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We’re back! We – wait, no – I – was back at Southern California Comics for Free Comic Book Day! #FCBD Unfortunately, my partner in crime, Mighty Maico Moreno was off traveling the world. So I recruited my amazing wife, Astonishing Amiee Logue, to come co-host the podcast with me! We discuss Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and our thoughts, some Iron Fist, talk to Ryan, Adrian, Christina, and Dexter about everything from comics, TV shows, movie, and Dexter breaks down some Robotech news.
It’s a lengthy podcast – standing at an hour and a half! Because the co-host being Amiee Logue, there’s a bit of silliness in there (I mean, who here wants to know about Southern Charmed or The Challenge – because, guess what, that gets mentioned to!) This is what happens when you’re married to the special co-host for 20 years. The plus side is, we can disagree – and we do – about things about Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Iron Fist. But let me shut up, and let you download the podcast! Enjoy the witty banter between my wife and I – while you listen to the podcast – stuck in traffic or where ever it is that you subject yourself to this dose of awesome!
[audio:http://comicreliefpodcast.com/podcasts/Comic%20Relief%20Podcast%20-%20Issue%20%2326%20-%20Comic%20Relief%20Podcast%20-%20Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202017.mp3]If you love us so much, that you want to put it on your favorite audio player on repeat, you can download the MP3 also.
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Listen. We’ve seen it before. And we’re about to see it again. Jean Grey – unleashing the Phoenix Force… and Jean Grey losing control of the Phoenix Force. You might thing I am talking about the second X-Men movie where we see Jean Grey, played by Famke Janssen… and then how she loses control of the Phoenix Force in the third X-Men movie… that’s what you might be thinking right?
Well, how about the time, where the X-Men movie “rebooted” and then it was Jean Grey, portrayed by Sophie Turner, and during the battle against Apocalypse, we see a much more obvious release of the Phoenix Force (rather than the hint in Famke’s eyes, in the other X-Men movie). You might be saying, “But Tawmis, we don’t know that she loses control of the Phoenix Force!” And, I am here to say – but we do. Fox has officially named the next X-Men movie “Dark Phoenix.” So that should be a clear indication that it will revolve (once again) around Jean losing control of the Phoenix Force.
Is it that I hate the Dark Phoenix story? That’s actually the furthest from the truth. As a matter of fact, the entire build up to the story that leads to the shocking conclusion of the Dark Phoenix story is perhaps one of my all time favorite comic book stories ever.
So what is that one nagging thing that has bothered me about both of these “Phoenix” stories that we’ve seen so far? It’s the fact, that for whatever reason, both times they have had Jean Grey being born with the Phoenix Force, and just explaining it away as some part of her mutant power rather than going into it being a cosmic being that entered Jean’s body (as originally written; many, many, many years later, they’d decide Phoenix took her place and put Jean in a cocoon at the bottom of the ocean in suspended animation – hey, it’s comics!) So originally – for those that don’t know – the story takes place where the X-Men are returning from space and their plane is falling apart; Jean is the only one who can hold it together with her telekinetic powers; after much fighting, the rest go back in the secure area. Jean successfully lands the plane into the bay, and while the rest of the X-Men surface, Jean seems to be missing, and finally surfaces.
This would result in Jean Grey leaving the X-Men (as a team member, but still in the book occasionally) for awhile until making her dramatic return in Uncanny X-Men #125. There isn’t too much here, other than the X-Men begin to notice a change in her.
This led to a battle with the X-Men fighting the Inner Circle and being soundly beaten; with only Wolverine managing to “escape” (and that’s only because Leland used his gravity manipulating to increase Wolverine’s density, crashing him through the floor and down into the sewers, where the Hellfire Club assumed that Wolverine had perished from being crushed to death).
The Phoenix Force seized control of Jean Grey, now twisted by Mastermind’s evil intentions and became the legendary Dark Phoenix in Uncanny X-Men #135. Now the X-Men found themselves fighting one of their own members; one of the original X-Men. One of the sweetest, kindest X-Men to have ever existed – Jean Grey. Storm referred to her as “Sister”, Wolverine had feelings for Jean Grey, Cyclops had been Jean’s main love interest from the very start, Nightcrawler was a devote Catholic, and Colossus had the gentle heart of a writer/painter. Going after Jean Grey, and trying to stop her by any means possible was something the X-Men were simply not equipped to do because their own feelings for the teammate superseded the consequences of letting the Dark Phoenix lose control.
