Confirming what most of us deduced from the closing moments of X-men 2, the plot of X-men 3 will focus on the Dark Phoenix Saga. I really have mixed feelings about trying to capture the emotion of what is one of my favorite moments in comic book history. I'm very skeptical regarding anyone's ability to capture the emotion present in X-men 137, the issue of Jean Grey's death. If I'm completely honest with myself, there's another reason I'm less than thrilled about the Dark Phoenix saga coming to a theater near you--I'm absolutely sick of Jean Grey and the Phoenix.
As most comic fans know, the beauty of the Dark Phoenix Saga was eventually tainted by Jean Grey's resurrection in the 1990s. Jean Grey should have remained dead. While I haven't read any of the 1,000,001 X-titles with any regularity over the last 15 years, I do know that Phoenix/Jean Grey has experienced several deaths and several rebirths (I think there's another rebirth occuring presently). Jean's dead! She's alive! Jean's dead. She's alive! Jean's dead. She's alive! How many times is Marvel going to pull this lame stunt? I realize the story of the mythical phoenix revolves around themes of life, death, and rebirth--the fact that Jean Grey's heroic identity experiences this same cycle isn't lost on me. Still, the continual resurrection of Jean Grey points to a larger problem within comicdom as a whole: the non-finality of death.
Exactly how many comic book characters have died, only to be brought back in a few years? Superman died at the hands of Doomsday only to return. Colossus died a heroic death that resulted in a cure for the mutant ravaging Legacy virus. He recently returned. Thor is presently dead, but does anyone really believe he'll remain in Valhalla? Donna Troy is making her return in the near future. I know I'm missing a ton of additional deaths/rebirths, but you get my point. Death in comic books has become irrelevant and inconsequential. Writers kill someone in order to sell additional issues knowing damn well the hero/heroine will return. And that's the whole part of death in comics, I suppose, that really sticks in my craw. It means absolutely nothing. These characters go out with a big flourish, usually saving the world in the process. Their respective deaths take on a noble meaning, the enactment of self-sacrifice that saves others--the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few or the one. The return of these characters diminishes the nobility of the act. I no longer see the ultimate sacrifice as a sacrifice--heck, they'll be back by the end of the year!
Give me the heroine/hero going out in a blaze of glory, never to return. Have someone take their name, pick up where they left off (see Impulse/Kid Flash of Young Justice/Teen Titans), but don't bring the originals back. The resurrection of comic characters is a stale, over-played plot device.
I sure hope the upcoming X-men 3 is the only big-screen resurrection of Jean Grey. I'd hate to see her movie incarnation diminished as it's been in the comics. Don't save Jean Grey!
Lord Mhoram throwing in an edit here - because rather than have a quick entry I'm adding these... Some funny flash Animations about this very subject:
X-men - Death Becomes Them
Dark Phoeonix Rising
3 comments:
I remember buying a button in the mid-80's that featured a picture of Jean in the green Phoenix costume with a caption that said "Phoenix Lives!" I still have it, in fact.
But it seems kinda pointless now.
Details, details. The point is that the Dark Phoenix saga was one of the best story arcs in comics, and the reincarnation/resurrection of Jean destroyed much of what made the story great.
The decision Jean willingly and consciously made in order to save the universe was the culmination of a great story - the struggle between darkness and light, and the light ultimately winning out at terrible cost.
Jean made the ultimate sacrifice in order to save others. With her return, that sacrifice is cheapened.
More about this in another post.
Egads! It was 1986. My geek cred has suffered a significant blow. I bow to your superior comic knowledge.
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