Phoenix #15 // Review
Jean and Sara are in a vastness of white. They have been judged by some of the most powerful forces in the Marvel Universe. And the decision has been made. They’re not exactly in a position to make an appeal to the most powerful entities in the universe, but they won’t have to do so alone in Phoenix #15. Writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Roi Mercado conclude the current series with colorist Java Tartaglia.
Eternity and Oblivion are there to cast judgment on Phoenix. As is the Living Tribunal. They made an effort to make themselves look a little bit more human than they had in the past. So maybe they're willing to consider the flight of.Sara and Jean... particularly when they are joined with so many others who have wielded the Phoenix Force in the past. They don't really stand much of a chance in all out battle. However, there is certain strength in logic when dealing with being as powerful as though that have assembled against them.
Cosmic level action always has a bit of difficulty making it to the page. Particularly when it deals with entities that are as powerful as the ones being presented here. Phillips does a pretty good job of delivering the drama. It's very silly to think in terms of the power of these. In the past, they have had the weight of abstract embodiment of abstract things. Phillips brings them to a page in a way that feels much more human. Much more approachable than they have in the past. And that's not an awful thing. But it brings them down to the level of mere gods with petty concerns that cast about between each other. Not exactly the kind of abstract strength that had been envisioned when they were originally brought to the page.
Mercado shows a great degree of strength in what he's bringing to the page. The fact that most of the conflict is taking place on a white background might have had a chance to be a bit more ominous were enough for the fact that there are just so many different people on the page that don't really have any business being there, necessarily other than to make a look big. And in this particular circumstance, he would've looked a lot bigger with fewer elements on the page and a big, ominous white background.
Perhaps big concern here is the fact that these entitiesEternity and Oblivion aren't allowed the power and the mystery of what it is that they are. They're drawn very close to Earth in a way that robs them of their intensity. The abstract, overwhelming sense of power in these entities doesn't really feel very strong. At best they kind of feel like super villains. And they really shouldn't. They should seem more powerful than that if they are to be representing that which they had originally been meant to represent in the Marvel Universe. All this being said, Phillips finds the heart deep within the story. Two sisters who are willing to do just about anything for each other. And that heart, and that drama really does hold it all together in spite of its shortcomings.
