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View Full Version : X-Men: Forever - Claremont's Back?


Python
04-08-2009, 01:56 PM
Even more interesting, he is going to continue the storyline from where he left off, waaaay back in X-Men #3.

I have not purchased any comics in many years, but I believe this deserves some attention.

http://www.comicmix.com/news/2009/02/06/chris-claremont-returns-to-write-x-men-forever/

The Cubs win the World Series. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston get back together. Chris Claremont writes the X-Men again. One of those things, at last, has happened.

Chris Claremont, the writer of the X-Men for 16 years, from Uncanny X-Men #94 to X-Men #3, is returning to the characters that he made famous. Starting in May, Chris Claremont will be writing X-Men Forever, a new bi-weekly series that literally continues from where he left off. No really-- right where he left off. X-Men Forever will create a fork in Marvel continuity, continuing the series the way he wanted. Artwork will be by Tom Grummett. The series will premiere in May, with preview issues in March and April.

Chris is also working on an original X-Men graphic novel with artwork by Milo Manera.

ComicMix will be running an in-depth interview with Chris Claremont shortly, which will explain where's he's going with it. In the meantime, leave your comments and questions for Chris here.

Welcome back to the X-Men, Chris-- hope you survive the experience!

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm looking forward to seeing Jubilee back in the group with Wolvie again.

Interview w/ Claremont:

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/020709nyccclaremont.html

The legendary X-scribe discusses his new title picking up where he left off after 'X-Men' #3, and he dishes on his upcoming 'GeNext' project!
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By Brett White
Posted 2/7/2009
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[NYCC] CHRIS CLAREMONT TALKS 'X-MEN FOREVER'When last we left our heroes, they had narrowly escaped from the clutches of Magneto and the complete destruction of Asteroid M. Now, as the world is still reeling from the nuclear judgment the master of magnetism promised to rain down on them, the X-Men prepare to face threats more extreme and radical than any they ever have before!
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They decide...to play basketball?

Fans reading the record-obliterating juggernaut that was Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's X-Men back in 1991 may have found that sudden change in tone jarring. With X-Men Forever, a new biweekly ongoing series from Marvel launching in May with X-Men Forever Alpha, Claremont picks up where he left off all those years ago and promises to deliver the global-scale action fans have been waiting years to see.

How did X-Men Forever become a series?
CHRIS CLAREMONT: [X-Men Forever editor] Mark Paniccia sat down with [Marvel Editor-in-Chief] Joe Quesada and [Marvel Publisher] Dan Buckley, ideas were passed around and they made a decision. That's management, not execution. Having [New Exiles collaborator] Tom Grummet on art, actually, went much the same as what happened with Salvador Larroca back when I returned to Uncanny X-Men back in 2000. Salva and I were working on Fantastic Four and we were a good team. Marvel wanted us to keep going and it made perfect sense to slide him over to X-Men, which turned out to be the perfect thing for his career. So for all I know, this time next year Tom will end up doing Fantastic Four or Uncanny.

How close is this X-Men story to what you had actually intended to write over 17 years ago? Have you replaced those plots with newer ideas?
CLAREMONT: It's very much an evolution of the story elements and structural elements that I had in mind but, as often is the case, the devil is in the details. The fact is that the characters have changed and evolved since then and the world has changed and evolved significantly since then. X-Men Forever is presenting what Mark and I visualized as the next step in the mutant saga.

The one significant difference and advantage that Forever has over Uncanny is that we don't have to worry about corporate needs. The one great disadvantage with Fantastic Four or with X-Men or with Spider-Man or with any book in the mainstream Marvel line is that the characters must be preserved for Marvel's sake. But since these characters are being preserved in Uncanny, they can be altogether frighteningly mortal in Forever, as we'll be demonstrating fairly early on. The fact is, if a character is unlucky enough to die, it's a real thing and it isn't corrected a week later. They won't come back. There are consequences and from that basis everything proceeds.

Is X-Men Forever going to focus on solely the Blue Team of characters depicted in those first three issues of X-Men?
CLAREMONT: There is no Blue Team and no Gold Team. We are focusing in on a group of characters who are defined by the circumstances and situation that the X-Men find themselves in. They are getting a new regular member of the team, a sort of quasi-government figure by the name of Fury.

