Echo (Maya Lopez) Appreciation 2021 Phoenix Song Echo

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/tJy897dP/phxsongecho20210001-cvr.jpg[/img][img]https://i.postimg.cc/J4rSgDzC/phxsongecho20210001-yu-var-0.jpg[/img]

The Phoenix Force has chosen a new host! Spinning directly out of Jason Aaron’s Avengers storyline “Enter the Phoenix” comes PHOENIX SONG: ECHO #1, a brand-new series from best-selling Hugo Award winning novelist Rebecca Roanhorse and rising star artist Luca Maresca (Avengers). Roanhorse previously wrote the Cheyenne hero in last year’s Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 and now returns to the saga of Maya Lopez as she deals with her biggest transformation yet. The exhilarating story will be packed with revelations about both Echo’s ancestry and the Phoenix Force mythos as well as the debut of new heroes and the shocking return of an iconic X-Men villain.

Echo is now the host of one of the most powerful entities in the Marvel Universe, and she has burning questions that demand answers. Still learning her new cosmic abilities—and struggling with the Phoenix’s overwhelming personality—Echo strikes out to return to her roots. But the reservation has even fewer answers. And where power goes, evil follows. Someone wants Echo to fail—and unleash a power only the greatest heroes in history have been able to control.

"I am excited to return to Echo in her first solo series and follow this thrilling new direction Jason Aaron has taken her,” said Roanhorse. Readers will see some old favorites reimagined and some entirely new characters as Echo comes to terms with the incredible and dangerous powers of the Phoenix."

Check out the main cover by Cory Smith as well as a variant cover by Leinil Francis Yu and don’t miss the story that will light the Marvel Universe on fire when PHOENIX SONG: ECHO hits stands on October 6th!


[URL="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/echo-embraces-the-cosmic-power-of-the-phoenix-force-in-new-series-by-rebecca-roanhorse?linkId=122778293"]https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/echo-embraces-the-cosmic-power-of-the-phoenix-force-in-new-series-by-rebecca-roanhorse?linkId=122778293[/URL]

Happy that she is getting a solo. Good idea from Aaron give her the Phoenix

Just in time for the Hawkeye push...even though they have to respect the current status quo.

Always liked the character, glad she's getting focus. She's come a long way from getting unceremoniously murked in that awful Moon Knight run.

Sounds great. And I’m hoping her having the Phoenix force sticks for a while.

[URL="https://www.cbr.com/avengers-heroes-reborn-return-starbrand-phoenix-reunite/"]https://www.cbr.com/avengers-heroes-reborn-return-starbrand-phoenix-reunite/[/URL]

I'm happy for Echo to be more prominent even if the Phoenix direction is...kind of random and out of sorts with how she'll likely be promoted outside comics.

It's good that she's having a solo, but her one shot by the same writer was terrible.

I will hope for the Psy-Hawk to show up, but everybody except Ewing probably forgot about it.

[QUOTE=mugiwara;5611849]It's good that she's having a solo, but her one shot by the same writer was terrible.

I will hope for the Psy-Hawk to show up, but everybody except Ewing probably forgot about it.[/QUOTE]

I'm surprised they haven't yet established a connection between the Phoenix Force and Psi-Hawk given how similar the two are. Maybe Emmet Proudhawk and Maya will meet up one day and we'll get a substantive story out of it.

It's crazy to think that a character that has been off the board for so long is finally back in the limelight.

It's even crazier to think she was originally introduced as a street level character who is now a cosmic power player.

I am definitely intrigued with the direction Aaron and Co are taking with her

[QUOTE=charliehustle415;5612054]It's crazy to think that a character that has been off the board for so long is finally back in the limelight.

It's even crazier to think she was originally introduced as a street level character who is now a cosmic power player.

I am definitely intrigued with the direction Aaron and Co are taking with her[/QUOTE]
I wonder if she'll be street level again by the time of her Disney+ appearance.

[QUOTE=charliehustle415;5612054]It's crazy to think that a character that has been off the board for so long is finally back in the limelight.

[B]It's even crazier to think she was originally introduced as a street level character who is now a cosmic power player.[/B]

I am definitely intrigued with the direction Aaron and Co are taking with her[/QUOTE]

I'm not as surprised about that second development.

