Fuego Infernal, y que mantenía un romance con un hombre llamado Jason Wyngarde, que había comenzado a aparecer también en la vida de la Jean Grey actual.

Y en este tomo, vamos a asistir a la llamada Saga de Fénix Oscura, en la que mientras Xavier y Moira están cada vez más preocupados por los poderes de Jean, la Patrulla-X tiene que hacer frente al Club Fuego Infernal, dirigido por el rey Negro, Sebastian Shaw, y su reina blanca, la telépata Emma Frost, pero que cuenta también con otros personajes como Harry Leland o Donald Pierce. La Patrulla, dividida en dos equipos que van a buscar a dos mutantes (Tormenta, Coloso y Lobezno junto al Profesor Xavier acudirán a Chicago para conocer a Kitty Pryde, mientras que Rondador, Cíclope y Fénix buscan a Dazzler en Nueva York), se enfrentarán a sendas emboscadas del Club Fuego Infernal, descubriendo que es esta organización quién está atacándoles. Con la ayuda del Ángel, se infiltrarán en el Club Fuego Infernal, y allí, finalmente, se descubrirá que Jason Wyngarde es Mente Maestra, el antiguo miembro de la Hermandad de Mutantes Diabólicos de Magneto, y Fénix se convertirá en la Reina Negra del Club... pero esto solo será el principio, porque pronto la Patrulla-X descubrirá que Fénix puede poner en peligro el mismísimo universo y se verán en la disyuntiva de detener o ayudar a su compañera...

Además de la Saga de Fénix Oscura como tal, que es mi favorita de la toda la historia de la Patrulla-X, este tomo incluye una pequeña saga de dos números que transcurriría inmediatamente después de esta y del abandono de Cíclope, con Lobezno y Rondador viajando a Canadá para los problemas del primero con el Departamento H y el gobierno canadiense, y terminarán colaborando con parte de Alpha Flight, Guardián, Ave Nevada y Shaman, para enfrentarse al Wendigo, curiosamente el personaje al que Lobezno se enfrentó en su primera aparición...

[Bill Coffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Claremont's legendary run on the Uncanny X-Men is largely collected in a 12-volume (and counting) set in the Marvel Masterworks series that takes us through some of the most pivotal stories in X-Men lore. (As of volume 12, it gets up to Uncanny X-Men #200.) Here we see the launch of a new X-Men team that includes, over time, Cyclops, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Rogue and many others. The stories include some of the most iconic in X-Men history, including the Hellfire Club saga, the Dark Phoenix saga and the Trial of Magneto. All told, the Marvel Masterworks - Uncanny X-Men series is must-read material for anyone who wishes to dive deeply into the rich (and often difficult to navigate) history of the X-Men. It is must-read material for anyone who wants to get a taste for what it was like during a period of time when the X-Men grew from an also-ran Marvel title into one of the greatest superhero tentpole franchises of all time. And if all that isn't enough, within these volumes are some of the most enjoyable writer/artist pairings you'll find from this era of Marvel comics, including Claremont's epic collaborations with John Byrne, Dan Green and John Romita, Jr. Within these volumes are stories that continue to resonate today, tales that beyond beyond people in colorful tights punching each other out and into an ongoing commentary on what it means to be hated for one's nature, on what it means to protect those who see you as an enemy, and what it means to live with heroic dignity in a world committed to stripping that very thing from you. These are some of the finest comic book stories ever published. They are deeply fun to read, and most of all, they are an important chapter of a beloved medium.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fornøyd. Dark Phoenix Sagaen var bedre fortalt her enn i X-Men 92’ serien i min mening. Mye kjent, men mye nytt i tillegg.

Disse klassiske og rike fortellingene i seg selv har vært drøye. Langt fra det, de har nemlig vært noe av det beste på lang tid, er glad for at jeg i en grad har fått en tilbakekalling av min indre nerd. Har i det siste vært så ivrig av å lese mer tegneserier. Men må også passe på angående pensum for Uni!

