After seeing this it's clear why X-Men has never been the same since Chris Claremont left. He understands the characters and their dynamics so well. He's still passionate about it to this day
WinningProduction420 that's true. I met him at a con and he was still passionate about it. I was standing at his table just talking to him about it. Ugh, I wish I had got him to sign some comics (didn't have the money at the time).
The X-Men died after X-Factor #1. In addition to bringing Jean back, the premise of the team (pretending to hunt mutants only to train them) was maddeningly stupid for the team's goals of mutant acceptance and made them all look like idiots for going along with that premise. Most importantly, though, was the massacre of Scott Summers' moral code. He's never been the same since then and I imagine Chris despises that mischaracterization. Combine that with the whole Phoenix Force nonsense and I think Claremont lost a lot of passion for what was his magnum opus.
This always been my issue with American comic books, specifically Marvel & DC. You don't own your characters, you're just renting them. You could write the greatest story arc ever in a comic only to have some untalented hack undo everything you did after you retire.
@@JohnnyUndaunted I think that´s the wrong way to think about it. Something that happens in a Roger Moore Bond movie could never ruin (or "undo") something that happened in one of the Sean Connery films. Something that Jared Leto or Joaquin Phoenix do could never affect how I feel about Jack Nicholson or Ledger´s Joker. That´s also how I think about different comicbook runs, and different writers, if you know what I mean. Even if they technically are in the same continuity (like with the Burton/Schumacher Batman films. Technically the same continuity, but two conpletly different versions of Batman in my mind).
Victor Fatalys. Actually Denny O'Neal & Neal Adams SAVED the X-Men! The book was cancelled right after the Sentinels Return stories! Claremont & Byrne with Austin dynamically brought what Claremont, Wein, and(David Earl)Cockrum(Navy vet.)from life support off of reprinted issues . . .shocking but TRUE! Look it UP ! ! 😯😉🎭🇺🇸💖⛔ . .
I'd be happy with just an animated series with all their stories. The X-Men cartoon in the 90s from FOX was decent but never came close to telling the stories like the comic books from these amazing writers. When I discovered the X-titles in the late 80s, I went back and picked up as many back issues as I could afford to get as much of the story as I could. I love the 80s and 90s runs of the X-titles. I have always wanted to see these stories adapted to and done justice on the small screen at least. I know that there's WAY too much story to try to do this on the big screen but if they started with a tv series, it could lead to a major movie production that shows just one of the epic battles. Then the tv series would continue and lead up to yet another major movie. That would be my hope for the X-Men universe. If I was a major tv/movie producer and was passionate about the X-Men, that's what I would do.
I still remember that last panel... when X-Men fought the Hellfire Club. Wolverine had his mass increase by a factor of 1000 and had crashed through multiple floors at the beginning of the fight. That last panel was him rising from the sewer water saying “now it’s my turn”. That was one of the longest month in my life till I could get the next issue.
I dont think we will ever see anyone who will ever be able to write xmen better than the way chris claremont did. this was a time period that will never be able to be repeated
Had the great honor of having Chris and his lovely wive Beth as the honor guest in the first "Fiesta del Cómic" in Santo Domingo. One of the most humble, funny and great human beings I ever meet.
"6 Billion lives died because they were ants to her and she was just walking by." Powerful. Sadly, I don't think Fox X-Men or the MCU X-Men will ever target the weight of this.
@@josefrootgum I think John Byrne summed it up the best when he said that it took him and Claremont 4 years to build up to Dark Phoenix, there's no way a movie studio can do it in one movie.
I can't tell you how much these interviews mean to me. Between this and the John Byrne one I feel like a major piece of my life is complete. Thank you for doing this
having Chris come back would make me start picking the xbooks up again -- but they would need to commit to allowing him several years -- his vision is why I feel in love with them
I didn't really know much about him until I started reading some of the 80s comics recently and now he's one of my favorites. Chris does a great job with him, as with many other characters. The definitive x-men writer.
It delights my heart to actually hear the mind and passion behind one of my top favorite story tellers. He touches on things in this interview that is somewhat lost in today's concept of heroes; which is good morals. Heroes back then were meant to inspire us to do good things, overall, be a morally good person. Nowadays, the ant-hero has become more popular and has even trickled into characters that we as kids in the 90s grew up looking at as morally good. The X-Men were always my favorite because they represented the morally good hero. All of them were flawed in their own unique way but they all fought for the same goal; which is the peace between humankind and mutantkind. To me this concept is symbolic of the entire human race: We may all have different beliefs with our own unique flaws but we should all strive for the same goal, Truth, peace, respect and love for one another.
For a Team-based Comic, nobody did what he pulled off in those 17 years. Character development, engaging story lines and death itself. Simply put Claremont is the Best BUB!
This guy created such a great diverse cast of characters which ended up becoming fan favourites. He honestly deserves just as much recognition and respect as stan lee.
Just stumbled across this and I always love seeing a Chris Claremont interview. For those interested in things Claremont has done beyond X-Men and associated books, check out the Superman-Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy mini series, Aliens-Predator: Deadliest of Species, and his Grounded/First Flight original novels. He is the writer I grew up reading and it annoys me that Marvel has basically paid him to not write for the last decade. I feel like we've missed out on great storytelling.
Along w/ Stan Lee, Chris Claremont is one of my fav comic book writers. Some of my fav characters were created by him, including: Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke & my #1-- Emma Frost.
He may not have created Wolverine, Storm and the rest of that team but he is the one who made them special. And for me he also the man who created special places... Muir Island, Genosha, the Shi'ar Empire. All places that Marvel took in delight in destroying.
I like so many of his characters too, and some more now that I'm older because I appreciate all the thought put into them. Probably the bulk of characters that are important to me came out of Chris' brain. I used to think Guido Carosella looked stupid with his weird hair and glasses, but today he's one of my favourite characters. And if he appeared in the MCU I wouldn't want him to look any other way.
guys at fox should have been consulting and really taking into advisement what chris or john bryne or some other classic xmen writers thought about what made the xmen tick for there movies they would have been so much better for it.
+Cam M That would make perfect sense, but that bum Bryan Singer reportedly told the actors to not read the comics & even "banned" them from the set. Personally I was hoping they got the writing team from the 90s cartoon to write all the X-movies. I'm just glad the X-men are going to the MCU who know how to make great superhero movies. If nothing else, they can't do any worse than Fox Studios did for almost 2 decades. I'll be happy to see more X-men stuff, including: video games, costumes, cartoons & action figures.
perhaps but chris has a genuine love for these characters I doubt he would ask for alot,,,,he is not just some mcu, or fox executive he helped build this from the ground up that kind of perspective is priceless.
The irony is he was an executive at Marvel in 98 and helped get the Fox deal done. The best comic writers dont stay writers, they are promoted in the company to eventual execs.
I really wish Chris had been asked questions about his time with Paul Smith, bringing Rachel Grey into the fold, taking the X-Men to Australia, just something, anything new... It seems like every interview with him hits those same notes: Dark Phoenix Saga, strained working relationship with John Byrne, leaving Marvel after X-Men #1 because of Jim Lee and editorial.
Figure he doesn't bring up the Aussie days enough because there was a lot of disjointed continuity and rushed plots by then and his writing on the book was starting to suffer after around ish #200.
Clint Weathers I completely agree! From The Mutant Massacre onwards the quality dips, and after Fall of the Mutants Claremont's grip loosened a lot as you say. That's why I'm fascinated in that era, since he always claims how many years of stories he had left when ousted in '91.
I wasn't a fan of going to Australia but the Mutant Massacre is when I started reading and that saga was really great. It's not necessarily on the level of Phoenix but it has some really great drama. The problem with MM onward is the concept of the massive crossovers with other stories: Spidey, Thor, Avengers. They got hooked on crossovers after MM, and the whole fact that death became irrelevant is why the writing took a dip. You can really pin the death of comic quality on Jean Grey's "resurrection."
the love for his characters is wonderful to hear. chris has created pretty much all my favourite characters: jean mk. 2, ororo, kurt, piotr, kitty, the list goes on...
I find it funny that Marvel wanted to move on from Chris writing the X-Men and then they just had every writer that came on the book write like Chris for years.
The Last_Saint. Yer really on it! 143 "Demon!" for the X-Men was JoHN Byrne's farewell issue. And it is probably as good as Marvel's 2 In 1 #50 . They'll NEVER craft nor create anything remotely at this level of QUALITY again at Marvel's 🐁 Mouse Corporation . . too Corporately 2dimensional . .🎱🎭🇺🇸⛔
not cause he is great in comics he could jump successfuly to write movie scripts. they are different languages and media, otherwise it would be the most common practice
He should definitely be there. It’s true that writing comics and movies but he needs to be on board as a “character coach” he wouldn’t let them make cyclops a loser or give storm 3 lines again.
Back when he says he was monopolizing Marvel's premium book, you'd think Marvel could accommodate everyone by simply giving Chris X-Factor or even starting a new spin-off line just for him. Back then anything with an X in the title sold like hotcakes!
It was actually Dave Cockrum who created Nightcrawler, Colossus and Storm, not Claremont. He did however create Moira MacTaggert, Kitty Pryde, Gambit and Psylocke, and the New Mutants, among many other X-Men up until 1992.