Wow! He was actually in the first three issues of X-Men when they came out.
CLAREMONT: And, oddly enough, he's sticking around! A guy that looks like he's going to live forever could be considered a quasi-mutant. But, the point is that the X-Men's relationship with the world is about to change markedly. The X-Men got involved in a situation where Magneto became a nuclear power and threatened to use those nukes from orbit. The reality exists that if he could do it, anyone else could do it. One might be able to fudge things in the world of 1991 and say that terrorists that threaten the safety of the world don't get away with it...but they do. That's no longer a valid argument today. You have a world which has just seen Magneto and a team of mutants steal an entire nuclear submarine's payload of nuclear missiles, establish himself as an orbital nuclear power, threaten to use those missiles and then get defeated by the X-Men. The premise that we're starting with is that the great powers of the world are probably not going to stand for that anymore.

The other significant thing about Forever is that Mark and I feel that traditional conflicts, traditional adversaries and traditional circumstances are the province of Uncanny and X-Men: Legacy. We're not interested in that. The thought, goal and ambition here is to present what we hope will be totally new and original adversaries, circumstances and characters...except for Sentinels. No more fantasies, no more switching genders, no more extreme curses, no more "darns" and "goodness graciouses." We're trying to eliminate all the Claremont clichés in one fell swoop and see what happens next.

A couple of characters you created towards the end of your original run on Uncanny, like Gambit, have had origins implemented that differ from your original intentions. Are these original back stories going to appear now?
CLAREMONT: The Gambit in X-Men Forever is the Gambit who was in Uncanny up to #278 and X-Men #1 through #3. He's technically not even an official X-Man. He's just been hanging around for a bunch of weeks and, as we establish in the preview, he's not even sure he wants to stay. He's playing it by ear. Circumstances will arise that may make up his mind for him, but everything is considerably more fungible. Nothing in this is going to be like what you're used to seeing.

The future also holds more of GeNext. Can you give any hints about what's going to happen in that series?
CLAREMONT: Basically the story picks up about forty minutes after where the first mini-series left off. It starts in Genosha with their ride home showing up, courtesy of Hank McCoy and Megan Frost-Summers. From there on they quickly find themselves caught up in an adventure that takes them to India. The whole series is set in the subcontinent and involves introducing a coterie of Indian superheroes, villains, second generation heirs to a list of Marvel bad guys and hopefully more than a few surprises. And ideally enough enthusiasm, dynamism and sales to justify a third arc which would wrap up this initial run of the book.

wolf_2099
04-08-2009, 02:08 PM
Am i the only one, who could not give a shit about this?
Claremont's level of writing lately has been dog shit. I loved his old stuff, but unless this was already written years ago I don't have high hopes.

Python
04-08-2009, 02:11 PM
Bleh, after having read a few different interviews, it appears that Jubilee, Wolvie, Psylocke & Colossus will not be back. The roster will be:

Shadowcat
Nightcrawler
Gambit
Rogue
Storm
Fury (some furry guy, looks like Sabretooth)
Beast
Jean Grey

MGM
04-08-2009, 04:01 PM
Which thereby annuls the whole idea of Claremont picking up where he left. His Dark Wolverine plans are rather well documented, so if he's not using Wolverine AND Colossus, that becomes a problem.

XIII
04-08-2009, 04:13 PM
I'm staying away from this. I have no particular interest in the X-Men franchise anymore, even less if it has to do with Chris Claremont.

Goshin
04-08-2009, 05:21 PM
Bleh, after having read a few different interviews, it appears that Jubilee, Wolvie, Psylocke & Colossus will not be back. The roster will be:

Shadowcat
Nightcrawler
Gambit
Rogue
Storm
Fury (some furry guy, looks like Sabretooth)
Beast
Jean Grey


kill jean take out sabretooth and replace them with wolverine and colossus and u got the perfect team to kick this off

jedispyder
04-08-2009, 05:22 PM
I thought his plans for Dark Wolverine were for Uncanny, not X-Men? This series is picking up where he left off on X-Men, which had a different roster....well, this series has a different roster as well, lol. I'm actually excited about it, gonna be interesting. Wonder how much he can fuck up like he fucks everything else up now...

