Chris Claremont: Where to Start, a Reading Order

Sixteen years of Uncanny X-Men, two hundred issues, subplots that unfold over years: Chris Claremont's run impresses as much as it intimidates. Many readers jump aboard a moving train and get lost. Yet this body of work reads very well in episodes, provided you choose the right entry points and accept that you won't understand everything from the first page.

As always on this guide, only verified information (creators, issues, dates) is stated as fact; the analysis is our own, with no reproduction of protected pages or dialogue.

This guide does not retrace the career: the article the story of Chris Claremont already does that, from London to the Captain Britain anniversary. Here we ask a different question: where to enter, in what order to move forward, and in what form to buy. The path is designed for a reader who knows the X-Men from films or animated series and wants to move to paper without reading two hundred issues in a row. It follows a gradation: first the closed arcs, which you understand without knowing the team, then the episodes that require context, and finally the end-of-run years, where the series' memory becomes indispensable.

Step 1: the Dark Phoenix Saga, Uncanny X-Men #129 to 138

This is the most natural entry, because it is a story with a beginning and an end, drawn by John Byrne. The arc covers issues 129 to 138, published in 1980. Jean Grey, possessed by a cosmic power, becomes a threat to those who love her; the double-length issue 137 forms its peak. Issue 129 also introduces Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost, which makes it one of the most sought-after single issues of the period.

What makes this arc ideal for a first contact is that Claremont sums up his strengths there without hiding the flaws: supporting characters who truly exist, a serialized rhythm, but also very written pages, with a lot of text by current standards. If this prose hooks you, the rest of the body of work will be accessible. If it wears you out, better to know right away.

For the details of the issues that matter in this arc, we refer you to the article on the key issues of the Dark Phoenix Saga, which places each single issue in its collecting context. Level of effort: low to medium. Ten issues can be read in one or two evenings.

Step 2: Days of Future Past, issues 141 and 142

Only two issues, dated January and February 1981, again with Byrne. The story sends a heroine into the past to prevent a future where mutants are hunted. It reads almost like a short story: a situation, a stake, a resolution, with a minimum of prior knowledge. That is why it works so well read in isolation, and why it could inspire screen adaptations, in forms very different from the original.

What sets it apart from the previous saga: the tone. Claremont writes there without sentimental emphasis, with action scenes led by characters who have almost nothing to lose. Byrne's art, drier than in the Phoenix arc, gives the future its hardness. If you want to understand what the author can do in a few pages, this is the example to choose.

Level of effort: low. The step fits in half an hour. It works as a reward after the first, and makes you want to move on to the next. To spot the series' other important single issues before buying, consult the X-Men key issues page.

Step 3: the standalone stories of 1982, Wolverine and God Loves, Man Kills

In 1982, Claremont writes two projects that can be read without knowing the parent series. The first is the four-issue Wolverine miniseries, drawn by Frank Miller: an adventure in Japan that establishes the character outside the group and shows him as a man torn between duty and savagery. The second is God Loves, Man Kills, a graphic novel drawn by Brent Anderson, which deals with religious intolerance toward mutants.

These two books have a particular reading value. They prove that the author can write outside the serial, with a closed structure, and that is a good way to appreciate his themes without committing to a whole series. Wolverine earns his stature as a lead character there, which partly explains the place he will occupy in the franchise afterward.

Level of effort: low. These are short objects, often reissued together, and reading them requires no preparation. This step is therefore more accessible than the fourth, even though it comes later in the chronology. We placed it here so that the reader has sampled several registers before going back toward the beginnings.

Step 4: the start of the run, Uncanny X-Men #94 to 107 with Dave Cockrum

Time to go back to the origins of the run. Claremont takes over the series at issue 94, in 1975, after the new team launched in Giant-Size X-Men #1. Dave Cockrum draws, and the period prepares everything that will follow: Moira MacTaggert appears in issue 96, Lilandra in 97, then Jean Grey transforms into Phoenix in issue 101. Byrne arrives starting with issue 108.

This stretch is less spectacular than the previous ones, but it explains the relationships between characters. You see Claremont building the team by working on the quarrels, friendships and grudges. To understand why the Dark Phoenix Saga hits so hard, you have to have read what precedes it. Giant-Size X-Men #1, which launches this team, is not a Claremont issue: it should not be confused with the start of his run.