Yes, but that was more of a mistake on the interviewer's part. Claremont made it clear that Giant Sized came before him and he "only" developed those characters afterwards (with "only" being an understatement).
So refreshing to hear someone like Chris Claremont, easily my favorite writer of all time on X-Men. And his description of how his characters judge One another based on the way they act and not how they look is spot on. It’s the actions of people that define their character. What a novel concept. It shouldn’t be novel, but in today’s times such ideals our trashed buy woke propagandist. Wouldn’t be surprised if Claremont statement went right over the interviewers head. I know that’s a bit unfair to the interviewer, because I have no idea what his opinions are, but it seems to be the way of most media outlets and their journalists today.
I agree if Jean had stayed dead it would have been a watershed moment in comics and lived on like that......they had Rachel Summers to continue her mom's and the phoenix legacy.
True, they never knew what to do with Rachel after Jean was brought back. Although I love Excalibur with her apart of the team. Anyways It would've been better had she stayed dead.
Mahou Shoujo Hime. That's true; Chris got into a editorial/morality argument with Jim Shooter over the way Jean Grey died . It was stupid. When Archie Goodwin editored the X-Men(before Shooter!)things were going great! Goodwin often got the "gist" of what Claremont was writing, while Shooter was lost in the sauce! . .🎱🎭🇺🇸♠⛔
Obiwan Kenobi. That's true; that's apart of Jean's punishment for taking out the planet then that Shi'arr ship. Sorry for misspellings of Lilandra's race. Blame Jim Shooter's shitley editorial direction for that. Gyrich ? That character ? He was made up, based upon Shooter! He irritated a lot of the writers at Marvel at that time . .🎱🎭🇺🇸⛔
@@bra5081 According to Dark Phoenix: The Untold Story, Claremont wanted to depower her and reduce her mentality to that of a child, and he wanted to occasionally bring the Phoenix Force back as a threat -- We have to stop Jean once again! You can see a similar dynamic with the character Legion and the way he's been used over the years. Shooter said that he wanted Jean to die for having committed genocide. On the other hand, Shooter did bring her back, albeit four years later.
As much as I love Chris Claremont and everything he did for my favorite comics franchise, this interview is a bit dishonest: Chris didn't quite create Phoenix, since Jean Grey existed before he came along The interview also implies he created Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Storm but he didn't - Len Wein and Dave Cockrum did. To Chris's credit, he really defined those characters more than anybody else, and he does try to give credit to those guys by mentioning their names in the context of talking about their inception (so none of this is his fault), but the editing and interviewer muddy the truth a bit.
i wonder if he reads x men stories. i'd love to know what he thinks of Morrison's and Whedon's run, the events in the 2000s, mesiah war and second coming, yost's run on new mutants and x force and Remender's uncanny x force
Please allow me to be the first to apologize for what Feige WILL do to your Content when the time comes! Also, Thank you for all the characters and stories that filled my childhood!
I agree with Chris Claremont about Jean Grey. The X-Men's defeat and her subsequent death were pivotal events both for the X-Men and the Marvel universe. Resurrecting her cheapened that. As an aside, I wish the interviewer had asked what Claremont's favorites X-Men stories were that were written by others.
This guy truly understands what makes the X-Men appealing. Add to it incredible action sequences by John Byrne and you have perfection and also every reason to hate Age of X-Man Alpha #1. (You absolutely need the amazing art and action to showcase Claremonts care of the personalities, or you end up with X-Men Black: Magneto which absolutely sucked)
17 years of great story telling, not only that but 17 years of working with top artist and creative minds, and marvel blows it because of creative differences. This is why Marvel can not get talented artists and or writers anymore. It is an utter shame that Marvel has fallen so far that they are leaving people like Brian Micheal Bendis and others behind. I have been a Marvel fan since the early 80s and am sad to say that they have no direction and are going to loose their number one sales slot to DC.
Another cool thing about Kurt and Logan’s friendship Is Kurt is a jovial kind soul trapped in a demon like body, paired up with a guy that looks like a normal (ish) Canadian with a dark, brooding mess of rage inside him.
To put it in perspective, 6 billion people was the population of the Earth at the time. Having gobbled up that planet we need to realize that she could have done the same thing to Earth. I believe if Jean Grey had never been resurrected, Cyclops would have been hurt, but he would be all right mentally wise.
Great interview but I hate the background music SYFY plays, it's too loud, too bright. It's fine for 4 minute fluff interview videos, but not 19 minute in depth interviews. It brings down the integrity of the interview and the subject matter.
15:26 - why are they making Alan Moore sound like a 100 year old Victorian English gentleman?🤔 Alan's Northampton accent, along with having a deep, very recognizable voice sounds *nothing* like that dying ghoul impression they did.
