Let's Talk Phoenix

Honestly, I’m not sure why it’s so hard to keep up with these blog posts or why talking about my own work makes me feel uncomfortable. I love the books I’m working on, but I have this weird fear that talking about the books will dictate the way readers feel about the story before they’ve even read it. For those who took English courses in college… I very much prescribe to Barthes’ “death of the author.” And yet… there is so much of me in the works that I write, that it feels like I’m doing a disservice by not discussing those details more openly. It is a case of contradictions, I know.

In an attempt to be a little more transparent about who I am, let’s start by talking about Jean Grey, Phoenix, the ongoing title at Marvel that I’m currently working on with artist Alessandro Miracolo and colorist David Curiel. So, how did I end up in the stars writing one of the biggest cosmic characters in the Marvel Universe?

First, I’m incredibly lucky. I’m lucky that editor Annalise Bissa saw Jean and I as a good fit for one another, and I’m lucky that I’ve been given the room to grow with Jean on this adventure. I never wanted to write big cosmic stories that lose their heart. Jean Grey has SO MUCH heart, that I knew that wasn’t going to be an issue. The balance between human and cosmic is also so fascinating to me. Being a woman with immense powers who misses her husband and still feels the weight of human emotions while facing down entities like ETERNITY… it’s a wild mix.

Phoenix issue 3 variant cover by Ben Harvey

I also thought the story needed to be treated like a piece of music, hence a lot of the dance imagery. Our piece of music starts with one instrument… it builds as we add another couple of instruments… until the entire orchestra is playing together as we reach the crescendo. We don’t start at that crescendo, obviously. I think it would lose impact if we came out of the gate with all the trumpets screaming at you and percussionists going nuts. That would be… loud, to say the least.

Phoenix issue 4 variant cover by Karen Darboe

This is also to say that every single thing happening in the Phoenix book is completely intentional. There are mini stories within each arc, but there is an overarching story that spans the entire run. I guess you’ve all seen by now that the overarching story will involve Perrikus, one of the Dark Gods. Yeah, he’s not a good dude. And I think he has been absent from cosmic stories for far too long. I was very excited to get the go ahead to work with him… and maybe his siblings along the way. We’ve also teased the Black Order already and I feel like we all know that where they go… a certain someone is bound to follow…

So, as we build to the crescendo, I wanted to share some black and white art that I kind of got the okay to share. I say “kind of” because our wonderful editor said she trusts my judgement on what to put onto the interwebs. I hope I don’t blow it! But these panels from issues 3-6 are so cool and I wanted to give you little glimpses of where we’re headed, minus anything SUPER spoilery. Plus, we have a guest artist, Marco Renna, joining us on a few issues, and I really think you should see how gorgeous his work is. If you’re not already following Marco, go check out his social media: https://twitter.com/MarcoRenna89

Artwork below by artist Alessandro Miracolo.

And issue #6 artwork by Marco Renna below!

And, of course, some of the wonderful upcoming covers by our main cover artist, Yasmine Putri.

I’m going to write a series of new blog posts to put out each week, so please let me know what kind of things you’d like to see in these posts.

Thanks for reading!