Thread by @ClaremontRun

Where suggestive imagery is often considered a lazy and salacious aspect of comics storytelling, UXM 137 contains a sequence of vignettes that use sexuality to create a complex balance that advances important themes and symbols of the Dark Phoenix Saga. #xmen 1/10

Claremont & Byrne give the X-Men an evening’s respite before the final battle, and the narrative takes the time to portray each of them in brief scenes that highlight intimacy (and with it vulnerability), undress, and, in some cases, sexual drive. 2/10

Jean is seen in her robe in her private quarters; Logan emerges naked from the shower; Colossus rises out of bed in his underwear; Storm luxuriates in her own bed in the nude; Beast exchanges sexual innuendo with a Shi’ar attendant; and Scott and Jean kiss. 3/10

The exceptions are Angel and Kurt, who receive a distinctively out-of-pattern treatment, though we could even argue that exercise and flight have important symbolic connections to sexual activity (as Freud notes in “Interpretation of Dreams.” Probably just an outlier, though 4/10

The choice to sexualize the X-Men now is counterintuitive: they are facing a seemingly unwinnable battle for the life of a beloved teammate. Simply put, it’s really not sexy time, yet the sequence of vignettes bombards the reader with erotic gazes. 5/10

So what does this do? We could argue that it centres the reader’s attention on the body – using the erotic gaze to create bodily awareness in the minds of the reader, an awareness that might enhance the sense of vulnerability of said bodies later on. 6/10

It also, however, reflects sexual maturity, a major theme of the Dark Phoenix Saga in general, with particular emphasis on cultural restrictions on women’s sexual pleasure. Thus, a series of sexualizing scenes help to keep that theme forefront in the finale. 7/10

Perhaps relatedly, the erotic gaze also conveys a sense of vitality/virility – an important element to establish when seeking to add a sense of tragedy to Jean’s potential death; these are individuals in their physical (and sexual) primes. Death should be off the table. 8/10

Finally, the scene helps to build a fundamental sense of duality: sex/passion/life vs violence/responsibility/death. This duality is deeply woven into the Phoenix mythology and will continue to be cultivated by Claremont long after Jean’s demise. 9/10

In all of these things, the overarching effect is to add weight and balance to the battle that follows and ultimately to Jean’s death (though not originally planned), all in a way that might encourage us to move beyond one-note generalizations on the role of sex in comics. 10/10