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In a 1982 interview Claremont describes his unique portrayal of women in comics as a conscious decision, made under epiphany. The result of this is one of mainstream comics most important and influential experiments in representation. #xmen 1/6 
"There was a moment I think when I made a conscious decision by looking around seeing how few people were portraying heroic rational sensible women in books and comics. I thought, "I'll fill that vacuum - since no one else is doing it, I'll give it a try." 2/6
"Because in a sense I wondered in the ultimate kind of fiction, science fiction, could I put myself in the head of this being who was totally unlike me? Women tend to get very short shrift in comics. " 3/6
INTRODUCTION :
Au cours de la bataille qui opposa les Avengers et les X-Men sur la lune pour savoir ce qui adviendra de la Force Phénix qui approchait dangereusement de la Terre, Iron Man eu l'idée d'utiliser une armure ( la Phoenix-killer Armor ) pour vaincre l'entité.
Au cours de la bataille qui opposa les Avengers et les X-Men sur la lune pour savoir ce qui adviendra de la Force Phénix qui approchait dangereusement de la Terre, Iron Man eu l'idée d'utiliser une armure ( la Phoenix-killer Armor ) pour vaincre l'entité.
Mais au lieu de la détruire, elle a été divisé en cinq parties en prenant comme hôte cinq X-Man différent : Cyclope, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik et Namor.
Hank McCoy’s presence in the Dark Phoenix Saga provides a nice continuation of that character’s development, ultimately accelerating his difficult transition to the Avengers, in part, by having him here witness the true end of the original X-Men. #xmen #darkphoenix 1/5
Hank reflects on his isolation within the Avengers and his longing for the found-family of the X-Men, just as the call for help comes in. Torn between allegiances, he ponders his obligation and chooses the X-Men. 2/5
Hank’s dalliance with nostalgia ends about as badly as it could, however, allowing him to witness the death of a woman he loved, the emotional devastation of his friend and former leader, and the darkest hour of the X-Men at large. 3/5
In UXM #168, Nightcrawler is presented (and presents himself) as an object of sexual display to be consumed by both his on-panel girlfriend and by the reader, all in an homage to a landmark photographic spread with a deep impact on the sexual revolution. #xmen 1/10
The image references Burt Reynolds’ famous 1972 Cosmopolitan nude centrefold, an historic image that is credited with, among other things, inspiring Doug Lambert to create Playgirl Magazine the following year. Reynolds recounts the development as such: 2/10
“Although no one had ever shown a naked man in a magazine before, Helen [Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan] believed women have the same "visual appetites" as men, who'd been looking at naked women in Playboy since 1953… 3/10
Para iniciar el finde con fuerza y superar la canícula, aquí va otro hilo de #memesarchiveros
Esta vez dedicado a los #archifrikis. Pero hay de todo
¿Preparados?
Mil gracias al fabricante de #memes en la sombra
#archivos
@ArxiuToday
Esta vez dedicado a los #archifrikis. Pero hay de todo
¿Preparados?