Love you Chris. Haven't seen you since Wondercon listen help Uslan , Burton and Keaton destroy the Batfleck image and bring Frank Miller in to do a great Dark Knight returns movie. You're our only hope.
The background music really distracts from the interview. And the graphics/supers are ultra-cheesy. Sigh. That said, I LOVE Claremont and always love hearing him speak.
Fired by Bob Harris to go with Jim Lee's vision of the characters and he's gone eight issues later so obviously Marvel continues to rehash Chris Claremont's storylines ever since...badly.
This is pretty much why I stopped collecting. The stories became absurd, there was no real growth. Death meant very little. I HATED what they did to Psylocke. I loved the fact that Elisabeth Braddock was a strong woman with a soft exterior that was changing, hardening to reflect her inner strength. And then Jim Lee comes with this ridiculous Asian redesign. If you wanted a good Asian character, just make one, not turn someone not Asian into Asian. Illyana Rasputin's descent into darkness was being handled so well. But they killed her with the Legacy Virus and couldn't keep her dead, so... yeah. Glad I kept my money. At least with the movies, it forces them to make these characters actually grow, change, and die. They move on to tell new stories, not rehash the same stuff for decades on end.
The best writer X-men ever had.
He's the definitive X-men writer, lol.
Roy Thomas, then Chris.
preach!!
Then u got to add Jim Lee the best artist, it's still my favourite run
Agreed %100
After seeing this it's clear why X-Men has never been the same since Chris Claremont left. He understands the characters and their dynamics so well. He's still passionate about it to this day
WinningProduction420 that's true. I met him at a con and he was still passionate about it. I was standing at his table just talking to him about it. Ugh, I wish I had got him to sign some comics (didn't have the money at the time).
The X-Men died after X-Factor #1. In addition to bringing Jean back, the premise of the team (pretending to hunt mutants only to train them) was maddeningly stupid for the team's goals of mutant acceptance and made them all look like idiots for going along with that premise. Most importantly, though, was the massacre of Scott Summers' moral code. He's never been the same since then and I imagine Chris despises that mischaracterization. Combine that with the whole Phoenix Force nonsense and I think Claremont lost a lot of passion for what was his magnum opus.
greenskiis Yeah. That whole character assassination of Scott in X-Factor is the main excuse for trolls who hate Cyclops.
This always been my issue with American comic books, specifically Marvel & DC. You don't own your characters, you're just renting them. You could write the greatest story arc ever in a comic only to have some untalented hack undo everything you did after you retire.
@@JohnnyUndaunted I think that´s the wrong way to think about it. Something that happens in a Roger Moore Bond movie could never ruin (or "undo") something that happened in one of the Sean Connery films. Something that Jared Leto or Joaquin Phoenix do could never affect how I feel about Jack Nicholson or Ledger´s Joker. That´s also how I think about different comicbook runs, and different writers, if you know what I mean. Even if they technically are in the same continuity (like with the Burton/Schumacher Batman films. Technically the same continuity, but two conpletly different versions of Batman in my mind).
Claremont and Byrne saved the X-Men comics and make it one of the greatest comic books ever, their stories are the ones I want to see in theaters
Well they are the ones that get adapted and butchered in the movies.
Victor Fatalys. Actually Denny O'Neal & Neal Adams SAVED the X-Men! The book was cancelled right after the Sentinels Return stories! Claremont & Byrne with Austin dynamically brought what Claremont, Wein, and(David Earl)Cockrum(Navy vet.)from life support off of reprinted issues . . .shocking but TRUE! Look it UP ! ! 😯😉🎭🇺🇸💖⛔ . .
I'd be happy with just an animated series with all their stories. The X-Men cartoon in the 90s from FOX was decent but never came close to telling the stories like the comic books from these amazing writers. When I discovered the X-titles in the late 80s, I went back and picked up as many back issues as I could afford to get as much of the story as I could. I love the 80s and 90s runs of the X-titles. I have always wanted to see these stories adapted to and done justice on the small screen at least. I know that there's WAY too much story to try to do this on the big screen but if they started with a tv series, it could lead to a major movie production that shows just one of the epic battles. Then the tv series would continue and lead up to yet another major movie. That would be my hope for the X-Men universe. If I was a major tv/movie producer and was passionate about the X-Men, that's what I would do.
@@bra5081 - The movies get some stuff right. I wouldn't want to see the MCU treatment down the line, Kevin Feige's butchering of them will be worse.
E Nehemiah Wrong. Lol. It was canceled under O’Neal and Adams. Try again.
Even though Lee and Kirby invented the X-Men, Chris Claremont is their real father.
Absolutely. They gave birth to them but He adopted them and raised them right
Absolutely. Not all the stories Stan Lee and Jack Kirby made were great.