The X-Men would call on their former member, Beast, to help them try and stop Dark Phoenix/Jean Grey. Beast had created a headband that should have nullified the Phoenix power; but not understanding the source of the power or the infinite power that the Phoenix contained; Jean Grey easily destroyed the device. We see Jean’s human side pop up from time to time, when she leaves and visits the home of her parents, and sees photos of them (and her sister). It’s Cyclops who comes to her – no longer attacking, but tries to appeal to Jean’s human side; and just as it seems like she is about to regain control, Professor Xavier arrives and attacks her mentally, which makes Jean lose control again. Professor Xavier and Jean lock into mental combat, and Professor Xavier is able to subdue and lock away the Phoenix Persona deep into Jean Grey’s mind. Though the X-Men are happy to see Jean back, it’s not long before they’re teleported away by the Shi’ar Empire and abducted.
The Shi’ar that the Phoenix Force is a massive power that can’t be contained, it’s destructive, etc – and in the end, it boils down to “Jean Grey must die.” Professor Xavier and the X-Men challenge the Shi’ar to a battle for Jean Grey’s life. So the X-Men are paired off against various members of the Shi’ar powerful force known as the Shi’ar Imperial Guard. While the X-Men fight valiantly for Jean Grey’s life, in the end, Jean Grey realizes that the Phoenix Force is still inside her, and that at any time, it could potentially break free and release the Dark Phoenix once again. Jean Grey sacrifices herself and dies, so that the Dark Phoenix will never be a problem again. (Well, that was a good plan, but many years later, Jean Grey, and the Phoenix Force would return countless times, to the point it’s nearly become a parody of the whole ‘The Phoenix will rise again!’ – but hey, it’s comics!)
First, if I had my way – and I was going to do this from scratch, I would introduce the first movie as The Starjammers. And you’re probably thinking, “Who the Hell are the Starjammers?” or if you know who they are, you might be thinking, “Who the Hell would watch a movie about the Starjammers?”
That’s right – the Guardians of the Galaxy you see in the movie aren’t even close to the (previously) traditional Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s right – that over there, to the left – that was the Guardians of the Galaxy. Over the years from their first appearance, they would modernize their looks and add a few members to the roster – but even still, none of those characters that they added were members in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie – not a single one. The comic book version of the Guardians of the Galaxy came into existence in 1969. This version of the Guardians of the Galaxy entered the “regular Earth” though they were from a future/alternate reality. This version of the team would eventually go on to get their own series which ran for 62 issues.
The series brought about a lot of change and updates to the roster, with members coming and going; and still, not a single one of those members was from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. In 2008, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (pretty much one of the greatest teams to work together), reworked the Guardians of the Galaxy concept – creating a team of misfits, that would go on to be the core of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie that we all know and love, with members such as Star-Lord, Rocket Racoon, Drax, Gamora, and of course, Groot. Yondu would appear in the movie (though as a “villain” … “anti-hero”…?), and he was the only character from the original Guardians of the Galaxy book (though not a member; though the second movie seems to have changed that from the looks of things).
Originally, Star-Lord was not the charming “space pirate” that we all know and love when he first appeared in 1976. Nor did he have the snazzy, red leather, trench coat that we all know and love to see him dance in. Nor did he have his cool mask that has become the iconic symbol that represents Star-Lord (as much, I dare say, as Captain America’s shield represents Cap, or that 
One of the most surprising and drastic changes came in the form of Groot. Groot – when he first appeared was this… giant… plant thing… from a place called “Planet X”… and he could actually talk (not just limited to “I am Groot” or “We are Groot”)… and he didn’t look anywhere near as cute and fun as we all know him from the movie. This was, once again, the creative works of Dan & Andy working on revamping the Guardians of the Galaxy and taking all of these misfit – and for the most part – very, very, very obscure characters from everywhere – and making them into what they are now.
