By Stuart Moore

Titan Books, out now

The death and life and death of Jean Grey.

Sorry if that’s a spoiler to anyone who’s not read the original issues, or the various graphic novels, or seen the third X-Men film or The Wolverine, or any of the animated versions of this tale… Jean Grey aka Marvel Girl dies, is reborn as Phoenix and eventually dies once more. The Chris Claremont / Dave Cockrum / John Byrne tale is quite rightly regarded as one of the highpoints of those “early” X-Men tales – and came at the point when I was deepest into Marvel Comics (hence my love of certain plotlines when they’ve turned up in either the X-Men movies or the MCU). The graphic novel is one I found myself extolling to a group of youngsters at a second hand book sale – and which one of them later told me he was delighted he’d picked up based on that recommendation.

So do we need another version? That’s a question, quite honestly, that is likely to get asked more next month when we get a second Fox stab at the plotline on the big screen. Stuart Moore’s novelisation of the original comics is far more than simply transferring the plot onto the printed page – he’s brought things up to date in some obvious (internet and cellphones) and some subtle ways (the handling of the female characters), and taken advantage of years of further expansion of some of the central figures to deepen their characterisation.

There are more than a few surprises along the way – smaller plotlines that arise and are dealt with – but make no mistake, the central powerful core of the story from nearly 40 years ago is at the heart of this. A good novelisation should make you think about the original in a new light – and this more than fulfils that requirement.

Verdict: A fresh take on a classic tale. 9/10

Paul Simpson