The Uncanny X-Men #101

A cosmic hero for the X-Men

In 1975 Marvel relaunched the X-Men with a new team. Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, under editor Roy Thomas, created Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus for Giant-Size X-Men #1, and Chris Claremont took over as writer with The X-Men #94.

Claremont and Cockrum decided to transform Jean Grey, a member of the original team. Their aim was "the first female cosmic hero," a character they hoped would carry the same weight in the X-Men that Thor carried in the Avengers.

The X-Men #101 went on sale on June 15, 1976, with an October cover date, for 30 cents. Cockrum's cover announced "Enter: The Phoenix!" The 17-page story, "Like a Phoenix, from the Ashes!", opens: "Prologue: welcome to the last moments of a young woman's life."

Rising from Jamaica Bay

Returning from a mission in space, Jean pilots a damaged shuttle back to Earth while exposed to lethal radiation. The shuttle crashes into Jamaica Bay, and Jean rises from the wreckage as Phoenix. To let her recover, Professor X sends the rest of the team, except Cyclops, on vacation to Scotland, where Banshee has inherited his family's castle. They find it already occupied by his cousin, Black Tom Cassidy, and the Juggernaut.

The story presented Phoenix as Jean herself, grown into her full psychic potential. A decade later Marvel changed that. In 1986 Fantastic Four #286 and X-Factor #1, built on a plot devised by Kurt Busiek, revealed that the cosmic Phoenix Force had copied Jean and taken her place, while the real Jean lay in a healing cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. The issue's index today notes that Jean and Phoenix are two separate entities, "not the same being as the story insinuates."

Claremont and Cockrum

Chris Claremont was born in London on November 25, 1950. He wrote the X-Men from 1975 to 1991, the longest run of any writer on the series, and co-created characters including Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Gambit, Emma Frost and Sabretooth. He left after the first story arc of a new series launched in 1991, whose X-Men #1, co-written with Jim Lee, Guinness World Records lists as the bestselling comic book of all time, with more than 8.1 million copies sold.

Dave Cockrum was born in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1943 and served six years in the U.S. Navy before turning to comics. At DC he redesigned the Legion of Super-Heroes starting with Superboy #184 in 1972. At Marvel his designs defined the new X-Men; one journalist wrote that his art gave the series "a sumptuous, late-'70s cinema style." He received the Inkpot Award in 1982 and died in 2006.

The road to the Dark Phoenix Saga

The seed planted in #101 grew into "The Dark Phoenix Saga," which ran in The Uncanny X-Men #129 to #138 from January to October 1980, written by Claremont with pencils by John Byrne and inks by Terry Austin. Corrupted by power, Jean destroys an inhabited star system. Claremont and Byrne planned to have her depowered and allowed to live, but editor-in-chief Jim Shooter objected, comparing it to "capturing Hitler alive and letting him go live on Long Island." The ending was rewritten so that Jean sacrifices herself, and the original version was published in 1984 as Phoenix: The Untold Story.

Critics regularly rank the saga among the greatest superhero stories. It was adapted in the 1990s animated series, in the films X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Dark Phoenix (2019), and in Wolverine and the X-Men (2009). Famke Janssen played Jean in the Fox X-Men films, and Sophie Turner later took over the role.

A common book in a high grade

Unlike the Silver Age keys, X-Men #101 survives in large numbers and high grades. In November 2024 the CGC census counted 470 copies at 9.6 and 208 graded higher. By September 2026 those numbers had grown to 511 at 9.6 and 241 higher.

That supply keeps a 9.6 within reach of many collectors. A white-page 9.6 from the JM Patterson Collection sold at auction in November 2024 for $1,080, and an off-white-to-white 9.6 brought $1,342 at auction in September 2026. Online sales of 9.6 copies in 2025 and 2026 mostly ranged from about $1,000 to $2,500. A British edition, with a 10-pence price, is a distinct variant: one in CGC 9.6 sold at auction for $1,220 in September 2026.

The numbers

Cover price

30 cents

Pages

36; lead story 17

Print run

Not documented in the sources consulted

Census, November 2024

470 in CGC 9.6, 208 higher

Census, September 2026

511 in CGC 9.6, 241 higher

Timeline

1. 1975

   Giant-Size X-Men #1 introduces the new team, including Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus.

2. 1975

   Chris Claremont becomes the X-Men's writer with issue #94.

3. Jun 15, 1976

   The X-Men #101 goes on sale for 30 cents with an October 1976 cover date, introducing Phoenix.

4. Jan 1980

   "The Dark Phoenix Saga" begins in The Uncanny X-Men #129 (cover date).

5. Oct 1980

   The saga ends with The Uncanny X-Men #138 (cover date), with Jean's sacrifice.

6. 1984

   The original ending of the saga is published as Phoenix: The Untold Story.

7. 1986

   Fantastic Four #286 and X-Factor #1 reveal that the Phoenix had replaced Jean, who is found alive in Jamaica Bay.

8. 1991

   Claremont leaves the X-Men after the first story arc of a new series whose #1 he co-wrote with Jim Lee.

9. 2006

   The Dark Phoenix story is adapted in X-Men: The Last Stand; Dave Cockrum dies.

10. 2019

    The film Dark Phoenix is released.

11. Nov 26, 2024

    A CGC 9.6 copy sells at auction for $1,080; the census shows 470 at 9.6 and 208 higher.

12. Sep 22, 2026

    A CGC 9.6 copy sells at auction for $1,342; the census shows 511 at 9.6 and 241 higher.

The world in 1976

• Apr 1, 1976

  Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form the Apple Computer Company.

• Jul 4, 1976

  The United States celebrates its Bicentennial.

• Jul 20, 1976

  Viking 1 lands on Mars and sends back the first close-up color photographs of its surface.

• Jul 27, 1976

  The first outbreak of Legionnaires' disease begins at a convention in Philadelphia.

• Sep 17, 1976

  The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out.

• Oct 21, 1976

  The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series.

• Nov 2, 1976

  Jimmy Carter defeats Gerald Ford for the presidency.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, The Uncanny X-Men #101 is number 66 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (96 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Claremont and Cockrum wanted Phoenix to be to the X-Men what Thor was to the Avengers.
• Jim Shooter insisted Dark Phoenix could not simply be depowered, comparing it to letting Hitler retire to Long Island.
• A 1986 retcon revealed the real Jean Grey had spent the whole time in a cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay.
• The issue's vacation subplot sends the X-Men to Banshee's newly inherited castle in Scotland.
• More than 750 copies had been graded CGC 9.6 or higher by September 2026.
• Writer Chris Claremont stayed on the X-Men for 16 years, the longest run of any writer on the series.