If you’ve ever read an X-Men comic, you almost assuredly know the near-mythical name Chris Claremont. The incomparable writer was the architect of over 16 years of X-Men comics, taking over the title after the iconic Giant-Size X-Men (1975), going on to write beloved stories like “Dark Phoenix” and “Days of Future Past.” At this year’s Emerald City Comic Con, Claremont sat down with Popverse’s Graeme McMillan to discuss all things Uncanny X-Men, and the legendary writer’s personal Origin Story.
McMillan started out the panel by declaring to the audience, “This man raised you!” to a resounding amount of cheers and claps. I have been to many ECCC panels over the years, and this one was by far one of the most crowded and engaged.
Claremont loves to talk X-Men and needed almost no prompting from McMillan to launch into how he became the writer for Uncanny. He spoke about how he started out studying political theory in college, before switching to acting, and then, when that didn’t work out, he thought, “What could I do that’s equally impossible? I became a writer…”
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There were plenty of highlights from Claremont’s panel, such as when he was deriding (with respect) the original 60s X-Men and their lack of diversity, accidentally saying the Freudian slip “Xavier’s School for Grifted Youngsters.”
He also went on a delightful tirade about how much he hated the living island of Krakoa and was the one to give Len Wein the idea to remove the top half of Krakoa and shoot it into outer space.
Claremont said, “Krakoa is the dumbest character I’ve ever heard of,” stating that after Polaris threw it into space, he thought, “Oh thank god, we’ll never see him again…” Hilarious, knowing that Krakoa would eventually become the bedrock of one of X-Men’s most iconic eras.
Claremont also spent a solid amount of time lavishing praise on his creative partner Dave Cockrum, who illustrated much of Claremont’s run on Uncanny X-Men.
Claremont called Cockrum incredibly eloquent and “Dare I say, one of the industry’s most brilliant, creative, and artistic minds.” He mentioned how Wolverine’s claws were originally just gloves that he wore, until one day Cockrum drew them coming from Wolverine’s actual forearms… and the rest was history! He also commented on his contentious relationship with artist and writer John Byrne, who took over for Cockrum, who at one point told Marvel editorial, “Chris goes, or I go,” asking them to fire Claremont and let Byrne take over as writer and artist.
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Of course, no panel talking about Uncanny X-Men could end without Claremont commenting on the original ending of the Dark Phoenix Saga, which would have seen Jean Grey survive her experience as the Dark Phoenix and return to peaceful living with the X-Men. Editorial came to Claremont and said they couldn’t just let Grey survive after slaughtering an entire planet, so they either had to send her to space prison or kill her.
Claremont dreaded this story, never-ending by sending Jean to prison, so instead decided to “permanently” kill her. He reflected on how angry fans were in letters sent after Jean’s death, and that most fans didn’t actually believe her death would last until Days of Future Past was published, with no return from Jean in sight. What a different world X-Men would have been if Jean had never died as the Dark Phoenix!
The panel ended with Claremont teasing that yes, he does have upcoming Marvel work coming out. In fact, while he couldn’t give any details at all, he did reveal that it is coming out sooner than later, and he should “really be home, finishing the writing.” Claremont is clearly still incredibly passionate about the X-Men, reflecting that Uncanny X-Men to him was a single 16-year long issue.
When answering a young fan’s question about his favorite X-Men story, Claremont said, “Uncanny is life. It is the life of these characters.” And what a life it has been.
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