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CHRIS CLAREMONT

Real Name: Christopher S. Claremont

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Writer

Group Membership: The Marvel Bullpen, the Marvel Softball Team (Mark Hanerfeld, Tony Isabella, Mike Kaluta, Bill Mantlo, Al Milgrom, Irene Vartanoff, Glynis Wein, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman) 

Affiliations: Barbra "Barb" Bannister, John Byrne, Bobbie Chase, Clea, Dave Cockrum, Paty Cockrum, Dakimh the Enchanter, Doctor Stephen Strange, Michael Golden, Bob Harras, Impossible Man, Iron Fist (Daniel Rand), Louise Jones, Jennifer Kale, Joshua Kale, John Kowalski, Misty Knight, Mike Lake, Salvador Larocca, Stan Lee, Steve Leialoha, Al Milgrom, Lilandra Neramani, Ann Nocenti, Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), Maria Pilar, Rafael Scarfe, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Jim Shooter, Paul Smith, Jimaine Szardos, Margali Szardos, X-Babies (Baby Colossus, Baby Dazzler, Baby Havok, Baby Longshot, Baby Psylocke, Baby Rogue, Baby Storm, Little Wolvie), X-Men (Banshee/Sean Cassidy, Charles Xavier, Colossus/Piotr Rasputin, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phoenix Force (as Jean Grey), Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett)

Enemies: John Daltry, Monstroid, Thog the Netherspawn

Known Relatives: Bonnie Wilford (wife, divorced), unnamed twins (children)

Aliases: Cordial Chris, Man-Thing

Base of Operations: New York City

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere#24 (September, 1975)

Powers/Abilities: Chris Claremont possesses no superhuman powers, but is an award winning, talented writer of prose and comics. Mostly known for his 17 year run on the Marvel comic Uncanny X-Men, he has also worked on dozens of other Marvel titles (like Man-Thing). His strengths as a writer include a penchant for crafting long term story arcs, writing strong female protagonists, a fascination for mind control and actively using characters he enjoys to write. As the Man-Thing, Chris possessed all the abilities of the mystical swamp creature but lacked the mental cognicance to actively control them.

Height: 5'7" (by approximation)
Weight: 160 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Grey (auburn red in youth)

History:

(Marvel Premiere#24) - Chris Claremont and the other members of the Marvel Softball Team were playing against Lieutenant Rafael Scarfe and members of the NYPD team in the first annual Sheep Meadow competition in Central Park. When a foul ball almost hit Danny Rand, he instinctively grabbed it in midflight. Impressed by his skills, Chris introduced himself and asked Danny to join his team. Iron Fist fit right in and everyone had an enjoyable afternoon of fun and sportsmanship until the killer robot Monstroid appeared and started killing people left and right, looking for Iron Fist's friend, Princess Azir of Halwan.

(X-Men I#98) - Chris and his then wife Bonnie Wilford were enjoying the Rockefeller Plaza christmas tree, unaware they were in the company of the X-Men, Nick Fury and Valentina de la Fontaine. Also: what looked like a Doctor Doom impersonator was iceskating on the rink outside 30 Rock.

(X-Men I#105) - Chris and artist Dave Cockrum were plotting the latest issue of the X-Men comic near Washington Square Park when they were surprised when Firelord came crashing towards them. The former herald of Galactus was fighting Phoenix and after recovering from her blow, took off in a blaze. All this didn't seem to disturb Claremont, who kept telling Cockrum about his ideas, while Dave dragged him along, telling Chris to shut up and run.

(Iron Fist I#15) - Chris attended a party thrown by Jean Grey and Misty Knight that got off to a bit of a rocky start when Wolverine arrived early and caught Misty's friend Iron Fist entering the appartment. Figuring he was a burglar, Logan tried to stop him and the two trashed most of the place in the process. That didn't prevent Claremont, his then wife Bonnie and Dave and Paty Cockrum from having a good time, mingling with the X-Men and their associates like Moira MacTaggert and Lilandra Neramani.

(Uncanny X-Men I#123) - Chris was walking the streets of Greenwich Village when he was startled by the sudden appearance of Spider-Man. The wallcrawler had spotted Cyclops and Colleen Wing strolling near Chris and decided to drop in and say hi.

(Man-Thing II#11 (fb) ) - Strolling through Greenwich Village with his ladyfriend Lark, Man-Thing writer Chris Claremont spotted a flying pirate ship heading towards Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. Rushing towards the house to warn the mage, Claremont found the door open and Doctor Strange and Clea dead on the floor. He then turned to face Citrusville police chief John Daltry, who was possessed by the soul claiming Magus sword. Claremont was its next victim, his soul transported to the realm known as Sominus. There, Claremont was imprisoned alongside Strange, Clea, Margali Szardos, Dakimh the Enchanter and Jennifer and Joshua Kale. Daltry and the sword were the unwilling pawns of the demon Thog, who planned to use Chris and the others to rule the cosmos.

   Thog's explanation of his scheme was interrupted by the arrival of Man-Thing, John Kowalski and Barbra Bannister who had just been turned into death incarnate. Thog was able to imprison Bannister and used an arcane spell to turn the Man-Thing back into Ted Sallis. As an unexpected side effect, Chris Claremont found himself suddenly transformed into the mindless bog beast. Chris, as the Man-Thing, proved instrumental in defeating Thog. Afterwards, Doctor Strange and the other mystics pooled their resources to return Claremont to normal. He was teleported back to Earth, ending up on the Kale farm near the Nexus of Realities in Citrusville, Florida.

   Shaken to his core by his brief existence as the Man-Thing, Claremont realized he simply couldn't continue writing the Man-Thing comic anymore because he sympathized too much with Ted Sallis' plight. He sent his formal letter of resignation and went to McSharran's Pub in Inwood to drown his misery. 

(Man-Thing II#11) - Claremont was joined at McSharran's by his editor Louise Jones, assistant editor Danny Fingeroth and Marvel's editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. They were all concerned about Chris' sudden resignation and were eager to hear his reasons for wanting to leave the book. After he told them what had happened, Shooter resolved the issue by cancelling Man-Thing altogether, figuring that some stories shouldn't be told.

(Uncanny X-Men I#155) -  Chris Claremont was about to enter the offices of Marvel Comics at 575 Madison Avenue, when he spotted Storm (Ororo Munroe) and Corsair (Christopher Summers) walking by, discussing the recent death of Jean Grey and its effects on Cyclops.

(Spider-Woman I#45 - BTS) - Travelling to San Francisco for a visit with artist Steve Leialoha, Chris Claremont was taken on an extended tour of the town by Frisco native Leialoha.

(Spider-Woman I#45) - Steve and Chris attended a benefit at the local opera house to help save the cable cars. The scheduled performance was disrupted by the Impossible Man who did an impromtu singing dog act and by Spider-Woman who helped apprehend the Scungili crime family on stage. As Leialoha frantically sketched away in the audience, he commented to a visibly shaken Claremont that this was just another typical day in San Francisco.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#7 - BTS) - Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and Marvel's vice president of publishing Michael Hobson were discussing Chris Claremont's expense account. According to Hobson, it seemed like all Claremont did was mooch lunches from his editor. Shooter wasn't sure what to do about it, claiming Chris was a growing boy after all. This led to Hobson deadpanning that if Claremont kept up this free lunch routine, he soon wouldn't be able to fit through a door.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#7) - Chris Claremont was having a chat with former X-Men artist Paul Smith, when both men were drawn into the Bullpen brouhaha caused by the X-Men and the Impossible Man, who had come to the Marvel offices looking for Stan Lee.

(Excalibur Mojo Mayhem - BTS) - Chris Claremont and his editor Ann Nocenti travelled to Great Britain to attend a comics signing. They weres taken on a scenic tour of the country by artists Mike Lake and John Bolton.

   At the same time Shadowcat and the X-Babies were on the run from Mojo's bounty hunter the Agent who was hounding the tiny X-Men, tricking them into signing lifetime contracts. Escaping in a hijacked police car, they drove for hours until the car ran out of gas amidst the Cheviot Hills.

(Excalibur Mojo Mayhem) - Claremont and his fellow creators were seemingly lost on the road between England and Scotland. They spotted the stranded Kitty and the X-Babies who had used their car to block the road. Kitty asked them to give up their vehicle, claiming it was an emergency. With a little additional convincing by Wolvie's claws, Claremont and the others agreed to remain stranded by the side of the road.

(Fantastic Four III#23) - Chris and Fantastic Four artist Salvador Larocca were attending the San Diego Comic Con when a fight broke out between the FF and the mind-controlled Avengers. Excited, the Spanish speaking Salvador asked Claremont to explain what was happening, causing Chris to realize he couldn't speak Larocca's native tongue to save his life.

(Fantastic Four III#27) - Chris and Salvador were at the Yancy Street Saloon, watching the televised wedding of Doctor Doom and Susan Storm. While Salvador was sketching away, ready to incorporate the remarkable nuptials into the FF's Marvel comic, Claremont was lost in thought. He didn't even seem to notice Stan Lee warning them about messing with the primal forces of the Marvel Universe.

(X-Force VI#9) - Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum were seen enjoying a drink in Krakoa's Green Lagoon while being served by Blob.








Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Pat Broderick (pencils), Vinnie Colletta (inks).

As an unapologetic admirer of Chris Claremont the writer (or the Chris Claremont of Earth 1218 if you will), yours truly had the best time writing his 616 counterpart's entry. It's always nice to see a writer being able to poke fun at himself. Or maybe he's mind controlled to provide comic relief, one never knows.