Chris Claremont is the George Lucas of Marvel. His contribution to the X-Men mythos is weightless and priceless!
I heard him say in an interview, he made more off one x-man movie than his entire comics career. That made me happy to hear. 🇺🇸😎
I still remember that last panel... when X-Men fought the Hellfire Club. Wolverine had his mass increase by a factor of 1000 and had crashed through multiple floors at the beginning of the fight. That last panel was him rising from the sewer water saying “now it’s my turn”. That was one of the longest month in my life till I could get the next issue.
That panel is epic. You could tell Byrne loved that character.
Claremont on X Men and Simonson on Thor was the best!
I dont think we will ever see anyone who will ever be able to write xmen better than the way chris claremont did. this was a time period that will never be able to be repeated
Chris Claremont really was the best X-MEN writer
Chris Claremont...
An X-Men legend!
Chris comes off as a very likeable guy. What a delightful person!
He perfectly summed up why nightcrawler is my favorite xmen character.
I love nightcrawler too, but colossus is my favorite.
He is my dads favorite
I was so lucky as a kid, getting the X-men just as the Dark Phoenix story was kicking in.
Chris Clairmont is one of my favorite comic book writers of all time. I own his whole run of Xmen comics. My favorite part of my collection.
Chris Claremont was the only xmen writer that cared about the characters.
Preach!!!
Wish we saw/heard more from this guy. Stan gave the X-men life, he gave them a soul.
He's so much more down to earth and affable than I expected...seems like a really nice guy!
"Its not what they look like that we should be focussing on but how they behave"
See Chris gets it and that's why his stories were great.
Is amazing how he understands and cares about the characters
Had the great honor of having Chris and his lovely wive Beth as the honor guest in the first "Fiesta del Cómic" in Santo Domingo. One of the most humble, funny and great human beings I ever meet.
I miss this guy's stories. An absolute legend.
"6 Billion lives died because they were ants to her and she was just walking by." Powerful.
Sadly, I don't think Fox X-Men or the MCU X-Men will ever target the weight of this.
Fox doesn't have the capacity for it . Mcu on the other hand isn't afraid to go full comics
Have you seen the Infinity Saga? If there's any group that can pull off The Phoenix Saga, it's Kevin Feige & Marvel Studios.
Just imagined seeing the storyline in the MCU unlike fox who butchered it like twice already!
@@josefrootgum I think John Byrne summed it up the best when he said that it took him and Claremont 4 years to build up to Dark Phoenix, there's no way a movie studio can do it in one movie.
The greatest writer to EVER hit comics.
Well he's my favourite but there are lots of contenders in Great Britain, Moore, Morrison, Millar...
Lol
Kudos to Chris "The Maestro" Claremont. Big part of why I love comics.
I can't tell you how much these interviews mean to me. Between this and the John Byrne one I feel like a major piece of my life is complete. Thank you for doing this
Dark Phoenix saga was mind blowing. Still stands out as a major impact in my take on comics, heroes and story telling. Good times!
It still might be the best comic book storyline I've ever read. It's incredible.
having Chris come back would make me start picking the xbooks up again -- but they would need to commit to allowing him several years -- his vision is why I feel in love with them
So sweet. I love Nightcrawler.
I didn't really know much about him until I started reading some of the 80s comics recently and now he's one of my favorites. Chris does a great job with him, as with many other characters. The definitive x-men writer.
One of the greatest comic book writers of all time. He IS the X-Men.
Chris is so brilliant. This is amazing. I hope he sleeps on boxes and boxes of money, he deserves it.
It delights my heart to actually hear the mind and passion behind one of my top favorite story tellers. He touches on things in this interview that is somewhat lost in today's concept of heroes; which is good morals. Heroes back then were meant to inspire us to do good things, overall, be a morally good person. Nowadays, the ant-hero has become more popular and has even trickled into characters that we as kids in the 90s grew up looking at as morally good. The X-Men were always my favorite because they represented the morally good hero. All of them were flawed in their own unique way but they all fought for the same goal; which is the peace between humankind and mutantkind. To me this concept is symbolic of the entire human race: We may all have different beliefs with our own unique flaws but we should all strive for the same goal, Truth, peace, respect and love for one another.
For a Team-based Comic, nobody did what he pulled off in those 17 years. Character development, engaging story lines and death itself. Simply put Claremont is the Best BUB!
This guy created such a great diverse cast of characters which ended up becoming fan favourites. He honestly deserves just as much recognition and respect as stan lee.
THANK YOU Chris. For everything. Good times.
Just stumbled across this and I always love seeing a Chris Claremont interview. For those interested in things Claremont has done beyond X-Men and associated books, check out the Superman-Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy mini series, Aliens-Predator: Deadliest of Species, and his Grounded/First Flight original novels. He is the writer I grew up reading and it annoys me that Marvel has basically paid him to not write for the last decade. I feel like we've missed out on great storytelling.
