Customer Reviews

PHALANX COVENANT (X-Men Digest Super Editions)

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The Phalanx Covenant was one of the major reasons that I originally quit buying all the X-Men titles (I recently began again). The villains were uninteresting, the art was below average, and the writing for the most part was horrid. The X-Men and Uncanny X-Men sections were decent but the rest was absolutely worthless. Marvel was putting hideous foil covers on every other issue at that time, which annoyed me to no end. The foil strip running up each of these covers added nothing whatsoever to the comic accept for over a dollar on the cover price. This cross-over was nothing more than an attempt by Marvel to make the most possible money with the least possible effort. The five or so issues of Uncanny that led up to the crossover were all subpar. The new Generation X members could have been introduced in a much better way. I have yet to read an issue of Generation X that was not better than these. The Phalanx were completely incompatable with the Marvel model of the tragic villain tortured by a horrible past and fighting to survive (like Magneto). They had no basis in any past storyline do not inspire readers to buy any future Phalanx story. If you are looking for a great X-Men story to read, especially if you are a new reader to the X-titles, do not start with this crossover. Read X-Tinction Agenda, Mutant Massacre, Dark Phoenix Saga, or the X-Cutioner's Song.

I've returned to the X-Men after a near 20 year absence and I've been trying to catch up. This is a illustrated novelization of the comics, not a reprint of the comics themselves. Because I still haven't seen the comics, I don't know how well this version compares to the original. Assuming that the book is accurate, I feel that I got the story and it wasn't exciting enough to make me want to get the comics. As it says on the back, the Phalanx is a techno-organic alien life form. It's here to take over the world. It can assimilate animals and regular humans, but [so far], not mutants. Characters appearing: Gambit, Professor X, Psylocke, Bishop, Dr. Moira McTaggart, Jubilee, Wolverine, Storm, Iceman, Archangel, Beast, Rogue, Banshee, Emma Frost, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Cable, Sabretooth, [and as yet untrained mutants whom I gather became Generation X] Monet, Husk, Everett Thomas [whoever he is], Skin, and Clarice [Blink?].

The Phalanx Covenant stars some of Generation X mutants. The Phalanx adapt quickly to anything. If you shot it with a machine gun you could probably kill 1 before they adapt. They are all linked so what one knows they all know.