Marvel Visionaries: Chris Claremont

Marvel Visionaries

by Chris Claremont, John Byrne (Illustrator), Michael Golden (Illustrator)

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Chris Claremont's first X-Men story, the House of Ideas presents a timeless testament to another true Marvel visionary! Best known for ushering the X-Men from reprints to blockbuster franchise, Claremont has steered Marvel's mutants for three decades while working alongside some of comicdom's top artists.

Collects Daredevil #102, Marvel Preview #11, Iron Fist #14, Uncanny X-Men #137, 153, 205, 268, Uncanny X-Men Annual #12, Wolverine #3, New Mutants #21, Classic X-Men #12, Excalibur #16, X-Men Unlimited #36, and Avengers Annual #10.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

376 pages, Hardcover

First published September 21, 2005

About the author

Chris Claremont 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.

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 Aliens vs Predator 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.

Reviews

[Michael Emond · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were only about five things in this collection I hadn't previously read - which shows you how much I love Claremont. He write a lot so it is easy to focus on his long run on X-Men and say it fell off at the end (and the many X-titles he wrote). But in the 70's and early 80's he was (to me ) the BEST writer at Marvel. He could write a good tight story and also develop well rounded characters.

This collection is a nice overview of his talent. It suffers from the fact we only get an issue from the middle of a run so you are left not totally understanding the characters or arc. For a person interested in his writing I would suggest picking up a graphic novel of an entire run (like an X-Men arc or Iron Fist or his Marvel Team-Up run).

Still - this was a fun read and had highlights from most of his key runs on comics.

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great. It is a lot of parts from different books like Daredevil#102 and Marvel Preview#11.

[M. J. Fabula · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite comic book writer of all time. It was an honor to read the works that made him great, particularly the Phoenix Saga! The last one focusing on Kitty Pryde was a very emotional one too and a perfect way to wrap up the collection.

[Stephen Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't believe that the selections represent the best of Claremont's work.