CHRIS CLAREMONT ON GENEXT

[MattBrady]

by Steve Ekstrom

A couple of years back, Marvel Comics allowed fans to vote on what X-Project Chris Claremont would work on next—and it was decided that Claremont would pen a story about the X-Men as if they aged in real chronological time instead of that crazy thing comic fans call “comic book time”. This book was to show the next generation (or two) of mutants in the Marvel Universe as well as the fate of the remaining (much older) fan-favorite X-Men.

Today, Marvel releases GeNext #1 written by Claremont with artwork by Patrick Scherberger and cover art by Doug Gregory Alexander. GeNext #1 introduces readers to legacy of the X-Men 10 years after their near-destruction during the X-Men: The End storyline.

Newsarama contacted Chris Claremont to discuss GeNext—from the individuals on the team to the core themes in the book—as well as discussing some of Claremont’s legendary tenure with Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men.

Newsarama: Chris, what can you tell readers about the new faces that will be introduced in GeNext #1?

Chris Claremont: Let’s see—there’s Olivier Raven, the son of Rogue and Gambit; there’s Pavel Rasputin—Grandson of Peter; Rico—whose parents are not mentioned and won’t be until the last issue. It’s a challenge for the readers to figure him out. Becca, who is from the Savage Land, and her best friend is Pavel—Colossus—and her antecedents you can pretty much tell from her appearance but she doesn’t formally know who her mother is but there seems to be a link with Ororo. And there’s ‘No Name’—who, as the name implies, they know nothing about. He’s the team mystery.

NRAMA: Since this is in real time and there have been years and years worth of developments since the X-Men first came into existence in the early ‘60s—are there going to be story points that readers aren’t aware of? How much detail—regarding the past continuity—can you go into with a limited series like this?

CC: Well, it’s not that there is so much detail—it’s the reality of what is essential and what can be conveyed over the course of five issues. I like to think we provide a fairly comprehensive vision of Xavier’s school—obviously Charlie has moved on and so has Magneto. They’ve died over the last twenty years. Scott is still the head of the school—actually Scott and Emma—with Hank McCoy, the Beast, as the academic head. He is married to Cecilia Reyes.

In my mind—this story would take place 10 years after the end of the action seen in X-Men: The End. For example, Kat—Kitty—is getting ready to run for Governor of Illinois. She’s been Mayor of Chicago for two terms—it’s time for her to move up the ladder. Other members of the cast have similarly grown up—but the point though with this series is that the focus is on these five main characters…well, six actually since Olivier has a girlfriend…and it’s their life. We’re not trying to present a global vision of the school or where the reality fits in with the entire cast of the entire line of books—but we do get a sense of that as the story goes along. Our focus is on the kids. We really want to give readers a semblance of what happens next.

NRAMA: Are there any key moments on your run on Uncanny X-Men that may turn up in this story?

CC: Well, X-Men: The End is the frame of the mini-series. The school doesn’t cease to exist even though the original site of it is a big smoking hole in the ground now. A decade has past—things have been rebuilt and there is a way of dealing with the necessity of super-powered beings which still exist. The government still has their hands in the way super-powered beings are regulated—and this relationship is explored in No Name’s part of the story; the government and national security become factors in the story. The fate of Genosha is part of the story and how it has changed since X-Men: The End. We’re moving forward and attempting to introduce readers to a new group of characters they may like to see more of and perhaps a world they might be interested in as well.

The advantage of a book like GeNext or Exiles is that I can pretty much define the realities we are playing in—the disadvantage is that the reality we are playing in is only unique to this one book there are no other connecting elements beyond the core elements from within the Marvel publishing universe.

NRAMA: Right—the “The End” line of books don’t necessarily fall inside of Marvel continuity. Does that become a larger hurdle for your project in the hopes that it gains some credibility with the readers when they already know it may or may not be a part of the accepted mythos?

CC: I see it as more along the lines of a paradox—seeing as how I created most of the continuity in the first place. (laughs)

NRAMA: (laughs) Right…

CC: It’s like asking Stan [Lee], “Well, what continuity do you pay attention to when you’re writing Iron Man?” You know?

Out of courtesy you’d acknowledge the existence of other material but if you’re asking him to do a story based on his one or two unpublished Jack Kirby pages or something derived from the continuity that he and Jack established—the stuff that came afterwards may not ever be that pertinent.

In this instance, since the existing continuity is always subject to change—the continuity today isn’t the same as the continuity Grant [Morrison] established 6 or 7 years ago—when he did his X-Men. So, if you base something on the foundations that were established during Grant’s X-Men series that became invalid 6 months after he left…

NRAMA: It seemed a lot sooner than that…

CC: Right—see the stuff that I established on my run on the X-Men in 2000 became invalid five minutes after I left—that’s why GeNext exists for better or worst in it’s own bubble—it’s basically my version of an Ultimates book.