The Starjammers are, essentially, what the Guardians of the Galaxy comic became when Dan & Andy recreated the Guardians of the Galaxy book. You have Corsair, who is literally, the human space pirate, with his wit and charm – and was abducted and enslaved b the Shi’ar (much like Star-Lord was abducted in the movie). Then you have Hepzibah, who is the female bad ass (much like Gamora). You have Ch’od, the big green, hulking mass of muscle (much like Drax). You have Cr+eee (the white creature on Ch’od’s shoulder) who speaks in a squeaky language only Ch’od seems to understand (similar to the Groot/Rocket thing) and then there’s Raza (with the patch and long flowing hair), who is wise, speaks with using “Old English” (thee and thy), and reminds me of what they are going to make Mantis out to be in the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie. So the Starjammers are literally what the Guardians of the Galaxy became. And with a good writer for a script (I’m available Marvel, if you’re reading this!), Fox Studios could potentially land a successful movie that’s up there with Guardians of the Galaxy. (Now, more than ever would be the best time to try and pull this off; because with the recent success of Guardians of the Galaxy and the resurgence of Star Wars movies; space dramas are shoe in for success, if done right!)
So, after explaining all that (I am extremely passionate about my X-Men, especially when it comes to the Dark Phoenix!) – I would begin the movie with the Starjammers as the first movie. This is the movie that sets everything up. I’d possibly start it with the Starjammers have stolen something from the Shi’ar Empire. (I could get really long winded about how great the Shi’ar Empire is – but to sum it up, they’re one of the most powerful space fairing races out there, with a massive empire, ruling over a great majority of planets out there!) So the Shi’ar Empire is chasing down the Starjammers to recover this “relic” that the Starjammers have acquired. Do a few scenes where the Starjammers are trying to pawn off the relic, but the Shi’ar keep arriving (possibly showing off some of the members of the Imperial Guard – who are the Shi’ar’s version of ‘super heroes’ loyal to the throne of the Shi’ar Empire). The Shi’ar keep applying too much pressure, so by the end of the Starjammers movie Corsair says he knows the perfect, backwards planet to hide the relic on; Earth (his home planet).
The second movie would be called something like X-Men: Rise of the Phoenix. It would essentially deal with the X-Men going to investigate the unusual UFO sighting (which is actually the Starjammers). The Starjammers and X-Men would fight it out initially (the Starjammers possibly mistaking the powered X-Men as members of the Imperial Guard, since when Corsair was abducted from Earth, there were no known mutants to exist; while Professor Xavier and Magneto were both mutants with powers by this time; this was not widely known to the general public). The X-Men and Starjammers would continue the fight until the arrival of the Shi’ar and their Imperial Guard; when the Starjammers realize the X-Men are not members of the Imperial Guard. Teaming up against the massive force of the Imperial Guard; Jean Grey scans the mind of one of the Imperial Guard or even perhaps D’Ken, leader of the Shi’ar Empire at the time), and learns that the relic that the Starjammers stole holds incredible power. Jean locates the relic, and realizing that they have no hope of defeating the Imperial Guard opens the relic, unleashing the Phoenix Force which bonds with her and gives the X-Men the upper hand. The movie ends with the defeat of the Imperial Guard, due to Jean Grey merging with the Phoenix!
The third movie would be called X-Men: Birth of the Dark Phoenix or simply X-Men: Dark Phoenix. This is where things hit the fan. The Shi’ar call down on the rest of the Imperial Guard, including Gladiator. The Starjammers and X-Men try to fight them, but they’re hopelessly out numbered, out gunned, and over powered. The X-Men and Starjammers must admit defeat. D’Ken claims that Jean Grey must die, because the Phoenix Force can not be contained in a mortal without eventually corrupting them; having proof before and showing the X-Men what happened the last time the Phoenix Force took on a mortal’s form and all the trouble they had capturing it into the relic. The X-Men challenge the Shi’ar Imperial Guard to a challenge (similar to what we see in Uncanny X-Men #137) in order to save Jean Grey’s life. The Starjammers also agree to join in the fight; and so – they do the individual fights, and despite the heroes looking like they’re going to win, in the end, Jean Grey sacrifices herself – seemingly destroying herself which allows the Shi’ar to recapture the Phoenix Force back into the relic. Movie ends with the X-Men burying Jean Grey on Earth.
So while, not even my version of the Dark Phoenix saga is completely true to what happens in the comic; I realize there’s a lot of comic book history that that simply can’t be shoved into a movie; so I would truncate it down to the parts I thought were important; and that is, simply acknowledging and explaining that the Phoenix Force is a cosmic being – not simply Jean Grey’s “mutant ability” as it has been portrayed in the previous versions of the X-Men movies. I think starting the movie with the Starjammers is a very reasonable idea. I think the introduction of the Shi’ar Empire is also reasonable. Fox Studios seems to have a problem with just wanting to go straight for the payload, rather than giving us some foreplay to build up to the story that most X-Men fans love and adore and hail, one of the best X-Men story arcs – if not one of the best comic book story arcs.
