Monthly Archives: October 2011

Straight up: Excalibur was really my entry point to the whole X-franchise. I started reading from the very earliest Claremont/Davis issues and loved it. My fandom was split between everyone’s favorite, Kitty Pryde, and this uniquely dressed hottie:

Ah, the last great Phoenix costume.

For those not in the know, that is Rachel Summers a.k.a. the second Phoenix. And well before her latest terrible costume redesign (and renaming as Marvel Girl).

If you do not know her, her backstory is very, very complicated. From Wikipedia:

Rachel Anne Summers (also known as Rachel Grey) is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics.

In her first appearance, the character’s surname was not revealed; later publications and retcons further expanded Rachel’s backstory to involve central characters of mainstream continuity. Rachel’s parents are alternate future counterparts to the X-Men Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Jean Grey-Summers from a harsh dystopia. In this context, her “half” brother Cable, and paternal uncles Havok and Vulcan, are all very powerful mutants.

Rachel was designed to have inherited her mother’s vast telepathic and telekinetic talents. She also inherited her mother’s original code name Phoenix and later Marvel Girl was in homage to Jean Grey. Although the character is considered unique to the Marvel Comics “multiverse”, her name has been used to designate the mother of Marvel characters Hyperstorm and Dream Summers in respective timelines.

Rachel is ably portrayed by DJ Spider of the Superhero Costuming Forum.

Anyone interested in those great old Excalibur stories I mentioned can read them in the currently out of print but easy to find Excalibur Classic Volume 1.

As always, all images are copyright their respective owner.