X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong, unwieldy title aside, got off to a surprisingly good start last month, and it's good to see that the quality is maintained with issue #2.

Writer Greg Pak has apparently been turning heads in the industry for a while now, but unfortunately he's been working exclusively on a string of projects that either went absolutely nowhere or got cancelled almost immediately.  (Warlock, anyone?)  So it's an interesting move on Marvel's part to put him on an X-Men series.  On the one hand, it's a show of confidence in a commercially untried writer to put him on a big title. 

On the other hand, perhaps Marvel have finally twigged to one of the benefits of keeping the line strong.  As long as you don't overextend the line to oblivion (hint, hint) you can use the X-books to get people to pick up titles by creators they've never heard of.  Then, if the work's actually any good, you can use that to help promote the next thing they do.  Of course, at this point, it only works with X-Men titles rather than satellite titles, which is why the  line needs a torch taken to it.  Fortunately for Pak, this is an X-men title.

And having Endsong on his CV certainly isn't going to do Pak any harm.  For one thing, this is a high profile title where, by all appearances, important things are actually happening.  That should bring in the X-Men fans.  Moreover, it's actually really good, with fantastic artwork and a sure grasp of the characters.  So having got them in the door, there's a pretty good chance that they're going to be impressed.  Textbook, really.

The plot is wonderfully straightforward without being obvious.  The wounded Phoenix has brought Jean back from the dead, very much against her will.  Realising that it's probably going to go nuts sooner rather than later, Jean would like the X-Men to kill her.  Meanwhile, the Phoenix's blunderings have also succeeded in waking up Kid Omega from his coma.  Inspired by this whole "raising people from the dead" idea, he's decided to have a go with his beloved Sophie from the Stepford Cuckoos.  And... well, he can do the "digging her out of the ground" bit, anyway.  After that, he's a bit lost.

This is remarkably good stuff, especially considering that it's an X-Men cash-in miniseries.  Pak really gets the core characters.  There are some excellent scenes based on Emma's insecurity about her relationship with Scott, with some really good insights into those characters' relationship.  Poor Emma tries to re-enact the bit in the Dark Phoenix Saga where Jean holds back Scott's optic beam so that she can see his face - but the best approximation she can manage is to turn to diamond so that he can blast away at her without doing any harm.  It's not the same, of course, and it makes for a nicely awkward scene.  It's also a great example of how to use continuity minutiae well - if you know the original scene it works even better, but it's perfectly clear what Emma's trying to do.

Greg Land's artwork is absolutely beautiful; his characters sometimes lean a little bit too much towards airbrushed perfection, but that's about the only thing to be said against it.  It's full of good strong visuals, and if it invites comparisons with Cassaday's work on Astonishing, at least it can live up to them.

The high quality of this miniseries has come as a very pleasant surprise.

Rating: A

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