The Claremont Run Profile picture
Jan 26, 2022 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
There’s an argument to be made that many of the unique ideas that manifest in Uncanny X-Men, including the codename and backstory of Illyana Rasputin, come forward from a small occult store in Chelsea and the culture surrounding it. #xmen 1/10 Image
A key member of this culture is Bonnie Wilford, aka Greymalkin, alleged to be a prominent Wiccan High Priestess in NYC, and known to be a skilled jeweller, a traffic manager for Marvel (and occasional colorist) and Claremont’s first wife. 2/10 Image
Wilford also teamed with Claremont to compose a sort of occult story bible for future Dr. Strange authors to re-outline the occult mythology surrounding that character – a mythology still in use extensively today, including the MCU. 3/10 Image
In 1976, Herman Slater opened “Magickal Childe” on 35 West 19th St in Chelsea. Chelsea at the time was known for being a thriving artistic community with notable connections to the LGBTQ+ community. Wilford supplied a substantial portion of the jewellery sold on site. 4/10 Image
The shop further sold all manner of occult materials, and allegedly made some of its money through minor cons (such as selling leftover chicken bones to would-be necromancers as ‘human fingers’) and through a slightly larger minor con involving HP Lovecraft’s ‘Necronomicon.’ 5/10 Image
More importantly, in addition to sales, the Magickal Childe store had a room in the back that served as a Wicca temple and school that played a massive role in cultivating NYC’s Wicca scene - with Wilford/Greymalkin (in many accounts) central to that development. 6/10 Image
Accounts of Claremont’s direct participation in the Magickal Childe culture vary pretty wildly, but we know he is said to have been esteemed for surfacing the group’s appreciation of BDSM culture in UXM and Claremont was a well-known entity to everyone in the scene. 7/10 Image
As I said, this is speculation, because historical accounts are hard to come by, unverified, and mired in all manner of distortion at the hands of the taboos surrounding Wicca and the occult, but this again points to a somewhat tragic historical erasure: 8/10 Image
It is pretty clear that Wicca played a role in many of the defining creative choices of the Claremont run, choices that altered the course of comics history itself, maybe media history. The fact that we can barely access this history is therefore a tragic blindspot. 9/10 Image
The store closed in 1999 and Wilford passed away in 2014, but Claremont had a key point of access to the central hub of Wicca culture in NYC through the store, and that influence is readily evident on the pages of UXM. There’s a lost history that needs to be recovered. 10/10 Image

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More from @ClaremontRun

May 30
While the circumstances of Rogue’s absorption of the Carol Danvers persona are surreal and supernatural, they nonetheless provide an intriguing example of the concept of “restorative justice” in a manner that makes a compelling story at the same time. #xmen #rogue 1/9 Image
Restorative justice is a system that focuses on “providing an opportunity for the parties directly affected by the crime – victims, offenders and communities – to identify and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime” instead of simple punishment. 2/9 Image
Though more recently popularized, RJ was commonly practiced by First Nations communities in North America, forming the basis of entire judicial infrastructures (where most Western justice systems, up until recently, focused on the familiar penal structure). 3/9 Image
Read 10 tweets
May 9
As a collaborative medium, comics are sometimes denigrated for their committee approach to character-building, but a closer look at the 'committee' behind Wolverine shows how a character like Logan offers a multifaceted connection to creative genius. #xmen #wolverine 1/10 Image
As noted by Marvel historian Sean Howe, Wolverine was first “named and conceived by Roy Thomas, who detected a need to exploit the Canadian market” before being “developed further by Len Wein and John Romita” ahead of Logan’s debut in “The Incredible Hulk.” 2/10 Image
Throw in Claremont, and the pedigree is quite impressive already. Thomas is perhaps best known as the greatest writer of Conan comics, a character that later artists would draw from quite directly in their interpretations of Wolverine. 3/10 Image
Read 11 tweets
Apr 11
In UXM #220, Claremont takes a moment away from a chaotic era to touch back upon the longstanding, well-evolved relationship between Storm and Wolverine, giving readers another character-revealing scene between this iconic X-Men duo. #xmen #wolverine #storm 1/9 Image
The scene initiates a journey of self-discovery for Ororo, one of many throughout the series but this one will specifically create the rising action for the “Fall of the Mutants’’ event. She has to go alone, but someone has to lead the X-Men in her absence. She recruits Logan 2/9 Image
The power dynamic is foreshadowed in the simple fact that Wolverine (an archetypal hunter) has literally scaled the highest mountain to be alone, but it doesn’t matter. Even without her powers, Ororo has tracked him down. 3/9 Image
Read 9 tweets
Mar 21
In an introductory essay penned in 1980, John Byrne recounts his personal perspective on Jean Grey and her transformation to Phoenix. His candid account paints a less grandiose view on the cultivation of the character within the series than we normally hear. #xmen #JeanGrey 1/7 Image
“I’ve never liked Phoenix. There, I said it...It’s not that I don’t like Jean Grey. I have an abiding fondness for readheads, and have been in love with Jean since we first ‘met,’ about a millions years ago when I was 13.” 2/7 Image
“Granted that her power were not nearly as spectacular as Cyclops’, or Angel’s, or even Iceman’s, but she looked real good in a tight uniform and could – and did – serve to get the X-Men out of tight places.” 3/7 Image
Read 7 tweets
Feb 1
Placing Kitty Pryde into the position of viewpoint character has to represent one of the most groundbreaking decisions within the entirety of the Claremont run – a move that ultimately impacted the series, comics as a whole, and even Western media in powerful ways. #xmen 1/10 Image
The Claremont run begins with Cyclops as the main viewpoint character. Kitty joins the team right at his departure and soon enough takes over as a main viewpoint character for the rest of her tenure, as reflected in our data (noting that Kitty’s only on for 70ish issues). 2/10 Image
At the time of her arrival, Claremont had already executed a turn toward more adult-oriented stories (something that becomes even more pronounced after the death of an X-Man in DPS). It’s therefore perhaps odd to bring on a teen protagonist. 3/10 Image
Read 10 tweets
Jan 25
Despite having all manner of characters (good and evil) express romantic interest in her, Storm’s first canonical love is Forge, a possibly counter-intuitive choice. But this might be the point, as Forge can better connect Ororo to her humanity. #xmen 1/10 Image
Storm is routinely courted (or abducted – or both) by the wealthiest, most powerful beings on the planet/cosmos. She could be a queen, a goddess, a vampire, you name it, but she rejects all of these suitors out of concern for her own independence. 2/10 Image
When asked in interview why it took so long for Storm to receive a relationship partner, Claremont would often reply “because nobody was good enough for her.” 3/10 Image
Read 10 tweets

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