Show notes
Note: This is a classic archive episode from the vault, originally broadcast back in the ill-fated year of 2019!Welcome back to Collecting Issues, ladies and gentlemen! This week, Mick and Ben are looking into an absolute titan of comic book history: Marvel’s The Dark Phoenix Saga (collecting Uncanny X-Men #129-137), first published in the bloody 1980s by the legendary creative team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne.Join us as we tackle a comic run that is somehow marginally older than both of us and infinitely more packed with leather corsets than we remembered. We’re digging deep into the cosmic epic that has been adapted by almost every X-Men cartoon and movie timeline (with wildly varying degrees of success).In this episode, we cover:The Big Bait-and-Switch: Why does a legendary "cosmic" space saga spend three-quarters of its time messing around with the Hellfire Club in New York fetish wear?The Claremont Aesthetic: We break down the sheer amount of psychosexual tension, BDSM aesthetics, mind-control weirdness, and female subjugation. It's an '80s trope fest featuring "frail, unstable female minds," plus a whole lot of shirtless, hairy Wolverine and a suspiciously "thick" Sebastian Shaw.The Birth of Modern Wolverine: We pinpoint the exact, legendary sewer panel that transformed Wolverine from a grumpy 24-year-old kid into the definitive, scrappy, badass mutant we know and love today.Creative Explosions & Hokey Dialogue: From Banshee's questionable Irish catchphrases to Colossus screaming about Lenin's ghost, we look past the dated tropes to appreciate the absolute sheer volume of character building and world-defining concepts introduced in just eight issues.Whether you're here for the definitive tragic tale of Jean Grey, the introduction of Kitty Pryde and Dazzler, or just to watch Cyclops stumble around in a gimp hood, this is a veritable smorgasbord of juicy X-Men goodness.Follow the Podcast:Join the Discord and read alongRead Our SubstackFollow us on InstagramFollow us on TiktokWatch us on Youtube Time Stamps: 00:00 Archive Episode Setup00:32 Dark Phoenix Overview01:50 Adaptations and Legacy04:20 Plot Kicks Off Muir Island05:24 Wyngarde and Hellfire Club07:49 Hellfire Battles and Big Twist09:58 Claremont Kinks and Controversy14:30 Young X Men and Early Wolverine17:54 Modern Wolverine Born19:10 Trade Extras And Covers20:02 Dialogue And Stereotypes20:58 Low Powered Early X Men22:22 Cyclops Melodrama Era23:06 Why This Run Matters26:21 Hickman Era Comparisons28:43 Dark Phoenix In Space30:29 Byrne Art And Origins31:51 Recommendations And Wrap Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