Begynte med Claremont siden det er disse karakterene som jeg er mest kjent med, de originale X-Men karakterene har ikke helt satt sitt preg i meg (utenom Scott, Hank og Jean). Samtidig er det rimelig lett leselig sammenlignet med Stan Lee’s Uncanny X-men fra hva jeg har hørt og sett. Claremont, Byrne og Austin har i alt gitt fra seg sitt beste. Kunststilen er utrolig å se på og ta til seg, kunne ønske jeg hadde evnen til å tegne likt. Samtidig er karakteren levende i forhold til eldre tegneserier oppskrifter, ofte to-dimensjonelle eller generiske. Her er det full av liv.

Eneste ulempen i Vol. 5 er:

- Bøkene har en tendens til å tydelig vise seg frem som en produkt av fortiden. Både gjennom tale og konsept.
- Doctor Strange utaler bokstavelig talt Kurt Wagner sitt etniske bakgrunn med bruk av G-kjelsordet. Er det så vanskelig å ikke degradere Romani folket.
- I tillegg vises leseren frem tydelig “teasing” av Kitty Pryde x Colossus. Kitty skal da være 13 ½ år gammel og Piotr 17 år… yikes.

Takk å lov at de ikke har fortsatte med dette, men det finnes likevel hint og desverre i noen andre materie akseptering av et forhold. Hater når skribenter og produsenter tilatter deres egne syn påvirke karakterer. I sin helhet er det fortsatt en fantastisk serie selv for slike flekker.

[Joseph R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book includes the finale of the Hellfire Club plotline (which introduces Kitty Pryde and Dazzler) and leads directly into the famous Dark Phoenix saga. I reviewed that storyline here, and it was just as enjoyable to re-read it. The book also has the aftermath, where Cyclops leaves the group and Storm is put in charge. The group has some smaller, single or double issue adventures afterward. Wolverine finally sorts out his relationship with the Canadian government; Nightcrawler faces his past in an interesting story involving Dante's Inferno; Kitty Pryde starts to gel with the team.

The book ends with some interesting bonus material. The original ending to the Dark Phoenix saga, where Jean Grey doesn't die but is only depowered, thus forcing the Phoenix entity out of her, is given. It's less satisfying than the published version. Another bonus story has Jean's older sister trying to connect with her younger sister while facing the possibility that Jean's nieces and nephews might have mutant powers. The story is in black and white and a little hard to read but interesting. There's also text from an interview with the X-Men creative team discussing the decision to switch the ending of the Dark Phoenix saga which had some nice insights but ran a little long.

Recommended.

[Omar Gómez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 5, calificación 4/5 estrellas.

The Uncanny X-Men #137, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Trama/Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin. Calificación 4/5 estrellas.

El final de X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga de John Byrne aquí es donde esta en su prime como artista y como escritor el hizo la trama haciendo a Jean Grey Phoenix en Dark Phoenix y volviendo a Wolverine popular, así como matar a Jean, Jim Shooter quería que estuviera en prisión, los planes originales eran que fuera lobotomizada y quedara como retrasada.

Byrne dibujaba la narrativa y dejaba bien parados a Gladiator, Lilandra, Araki y Oraculo. De lo que más recuerdo era Wolverine y su encuentro con Uatu, el Kree vs Skull. Colossus vs Gladiator. Claremont lleno de diálogos el arte.

Después de la partida de Byrne, Claremont nunca hizo historias de la calidad de Proteus Saga, The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past.

Si te gusto Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past es obligatorio leer a John Byrne's X-Men Elsewhen.

Marvel Comics debería publicar en un Omnibus Deluxe Edition de John Byrne's The X-Men ELSEWHEN #1-32.

Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #140, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Trama/Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin, calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.

Completa esta colección con la aparición de Alpha Flight creados por John Byrne en su juventud los personajes de Guardian, Shaman y Snowbird.