Mil gracias al fabricante de #memes en la sombra
#archivos
@ArxiuToday
"Si olvidamos dónde hemos estado y qué hemos hecho, ya no somos humanos; solo animales"
Samwell Tarly, archivero-bibliotecario
#GameofThrones
Samwell Tarly, archivero-bibliotecario
#GameofThrones
Knowing that Ricochet Rita is visually based on Ann Nocenti and that MojoVerse is a satire of media culture offers us the potential to read some aspects of Rita’s story as Claremont’s commentary on Nocenti’s role as X-Men editor. #xmen 1/9
The first thing to note is that Claremont sees Mojo as some commentary on the comic book medium. We see this quite clearly in Mojo Mayhem when the X-Babies escape into a Mojo-Verse building labelled “The House of Jack and Stan” as well as other Marvel signifiers. 2/9
In UXM Annual #12, Claremont presents Rita still attached to Mojo’s ship as a sort of pilot slave. The connection is especially obvious given that Nocenti herself is drawn on the previous page (in a 4th wall break moment) looking exactly the same as Rita. 3/9
In an interview with Jon B. Cooke, beloved X-Men Annual/Special artist Art Adams offers his personal multi-faceted take on the classic “Mojo Mayhem,” one of the more polarizing books in Claremont’s canon. #xmen 1/5
“The one Marvel book that actually made a ton of royalties for me was the Excalibur special I did, which surprisingly enough, is the book I hate the most that I've done!” 2/5
“Mojo Mayhem, they called it. It's baby X-Men who were on Longshot's planet who get away from Mojo and come to Earth and meet Excalibur. At this point in the series, everyone thinks the X-Men are dead, so Kitty's like, "Oh, my God, it's the X-Men, but they're babies!"” 3/5
While Claremont left the series before unravelling his full plans for Meggan, we do get a sort of AU glimpse of the elemental nature of her powers and their symbolic potential in the background of Excalibur 17, presenting her as life/sex/joy/harmony incarnate. #xmen 1/10
The issue presents the aftermath of the legendary “Warlord” issue of the Cross-Time Caper. It’s essentially a denoument for that story mixed with an interesting new story about Rachel’s pursuit of identity. Meggan is barely in it, but there’s a lot happening for her still. 2/10
Centring all of this, however, is a jubilant, planet-wide party and in a couple brief pages of that, Meggan comes to life – quite suddenly – as a jubilant, confident and powerful woman in complete control over every aspect of her environment (contrary to her usual portrayal) 3/10
The core superhero fantasy is associated with simplicity (or juvenilia) and is often brought forward as reason to devalue or dismiss the entire genre, but that fantasy of heroic virtue and endurance can be lifesaving to those in need and that merits consideration. #xmen 1/9
The unplanned-for joy of the project has been the social component of the social media, of talking to people for whom X-Men meant a very great deal, as it did for me personally as well. This isn’t always literary valuation – sometimes it’s about getting by. 2/9
Superheroics, in general, however, are considered sub-literary, despite having a rich place of respect in classical literature; the Ancient Greeks, for example, highly valued the concept of “aristeia,” the moment of great deeds in battle - basically action sequences. 3/9
As noted by scholar Jeremy M. Carnes, the debate over the ethics of killing off Thunderbird in UXM #95 began quite early, and may reflect a failure of imagination on the part of the character’s creators to acknowledge a modern Indigenous existence. #xmen 1/7
As Carnes notes “As early as The X-Men #97, Marvel printed a letter from Tom Runningmouth, a self-identified American Indian, who writes ‘I was proud to see one of my people, an American Indian – America’s First citizens – become a member….’” 2/7
“’….but to my dissatisfaction in X-Men #94, you started to oppress him. But the clincher was in X-Men #95. You killed him. Why was he chosen? Why Thunderbird?’” 3/7
In the pages of New Mutants, Xi’an Coy Manh (Karma) can be seen to function as a constant disruption of some key elements of the superhero fantasy, most prominently through her sense of priorities, which essentially never include actually being a superhero #xmen #newmutants 1/8
First and most obviously, her backstory is truly horrific. She debuts in Marvel Team-Up #100, co-created by Claremont and Frank Miller with a backstory connected to the Indochina Refugee Crisis. Her parents died shipboard, and Xi’an was subjected to sexual assault. 2/8
Xi’an’s younger siblings survived with her, however, and they become the focus of her life. She was appointed the first leader of the New Mutants, but never thrived in that role. She was, simultaneously, the school’s secretary to bring in income to support her siblings. 3/8
According to former Marvel EIC Jim Shooter, where most Marel writers took a hands-off approach to recruiting artistic talent to work with them, Claremont instead actively participated in scouting artistic talent for UXM. #xmen 1/5
