Right from the start, DeMatteis uses The Defenders to explore questions of connection, identity, and responsibility

DeMastteis’s approach to subjectivity and theme is operatic. 

DeMatteis's sensibilities were formed by Seventies Marvel, the Russian classics, and an attachment to the hippie ethos that yielded a deep commitment to New Age spirituality

Perhaps Claremont's X-Men is not so much bondage porn as it is trauma porn

Ororo, it seems, can survive any experience

Storm's growth is actually the opposite of Claremont's familiar story of seduction by power and passion.

Why do Claremont’s women keep ending up in Limbo?

What could be a better sign of Madelyn'e’s secondary status than the cannibalization of every one of her features as part of a project to rebuild Jean Grey?

Madelyne Pryor started her comic book life as a bad idea; editorial dictates made her an even worse one

We will have a new Phoenix with a perfect Grey pedigree, and a chance for a different set of Phoenix stories.

Rachel is not just a survivor; she is a remainder, embodying both excess and shortfall

Is this a satisfactory resolution to Rogue's trauma and overall psychological troubles? Not in the least

The former Ms. Marvel's terrible loss is Rogue's unbearable excess

"Rogue" packs in more trauma per panel than any other X-Men story to date

By all rights, this comic should be a feminist horror film, a cross between The Handmaid's Tale and Get Out!

The real throughline was Claremont's complicated, divided, traumatized women

The men in Jean's life cannot help her without depriving her of agency

The Black Queen embodies Jean's dark, passionate side as pure transgressive sexuality (her black leather corset, boots, and whip are among the many cues that are hard to miss)

If Phoenix is a metaphor for women who embrace their sexuality, Cyclops is the adolescent male who is afraid of his own desire and its capacity to cause harm