[Quote Originally Posted by Thor-El 10-15-2020 12:32 PM]
"Jason Aaron should know there is already a winner of the Phoenix Force and his name is Phoenixx9."
Like a Red Dragon, The Phoenix shall Soar in 2024!
Taking a moment to APPRECIATE the splendid work the Alan Davis did as artist and WRITER coming up with a cohesive distillation of all the various threads of the Phoenix mythos and Rachel's Future Past in his work on EXCALIBUR. The unravelling of the concept of the Phoenix Force and how, through massive discipline and training, the force could be tapped by a lay person (such as Feron or Necrom) but that the line of Jean Grey had a natural affinity to it that held them above all others. The visual of the current generation of Feron sitting vigil over the comatose body of Rachel Summers waiting for the Phoenix Force to choose him over her spoke volumes. The concept of the Phoenix as a Force, and not just a potential innate to the Grey women, is deeply flawed and oft misused as something akin to Cosmic STI, but Davis created a framework that gently retconned things into something approaching order.
Sadly, it was almost immediately cast aside.
Last edited by Micabe; 03-10-2021 at 08:00 AM.
Agreed with every word. Alan Davis' take was THE definitive one on the Phoenix Force for me and the way I feel it should always be written. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I think the first one to screw it up was Scott Lobdell in The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix if I remember correctly, when he had Rachel say the Phoenix had "left her" years before. Except the Force had already taken to to stars in Davis' final Excalibur run and left Rachel with just the powers, now hers forever as her birthright.
I also agree that Davis did a great job with the evolution of the Phoenix Force. It had been changed so much as a concept from the time it was introduced in Uncanny X-Men by the time that Excalibur started that there needed to be some cleaning up. Alan drew from the stories he and Chris were telling to make the idea of the Phoenix Force work, both for Marvel who wanted it away from Jean but also for Rachel and potential future users. It was Rachel's birthright, in a number of ways. I was introduced to Rachel during this era and it's this voice, agency, and strength that Alan gave to her that I constantly compare other writers to.
I will say though, this retelling of the history of the Phoenix Force (which has been edited and retconned several times since publication) also began the tradition of allowing non-Grey hosts into the picture. I think it was unintended at the time, but it also helped inspire the Phoenix Corps that Morrison showed us. I mean it makes sense in that it would have had avatars before Jean and Rachel, but they were the preferred hosts. Unfortunately it also has lead us down the road we're currently on with Aaron really trashing everything about the Phoenix.
Any thoughts from today's X-Factor? I'm really not liking how death just doesn't matter anymore in the mutant world. I know the whole book is based around making sure mutants are dead before they are resurrected but it just feels cheap somehow. Also how does it effect the special circumstances characters find themselves in through the years like Rachel's unique connection to the Phoenix. I know it's all but ignored anyways by current writers but to me it means something or am I being too negative?
ugh, she's called Prestige again
[Quote Originally Posted by Thor-El 10-15-2020 12:32 PM]
"Jason Aaron should know there is already a winner of the Phoenix Force and his name is Phoenixx9."
Like a Red Dragon, The Phoenix shall Soar in 2024!