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Summary: The Gold Standard of Comics
Review: I still remember the day when X-men #137, the finale of the Dark Phoenix saga, came out at my local comic shop all those years ago. I got the last one there, and it was hidden in the magazines. Even then, I had the sense that this was a major event in comic book history - possibly the best comic book story ever written. It's amazing to me that, after all of this time, that still holds up. Other comic epics are routinely compared to the Dark Phoenix story, and I have yet to read or even hear about anything that approaches it.For those that think comics are exclusively for kids, I hold this book up as Exhibit A. After seeing the X-men movies, my wife actually read it out of curiosity. She's the antithesis of a comic book person and had never heard of the X-men. She was actually impressed enough to read the rest of Byrne's X-men in Essential X-men Volume 2, and now looks down her nose a bit less at my childhood hobby. From the reviews I've seen so far, I don't need to go into detail about the story. For those of you who are relying on the X-men movies to give you the scoop, I have one word of advice: DON'T. The movies are really messing with the stories in an unacceptable way. While it's clear that they're going to attempt some kind of Phoenix plot in the next movie, it won't do the real story justice. The only way to truly experience this story is through these pages, panel by panel. I moved on from the X-men and comics a few years after the Dark Phoenix story was done, and I missed the whole return of Jean Grey. When I heard about it, I was severely disappointed that Marvel would take such a tragic character that transcended comics and reduce her to just another super hero that avoided death. Phoenix was so much more significant at the end of X-men #137, and bringing Jean Grey back has made both much less so. Most unfortunate. Still, it doesn't change my view of this story - truly amazing.
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Summary: THE BEST X-STORY EVER!
Review: I'm the major X-enthusiast, and I tell ya', you need to get or at least read this epic tale! The saga contains two of Wizard's best X-Stories of all time! Those two being the saga itself and Wolverine:Alone. Well, I really don't have anything else to say except that if you aren't in some way touched by the conclusion, you're either stupid or have no idea of the emotional impact of it. Well, get it!
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Summary: The way the great saga of the X-men should be told.
Review: I'm to young to have read most of the Chris Claremont X-men stories when they where originally told, and so have only been familiar with the current incarnations of the team (Scott Lobdell, Fabian Niciez, Joe Kelly, ect.) I thought I loved the stories being told, but I now realize what true love for the X-men is. I've visited many web-pages about the X-men movie and have been dissapointed to hear that they would try to focus more on what the X-men used to be, and not what they've grown to be. Now I realize what a fool I've been. Simply put, the Dark Pheonix Saga is what the X-men are all about. Chris Claremont has managed to tell us an epic tale of love, loss, tragedy, and redemtiom. The story follows Jean Grey's, one of the original X-men, story as she realizes her full potential and is ulltimately curropted by it. We experience Scott Summer's, also original X-men and love of Jean's life, turmoil as his dearlly loved slowly begin's a dark decent that will soon take control of her. We feel his pain for not being able to save her soul from the fire that consumes her. We also see her friends and fellow X-men struggle to save her despite her apperent betrayel of them. This story does not over-exzagerrate the X-men's power(which is done all to often in the current run of the book) but instead focuses on the emotions and struggles of the charecters. I have always thought I was an X-men fan before, but now that I know the charecters, I can honestly say that I am now a true fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Now THIS is Claremont...
Review: If you are anything like me, and read Claremont's more recent work, scratch your head, and wonder if Claremont has any relevance anymore in comicbookland, THE DARK PHOENIX SAGA is the answer.
If you are new to the X-men universe, and want to know the merry mutants at their very best, or your only exposure to them has been in the movies, this is the book that should be first on your list.
Claremont, the writer, and Byrne/Austin, the art team, are as if they were thinking with the same brain. The result is one of the most breathless, rollercoaster, and truly epic sagas in comic book history. Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, and the rest are written and rendered so well, you can almost hear the dialogue being delivered.
In short, this is the closest you will ever come to holding a wide-screen summer blockbuster in your own two hands. You will not regret this purchase.
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Summary: A Comicbook Classic
Review: If you are at all a fan of the X-Men, you must have this book. (Unless, of course, you have the original issues.) This reprinting is true to form with the original comics, presenting them in full crisp color, as they were meant to be seen. I have borrowed this book from the library on several occassions and can't wait to get my own copy. As I was learning to read, I found comics a good way to hone my skill and have some fun at the same time. Do your boy a favor and get him some comics, they won't rot his mind, I promise.
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Summary: Marvel's Greatest Story Ever Told - It Has It All!