Along w/ Stan Lee, Chris Claremont is one of my fav comic book writers. Some of my fav characters were created by him, including: Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke & my #1-- Emma Frost.
Blackton Obvious! Yaasss
I always loved the white queen
He may not have created Wolverine, Storm and the rest of that team but he is the one who made them special. And for me he also the man who created special places... Muir Island, Genosha, the Shi'ar Empire. All places that Marvel took in delight in destroying.
I like so many of his characters too, and some more now that I'm older because I appreciate all the thought put into them.
Probably the bulk of characters that are important to me came out of Chris' brain.
I used to think Guido Carosella looked stupid with his weird hair and glasses, but today he's one of my favourite characters. And if he appeared in the MCU I wouldn't want him to look any other way.
Hell yeah great list!
my love for the character of Jean is ALL based on what Chris wrote. beautiful writing.
I ve always had the biggest crush on Jean, thanks Chris.
I always thought Claremont would be a difficult interview, but he was totally cool here.:)
This channel is great, it delivers such great interviews!
Met Rob Liefeld the other day he said syfy docs are ass lol
guys at fox should have been consulting and really taking into advisement what chris or john bryne or some other classic xmen writers thought about what made the xmen tick for there movies they would have been so much better for it.
Cam M yea they would of made the movies a lot better
+Cam M That would make perfect sense, but that bum Bryan Singer reportedly told the actors to not read the comics & even "banned" them from the set. Personally I was hoping they got the writing team from the 90s cartoon to write all the X-movies. I'm just glad the X-men are going to the MCU who know how to make great superhero movies. If nothing else, they can't do any worse than Fox Studios did for almost 2 decades. I'll be happy to see more X-men stuff, including: video games, costumes, cartoons & action figures.
BUT THEN THEYD HAVE TO PAY THEM....ITS ALWAYS ABOUT THE $$$$$
perhaps but chris has a genuine love for these characters I doubt he would ask for alot,,,,he is not just some mcu, or fox executive he helped build this from the ground up that kind of perspective is priceless.
The irony is he was an executive at Marvel in 98 and helped get the Fox deal done. The best comic writers dont stay writers, they are promoted in the company to eventual execs.
One of the greatest writers! If he goes back writing the X-Men, I will go back reading it! Loved his writing.
I really wish Chris had been asked questions about his time with Paul Smith, bringing Rachel Grey into the fold, taking the X-Men to Australia, just something, anything new... It seems like every interview with him hits those same notes: Dark Phoenix Saga, strained working relationship with John Byrne, leaving Marvel after X-Men #1 because of Jim Lee and editorial.
All good ideas for a possible part 2
jackthecb check out jay and miles x-plain the x-men podcast , I feel like some of this was discussed in one of his interviews with him...
Figure he doesn't bring up the Aussie days enough because there was a lot of disjointed continuity and rushed plots by then and his writing on the book was starting to suffer after around ish #200.
Clint Weathers I completely agree! From The Mutant Massacre onwards the quality dips, and after Fall of the Mutants Claremont's grip loosened a lot as you say. That's why I'm fascinated in that era, since he always claims how many years of stories he had left when ousted in '91.
I wasn't a fan of going to Australia but the Mutant Massacre is when I started reading and that saga was really great. It's not necessarily on the level of Phoenix but it has some really great drama. The problem with MM onward is the concept of the massive crossovers with other stories: Spidey, Thor, Avengers. They got hooked on crossovers after MM, and the whole fact that death became irrelevant is why the writing took a dip. You can really pin the death of comic quality on Jean Grey's "resurrection."
the love for his characters is wonderful to hear. chris has created pretty much all my favourite characters: jean mk. 2, ororo, kurt, piotr, kitty, the list goes on...
Legend. His run might be the best in X-Men history.🔥💀
Thank you so much for making my childhood more bearable with all those wonderfull stories, sir. I am your biggest fan!
I find it funny that Marvel wanted to move on from Chris writing the X-Men and then they just had every writer that came on the book write like Chris for years.
If only.. Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza were not in the same league.
Or try to
Yeah grant Morrison was the only one to really put their own spin on the title
Uncanny 143- one of the best single issues ever...
Yes, an excellent issue. Partial to 139, myself.
The Last_Saint. Yer really on it! 143 "Demon!" for the X-Men was JoHN Byrne's farewell issue. And it is probably as good as Marvel's 2 In 1 #50 . They'll NEVER craft nor create anything remotely at this level of QUALITY again at Marvel's 🐁 Mouse Corporation . . too Corporately 2dimensional . .🎱🎭🇺🇸⛔
Would love to see him write the scripts for the X-Men when they move to the MCU.