NRAMA: Sure—but do you ever get the feeling that this could be indicative of a worsening aspect of the mainstream industry—I mean—you ran on a book for seventeen years—and it seems like Marvel and DC reboot or at least readjust and refocus a book about every two years…

CC: Yeah, well, that’s not exactly a big surprise now is it? That was a reality of the business when I was there—I just happened to stick around longer than anyone expected or had stuck around before. I mean, I could have just as easily moved on after five years just as John [Byrne] did and Dave [Cockrum] did. The next writer would have come in and rebooted everything.

NRAMA: Why didn’t you?

CC: Because…it was too much fun. I was having a great time and Jim Shooter, to his credit, figured that if it came to a choice between booting me off of the Uncanny X-Men or John—it was more to Marvel’s advantage to give John a forum for which he could let me keep going with what I was doing and give him a forum where he could function with even more freedom than he had on the X-Men.

NRAMA: Which was when he moved over to the Fantastic Four…

CC: Correct—from Shooter’s position it was a win-win situation which I wasn’t going to argue with at the time. I was able to have a lot more fun. You’re balancing too different things—the need of the publisher to maintain continuity in the sense of a steady, dependable source of income or product; but at the same time, you want to keep re-energizing the character, the structure and the format to attract new audiences. From my perspective, when I look at a book like GeNext or The Exiles—my approach is not a solo-title it is a potential foundation for new line and perhaps if we are successful we can bring back GeNext for a second arc or try it out on a one-year basis or even as a potential ongoing—or even create a spin-off. It’s almost like having the potential for a second line of “Ultimate-style” books.

Now, whether or not that fits into Marvel’s publishing schedule, from my perspective—it’s a nice hope; but it’s not entirely relevant. I have to work under the assumption that if we do the best we can in terms of quality of product—in terms of writing, the art, and the characters (but not necessarily in that order) and the stories are attractive to an audience who come back for all five issues and the end they want more—Marvel, like any rational publisher—will try it’s best to give them what they want. That’s what happened with the X-Men; so, maybe, history will repeat itself and lightning will strike again.

That’s the ambition I think any creator has for their work; to strike a chord with the audience and sustain it and expand upon it. You always keep your fingers crossed—it’s enthusiasm and it’s hope.

NRAMA: Okay, changing gears back to GeNext—what kind of threats will this young group of X-Men face?

CC: Well, let’s see—evaluations from their professors, tests, young romance, mysterious adversaries from the past, you name it-they got it. A couple of surprises here and there—a couple of faces you wouldn’t expect to see popping and their evolution from five disparate individuals into a team.

For example, Rico doesn’t want to be a superhero—he wants to play his guitar. He’s got to go to high school and once he gets out of there—he figures he’ll go to college—but he really wants to go live on the East Side and play his guitar and take a band on a circuit of all the clubs in New York. His dad was a superhero, his granddad was a superhero, he wants to try something different.

As for Colossus, he basically wants to be a painter.

NRAMA: So the apple doesn’t fall from the tree—

CC: And why should it? We spend the whole second issue with his work—the frame of the second issue is that every page starts with a page from Pavel’s sketchbook. So, you get to see if he’s any good and, at the same time, you get a wider vision of the world and the characters—like a vision of his Grandmother who is from the Savage Land.

Again, this is to try and put our five or six heroes in a context that shows you a sense of their lives within the school and the reality of the school within the wider community and how these kids come to a point in their lives where they face a choice that every character with a major power would eventually come to in this set of circumstances: “Do I follow in my parent(s) footsteps?” Bare in mind, this lifestyle killed Olivier’s mother—one of the seminal events of X-Men: The End is the death of Rogue. He and his sister haven’t talked for years because he stayed at the school and she left with her Dad—Gambit. He doesn’t much care for the parents of his son’s girlfriend—we’ve got soap opera galore around here!

NRAMA: This was one of five projects that were voted on, correct?

CC: Initially, there was something like ten projects—which were voted on in-house at Marvel. Five were put out for the readers to decide.

NRAMA: I remember voting—I actually voted for GeNext.

CC: Well, I hope you enjoy it! (laughs)

[bungi43]

Not bad...

[C_Striker]

I'm checking this out...looks like it could be fun

[durkadurka]

I did not realize it would be taking off from X-Men: The End. For better or worse i read the entire thing. I thought it was a good What If/Elseworlds type of deal, and it certainly had an enormous cast, but i felt some parts were lacking.
However, it looks like i may get a payoff with this. That's actually put this a little higher up for me.

[SeamusMcClernan]

Originally Posted by SteveEkstrom

And there’s ‘No Name’—who, as the name implies, they know nothing about. He’s the team mystery.

"No Name" -- really??

[dcbill]

Isn't the M2 Universe already doing this?

[Lestat de Lioncourt]

Sweet! More Claremont! I've been waiting for this, and its Pat Scherberger on a bigger book! Love his art! I really enjoyed those The End mini so its hella cool that this is Claremont's sequel! And even cooler that the X-Meastro has the 'final' X-tales in publication!

[Tanjint]

Originally Posted by SeamusMcClernan

"No Name" -- really??

LMAO, I love being a comic geek.