Python
04-08-2009, 07:36 PM
I'm staying away from this. I have no particular interest in the X-Men franchise anymore, even less if it has to do with Chris Claremont.

Then why did you post in the thread? :rotate:

Tragic Angelus
04-08-2009, 09:25 PM
The idea had me interested at first, but then I thought, why read another alternate universe version ? He doesn't have nearly 20 years of continuity weighing him down, but a lot of those developments for characters are great and make some of them really shine now.

On the plus side you've got Shadowcat back and the GOOD version of Beast, but on the downside, if he's not playing with every cookie he has in the jar in terms of characters like Colossus, Wolverine, and Psylocke, then he's missing a big chance.

And like most everyone said, lately his writing has been good for anything at all. His last stab at the X-Men failed, and his Exiles was basicaly something to miss for good measure. I can't say I'll get his at all.

I'll look forward to hearing more about this graphic novel though.


I am however excited about Uncanny X-Men First Class

XIII
04-09-2009, 02:16 AM
Then why did you post in the thread? :rotate:

To make my opinion known that Claremont should go back home and retire and stop living in the past. :soapbox:

Fasheem
04-09-2009, 06:27 AM
To make my opinion known that Claremont should go back home and retire and stop living in the past. :soapbox:

Sing it, brother!

And what do you mean "Claremont's Back?"? He's been back for EIGHT years. Fuck him and fuck his stupid "six month gap". Maybe I should actually thank him since THAT is the event that made me QUIT BUYING COMICS like a horrible completist compulsion. It left me free to buy only the good ones, praise jebus. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

At least they aren't really giving him full control again this time. It's all make-believe.

Mr Wallstreet
04-09-2009, 08:05 AM
I'll pass.

Python
04-09-2009, 08:06 AM
Back again.

I'm willing to give it a shot, if for no other reason than to see where it leads.

Mr Wallstreet
04-09-2009, 08:13 AM
Back again.

I'm willing to give it a shot, if for no other reason than to see where it leads.

Or you could just flush your money down the toilet. :D

wolf_2099
04-09-2009, 01:33 PM
Back again.

I'm willing to give it a shot, if for no other reason than to see where it leads.

You'd have a better time putting your money in a homeless tranny hooker's g-string.

And better spent.

The sad thing is, I'll probably read 1 issue, in the store anyway.

But I'll do the hooker thing, too.

Does this have a cover price, yet? It seems like one of those series Marvel would try charging 5 bucks for.

XIII
04-09-2009, 03:44 PM
I'll download it then complain about how bad it is. :D

IrishCream
04-10-2009, 05:47 PM
I find it funny...people are actually complaining about Wolverine NOT being in a book. That's a first.

Fasheem
04-11-2009, 04:21 AM
I'll download it then complain about how bad it is. :D

http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q419/janus345/emot-hfive.gif

Goshin
04-13-2009, 12:08 PM
well i would like to see gorilla beast again morisson turned him into a blue gay lion-o all he do is sit in the kitchen and bitch about cooking hot pockets...

Fasheem
04-13-2009, 11:06 PM
well i would like to see gorilla beast again morisson turned him into a blue gay lion-o all he do is sit in the kitchen and bitch about cooking hot pockets...

I just read that issue. <3

That's the one where he talks about how the change seems to be reversing, right? haha

Python
04-14-2009, 09:28 AM
You'd have a better time putting your money in a homeless tranny hooker's g-string.

No. I wouldn't

I totally wouldn't. :)

ShadowMan
04-22-2009, 09:15 PM
Sing it, brother!

And what do you mean "Claremont's Back?"? He's been back for EIGHT years. Fuck him and fuck his stupid "six month gap". Maybe I should actually thank him since THAT is the event that made me QUIT BUYING COMICS like a horrible completist compulsion. It left me free to buy only the good ones, praise jebus. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Marvel kept messing with his story in order to try to capitalize off the movie.

At least they aren't really giving him full control again this time. It's all make-believe.

When did they really give Claremont full control?

wolf_2099
04-22-2009, 09:55 PM
I will give Claremont this.

He is an extremely, extremely nice man.

