'The Dark Phoenix Saga' as storytelling yardstick

As Mainstream Mutant Mania continues, the Philadelphia Daily News looks at "The Dark Phoenix Saga" as the standard by which all other X-Men stories are measured.

"'The Dark Phoenix Saga' is legendary," Law and Order: SVU writer Christos Gage tells the newspaper. "Along with John Byrne, Claremont crafted a storyline that set the bar for epic tales from that point on. It was also one of the first and most shocking uses of something that's become commonplace today -- the death of a major character."

The Daily News also considers Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men storyline, "Gifted," which, like X3, focuses on a "mutant cure."

"No offense to the other X-Men writers -- myself included -- but I feel like Whedon and Cassaday's storyline has been the only real worthy successor to Claremont and Byrne's 'Dark Phoenix Saga,' " former Ultimate X-Men writer Brian Vaughan says. "The ideal X-Men story combines epic action with more human soap opera moments, all of which works as a powerful metaphor about those of us who are feared or hated for being different."