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Iconic X-Men writer Chris Claremont reveals how his childhood as an immigrant in the US informed his love & creativity with Marvel's mutants
"A black eye and a bloody nose": Chris Claremont reveals how childhood bullying informed his love of the X-Men.
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What does it take to be a good X-Men writer? While being an outsider isn’t a requirement, it certainly helps. Despite their awesome superpowers, Marvel’s mutants are still considered outsiders. Many X-Men storylines focus on the group being ostracized by humanity, as they struggle to live among a world that hates and fears them. Longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont believes that this is part of their core appeal, as it’s something many of their readers can relate to.
Speaking to a crowd at CCXP, Claremont recalled his childhood experiences, and how they shaped his work on X-Men.
“I’m an immigrant. I may not look the part, but I’m an immigrant. My first day at school, I showed up dressed as I would look going to a British school, and I came home with a black eye and a bloody nose. I was the outsider, and everyone said, ‘Let’s beat the shit out of him.’”
As a result, Claremont gravitated to the X-Men, who he saw as outsiders.
“Being an outsider, for a long time that wasn’t part of any other superhero comic. It wasn’t the FF, it wasn’t Captain America, it wasn’t Batman. It wasn’t even Superman. He was an outsider, but he grew up in Smallville, so he was like everybody else.”
“The thing with the X-Men and especially Magneto was that they establish their outsider status right off the bat. Stan and Jack, they did it. It took a lot of issues after that before that storyarc returned to centerstage, but the whole point that defined the X-Men and made it different from the FF and the Avengers held. What was so outsider about Tony Stark? He’s a billionaire! [Sarcastically] Well, that separates him.”
Outsiders or not, the X-Men are the lynchpin in Marvel’s publishing line. Maybe it’s the colorful characters or the cool powers, but I think it’s because in many ways we’re drawn to outsiders. Claremont gets it, and that’s why he’s one of the most consequential writers in X-Men history.
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