“Once Upon a Time – and only once – I got the chance to work with George Pérez.” In a 2004 essay introducing Uncanny X-Men Annual #3, Claremont describes his enduring joy at getting to collaborate with the late great comics legend. #xmen 1/5
John Byrne was “slammed” and “we needed a penciller of his caliber who could handle team choreography, action galore, physical and emotional characterization, spectacular visuals, special effects, the works!” 2/5
“So an invitation was sent to one of the House SuperStars; to our delight/amazement/surprise, George accepted.” 3/5
“Nobody does it like George and damn near nobody does it better, from the opening panorama in the Danger Room, to Colossus trading punches with Arkon by the swimming pool, to Peter ending the fight by using a convenient oak tree as a baseball bat,…” 4/5
“…to the X-Men’s arrival in Arkon’s palace, finding a way to tell that story, dynamically and excitingly and evocatively, without it feeling the slightest bit cramped. (But boy, in retrospect, what we could have done with another dozen pages!)” 5/5
The essay is reprinted in UXM Omnibus #1.
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In Classic X-Men #6, simply titled “A Love Story,” Claremont uses a near-wordless sequence to create an intimate portrayal of Jean Grey’s world as she plans and anticipates her date with Scott, unaware of the cruel fate that awaits her. 1/7 #xmen
Importantly, the story reveals that Jean had been planning on seducing Cyclops. A note from roommate Misty Knight, and the (maybe) subtle action of hiding a photo of her parents from her nightstand make this abundantly clear. 2/7
Canonically, Jean only consummated the relationship in the Dark Phoenix Saga, which places her sexual agency in the hands of the cosmic entity, not her own, especially after the resurrection retcon that the Phoenix was entirely foreign – not Jean at all. 3/7
In keeping with Claremont's subversive representation of queer characters for young readers, the article looks at the importance of LGBTQ+ positive characters in contemporary comics, shining a spotlight on @Gingerhazing and @JamesTheFourth, among others.
The original draft actually specifically mentioned Claremont (through an interview with Tynion IV that you can find linked in the article), and which we did a thread on last month that you can find here:
Wolverine’s first solo series launches with a 6-page intro story about a bear that immediately establishes who Logan is, the duality that defines him, and his capacity to symbolize and disrupt perceptual boundaries between animal and person. #xmen#wolverine 1/9
The miniseries is built around the conflict between the primal and the civilized, with particular emphasis on destabilizing the distinction between the two of them by portraying the violence of civility as well as the nobility of the primal. 2/9
The grizzly encounter demonstrates this principle perfectly. The bear is terrifying and deadly, but only because of the interference of man. A good comparison might be to Grendel, with Logan thereby cast in the Beowulf role. 3/9
An important aspect of Storm’s duality, and one that contrasts her passion and will quite starkly, is her sense of interiority and self-isolation. Perhaps even moreso than iconic loner, Wolverine, Ororo often needs to withdraw and be alone. #xmen 1/11
While her self-isolation can be read as part of her burden-of-leadership arc, we actually see it manifest quite clearly when Cyclops is still leading the X-Men. 2/11
We first see it in the aftermath of the team’s battle with Garokk, which saw Storm desperately try to save the villain from death, but overcome by her own claustrophobia, she failed. She grieves alone, and Wolverine can see clearly that she needs her space to do so. 3/11
Wolverine #8 may be amongst the strangest stories that Claremont has ever written - a bizarre, deeply comedic take on the longstanding rivalry between a pair of iconic Marvel superheroes that seems to exist entirely out of time, genre, and expectation. #xmen 1/7
The basic premise is a chance encounter between Logan and Hulk. Hulk (somehow) doesn’t recognize Logan in his Patch persona, but Logan knows Hulk all too well and trades on their pre-existing rivalry through a series of elaborate pranks (mostly pants-based). 2/7
The most glaring strangeness of the story comes from the many anachronisms. The story is set in modern times, yet plays like very much like a comedic iteration of Casablanca, even featuring some references to the classic film. 3/7
In "American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1990s," comics historians Keith Dallas and Jason Sacks place Claremont’s departure from X-Men into the context of the pivotal movements of the medium in the 1990s. #xmen 1/5
“Like Louise Simonson before him, Claremont had fallen out of favor with Bob Harras. Indeed, Harras had spent much of the previous year undoing many of the changes Claremont made to the X-Men (e.g. removing the team from exile, returning Professor Xavier from outer space).” 2/5
“Before long, Claremont had enough of the situation and he quit. His final issue was X-Men 3 (Dec. 1991), not that Marvel promoted the fact with any kind of fanfare. The printed acknowledgement of Claremont’s departure was almost unnoticeable.” 3/5