X-Men: Phoenix—Legacy of Fire

    (Marvel, 2003)
™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

In anime there’s “fan service,” where the heroine will change clothes or take a gratuitous shower to please the core audience of randy boys. Well, imagine an entire Marvel comic book like that and you’d have X-Men: Phoenix—Legacy of Fire, a complicated title for an unnecessary comic book.

On the surface, it’s a reworking of the Magik-in-Limbo X-Men sequence, with clones of Jean Grey and Magdalene Pryor converted here into sisters, but the plot—something about a magic sword—exists only to carry readers from one fan service scene to another.

Marvel has never been exactly shy when it comes to revealing female costumes, but here the women are decked out in fetish gear consisting of thongs, crumpled napkin blouses, collars, and bolero jackets all made of a material that clings like a Colorform.

They fight just long enough to get sweaty, so they adjourn to a nice, hot bath—where they wear considerably less. Through chance or design, Marvel has found exactly the kind of anime-influenced comic book it shouldn’t publish while trying to attract a new generation of female readers.

— S.A. Bennett
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist
#1

July, 2003
Cover Price: $2.99
2 copies available from $12.50 		Ryan KinnairdRyan Kinnaird
#2

August, 2003
Cover Price: $2.99
5 copies available from $6.50 		Ryan KinnairdRyan Kinnaird, Adam Warren
#3

September, 2003
Cover Price: $2.99
3 copies available from $5.98 		Ryan KinnairdRyan Kinnaird, Adam Warren