John Byrne menciona dentro de esta historia, que se ideó a Guardian en el colegio, creo a Guardian, Shaman y Snowbird en su juventud como un fanfic, luego para su carrera en The Uncanny X-Men creo el grupo canadiense para la historia de Wolverine, pero Byrne ante su próxima salida del libro de X-Men decidió disolver a Alpha Flight.

A Chris Claremont se le acredita la cocreacion de Alpha Flight, pero John Byrne ha dicho que a Claremont solo se le ocurrió los nombres de Weapon Alpha, Vindicator y Alpha Flight. El nombre que Byrne le puso a Mac Hudson fue Guardian.

Alpha Flight eran como The Avengers Guardian era como Captain America, Iron Man y Reed Richards. Shaman es como Doctor Strange, Snowbird es como The Wasp, Sasquatch era como Bruce Banner /Hulk, Aurora y North Star son como Scarlet Witch y Quicksilver.

Me agrado que Jonathan Hickman incorporó como un cameo a un Wendigo como miembro de Alpha Flight en algún comic de Avengers.

En 1981 the Uncanny X-Men #140 John Byrne debió haber reclutado a Wendigo para Alpha Flight. No me agrada la versión de Shaman escrito por John Byrne porque lo hace demasiado poderoso y sin defentos en X-Men Elsewhen.

Phoenix: The Untold Story, Trama/Arte John Byrne, trama/diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin, calificación 3/5 estrellas.

Gran arte de John Byrne, este es el final original de The Uncanny X-Men #137, Jean Grey lobotomizada por una máquina Shi'ar como en un exorcismo.

Después de Dark Phoenix Saga debes leer X-men Elsewhen, ya que es la continuación escrita y dibujada por John Byrne.

Deberian publicar X-MEN ELSEWHEN IDW Artist Editions. También Marvel debe públicar un X-MEN ELSEWHEN Omnibus.

Phoenix: The Untold Story en las entrevistas eran un par de ridículos Jim Shooter halagando a Chris Claremont.

Después de la partida de Byrne con los X-Men, los que se quedaron a cargo de X-Men Chris Claremont, Jim Shooter o Loise Simonson no alcanzaron la cúspide de The Uncanny X-Men los issues #108-143 donde el arte y tramas eran de John Byrne qué convirtió al libro X-Men en verdadera leyenda.

Es recordado Claremont como sus máximas glorias The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past, pero ambas fueron tramas de John Byrne su salida de X-Men lo dejo claro.

[Grace (Cookie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

X-men son mis súper héroes favoritos después de Spiderman, y Jean Grey aka Phoenix es mi X-men favorito, la historia de toda la colección completa estuvo grandiosa y no podía dejar de leer cuando me adentraba cada vez más. La muerte de Jean fue dolorosa al leer todos los recuerdos de Scott aka Cyclops y muero por ver la película que salió hace poco para ver las similitudes o guiños que ponen en las películas sobre los cómics

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The entire run of Claremont, Cockrum, and Byrne's X-Men culminate in this volume, with the "Death of Phoenix" storyline.
The absolute best of comics at the time, and some of the best comic storytelling ever; all done on a monthly schedule, with a vague outline of what was to come, and ultimately (and infamously) shifting gears at the last minute to give us this story.
Reading it as it happened was astounding, and reading it again after all of these years was a treat.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was always an epic storyline for me, going back to it I remembered what I liked about it but also what I didn’t. I always thought the Dark Phoenix story went so long, but it really didn’t. It was such a watershed for X-Men lore but it was just an issue or two. I did like the HellFire club story even if the lady’s outfits were terrible 🙄.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this in hardcopy, you know those big tomes of Marvel collected works which are black and white?

It was a bad idea to read this on a tablet unless it's size is A4, probably better to read in hardcopy. I thought the addition of colours was interesting. The style of story telling feels dated.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome conclusion to the Phoenix Saga. Claremont and Byrne wrap up the story in an emotionally satisfying way that allows Jean to retain her agency and even some of her dignity without detracting from the terrible things she's done. I can't wait to read more!