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Luke Styer
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Joined: 20 April 2004
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Posted: 05 August 2010 at 11:59am | IP Logged | 1  
 John Byrne wrote:
Nothing could really give it context, Tim. There's no way to be TOLD how it felt when 137 came out. Remember, that issue was a surprise even to those of us who worked on it!

While I think you're right that the true context can't really be replicated, that story remains a very powerful piece of work.  I read it years later for the first time in a trade paperback and even though I knew Jean had later "come back," her sacrifice still packed a lot of punch.

In law school I had a friend who was a total civilian.  She knew I was into comics and decided to read some superhero comics.  I loaned her the first couple volumes of Essential X-Men, which was her first exposure to superhero comics.  That collects the Dark Phoenix Saga as "just part of the book," and I remember that the story had a nice impact on her, too.  That sort of thing may be about the closest a modern reader can come to the original experience.

Anyway, my point is that while you're right, it can never be exactly the same, I hate to see you sell yourself short on this one.  You created something there that has held up for decades despite a lot of questionable junk being piled on top of it.  I still reread the trade every couple years and I still tear up at the conclusion.
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Bill Cox
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Posted: 05 August 2010 at 1:27pm | IP Logged | 2  

Phoenix, at least as originally presented, was evil.

JB, after re-reading your response a couple of time, I am a bit troubled. At the time the story was written, was it the intent that Jean herself was inherently evil?

I had always thought that she was basically good, but that her wielding nearly unlimited power combined with the brainwashing by Mastermind,  left her mentally unstable -- and that's what lead to the creation of Dark Phoenix.
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Francesco Vanagolli
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Posted: 05 August 2010 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | 3  
Matthew McCallum

 QUOTE:

Assuming for a moment the secret could be kept, that a book couldarrive at the comic stores Wednesday afternoon with no prior warning,no fanfare, no pre-marketing --

What story could you possibly tell today that would have the same gut-wrenching impact, of stunned disbelief, of high quality as the Death of Phoenix?


I miss surprises!

I'm reading Avengers and... how many months ago did I learn Wonder Man would had been the villain in issue #2?

Sigh. Maybe I should stay away from Internet...
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John Byrne
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Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 05 August 2010 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | 4  
JB, after re-reading your response a couple of time, I am a bit troubled. At the time the story was written, was it the intent that Jean herself was inherently evil?

••

Of course not.

You're becoming a bit transparent. aren't you?

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Bill Cox
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Posted: 05 August 2010 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | 5  

I;m not sure what you mean by transparent, but when you said that Phoenix was evil, I thought that you had meant Jean herself was evil at heart and that the manifestation of Dark Phoenix was inevitable.

Just wondering...do you think that Dark Phoenix would have emerged had Jean not been brainwashed by Mastermind?
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Steven McCauley
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Posted: 05 August 2010 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | 6  
Bill,

The unbridled power that Jean had as Phoenix corrupted her to the point of being evil.  Mastermind's manipulation of her tore down the controls that Jean had been employing.

Power corrupts. . .and with great power comes great responsibility. . . or something like that.
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