For as long as I can remember, Marvel has been elevating street level characters to cosmic level peerage. And I don't mean the avatars of gods per se. Mantis is probably the most noteworthy, given the whole Celestial Madonna story arc that started back in the 1970s. But we've had a Cosmic Ghost Rider, Spider-Man with the powers of Captain Universe, Black Panther using the power of the Tiger God in the pages of the Ultimates, and we can't forget Venom getting in on the cosmic action in more recent events.

It's funny. Everyone claims to hate original cosmic level OP characters, but, boy, they sure eat it up when those street level types go All-Powerful and cosmic. :D

[QUOTE=Frontier;5612088]I wonder if she'll be street level again by the time of her Disney+ appearance.[/QUOTE]

Corporate synergy would say "absolutely!"

[QUOTE=JudicatorPrime;5612133]I'm not as surprised about that second development.

For as long as I can remember, Marvel has been elevating street level characters to cosmic level peerage. And I don't mean the avatars of gods per se. Mantis is probably the most noteworthy, given the whole Celestial Madonna story arc that started back in the 1970s. But we've had a Cosmic Ghost Rider, Spider-Man with the powers of Captain Universe, Black Panther using the power of the Tiger God in the pages of the Ultimates, and we can't forget Venom getting in on the cosmic action in more recent events.

It's funny. Everyone claims to hate original cosmic level OP characters, but, boy, they sure eat it up when those street level types go All-Powerful and cosmic. :D[/QUOTE]

Dang, you're totally right; it's a trope that I never actually put together

[QUOTE=JudicatorPrime;5612133]I'm not as surprised about that second development.

For as long as I can remember, Marvel has been elevating street level characters to cosmic level peerage. And I don't mean the avatars of gods per se. Mantis is probably the most noteworthy, given the whole Celestial Madonna story arc that started back in the 1970s. But we've had a Cosmic Ghost Rider, Spider-Man with the powers of Captain Universe, Black Panther using the power of the Tiger God in the pages of the Ultimates, and we can't forget Venom getting in on the cosmic action in more recent events.

It's funny. Everyone claims to hate original cosmic level OP characters, but, boy, they sure eat it up when those street level types go All-Powerful and cosmic. :D[/QUOTE]
I dunno, is Mantis and Ghost Rider really street level? Spider-Man only had the Captain Universe powers briefly (I don't view Black Panther as all that street-level aside from the Man Without Fear era).

[QUOTE=Frontier;5612772]I dunno, is Mantis and Ghost Rider really street level? Spider-Man only had the Captain Universe powers briefly (I don't view Black Panther as all that street-level aside from the Man Without Fear era).[/QUOTE]

You have to remember my frame of reference. I'm an old guy.

Back in the 1970s Mantis' powerset was that of a street level hero. Her training by the Priests of Pama aside, she was really just an empath with martial arts mastery specializing in using pressure points to advantage her attacks. It wasn't until later -- I want to say around the 90s -- that Mantis as the Celestial Madonna showed far greater abilities than that -- like the power to travel between planets spiritually and creating a new body for herself out of vegetation.

Ghost Rider was a stunt cyclist who made a deal with Satan. It wasn't until later that Zarathos was named, and at that time, he/it was perceived to be a minor demon. Certainly nothing on the level of Mephisto, like he/it is now. In the early days the perception was that it was Satan, but Johnny wasn't necessarily about to run off and battle Thanos seeking revenge. No, he stuck to mostly low level villains and cultists, except for when he joined up with the first team of Champions. But I guess we don't need to discuss GR, because Marvel made it easy for us. They didn't call him [B]Cosmic[/B] Ghost Rider for nothing. ;)

And while I agree that Spider-Man, Black Panther and others all only wielded cosmic level power situationally, it counts.

I'm not knocking it. No one likes characters that are forever limited by their native circumstance or abilities. Sometimes the only way to see characters in a new light and see how they'd handle the yoke of even greater responsibility is to give them greater powers, no matter how briefly.

Before the unfortunate retcon, we all saw what happened to Jean Grey when she became the Phoenix. I'm curious to see how Echo carries the mantle now.