Shooter observes that “Chris was very good at finding artists. I mean, other writers, they just let the editor find an artist. Chris is out bird-dogging artists all the time.” 2/5
“He was actively looking for artists. I know one time in Chicago, Chicago Con, this guy comes over asked me if I’d look at his samples and I did. They were really great. I said, ‘This is really good.’ I said, ‘Listen, give me your information, I’m going to see what we can do’”3/5
In his chapter on “Marvel, X-Men, and the Negotiated Process of Expansion” from the book “Convergence Media History,” scholar Derek Johnson describes how the aggressive expansion of the X-line was necessitated by the emergence of the direct market in comics. #xmen 1/7
“Comic distribution in the 1980s had shifted away from mass-market drug stores and newsstands towards the ‘direct’ market, where specialty retailers gauged audience demand and ordered products directly from the publisher on a no-returns basis.” 2/7
“With retailers eating the cost of unsold titles, the market for content contracted, with only those titles which retailers felt confident they could sell reaching the shelves.” This meant that name recognition and intellectual property suddenly became much more important. 3/7
The relationship between comics and nationalism is well-researched, and in Classic X-Men #29, Claremont defies the established comics treatment of The Cold War by revisiting and recontextualiing Colossus’s relationship to his motherland. #xmen 1/7
CXM 29 debuts in Jan 1989, very much during The Cold War between the US and USSR, a war that was largely fought through the media at a time when sympathetic portrayals of Soviet citizens with a genuine love for their country was still quite abnormal. 2/7
In his 1975 debut, Colossus was portrayed by Wein as brash/aggressive. Claremont would progressively push the character toward a more sympathetic portrayal, emphasizing both his vulnerability and his internal conflict with the excesses of American capitalism. 3/7
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
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
“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
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
In a 2014 essay, Louise Simonson describes the affordances of the comics medium that necessitated Storm’s punk transformation and the foreknowledge that the creative team had of the inevitable backlash that would arise. #xmen 1/3
“Comics is a short form – and we deal in symbols. Storm, the serene, controlled weather goddess had a billowing cape and long, flowing hair. But this wild Storm needed a new look – and she got one. We were expecting outrage! And we got it!” 2/3
“We’d done it on purpose, manipulated the symbols so the readers would know at a glance that Storm had changed. Kitty took one look and – like some of our readers – burst into tears!” 3/3
As noted by scholars such as Scott Bukatman and Carol Cooper, pre-Claremont Marvel heroines tended to have stand-and-pose powers such as telepathy, telekinesis, force fields, etc. Claremont pushed against this trend in UXM with heroines who got their hands dirty. #xmen 1/6
The first to make this transition was Jean, who Claremont dis-infantalized by renaming her Phoenix instead of Marvel Girl, then by advancing her mental powers to new heights with a fiery and visceral form that was dynamic and kinetic rather than prim and pretty. 2/6
Storm developed at the same time, first as a powerhouse, then as a skilled hand to hand (or knife to knife) combatant, highlighted by her defeats of Callisto and Cyclops. 3/6
In describing his version of Colossus, Marc Silvestri speaks to the character’s capacity for visceral visual impact, but also of the (less-considered) emotional relationship between artist and character, something that can impact (or even define) the resulting imagery. #xmen 1/6
For Silvestri, that relationship is defined by “glee,” something that might be counter-intuitive for an artist known for dark characters and kinetic violence, but his sense of joy is clearly the focus when he describes Colossus in an interview with Marvel Age: 2/6
“Colossus is always a lot of fun. Any time you have to draw a big bruiser like that, you know you’re going to have a good time. There’s a lot of broad action with him because of his strength and size.” 3/6
In light of his recent passing, I’d like to re-post this thread we did in 2020 on Neal Adams’ immense impact on the Claremont run of X-Men comics, and on the X-Franchise in general: #xmen
Though Claremont is credited with reviving the X-Men, the run prior to Claremont’s very nearly accomplished the same thing but for some unfortunate circumstances; nonetheless, Neal Adams’ run served as an important precursor for Claremont’s. 1/6
Neal Adams’ run on X-Men began in 1969. He was credited as artist for the series (with Roy Thomas scripting) but it was Adams doing most of the plotting as well (as revealed by Thomas in later interviews). 2/6