Review: In the Dark Phoenix Saga, Chris Claremont and John Byre, firing on all cylinders, create the greatest comics story ever. It is a story that fits logically in the greatest run by an artist/writer team in a comic series ever (chronicled in the Essential X-Men Vol.2 graphic novel), but one that also stands so well on its own. In a story where so many things are done right, it stands out because it is a primarily a story about conflict. There is conflict on virtually every page. Not just shot-em up, video game violence, but internal, character-driven conflict. There is conflict between Prof. X and Cyclops over leadership of the X-men; between the fiery Wolverine and the control-freak Prof. X; Jean Grey struggles to control her dark side; Cyclops tries to mold the fiercly independent members of the X-men into a tight-knit team; Jean & Scott try to maintain their relationship thru the mounting chaos.... The X-men, the ultimate ousiders, rely on each other time and again and yet, their most powerful member turns on them and then saves them - repeatedly. The X-men have a truly worthy opponent in the Hellfire Culb. Obstacle after obstacle is overcome before the truly life and death battle at the climax. The escalation of tension is evere bit as gripping as when I read the original comics as a kid. Its lost none of the magic or mystery. There is none of the letdown so often felt when we re-visit the source of our nostalgia. There have been a half dozen stories that were much more revolutionary than the Dark Phoenix Saga - from the death of Gwen Stacey in Spider-Man, to The Dark Knight, the Watchmen and Crisis on Infinite Earths over at DC. Yet, for my money, Dark Phoenix is better - not for its novelty or originality or life-like art, but because its that good.
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Summary: An X-Men Pinnacle
Review: It is up to each X fan to decide if subsequent events have diluted the power of the Dark Phoenix saga, but it is still the one story that everyone who really wants to know the X-Men must be familiar with. Seemingly by a miracle, Jean Grey's life was recently saved by psychic melding with an elemental force called the Phoenix. Unfortunately, a price soon becomes apparent. At first in small ways, it starts to become obvious that the Phoenix has started to change Jean, wheather for good or ill not immediately apparent. As the obscene Hellfire Club - which makes Magneto look like a boy scout - tries to find a way to make use of Jean, it slowly becomes evident that the power of the Phoenix is becoming beyond her control. This time, not even her teammates - not even Scott - may be able to save her. This story is still powerful, and younger readers should be aware that, at the time, it sent shockwaves through the comic reading world because nothing like the tragic resolution had ever been done before. It was grim indeed. There is, however, a light at the end of the tunnel. As the remaining X-Men grieve, a young girl hesitantly arrives at Xavier's to begin schooling - a girl who had a peripheral involvement in the Phoenix events. She's Kitty Pryde, who will eventually become the love of Colossus' life, like a foster daughter to Storm and like a little sister to Nightcrawler. Newer fans will be surprised in particular by the beginning of Kurt and Kitty's friendship. "I don't think the little Fraulein likes me", Kurt notes to himself during the calm before the storm. The matter is dropped in the whirlwind of events, but it will come back to haunt them both. The truth is that Kitty, in spite of her best efforts to hide it, WAS a bit frightened by Kurt for quite some time. It would take alot of mental conditioning on her part and patience and sensitivity on his before she became his fiercely adoring Katzchen.
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Summary: Fond memories!
Review: It's too bad that over the course of X-Men history, Jean Grey has died and been resurrected so many times that she's become something of a comic-industry in-joke. It's to the detriment of one's perception of the depth of the original story. She remains possibly the most complex of X-Men characters, and her dark history is chronicled in this well-written collection that tells what is considered the best storyline in X-Men's history. My one gripe is with the artwork. Yes, it's dated, but there's a much more important issue here -- why is it that they used only one page to illustrated the climactic sacrifice? In this one scene is incorporated the fate of the whole team of X-Men (whether they will be killed by the Imperial Guard), the ultimate fate of the love between Phoenix and Cyclops, Phoenix' final decision (her humanity, or her power?), and the fate of the universe. Even the defeat of Colossus at the hands of Gladiator received more panels. The scant amount of space devoted to this devastating ending is a matter of storytelling, and the age of the comic doesn't excuse it from a fault on this level. Other than that, it's one of the most effective orchestrations of the huge cast in the X-Men series. Most of the time, storylines in comic books like this revolve around the appearance of some anticipated character or another. Here it's driven by emotion and story development, and the Dark Phoenix/Phoenix character remains fascinating, driven less by malevolence than hunger and arrogance. One occasion where a lowbrow cultural form like the comic book has produced something worthy of deeper consideration beyond that of simple entertainment.
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Summary: New Edition Available
Review: Just a note: Marvel recently reprinted this book, with a great new cover by Salvador Larrocca, though for some reason the major online bookstores haven't received it (at the time of this review). Unless you are specifically collecting old editions, there is no reason to pay twice the cover price for a used copy.
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Summary: Important Claremont/Byrne Story!
Review: One of the finest stories from Claremont and Byrne before they broke up. A tense drama which introduces many concepts and plot threads which affect the book to this day. Rachel Summers is introduced here as well as Mystique, Destiny, and the witch hunting of the mutants. A clever story taking place in two time eras, one a frightening, yet familiar view of New York City twenty years into the future. This story and the Dark Phoenix saga should be required reading for all X-Men fans to get a better understanding of the comic and its popularity.
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