CHRIS CLAREMONT

'Chris Claremont' (born November 30, 1950 in London, England, United Kingdom) is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on ''Uncanny X-Men,'' during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Contents

Writer profile

Marvel Comics biography

Career outside Marvel Comics

Awards

Bibliography

Footnotes

References

Writer profile

Claremont is regarded as one of the hallmark Marvel Comics writers, having written one of the flagship titles, the ''Uncanny X-Men'', for sixteen consecutive years (he is the record-holder for having the longest run as a single writer on an American comic book title). Claremont excelled at the task of writing good "team" arcs, in which every member of the ensemble cast of ''X-Men'' had his or her moment to shine. He was lauded for writing action-packed stories with strong characters, both heroes and villains, mixing it with soap opera elements and always bringing in the social undercurrent of mutants being a harassed minority. Claremont also promoted strong female characters such as Rogue, Storm and Moira MacTaggert, who were a far cry from the token roles usually reserved for women at that time. Claremont's approach set the standard for team-based comic books for decades.
The most common criticism of his work is his overly descriptive writing style. Claremont's characters have spoken in long paragraphs that are often called forced or unrealistic. He has frequently employed third-person omniscient narration to describe events that might easily be conveyed in the art and (to some) unneeded thought bubbles to spell out character motivation and personality, especially during action scenes. He is also known for certain characteristic phrases, (for example, Wolverine's catchphrase, "I'm the best there is at what I do. And what I do... isn't very nice") known as "Claremontisms" among fans.^[1] However, this may not be a valid criticism as these phrases have become a part of the various characters' fictional personalities and have been repeatedly used by others as a tool of characterization.
He has also been criticized for what readers and critics have seen as his inability or unwillingness to bring plots to fruition. He has also tended to revisit certain characters repeatedly over his career, such as Captain Britain and Rogue.
Nonetheless, Claremont's work on ''X-Men'', which was longer than that of any other creator, defined many of the ''X-Men'' characters and made an indelible impression on what he made into a franchise.

Marvel Comics biography

As an entry into comic writing Claremont was given the fledgling title ''Iron Fist'' in 1974 that also teamed him with John Byrne for the second time. (The first was on Marvel Premiere, where Byrne did Fist's last two appearances.) Len Wein then gave him the writing duties for the relaunched X-Men. Claremont also found narrative excuses to sideline Professor X, as one of the problems with the original X-Men series was that the Professor would appear at the end of the story to magically correct the situation no matter how dire.
During his years as ''X-Men'' writer, Claremont wrote or co-wrote many classic stories such as the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past". He also co-created numerous important X-Men characters, including Rogue, Psylocke, Shadowcat, Phoenix, Sabretooth, Mystique, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Rachel Summers, Mister Sinister, Madelyne Pryor, and Gambit. In addition, he helped launch best-selling spin-offs such as ''X-Men'', ''New Mutants'' , ''Excalibur'', and ''Wolverine''. In 1986 Marvel launched an ''X-Men'' spinoff, ''X-Factor'', altering the Phoenix/Jean Grey continuity Claremont had established. In 1991 he left Marvel over differences with the editorial staff.
In 1998, he returned to Marvel as editorial director and the regular writer of ''Fantastic Four''. He also wrote a ''Wolverine'' story arc. In 2000, as part of the company's "Revolution" event, he wrote ''Uncanny X-Men'' and ''X-Men'' until he moved to ''X-Treme X-Men'' with penciller Salvador Larroca.
In 2006, cardiac illness forced Claremont to postpone the beginning of a planned run on ''Exiles'' as well as the launch of GeNext. Also cut short was his run on ''Uncanny X-Men'', which was completed by Tony Bedard over Claremont's plots. Likewise, writer Frank Tieri took over on ''New Excalibur'' in Claremont's stead for a time.
In 2007, Claremont returned to New Excalibur, writing a story arc where the character Nocturne has a stroke. It is believed that he is using his recent illness as inspiration. He has also recently completed his first arc on Exiles, introducing Psylocke to the team.