Today will be the last day for 
I admit, when I saw the title of an article that my partner in crime, Maico, shared with me; I was grinning: “
Wrong. My “problem” with Marvel’s recent push for diversity is more along the lines of getting rid of original characters to “validate” these new diverse characters. The biggest one is Iron Heart. Tony Stark “dies” (nearly dies, whatever the case may be; because no one stays dead in Marvel, just ask Jean Grey) – 
Where Marvel has gotten this push for diversity right in my opinion; is Thor. We have a woman who has taken up the mantle of Thor, Goddess of Thunder. But for those invested in hundreds of comics deep of Thor Odinson – we have a title Unworthy Thor. Also, when they made Kamala Khan, a Muslim character as Ms. Marvel; they didn’t get rid of Carol Danvers; instead, they made her Captain Marvel (and have done such a great job promoting her; which I love, because I was an avid fan of her as Ms. Marvel, and even more so when she became Binary! I had collected the original Ms. Marvel and the following series that she was in for her own title – I, admit, however, due to financial cut backs, I did not collect her current run of Captain Marvel books – but that has nothing to do with lack of diversity support, and more with financial reasons!) This is how you do diversity.
I actually applaud Marvel’s attempt to diversify their books and reach a larger audience to feel represented in the Marvel Universe.
I think crossover events are the bane of just every comic book collector. Why these events aren’t self contained within a limited series, rather than running through several different books, is far beyond me. Remember the original Secret Wars? The one that ran 12 issues? Was completely self contained? Yes, there were consequences after it – like Thing staying on Battleworld. But if you were reading X-Men or Fantastic Four or Avengers or whatever – you weren’t forced to collect books that may you didn’t normally read, for 12 months, to figure out what the heck was going on. Nothing is more confusing, when an issue ends at one point – but because of a cross over, the next issue you pick up – it’s at a completely different place, with all these new things happening – because you have essentially missed 3 to 5 issues by not collecting all the things that these books cross over into.
So for example, the entire Spider-Verse fiasco I had to deal with. Forget the “Edge of Spider-Verse” that is a prelude to all of these (apparently there was a: Edge of Spider-Verse: Superior Spider-Man, Edge of Spider-Verse: Miniseries, Edge of Spider-Verse: Spider-Man 2099 and an Edge of Spider-Verse: Amazing Spider-Man) – but just going into the main Spider-Verse cross over – it crossed through: Scarlet Spiders, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Verse, Spider-Verse Team Up, and Spider-Woman. So essentially when it crossed over, I’d have to pick up four other books that I was not collecting, and had no interest (and aforementioned, money) to pick it up. So each time I picked up an issue of Spider-Man 2099 during that Spider-Verse nightmare, I was always essentially “missing” four issues (because of all the titles it crossed over). Now, let’s be clear – I may be picking on Spider-Verse, but I had this same exact issue with Avengers vs X-Men (the event/cross over, not the original limited series from the 80’s obviously), as well as The Black Vortex – which I was only getting The Legendary Starlord – in one issue the time displaced X-Men (don’t even get me started on that!) Angel has normal wings; then the next time I see him, he has energy wings, and I have no idea why… or how… and that’s just a few examples…
So, a lot of us “older” readers who are not opposed to diversity, but rather sick and tired of cross overs that we’re not interested in (nor can we afford, because – you know, real life, with real bills) – this is why we drop a lot of Marvel titles. Two years ago, I wrote an article on here, about how I was doing something I thought I’d never do – after 35 years of collecting Uncanny X-Men, 
But – I got side tracked. The simple matter is – fans do not like their heroes to be replaced. Remember when Sam Alexander, a brand new, young, character, took on the role as the new Nova after appearing on the Spider-Man cartoon? The Nova series (all of them) featuring the young, Sam Alexander, was met with a lot of resentment from fans who considered Rich Rider as the true Nova (especially after everyone else who died in the CancerVerse had come back to the living, except Rich Rider). While I still gave the Sam Alexander Nova series a chance, because he was a member of the New Warriors, which I am a huge fan of – the current series now features both Sam Alexander and a recently resurrected Rich Rider as both taking on the role of Nova. As as someone who runs 
well, with a Twitter account & Facebook account all tied together – I have seen almost no complains about the current Nova series, because Rich Rider is a part of it once more. The anger towards “Diversity” is incorrect. It’s the replacement of characters, that many of us are extremely invested in. (Anyone remember when Marvel had the great idea to get rid of Thor and replace him – both in his own title and in the Avengers, with the human, Eric Masterson, as Thunderstrike? Also not very well received). They would eventually restore Thor, and Thunderstrike would go on to get his own, very short lived, series. So the Marvel CEO who blames the lacking sales because of fans not wanting diversity, is clearly not someone who has a good look at the whole picture, and is looking to deflect the blame upon the fans (which is always great for the company image), rather than looking inward and seeing that perhaps the blame is with them?