-T

[Tomwaitsfan]

Might be worth checking out even though I really did not like that last run on Uncanny.

[NotAnIssue]

I'll give it a shot, because I always do for Claremont, but this just sounds really uninspired.

[darkness85]

Will check it out. Gambit alive? I thought he died in the end along with Rogue? I guess somehow he survived the explosion.

[PA_Kid]

I'm not one to usually bash Claremont, though I have found his recent stuff a little lackluster personally, but I just gotta say....

He had to make this a continuation of The End? He couldn't have sat down and actually mapped out loosly a fresh take where the characters aged normally?

Going that route makes me begin to understand all the people who bash him saying that he just has these specific characters and stories in mind and is determined to tell them no matter what book he gets put on.

[strong guy79]

I would be more inclined to follow this if this was taking place approx 10 years after Adj.-less X-Men #4 (or was it 5) - essentially the exact time when X-Men stopped being his title. That's actually what I thought he was doing when I first heard of (and voted for) this line.

Up until then you could roughly equate an almost real-time continuity to them leaving Cyke and his original students just entering their early-mid thirties (a little bit of a stretch) but still plausible for all their stories. After that everyone just sort of stopped developing until Morrison came along and pretty much redefined the new status quo, which i considered a sort of soft reboot anyways, with all the characters being regressed to their late twenties again.

Anyways i loved Morrison's run but grew up with Claremont's initial like 20 year run and would have liked to see where he was going from there.

But then again that was like 15 years ago so I guess I can't expect Marvel to make a series exclusively catering to the old people. But I hope he would use that as his base more than the later stories that he didn't really have much to do with.

[The Fool]

Isn't No-Name a girl?

How is it that Gambit and Rogue's son is the same age as Collosus' grandson?

[skaly]

Originally Posted by dcbill

Isn't the M2 Universe already doing this?

Yes. But I hope you're not implying that a story shouldn't be done just because something similar has been or is being done. Because, well, I can't help but notice there's an awful lot of superhero books out there...

[JoeZhang]

Today, Marvel releases GeNext #1 written by Claremont with artwork by Patrick Scherberger and cover art by Doug Gregory Alexander. GeNext #1 introduces readers to legacy of the X-Men 10 years after their near-destruction during the X-Men: The End storyline.

Isn't this a bit of a swizz? I don't seem to remember any mention of this when the ideas were put out to vote?

[RDFozz]

Originally Posted by The Fool

Isn't No-Name a girl?

How is it that Gambit and Rogue's son is the same age as Collosus' grandson?

From the article, I assume that Pavel's grandmother is the girl from the Savage Land that Colossus might have slept with back around (UNCANNY) X-MEN 115. Being from a fairly primitive culture, it might be quite normal to become a parent at the age of 13-14....

[Pauul]

Isn't No-Name a girl?

How is it that Gambit and Rogue's son is the same age as Collosus' grandson?

Because Kid Colossus was actually an adult in 'The End'. Also he exists as Peter Rasputin in current [616] continuity. He's probably only a little younger than Franklin Richards (however old that is). Therefore Pavel is the son of a much older character.

[I-Ching]

Mmm....I dunno...it looks interesting...but I have major Claremontophobia after his return runs to Uncanny or ANYTHING pertaining to the X universe after his initial leave. Sometimes you CAN'T go home again. I will always be a admirer and major fan of the classic Claremont X-Men but it confounds me how he's not able to recapture SOME of that magic. Does he need a strong editor? A creative partnership with his penciler? I dunno...the man is a comics legend and has misfired creatively too often lately...but I do so love this concept!

[BADunn]

It's about time Patrick Scherberger started getting some higher profile work. I was worried he was going to be stuck doing MA Spider-Man forever. I'm glad more people will be looking at his artwork now.

[GotReekstah?]

I love those costumes.

[Dragonzair]

Haha, I'm not usually a fan of stuff like this, but...the artwork's too damn pretty to ignore, and like someone else mentioned; those costumes are GORGEOUS.

Plus I'm interested to see whose kids are whose.

[Icecypher]

I'm so happy I put this on my pull-list! It looks good!

And I loved The End, so it is a nice thing this is a continuation.

From Remy's real origin to Xavi's and Aliyah's births, I wish more of the things in The End had made its way to 616...

Originally Posted by Pauul

Because Kid Colossus was actually an adult in 'The End'. Also he exists as Peter Rasputin in current [616] continuity. He's probably only a little younger than Franklin Richards (however old that is). Therefore Pavel is the son of a much older character.

Frank should be around 12 now.

Beware! Puberty about to hit. Ultra mutant powers reactivate!

[dcbill]

Originally Posted by skaly

Yes. But I hope you're not implying that a story shouldn't be done just because something similar has been or is being done. Because, well, I can't help but notice there's an awful lot of superhero books out there...

No, but I am wondering why it's being touted as A Brand New Concept (as opposed to A Brand New Day)

[santino]

Lovely art, but I'll be passing. I have not enjoyed Claremont's writing in a long long time, and I can't see myself buying this only for the art.