Career outside Marvel Comics

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the ''Star Trek'' ''Debt of Honor'' graphic novel, his creator-owned ''Sovereign Seven'' for DC Comics and '' for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the ''Chronicles of the Shadow War'' trilogy, ''Shadow Moon'' (1995), ''Shadow Dawn'' (1996), and ''Shadow Star'' (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie'' Willow''. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of ''First Flight'' (1987), ''Grounded!'' (1991), and ''Sundowner'' (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the ''Wild Cards'' anthology series.
He has a cameo in the film ''X-Men 3'' during the Jean Grey prologue, for which he is credited as "Lawnmower man".

Awards

Claremont won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for "Favorite Writer" in 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, and 1990. Also, he won CBG Fan Awards for "Favorite Comic Book Story" in 1990 (''The X-tinction Agenda'') and "Favorite Graphic Novel or Album" in 1992 (''Star Trek: Debt of Honor'').^[2]

Bibliography

★ '' #1-12

★ ''Alpha Flight'' vol.1 #17

★ ''Amazing Adventures'' vol.4 #1

★ ''Avengers'' vol.1 #102

★ ''Avengers Annual'' #10

★ ''Bizarre Adventures'' #25, 27

★ ''The Black Dragon'' #1-6

★ ''Black Goliath'' #2-5

★ ''Captain Britain'' vol.1 #1-10

★ ''Captain Britain Annual'' #1

★ ''Captain Marvel'' vol.1 #46

★ ''Champions'' #4

★ ''Contest of Champions II'' #1-5

★ ''Daredevil'' vol.1 #102, 117, 375

★ ''Daredevil Annual'' #4

★ ''Deadly Hands of Kung Fu'' #19-24, 32-33

★ ''Decimation: House of M - The Day After''

★ ''The Defenders'' vol.1 #19, 57

★ ''Dr. Strange ''vol.2 #38-45

★ ''Epic Illustrated'' #10-12, 18, 22-23

★ ''Excalibur'' vol.1 #1-19, 21-25, 27, 32-34

★ ''Excalibur'' vol. 3 #1-14

★ ''Excalibur Mojo Mayhem''

★ ''Excalibur Special Edition''

★ ''Exiles'' #90-??

★ ''The Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad''

★ ''Fantastic Four'' vol.3 #4-32

★ ''Fantastic Four'' Annual 1999, 2000

★ ''Fantastic Four vs. X-Men'' #1-4

★ ''Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom Genesis''

★ ''GeNext ''#1-5

★ '' Giant Sized Spider-Man'' #1

★ ''Giant-Size Defenders'' #5

★ '' Giant-Size Dracula ''#2-3

★ ''Giant-Size Ms. Marvel'' #1

★ ''Giant-Size Spider-Woman'' #1

★ ''Giant-Size Super Stars Featuring Fantastic Four'' #4

★ ''Giant-Size X-Men'' #1,4

★ ''Heroes for Hope starring X-Men''

★ ''Heroes Reborn Ashema'' 1

★ ''Heroes Reborn Doom'' 1

★ ''Heroes Reborn Doomsday'' 1

★ ''The Incredible Hulk'' vol.2 #148, 170

★ ''Incredible Hulk Annual'' #5

★ ''Iron Fist vol.1 ''#1-15

★ ''Iron Man Annual'' 2001

★ ''John Carter, Warlord of Mars'' #16-27

★ ''John Carter, Warlord of Mars Annual'' #3

★ '' Kitty Pryde and Wolverine'' #1-6

★ ''Magik'' vol.1 #1-4

★ ''Magneto'' #0

★ ''Magneto Ascendent'' #1

★ ''Man-Thing ''vol.2 #4-8, 10-11

★ ''Marada, the She-Wolf''

★ ''Marvel Age Annual'' #4

★ ''Marvel Chillers ''#4

★ ''Marvel Classics Comics Series Featuring'' #14, 17

★ ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #1-10

★ ''Marvel Fanfare'' vol.1 #1-5, 24, 33, 40

★ ''Marvel Graphic Novel'' #4-5, 21

★ ''Marvel Premiere'' #23-25, 27

★ ''Marvel Preview'' #3-4, 7, 11, 14-15

★ ''Marvel Spotlight'' vol.1 #24

★ ''Marvel Super-Heroes'' vol.2 #97

★ ''Marvel Super-Heroes'' vol.3 #10-11

★ ''Marvel Tales'' #131-133, 193-198 , 201-208, 235-236, 242, 245, 250, 255

★ ''Marvel Team-Up'' vol.1 #57-70, 74-77, 79-86, 88-89, 100, 135

★ ''Marvel Team-Up Annual'' #1-2

★ ''Marvel/Top Cow Crossovers Vol.1'' #1

★ ''Marvel Treasury Edition'' #26

★ ''Marvel Two-In-One'' #9-10

★ ''The Mighty Thor Annual'' #9

★ ''Monsters Unleashed ''#4, 9-10

★ ''Ms. Marvel'' #3-23

★ ''New Excalibur'' #1-8, 16-??

★ ''The New Mutants'' vol.1 #1-54, 63, 81

★ ''The New Mutants Annual'' #1-3

★ ''New Mutants Special Edition'' #1

★ ''Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man'' #11

★ ''Peter Parker Spider-Man'' Annual 2000

★ ''Phoenix: The Untold Story''

★ ''Power Man'' #47-53

★ ''Power Man Annual ''#1

★ ''Power Man and Iron Fist'' #76

★ ''Rom'' #17-18

★ ''The Savage Sword of Conan'' #74

★ ''Solo Avengers'' #14

★ ''Sovereign Seven'' #1-36

★ ''Spider-Woman'' (I) #34-46

★ ''Star Wars'' #17, 53-54

★ ''Star-Lord Megazine'' #1

★ ''Star-Lord Special Edition'' #1

★ ''Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy'' #1-4

★ ''Tales of the Zombie'' #9

★ ''Uncanny X-Men'' #94-279, 381-389, 444-473

★ ''Uncanny X-Men Annual'' #3-12, 14

★ ''Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans''

★ ''Vampire Tales'' #9

★ ''War is Hell'' #9-15

★ ''What if Magneto Had Formed the X-Men with Professor X?''

★ ''What if?'' (II) #32

★ ''WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams'' (vol. 1) #10-13

★ ''Witchblade/Wolverine'' #1

★ ''Wolverine'' (I) #1-4

★ ''Wolverine'' (II) #1-8, 10, 125 - 128

★ ''Wolverine Saga'' #1

★ ''Wolverine: Save the Tiger'' #1

★ ''X-Factor'' (I) #65-68

★ ''X-Men'' (II) #1-3, 100-109, 165

★ ''X-Men/Alpha Flight ''(I) #1-2

★ ''X-Men and the Amazing Spider-Man: Savage Land'' #1

★ ''X-Men Anniversary Magazine'' 1

★ ''X-Men Annual 2000''

★ ''X-Men Black Sun'' #1-5

★ ''X-Men vs. Dracula'' #1

★ ''X-Men: Earthfall'' #1

★ ''X-Men: The End (I) - Dreamer's and Demons'' #1-6

★ ''X-Men: The End (II) - Heroes and Martyrs'' #1-6

★ ''X-Men: The End (III) - Men and X-Men'' #1-6

★ ''X-Men Firsts'' #1

★ ''X-Men: Lost Tales'' # 1-2

★ ''X-Men/Micronauts'' #1-4

★ ''X-Men True friends ''#1-3

★ ''X-Men Universe'' #9, 11-15

★ ''X-Men Unlimited ''(I) #27, 36, 39, 43

★ ''X-Treme X-Men'' #1-46

★ ''X-Treme X-Men Annual ''2001

★ ''X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land ''#1-4

★ ''X-Treme X-Men X-Pose'' #1-2

★ ''X-Treme X-Men'' Mekanix (starring Shadowcat) #1-6

Footnotes

1. rec.arts.comics FAQ: What's a Claremontism?
2. http://www.cbgxtra.com/default.aspx?tabid=42&view=topic&forumid=34&postid=147

References

★

★ Cordially Chris

★ The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators