Chris Claremont's X-Men

Before I was old enought to wonder about how comics were made, two names were engraved in my subconcious by seeing them in many covers of my favourite comics: Stan Lee and Chris Claremont.

When I was a bit older I started collecting the X-men comics in order. Those days, internet was still just and idea, and I couldn't search any information about those names. I couldn't put a face on them. But even teenage me didn't have any doubt: Claremont was a genious. He was the first writer that called my attention, before that, I felt the drawings were the "cool thing" about comics (as any kid, I guess). This docummentary covers his career and influence, it reveals some of the company reasons why things happened the way they did, and some of the work process of many important moments in X-men history.

It's been years since I've picked an X-Men comic, but this documentary is an homage for a man that shaped some of the mythology of today's collective mind. He inspired many artists and influenced the way other people write comics and tell stories in general. He made people care about his characters as if they were not only real, but as if they were also close friends.

If you have read his work, you'll enjoy this film. If not. treat yourself to 200 or 300 of his comics, become friends with the X-Men, and then go and watch this.

The world would be different today if it wasn't for this guy. A big thanks to the people who brought us this docummentary.

I remember when Jim Lee came in and took the comic industry by storm. I never realized he was a negative influence until now. The current downward spiral of the industry can probably be traced back to this moment when Marvel went from being entertainment to profit-driven monstrosity.

If you don't know who Chris Claremont is, then this documentary will give you an overview of why his work was so important to the X-Men characters that became a phenomenal comics success, and later cartoons, movies, and TV shows.

If you do, you'll be happy to see the first person accounts of the stories of why and how the Phoenix Saga ending was changed on Jim Shooter's demand, both from Shooter and Claremont.

There are some serious omissions, however. Dave Cockrum has passed away, so obviously he could not be contacted, but John Byrne, whose contributions were just as important (and arguably more so) as Louis Simonson's does not appear, and it mentioned mostly in passing. The documentary gives the impression that Claremont, Nocenti, and Simonson did the series, with some of the artists making contributions, which is a slight to Byrne's essential role in the early years.

Bob Harris, who shifted the direction of the book to the corporate mandated direction, is also only mentioned in passing and never seen.

Those lapses notwithstanding, this movie gives a good and fairly honest accounting of the early years of Claremont's career on the X-Men, and how it turned into a cultural juggernaut. Claremont didn't do it alone, but he was certainly a (if not the) driving force behind it all.

But it's less a documentary than an evening with friends. Most of the movie is just Chris, Anne, and Louise on a couch reminiscing about the good old days with someone filming them. There are other pieces with Shooter, Liefeld, and some others, but for the most part, it's just the kind of after dinner conversation you'd have with friends.

If you know who these people are from the books, you'll find it very interesting; I'm not sure how much general appeal it has.

As a documentary, there's not much to it. It could be a film school project; mostly it's just a static camera filming people telling their story to the camera (like Jim Shooter), or with each other (Claremont sitting on a couch with Anne Nocenti and Louise Simonson).

There aren't any revelations here; everything mentioned has appeared in print, been told at conventions, or otherwise over the years. But for those unfamiliar with it, it's a concise summary of the creation of the X-Men phenomenon, told by (most of) the people most responsible for it.

Seeing Chris Claremont talking with Ann Nocenti and Louise Simonson is the highlight of the film. I just wish it were a bit longer and talked to others like John Byrne and Jim Lee.

An interview with Claremont and pals, a look at some key events in the book's life, and a brief talk about the phenomenon that arose from his work, but not much more than that. It might have been nice to go a little deeper into major plotlines or themes, maybe talk about the conflicts at the office a little more, anything to pad the run time out with more interesting stuff. As it is, it's fine, brief, but fine.