Even before the X-Men, Claremont had written Iron Fist in Marvel Premiere with Byrne, then in the character's own series, where Sabretooth appears. If curiosity strikes, this step is the right time to take a look: you see the duo forming.

Level of effort: medium. About fifteen issues, with plots that carry over from one to the next. Read them in order, because the subplots begin here.

Step 5: the spin-off series, New Mutants and Excalibur

Claremont did not limit himself to Uncanny X-Men. In late 1982, the graphic novel New Mutants presents a team of teenagers, and the regular series starts in March 1983. It takes a sharp turn from issue 18, when Bill Sienkiewicz takes over the art for the Demon Bear saga, which occupies issues 18 to 21. The pages become more experimental, and the series takes on a gothic color that the X-Men did not have.

Excalibur, launched in 1988 with Alan Davis, goes in the opposite direction: a British team, humor, dimensional travel. The series bears the mark of the author's childhood in London, and it is the lightest of his great creations. For those who prefer adventure to tragedy, it is perhaps the best way into his entire body of work.

These series can be read separately, but they regularly cross over with the main title. If you choose to follow them, keep a list of the issues that answer one another, otherwise you will lose the thread. Level of effort: medium to high, because you have to keep several series going in parallel.

These titles also let you see what Claremont does outside the flagship series. It is the best way to understand how he builds his secondary characters, who later become figures of the franchise.

Step 6: the end of the run, from issue 200 to the 1991 X-Men #1

The last step requires having absorbed a lot. Issue 200 of Uncanny X-Men, in 1986, stages the trial of Magneto; it assumes you know that character and his relationship with the team. Gambit appears in issue 266, in 1990. The run ends at issue 279, in 1991, after sixteen years. In between, the series changed artists, tone and rhythm.

The end point is X-Men #1, published in 1991 with Jim Lee. Claremont writes it, and the issue, released with several covers, remains certified as the best-selling comic in history. He leaves the series shortly after, which gives this step the flavor of the end of a cycle. Reading this issue after everything else lets you measure the road traveled, from the international team of 1975 to the editorial machine of 1991. For an overview of the franchise, the ranking of the best X-Men runs places Claremont among his successors.

Level of effort: high. This stretch demands patience, and we recommend it only after reading the five previous steps. Readers who take it first often judge the author poorly, because they arrive in the middle of subplots whose origin they do not know.

How to read: single issues or collected editions

For a run of this length, the collected edition almost always wins out. Uncanny X-Men single issues are numerous and their prices vary widely from one issue to another: a few, like the issues introducing characters, are highly sought after, while most remain affordable. Buying all two hundred issues as originals is a multi-year undertaking, justified only if you collect the object.

Large-format collections, reprinting several dozen issues in order, offer the best reading experience. The article on omnibus editions versus original single issues compares these options. Smaller editions, in regular volumes, suit a step-by-step path like this one: one volume for the Dark Phoenix Saga, another for the start with Cockrum.

Our recommended strategy: read the whole path in collected editions, then buy original single issues only for the numbers that struck you. This approach separates the pleasure of reading from the pleasure of owning, and limits unnecessary spending. If you hesitate over the condition of a copy, look closely at the spine, corners and staples, which give away a single issue far better than the cover does.

Recap: the recommended order

1. Dark Phoenix Saga: Uncanny X-Men #129 to 138, with Byrne. Low to medium effort.
2. Days of Future Past: #141 and 142. Low effort.
3. 1982 stories: the Wolverine miniseries with Miller and God Loves, Man Kills. Low effort.
4. The beginnings: #94 to 107 with Cockrum, and optionally the Iron Fist issues with Byrne. Medium effort.
5. The spin-offs: New Mutants (including the Demon Bear saga) and Excalibur. Medium to high effort.
6. The end of the run: issue 200, Gambit in 266, X-Men #1 from 1991. High effort.

If you have to limit yourself to two reads, take steps 1 and 2: they give the measure of the author in a dozen issues. If you like it, continue in order; otherwise, try Excalibur, which shows a lighter Claremont.

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