And using Jim Lee's artwork has that's how I cthe x-men
not cause he is great in comics he could jump successfuly to write movie scripts. they are different languages and media, otherwise it would be the most common practice
He should definitely be there. It’s true that writing comics and movies but he needs to be on board as a “character coach” he wouldn’t let them make cyclops a loser or give storm 3 lines again.
They would flawless masterpieces.
I'm so much love нis x-men books!!
In my head canon Jean never came back. Chris clearly knew what he was doing better than anyone else at marvel at the time.
Icon Writer for X-Men's Comics in the 80s.
Great interview!
My faves are the Claremont/Byrne issues, Paul Smith era, Morlock Massacre, Outback Era through Jim Lee/Claremont era and Muir Island Saga.
Amazing video!!!!! 👏👏👏👏
Back when he says he was monopolizing Marvel's premium book, you'd think Marvel could accommodate everyone by simply giving Chris X-Factor or even starting a new spin-off line just for him. Back then anything with an X in the title sold like hotcakes!
It was actually Dave Cockrum who created Nightcrawler, Colossus and Storm, not Claremont.
He did however create Moira MacTaggert, Kitty Pryde, Gambit and Psylocke, and the New Mutants, among many other X-Men up until 1992.
Yes, but that was more of a mistake on the interviewer's part. Claremont made it clear that Giant Sized came before him and he "only" developed those characters afterwards (with "only" being an understatement).
Clint Weathers He didn't create them, but he is the one that fleshed out those characters.
John Bryne created Kitty Pryde. Jim Lee had a big hand in Gambit and Psylocke.
Byrne himself has said Chris had a hand in it. they both co-created her.
I think he had a role in rogue's creation as well
That guy is a legend.
One Of my GOATS!
Beautiful Video :) Love it :) Legendary X-Men creator of so many legendary, classic and Best X-men stories ever told :)
So refreshing to hear someone like Chris Claremont, easily my favorite writer of all time on X-Men. And his description of how his characters judge One another based on the way they act and not how they look is spot on. It’s the actions of people that define their character. What a novel concept. It shouldn’t be novel, but in today’s times such ideals our trashed buy woke propagandist. Wouldn’t be surprised if Claremont statement went right over the interviewers head. I know that’s a bit unfair to the interviewer, because I have no idea what his opinions are, but it seems to be the way of most media outlets and their journalists today.
Wonderful!!
I agree if Jean had stayed dead it would have been a watershed moment in comics and lived on like that......they had Rachel Summers to continue her mom's and the phoenix legacy.
True, they never knew what to do with Rachel after Jean was brought back. Although I love Excalibur with her apart of the team. Anyways It would've been better had she stayed dead.
Chris was the best
Best X-Men writer EVER. Best Wolverine writer EVER. Best New Mutants writer EVER. Best X people writer EVER. ⭐️
I honestly had no idea that he was opposed to reviving Jean Grey.
Actually I read somewhere that he didn't want her dead, just having her powers removed.
Mahou Shoujo Hime. That's true; Chris got into a editorial/morality argument with Jim Shooter over the way Jean Grey died . It was stupid. When Archie Goodwin editored the X-Men(before Shooter!)things were going great! Goodwin often got the "gist" of what Claremont was writing, while Shooter was lost in the sauce! . .🎱🎭🇺🇸♠⛔
Obiwan Kenobi. That's true; that's apart of Jean's punishment for taking out the planet then that Shi'arr ship. Sorry for misspellings of Lilandra's race. Blame Jim Shooter's shitley editorial direction for that. Gyrich ? That character ? He was made up, based upon Shooter! He irritated a lot of the writers at Marvel at that time . .🎱🎭🇺🇸⛔
Chris used to wear s t-shirt at conventions that ssid "yes, she's staying dead!"
@@bra5081 According to Dark Phoenix: The Untold Story, Claremont wanted to depower her and reduce her mentality to that of a child, and he wanted to occasionally bring the Phoenix Force back as a threat -- We have to stop Jean once again! You can see a similar dynamic with the character Legion and the way he's been used over the years. Shooter said that he wanted Jean to die for having committed genocide. On the other hand, Shooter did bring her back, albeit four years later.
As much as I love Chris Claremont and everything he did for my favorite comics franchise, this interview is a bit dishonest:
Chris didn't quite create Phoenix, since Jean Grey existed before he came along
The interview also implies he created Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Storm but he didn't - Len Wein and Dave Cockrum did.
To Chris's credit, he really defined those characters more than anybody else, and he does try to give credit to those guys by mentioning their names in the context of talking about their inception (so none of this is his fault), but the editing and interviewer muddy the truth a bit.