Just A Side Note: One of my first comics was Uncanny X-Men #121, which featured an African woman (Storm), a German (Nightcrawler), a Canadian (Wolverine), an Irish Man (Banshee), and Cyclops (American). I would eventually get the back issues, early 
in my collecting career and saw that there were other great characters – a Native America (Thunderbird, who perished!) and a Japanese hero (Sunfire)! I have repeatedly said how Giant Size X-Men has become my “Bible” as to how comics should be done. One of my other favorite books? The original New Mutants book which contained a Scottish girl (Wolfsbane), a Native American girl (Mirage), a Latin male (Sunspot), a Vietnamese girl (Karma) and Cannonball (American). So, I’d say it’s pretty insane to think that I am not into diversity…
So I have already 
Old Man Logan: By the looks of it, Old Man Logan will probably be the leader of this team (even though he’s busy in another ResurreXion book – so it looks like Logan still has the mutant ability to appear in multiple books at once. I admit, I am not a fan of Old Man Logan. But if you have listened to just about any of our podcasts, I dislike time displaced characters, where an existing version of them already exists. Granted, 616 Wolverine is “dead” but to me Old Man Logan is a knock off, and I’d much rather have my 616 Wolverine back.
Fantomex: I have yet to understand the appeal to this character. I mean, I dig all the little nods that make up Fantomex’s character (Fantomex resembles an Italian comic book Diabolik; his name Jean-Phillipe, is a reference to actor John Phillip Law, the star of Danger: Diabolik and that his Weapon X designation (Weapon XIII) is a reference to the protagonist of the Franco-Belgian comic XIII), but there’s been nothing about this character that has ever captured my attention and made me say, “I want to read more stories with this character!” And yet, somehow, he keeps popping up. So maybe I just have some skewed vision of why this character is so lame.
Psylocke: Now we’re talking! I have always enjoyed Psylocke, both as her British version and the revamped version that became extremely popular. My favorite era of her was when Claremont and Lee were doing the X-Men book back in the day. They really got a hold of what made her a really cool character to have in a book.
Mystique: I admit, I am surprised to see her on a team book. Her recent encounter within the pages of Uncanny X-Men and Psylocke, would make it seem like she would want nothing to do with the X-Men, and especially Psylocke. So she may be on there for that dynamic of the one who might betray them at any moment. I’ve always been a huge fan of Mystique, and while I enjoyed her back in the day on X-Factor, my favorite version of her has always been when she was leading the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Bishop: Yes! Yes! Yes! So happy to see Bishop back in action. And to see that he’s returned to his classic costume, grown out his hair again. I would literally pick up the book, for no other reason, than just to read up on what Bishop is up to! Very happy to see Bishop back!
the least bit surprised that Psylocke was on the team, with Archangel already revealed. Bunn has been doing some amazing things between Psylocke and Archangel in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, so I am hoping to see that quality carry on.
n’s run on Uncanny X-Men), was that she had absorbed everyone’s power, and essentially her power was so completely out of control that she’d also absorb people’s life force completely (as in killing them). So I am not even sure where Rogue currently stands, but I am hoping we can get her restored back to her former glory.
Gambit: I am not the least bit surprised that Gambit is finally back on an X-Men team. And the fact that Rogue is in the book; I don’t know where their relationship status stands (since Gambit has appeared on such teams as X-Factor, without so much as a mention of Rogue). But Gambit has always been a character I really enjoyed (and I am sure my partner in crime, Maico, will be happy to know that Gambit is being used!)
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