Fasheem
04-24-2009, 06:10 AM
Marvel kept messing with his story in order to try to capitalize off the movie.


If that were true, why would he have been using and focusing on so many characters who weren't in the movie at all?

Also why was the movie nothing like his run?

I'm thinking about the first "six month gap" issue. That was shit, and you can't blame anyone but Claremont for that.

XIII
04-25-2009, 03:19 AM
If that were true, why would he have been using and focusing on so many characters who weren't in the movie at all?

Also why was the movie nothing like his run?

I'm thinking about the first "six month gap" issue. That was shit, and you can't blame anyone but Claremont for that.

+10,000

ShadowMan
04-26-2009, 12:57 AM
If that were true, why would he have been using and focusing on so many characters who weren't in the movie at all?

Also why was the movie nothing like his run?

I'm thinking about the first "six month gap" issue. That was shit, and you can't blame anyone but Claremont for that.

It was not until after the success of the movie that Marvel tried to change the direction of the books.

To my knowledge, Claremont has not claimed the “six-month gap” to be his idea. It is important to note that the six-month gap stretched to all the X-books and not just the books that he was writing. It was most likely an executive decision. I was not necessarily a big fan of the six-month gap myself. However, Claremont did not get to execute it as he would have liked.

With the new regime at Marvel consisting of Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief and Bill Jemas as president, plots became rushed and new plotline directions were pushed for the X-books in an effort to capitalize off the movie and to do things as Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas’ envisioned.

Had Claremont been allowed to play out his plot as he intended, the six-month gap may have been looked upon under a different light. To solely blame Claremont for the poorly executed time gap is, to say the least, unfair.

By the way, I am referring to the six-month gap collectively. I understand you may abhor Claremont’s writing.

Goshin
04-27-2009, 12:42 PM
that fucked off all the x-books with the six month rule especially x-force turning into what the x-men turned into a year later lol

and claremont had more freedom over the x-titles back in the 80's and he does his best work when editors dont interfere. i thought x-treme x-men was some of his best writing since the early 90's (if u take out thunderbird 3 and that surfer dude).

come on, wolverine only appeared maybe once every eight issues to help out and that was it!! these days they act liek they cant go an issue without him

Python
04-27-2009, 12:48 PM
X-Treme X-Men was Claremont's handywork? I remember liking that series, if it's the one where they're searching for Destiny's diaries. I thought that was a very clever premise. Did that ever pan out?

Goshin
04-27-2009, 01:13 PM
they got what they could get and came back home after jean died and xorn fucked everything up

MGM
04-27-2009, 03:37 PM
X-Treme X-Men was Claremont's handywork? I remember liking that series, if it's the one where they're searching for Destiny's diaries. I thought that was a very clever premise. Did that ever pan out?

That's the one, it was a pretty good book. But only because it was Claremon't playcorner of the MU and everyone let him be. I think they never made it past 3 of the books or so.

ShadowMan
04-28-2009, 02:00 PM
I enjoyed X-Treme X-Men as well. Salvador Larroca was amazing as the artist for that book. I really did not like that Jemas took Larroca off of that book and put him on Namor that Jemas was writing.

Mr Wallstreet
04-28-2009, 04:02 PM
I enjoyed X-treme X-men as well but after about 20 something issues, I started to get bored with it before dropping it.

Fasheem
04-29-2009, 04:41 AM
I couldn't tolerate X-Treme X-Men but it wasn't Claremont's fault. I couldn't get past the digital inking. Like fingernails scraping on my corneas!!

Tragic Angelus
04-29-2009, 03:35 PM
The story took awhile for me to warm up to.. and I remember putting reading hte books off for awhile until I had about a years worth of issues to sit down and read at once.. after that it was easier for me to get through...

jedispyder
04-29-2009, 04:55 PM
I didn't like some of the decisions made during X-Treme X-Men, especially the Storm arc that was supposed to be a mini-series but instead became part of the actual title, stupid as hell...

Goshin
04-30-2009, 04:10 PM
I couldn't tolerate X-Treme X-Men but it wasn't Claremont's fault. I couldn't get past the digital inking. Like fingernails scraping on my corneas!!

i LOVED that inking! i wanna see marc silvestri pencil the x-men that way