Endsong

X-men Phoenix - Endsong
Greg Pak and Greg Land

One of the earliest memories I have with my brother and father is reading X-men comics – particularly how Jean Grey transformed into the Phoenix. I remember having a big box in which I would pretend to be my space ship and I’d imagine I was Jean Grey trying to pilot the shuttle back to the Earth’s atmosphere while being bombarded by radiation. Then I would emerge from the box as --- it would have been cool if I continued to pretend that I was Phoenix but by then I got bored and probably played another game.

Cut to 27 years later – more or less – and here I am still fixated on comics. I do not have an extensive collection because there were times when I didn’t have the money to buy any or my interests were on something else. But I now have the re-issue of the Dark Phoenix Saga and I was looking for X-men desktop wallpapers. I came across wallpapers about the Pheonix Endsong – it was a 5-part X-men saga by Greg Pak and illustrated by Greg Land released early this year. I bought the hardbound premiere edition two weeks ago and I just finished reading it. The illustrations were awesome – they were “realistic” enough to make you feel that you’re watching a movie. The story drew heavily from the events of the Dark Phoenix Saga – how the Phoenix (a force of nature that brings life and death – its power come from stars) took over Jean Grey and she caused the death of 5 billion people and she had to die or cause more deaths.

In Endsong, the Phoenix was brought back by the survivors of the people the Dark Phoenix destroyed to exact revenge. The force came back to Earth trying to find something that it couldn’t name and homed in to the Scott Summers of the X-men who was already in a relationship with Emma Frost (the White Queen – a former villain). The Phoenix resurrected Jean Grey (the panels on the resurrection was reminiscent of Buffy being resurrected by Willow and the rest of the Scobbies) – then the drama began. There’s were two love triangles: Jean-Scott-Emma and Logan-Jean-Scott - a perfect mix for a cry-fest for me. Yes, iyakin ako - at the last 6 pages I was really trying hard to keep my tears from falling into the comic book and messing it up! A yosi-break and a drink of water helped.

Though it was supposed to be the Phoenix’s Endsong – the writer left hints of a “sequel.” Some people have problems with the seemingly endless sequels but I personally would don’t mind – the possibility of another good story will keep me happy.