Fantastic Four 1961 #286 Direct ed. - 5.5 - $5.50

Reed Richards manages to free Jean Grey from the capsule the Avengers had found her in. While trying to restore her missing memories, Jean learns that she was replaced by the Phoenix, who in turn was destroyed by the humanity it gained by duplicating Jean.

• Like a Phoenix! - Story continues in part from The Avengers (Marvel, 1963 series) #263 and continues in part in X-Factor (Marvel, 1986 series) #1. According to John Byrne, significant portions of this issue were redrawn by Guice and rewritten by Claremont at the direction of Jim Shooter. (Note added by Brian Peck via the GCD Error Tracker, August 2010.) The original unaltered pages ran in the X-Men: Phoenix Rising Premiere hardcover. With special thanks to Roger Stern and Kurt Busiek.
• - Letters from readers: Owen Johnson, Erik Gerdes, Michael Pickens, Timothy (full name and address lost by embarrassed assistant editor!)