Claremont's adventure as the Man-Thing has to be one of the most out-there pieces of writing I've ever had the pleasure to try and summarize coherently. But bless the man's modesty for not referring to himself as a Giant Sized Man-Thing. Incidentally, Claremont didn't have long to worry about Ted Sallis' mind being trapped and tortured inside the Man-Thing. A month after his solo series ended, Man-Thing was effectively lobotomized by Doctor Strange in Defenders I#98 at Sallis' own request.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Chris Claremont has no known connections to:


Mojo's Chris Claremont

After the X-Men seemingly perished at the hands of the Adversary, their deaths greatly troubled Mojo who feared his ratings would drop without them. Hoping to come up with a new programming idea, he summoned his brain trust, which included extradimensional versions of Marvel creators Chris Claremont, Art Adams and Glynis Oliver-Wein. Instead of brainstorming, Mojo's Chris started berating him claiming it was all his fault for exploiting the franchise and chooing quantity over quality. Fed up with his minion, Mojo used his powers to revert Claremont's head to the size of an infant, effectively shutting him up.

It's been suggested that the Chris Claremont seen at Mojo's side is actually the 616-Claremont who somehow migrated to the Mojoverse, possibly through Spiral's Body Shoppe. But considering Chris has appeared in the 616 reality since, plus the fact no one leaves Mojo's employ...I'd say it's safe to assume this was actually the Mojoverse version of  Claremont or possibly even a clone.

--X-Men Annual I#12





Chris Claremont of Earth-8910

On Earth-8910 (the Impossible Man's insane Earth) Chris Claremont and John Byrne tried to outwrite one another, attended to by their female characters (in Byrne's case, She-Hulk, in Claremont's the White Queen, etc.).

--Excalibur I#14


















Chris Claremont of Earth-10005

Chris Claremont was Jean Grey's neighbor when she was still a young girl. During a visit at the Grey's home by Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr Jean used her telekinetic powers to lift several cars outside the house and Chris Claremont's lawnmower.

--X-Men: The Last Stand















Mister Jellicoe

When the interdimensional conqueror known as Khan set his eyes on reality-616's planet Earth, he chose the island of Madripoor as a beachhead in preparation for a full scale planetary assault. Khan's forces met with heavy resistance by the X-Men, but that didn't deter Khan or his subordinates. He took the X-Men's Storm as his next wife and took him to his palace where she was forced to fight the other wives. Her weather control powers caused a surge that was picked up in Khan's war room by Mr. Jellicoe, an alien resembling Chris Claremont. His colleagues urged Jellicoe to report it, but he told them it probably didn't matter to the higher ups who were too busy running the invasion. To his shock, Khan overheard him, referred to Jellicoe by name and beratingly assured him that especially during an invasion the most inconsequential looking detail might make the difference between victory or defeat. Checking the readings himself, Khan realized Storm was involved and left a severely startled Jellicoe behind, who couldn't believe the great conqueror knew who he was.

--X-Treme X-Men I#15


images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four III#28, p3, pan1 (main image)
Marvel Premiere#24, p10, pan7&8 (meets Danny Rand)
Man-Thing II#11, P17, pan6&7 (becomes Man-Thing)
Spider-Woman I#45, p19, pan6 (in San Fran)
Excalibur Mojo Mayhem, p30, pan7 (stranded on the road)
Fantastic Four III#27, p22, pan7 (watches the Doom wedding)
X-Men Annual I#12, p46, pan2 (Mojo Chris)
Excalibur I#14, p18, pan3 (Earth-8910 version)
X-Men: The Last Stand (screenshot, Earth-10005)
X-Treme X-Men I#15, p4, pan6 (Jellicoe)


Appearances:
Marvel Premiere#24 (September, 1975) - Chris Claremont (writer), Pat Broderick (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Len Wein (editor)
X-Men I#98 (April, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
X-Men I#105 (June, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Bob Layton (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Fist I#15 (September, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#123 (July, 1979) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (writer, pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Man-Thing II#11 (July, 1981) - Chris Claremont (writer), Val Mayerik (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#155 (March, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Spider-Woman I#45 (August, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha (pencils, inks), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual I#7 (December, 1983) - Chris Claremont (writer), Michael Golden, Bret Blevins (pencils), Michael Golden, Tom Mandrake, Bob Wiacek, Terry Austin, Brett Breeding, Bill Anderson, Joe Rubinstein, Steve Leialoha, Sam de la Rosa, Al Milgrom, Bret Blevins (inks), Eliot Brown (editor)
Excalibur I#14 (November, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Excalibur Mojo Mayhem (December, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Arthur Adams (pencils), Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Fantastic Four III#23 (November, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#27 (March, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
X-Treme X-Men I#15 (September, 2002) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils, inks), Andrew Lis, Lynne Yoshii (editors)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) - Brett Ratner (director), Simon Kinberg & Zak Penn (writers)
X-Force VI#9 (March, 2020) - Bejamin Percy (writer), Joshua Cassara (pencils, inks), Jordan D. White, Chris Robinson (editors)


First Posted: 12/27/2013
Last updated: 02/22/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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