Such a legend
i wonder if he reads x men stories. i'd love to know what he thinks of Morrison's and Whedon's run, the events in the 2000s, mesiah war and second coming, yost's run on new mutants and x force and Remender's uncanny x force
He thinks Morrison’s run is garbage to paraphrase. I agree.
Whedons run got me back into Marvel comics
Please allow me to be the first to apologize for what Feige WILL do to your Content when the time comes! Also, Thank you for all the characters and stories that filled my childhood!
I agree with Chris Claremont about Jean Grey. The X-Men's defeat and her subsequent death were pivotal events both for the X-Men and the Marvel universe. Resurrecting her cheapened that. As an aside, I wish the interviewer had asked what Claremont's favorites X-Men stories were that were written by others.
This guy truly understands what makes the X-Men appealing. Add to it incredible action sequences by John Byrne and you have perfection and also every reason to hate Age of X-Man Alpha #1. (You absolutely need the amazing art and action to showcase Claremonts care of the personalities, or you end up with X-Men Black: Magneto which absolutely sucked)
Well said. I completely agree
Legend!!!!!
The only new X-men writer.
Without a doubt the best xmen writer, I love Dark Phoenix and Days of the Future Past
17 years of great story telling, not only that but 17 years of working with top artist and creative minds, and marvel blows it because of creative differences. This is why Marvel can not get talented artists and or writers anymore. It is an utter shame that Marvel has fallen so far that they are leaving people like Brian Micheal Bendis and others behind. I have been a Marvel fan since the early 80s and am sad to say that they have no direction and are going to loose their number one sales slot to DC.
What a great interview! How many shirts did that he have on under that jacket? Was it cold outside?
The sound is almost inaudible.
Dave Cockrum created Nightcrawler originally for the Legion of Superheroes at DC
I love him.
Another cool thing about Kurt and Logan’s friendship Is Kurt is a jovial kind soul trapped in a demon like body, paired up with a guy that looks like a normal (ish) Canadian with a dark, brooding mess of rage inside him.
To put it in perspective, 6 billion people was the population of the Earth at the time. Having gobbled up that planet we need to realize that she could have done the same thing to Earth.
I believe if Jean Grey had never been resurrected, Cyclops would have been hurt, but he would be all right mentally wise.
What a cool guy
Great interview but I hate the background music SYFY plays, it's too loud, too bright.
It's fine for 4 minute fluff interview videos, but not 19 minute in depth interviews.
It brings down the integrity of the interview and the subject matter.
Aaahh...the Claremont era of X-men (1970's-early 1990's, in case you didn't know) will never be topped.
Legend 🤘
This man's a genius !!
Best writer for x men
I wish he and John Byrne would co-plot, write and draw the Uncanny X-Men again. More like I wish it was the 80's again.
Me too
X-Men Forever. Great series. Needs a proper ending. Someone give Chris Claremont a chance to finish it. If you don’t know it, look it up and read it.
ALL DONE FINISHED
17:55 Does Avila say "Death of Grace". I'm not familiar with this storyline. Can someone clarify this for me? Cheers!
Best story, and most accessible, Wolverine mini.
The mind behind some xmens most uncanny adventures
legend
15:26 - why are they making Alan Moore sound like a 100 year old Victorian English gentleman?🤔
Alan's Northampton accent, along with having a deep, very recognizable voice sounds *nothing* like that dying ghoul impression they did.
Love you Chris. Haven't seen you since Wondercon listen help Uslan , Burton and Keaton destroy the Batfleck image and bring Frank Miller in to do a great Dark Knight returns movie. You're our only hope.
The background music really distracts from the interview. And the graphics/supers are ultra-cheesy. Sigh. That said, I LOVE Claremont and always love hearing him speak.
Shut up.
Fired by Bob Harris to go with Jim Lee's vision of the characters and he's gone eight issues later so obviously Marvel continues to rehash Chris Claremont's storylines ever since...badly.
This is pretty much why I stopped collecting. The stories became absurd, there was no real growth. Death meant very little. I HATED what they did to Psylocke. I loved the fact that Elisabeth Braddock was a strong woman with a soft exterior that was changing, hardening to reflect her inner strength. And then Jim Lee comes with this ridiculous Asian redesign. If you wanted a good Asian character, just make one, not turn someone not Asian into Asian. Illyana Rasputin's descent into darkness was being handled so well. But they killed her with the Legacy Virus and couldn't keep her dead, so... yeah. Glad I kept my money. At least with the movies, it forces them to make these characters actually grow, change, and die. They move on to tell new stories, not rehash the same stuff for decades on end.
How does an Asian person act? Are you telling me Gemma Chan is not Asian because she was born and raised in England?