From: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Subject: Notes from a Claremont appearance
Reply-To: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 07:15:13 GMT

(Note the crossposting; if your followup is relevant to only one of
the groups, please limit it to that group.)

Chris Claremont had a signing at a local comics shop (Village Comics,
Bleeker St., New York) on Friday.  I thought I'd share with the net
some of the things he said.  (All the quotes are from memory, so I
can't be positive they're completely accurate.)

Firstly, some misc. issues he mentioned:

I showed him Scav's "Claremont Files," which he described as basically
accurate, though he didn't go into any detail.  

I asked whether, in "Debt of Honor," T'kir was meant to be Kirk's
daughter.  After some slight hemming and hawing, he admitted that in
fact she was.  I asked where Kirk and T'cel could have had any
opportunity to do anything, and he indicated page 23, pointing out
that there are large gaps of time missing from that page.  So I guess
that settles that question.  In fact, he commented that Jim Kirk
probably has more children scattered around the galaxy than Lobo...

I also asked about all the references to Emma Bull & co. in that GN,
and he said "they're old friends.  Do I need a better reason?"  He
also said that in-jokes should, ideally, not obscure a story for those
who don't get them, but they should enhance the enjoyment of those who
do.

(I forgot to ask about why T'cel's eyes changed color, though.  Anyone
someplace where he'll be soon care to ask about that?)

Secondly, a major theme of his comments (which will unify some of the
other specific issues he mentioned) is that he seems to be quite
cynical about the business side of comics these days.  "When you talk
to people on the corporate side as though comics were a business,
they say 'Hey!  This is COMICS!'  When you talk to them as though it
were about the stories, they say 'Hey, we're running a business
here.'"  He seemed somewhat bemused by my suggestion not to talk to
people on the corporate side...

Similarly, he said that it is impossible for any character to stay
dead in comics these days.  Characters are a corporate asset, and
having a character dead means that asset is being wasted.  So the
nature of the comics industry means that characters will not stay
dead, whatever happens.

In fact, the companies (and he was, of course, primarily talking about
Marvel here, though to a lesser extent DC as well) have no reason, as
companies, to produce a quality product if lower-quality products sell
just as well.  If people will buy the trash, why produce anything
better?

On that note, when I asked him if he'd go back to the X-books if
Harras left, he said he would if they "made him an offer he couldn't
refuse," but there's not any reason for them to do that if it would
not mean an increase in sales for them.  Thus, he didn't expect to be
going back to Marvel any time soon.  That's more-or-less what I
expected he'd say, but it's disappointing nonetheless.

Someone also asked him if he meant for Magneto to have died in his
last issue of X-men.  He replied that, for the reasons I described
before, there was no way that Marvel would actually keep him dead.
Magneto's death was meant to be a symbolic end, however, to
Claremont's characterization of Magneto, since he was sure that
whoever used the character after he left would ignore all the
characterization built up in the past, and return him to the classic
supervillain mode.  Thus, whatever Marvel does with Magneto in the
future, we can see X-men #3 as the death of Claremont's Magneto.

Some other notes: he mentioned some upcoming projects of his--he's got
an ALIENS vs. PREDATORS comic coming up, apparently, and it'll be
three female characters--"Thelma and Louise with Great Big Guns," he
described it.  He was, he claimed, "playing to his strengths" with the
female characters. Also, the third book of his Firstflight/Grounded 
trilogy (he mentioned the title, but I've forgotten it) should be
finished sometime before he dies.  I'm not so crazy about this series,
but I'll probably pick it up if I'm bored and not too poor...

That's all I remember of what he said--I think I summarized it all,
though if I remember any more, I'll post it.

--
Jonathan Lennox
jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu