BRONZE AGE MINUTE: X-Men #137

Marvel; September 1980
Cover by John Byrne and Terry Austin

Title: “The Fate of the Phoenix!”
Synopsis: Amid lunar ruins, the X-Men duel the Shi’ar Imperial Guard to determine the fate of the Phoenix.

Writers (plot): Chris Claremont and John Byrne
Writer (script): Claremont
Penciler/co-plotter: Byrne
Inker: Terry Austin

Review: For young comic book fans in 1980, X-Men #137 was a life-changing event. The entire Chris Claremont/John Byrne run had been addictive, but this double-size issue brought a whole different level of high. Claremont’s skills are on full display, with a well-crafted story, good pacing, and strong characterization. Byrne’s pencils offer a perfect mix of grace and power, all beautifully inked by Terry Austin. Then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter deserves some credit, too, for insisting on the gut wrenching ending that still cuts deep today. The best superhero comic of the Bronze Age. And one of the best, period, of any genre or era.

Grade: A+

Second opinion: “So accomplished is Uncanny X-Men #137 that every scene contains something that merits praise.” – Jason Powell, “The Best There Is at What He Does: Examining Chris Claremont’s X-Men” (2016). “A highlight is the spotlight given to each X-Man on the eve of the battle for Jean’s life.” – Jim Johnson, The Comics Buyer’s Guide to the X-Men (Comics Buyer’s Guide Presents) (2003). “A testament to the power of comics to move readers just as much as other, more respected media could.” – Pierre Comtois, “Marvel Comics in the 1980s: An Issue By Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon” (2014). “X-Men #137 is arguably writer Chris Claremont’s finest work on the title he spent more than 16 years on.” – Melanie Scott and Stephen “Win” Wiacek, “Marvel Greatest Comics: 100 Comics That Built a Universe.” No. 3 (and top Bronze Age issue) on Marvel’s “Greatest Marvels of All Time” list. “The Dark Phoenix Saga (is) the peak of an incredible run, if not the best superhero comic ever produced. Recommended.” – The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide second edition (2003)

Cool factor: Everything. This one’s that good.

Notable: The (first) death of Jean Grey. Double-size issue. The original ending to this issue was eventually printed in 1984’s Phoenix #1.
Collector’s note: According to the Grand Comics Database, there is a 2019 facsimile edition of this issue. According to MyComicShop.com, there is also a Mark Jewelers variant of this issue.

Character quotable: “The X-Men do not realize it – they may never realize, or accept it – but this day they have won perhaps the greatest victory of their young lives.” – Uatu, the Watcher (and commentator, apparently)
A word from the editor-in-chief: “I felt the way the story was originally designed to end, it did not have enough consequences for what happened – it wasn’t an ending.” – Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, from “The Dark Phoenix Tapes” in Phoenix #1 (April 1984)
A word from the writer: “It’s always been (and always should be) about Jean. One vulnerable, human being who – because of a unique combination of genetic potential and circumstance – finds herself bound irrevocably to the Divine. How do you cope, how do you keep from being consumed; this is the most absolute of powers, how can you possibly keep from being just as absolutely corrupted? And once you fall from grace, even a little, how do you – how can you – atone?” – Chris Claremont, talking about The Dark Phoenix Saga, in “The Next Level,” a 2004 essay collected in The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2 (2014).

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