CBR: NYCC: Back to the Future with "X-Men Forever"

[CBR News]

Picking up directly from where his short-lived run on “X-Men” Volume 2 left off in 1991, Chris Claremont prepares to explore an improbable history with artist Tom Grummett in “X-Men Forever.”


Full article here (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19914).

[How 'Bout This Heat]

Lets hope its better then Avengers Forever and Batman Forever.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

If this is 1991. Neither Kitty nor Kurt should be here.

[Joe Franklin]

If this is 1991. Neither Kitty nor Kurt should be here.

Did you read the interview?

Claremont said it's late 2008, or early 2009.:wink:

[The Sword Is Drawn]

Did you read the interview?

Claremont said it's late 2008, or early 2009.:wink:

Answer is 'yes' I skim read and missed it. I have since been corrected.

If it's 2008/09 all is fine. :biggrin:

[Grapeweasel]

Is this what we got rid of a perfectly wonderful X-Men: First Class to make room for?

[Beast]

If this is 1991. Neither Kitty nor Kurt should be here.
Kitty and Kitty may have came back for Magneto's memorial.

And decided to stick around to hunt down Fabian Cortez, which is the first mission.

[Joe Franklin]

Is this what we got rid of a perfectly wonderful X-Men: First Class to make room for?

First Class got canned due to craptacular sales figures.:frown:

[DeadXMan]

so this is basicly What if ... Marvel backed CC instead of the Jim Lee?

I'm in.

the Fury/ Xavier combo seems interesting

[david r]

The Nicolaus Fury part interests me as well. A partnership between Xavier and Fury, perhaps? Obviously, I'm on this book from the get-go. It's the long I've long waited for.

[TNT138]

Claremont hasn't done anything of any interest in the last 20 years. The fact that he's going back to fix where the x-men went wrong years ago just shows how arrogant he really is. He had chances to do something with the x-men since 1991 and all we got was uninspired crap like "the neo" and "the twisted sisters". I truly wish Claremont would never touch an x-book again. He had such an amazing run on x-men YEARS ago and has since sullied it by writing overly wordy and simply boring crap.

[marvell2100]

Lets hope its better then Avengers Forever and Batman Forever.

You mean let's hope it's as good or better than Avengers Forever which was a great story. Batman Forever shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath.

[david r]

Claremont hasn't done anything of any interest in the last 20 years. The fact that he's going back to fix where the x-men went wrong years ago just shows how arrogant he really is. He had chances to do something with the x-men since 1991 and all we got was uninspired crap like "the neo" and "the twisted sisters". I truly wish Claremont would never touch an x-book again. He had such an amazing run on x-men YEARS ago and has since sullied it by writing overly wordy and simply boring crap.

Yes, but he also produced Schism, End of Greys, Mekanix and True Friends. And many other stories which there are fans of (End of History, X-Men: The End, Invasion, etc.) He has his good stories and bad stories, just like any other writer.

[Stephane Garrelie]

I'm very happy of the presence of Nick Fury too.
I hope Logan will be in the book.
Kitty & Kurt: No reason why they could not choose to leave Excalibur & stay with the team. i'm very happy to have them here.
The New Costumes: Will give to the serie it's own identity and will diferency it from the 90s stuff.
This is 2009 & this is Claremont & Grummett. :smile:

[david r]

I think it's obvious the first arc is a direct sequel to the Jim Lee X-Men #1-3. Which is why it's getting such a push. It seems the Muir Island Saga, Warskrull epic, will be less important. (Both of those stories immediately preceded X-Men #1-3.

Magneto detonates a nuclear bomb over Soviet Russia,and the world trembles. The repercussions could be huge, and fits in with the epic stories Claremont planned to tell in the 1990s.

[Hi-Fi]

The lack of Logan worries me. He should be there, being all Wolverine.

[Omega Alpha]

Lets hope its better then Avengers Forever and Batman Forever.

Even most of Claremont's stories in the 70's and 80's aren't as good as Avengers Forever (not that most weren't great, but Avengers Forever is absolutely brilliant), so, nah. It would be expect too much of any writer.

But, yeah, if isn't (much) better than Batman Forever, then it won't last, and it shouldn't.

[Petes Pants]

Just so we're clear, the stories take place right after X-Men #1-3 but as of now, Issues #1-3 took place in the present time. For all we know, in the next issue of Excalibur something crazy happened, causing the team to disband and leading to Kurt and Kitty's return to the States.

[david r]

The lack of Logan worries me. He should be there, being all Wolverine.

Chris Claremont has said two "mystery members" will be joining soon. I cannot believe Claremont would launch this book without mainstay Wolverine.

[Stephane Garrelie]

Absolutly like i said in my previous post, there's no reason why Kitty & Kurt couldn't choose to stay with the team. :tongue: :biggrin: :smile:
It's great to have them in the X-Men & writen by Claremont.

[TNT138]

what saddens me is that Magneto is again, already "dead" at the end of issue 3. So, I can't seem to hope for any good Magneto stories that aren't tainted by Joseph and Xorn mistakes.

[david r]

Claremont seems to be imposing his own "Dead is Dead" policy on himself. I'm reading his Uncanny X-Men run right now and it really does have a suspenseful, "anything can happen" feel to it. I think Claremont is trying to recapture that again.

Will Magneto stay away forever? I seriously doubt it. I know for a fact Claremont did NOT want to kill Magneto off in X-Men #3.

[Stephane Garrelie]

And if he can think of a great way to bring him back, then Magnus can be back.
He is dead, really dead, excepted if there's a really awesome story about him that comes to Chris' mind.

[Matt K]

This sounds interesting but burn me once shame on you and burn me twice shame on me. The End also sounded great (and CC picked up on the Bishop-Deathbird romace which I had enjoyed at the time) but in the end it was a horrid mess. And I have since learned that most of CC's work I absolutedly hate so this is a no go for me. However if it ends up being awesome and not just the same CC crap we've been seeing for the past while now I'll pick up the trades (I may also skim the series just to see if it's a trainwreck or not).

Kurt & Kitty would be okay if they were cameos since they had their own thing going at the time. However as perminent members I'd be a little pissed since they have teammates that are counting on them as well.

[CmX]

if there's a really awesome story about him that comes to Chris' mind.

Wow and how many has he had since the year 2000?

And you worded it correctly.. it sure is a "if" and will never be a "when". :)

[Petes Pants]

Kurt & Kitty would be okay if they were cameos since they had their own thing going at the time. However as perminent members I'd be a little pissed since they have teammates that are counting on them as well.

But...but you're still stuck in this timeline.

Why? I don't understand.

[marvell2100]

Could one of the mystery members be a time-displaced X-Man? Possibly Cable? Where is Storm going to be in this? Claremont should also let Emma play a role in this so that we could see the possible beginning stages of Scott and Emma's involvement. I'd rather see Wolverine make occassional appearances down the road instead of dominating another X-book. I like him and everything but let's focus on some other members.

[OrganicUrban]

I don't want to be the badass here, but Marvel hasn't announced anything new or interesting. Most of the things were already known.

And the big secret CC project is nothing we haven't seen already from him. Again a miniseries with characters in another timeline,....

I am very dissapointed this year.

Especially about the New Mutants. Those kids have been with the X-Men, X-Force and they are still called new mutants?

[Blade X]

And if he can think of a great way to bring him back, then Magnus can be back.
He is dead, really dead, excepted if there's a really awesome story about him that comes to Chris' mind.

Not to mention that Magneto has been "really dead" several times in the past, and always came back.

Maybe Fabian Cortez can somehow gain Magneto's powers and become the new Magneto.

[jarrod]

I could almost get behind something like this, but Grummett has seriously killed ANY interest on my part. People talk about Claremont being antiquated, samey and out of touch, and Marvel's handed him an artist that's sure to drive that impression home. That promo image looks terrible. It's New Exiles all over again.

If they really wanted to go for the retro-vibe, they should've snagged someone like Rick Leonardi or Paul Smith for the project imo. Or even gone higher profile with Alan Davis or JRJR. In any of those cases, you'd have a certified classic artist (with actual history with Claremont's X-Men), plus someone fully capable of delivering a narrative with modern sensibility despite being in this business decades. Grummett's visual isn't 2009 or even 1991, it hasn't really evolved since he started. And like John Byrne, I think his classic work generally looks better even. :/


The lack of Logan worries me. He should be there, being all Wolverine.
Dark Wolverine Saga setup?

[just another user]

I could almost get behind something like this, but Grummett has seriously killed ANY interest on my part. People talk about Claremont being antiquated, samey and out of touch, and Marvel's handed him an artist that's sure to drive that impression home. That promo image looks terrible. It's New Exiles all over again.

If they really wanted to go for the retro-vibe, they should've snagged someone like Rick Leonardi or Paul Smith for the project imo. Or even gone higher profile with Alan Davis or JRJR. In any of those cases, you'd have a certified classic artist (with actual history with Claremont's X-Men), plus someone fully capable of delivering a narrative with modern sensibility despite being in this business decades. Grummett's visual isn't 2009 or even 1991, it hasn't really evolved since he started. And like John Byrne, I think his classic work generally looks better even. :/


Yeah, I agree about the art. I don't think Marvel really considers this book a high priority. Shame, cos I think Leonardi, Smith or JRJR would cause CC to raise his game.

[david r]

Yeah, I agree about the art. I don't think Marvel really considers this book a high priority.

Is that why it's a bi-weekly?

[just another user]

Is that why it's a bi-weekly?

I wouldn't really want to speculate about the scheduling, because I have no idea how that works. But I would love this project to work. I get the feeling though that for Marvel, they aren't expecting it to be a huge seller, and therefor aren't assigning CC a major artist.

[Novaya Havoc]

Just so we're clear, the stories take place right after X-Men #1-3 but as of now, Issues #1-3 took place in the present time. For all we know, in the next issue of Excalibur something crazy happened, causing the team to disband and leading to Kurt and Kitty's return to the States.

Is this an actual CC quote? If so: LOLOLOLOLOL!

I bet CC will do some rull salty stuff, like have Storm murder the Black Panther, have Trevor Fitzroy kill Emma Frost, and have Lila Cheney become the Queen of England.

This is CC's personal therapy title, allowing him to hopefully get over years of justified abuse.

[Shaid O Gray]

Once I would've been really excited about this since I long listed CC leaving as when things started to go sour. I grew up on his stuff, and his word on the X-Men was law as far as I was concerned. Then the rest of 90's just drove that home. Except now...well, I haven't really enjoyed much of his work since the the Neo stuff. (Goawd what a mess that was). Even the best of X-treme was so-so. The End was an absolute atrocity....New Exiles just sorta was.....

I don't know, i WANT to be dexcited. I don't mind the art that much. It's 2 parts warmed-over-Byrne with 1 part sorta-Davis tossed in. Eh, I've seen worse. (Like Igor Kordey's work on Xtreme for example) But I have trouble believing anymore at this point.

And yeah where's Logan? He was very much a part of the time at the end of X-Men 3. (guess the basketball game that #4 opens with is out huh?:biggrin: )

Anyone wonder if Gambit will turn out to be the mary sue character of the mutant kid that also spawned Sinister as CC's original plan was? Kinda hope not. And I doubt it since CC has talked about that in interviews so much he probably knows it's unusable.

[AcesX1X]

listen, when i asked him about tessa's presence in the book, he responded back with "just remember...emma is still the white queen in this series."

oh??? what am i supposed to extrapolate from that?

i support your efforts CC! please don't let us down!

01100111011010010111011001100101001000000111010101 11001100100000011101000110010101110011011100110110 000100100001

[Joe Franklin]

Grummett's visual isn't 2009 or even 1991, it hasn't really evolved since he started. And like John Byrne, I think his classic work generally looks better even. :/


I agree. I prefer Grummett's early art as well. Same with Byrne.

Some over a decade old Grummett art from the early 90's Titans.

http://www.titanstower.com/assets/recroom/posters/GRUMMETposter.jpg

[Beast]

And yeah where's Logan? He was very much a part of the time at the end of X-Men 3. (guess the basketball game that #4 opens with is out huh?:biggrin: )
He's been mentioned by Jordan D. White in his interview on Marvel.Com.

And yeah, the game is definatly out. Book starts with Magneto's Memorial.

[Lightningboltjs]

I'd like to adress some of the Claremont critics here and throughout the Internet. I quit reading X-men after he left in 91, and I actually reading almost all comics after that. I dipped back occationally for AOA or something interesting, but when CC left the x-books became slaves to their own commercial success. They were never like that before, they were consistantly the most popular comic in America but they weren't being used to sell toys and cartoons and movies and there was a sense of excitement and evolution to the title. They've done a lot of gimmicky things like shoot Prof X in the head or Morison's millions of mutants concept etc but it's always undone shortly after, marvel making suckers out of any readers who bought the comics. Yeah Claremont's original run had restrictions too, he never could get editorial to let him kill off Xavier but it was no where near the mess it's been since then.

Here's the thing the critics never acknowledge when they snipe at Claremont, it's not that he's lost it, it's that the XMEN HAVE LOST IT. The books have grown too big to fail and therefor there is no sense of suspence or true character evolution to them. And I see time and time again the anti-Claremont Internet bias fly in to attack the guy whenever he does anything. This X-men forever is going to be an ongoing story where characters can actually change and die, why on earth would anyone chose to buy the main X-books where the storyline is ALWAYS going to be just a joke on the readers, where you KNOW that nothing real will every happen. This Claremont continuity will be the REAL XMEN. The post Claremont fans can have the rest of the x-books, they'll grow bored with them as they grow up I assure you.

Also, I know there are a LOT of Claremont fans out there who feel the same that I do. I encourage you to SPEAK OUT! And fight back against the silly BS of the Claremont critics. Go to a web site called X-men.net. It's run by a bunch of administrators who will literally kick you off the Web site if you try to debate the criticisms of Claremont. It's RIDICULOUS. And that's what he's up against. The X-men without Chris Claremont are like the Peanuts without Charles Shultz or the Muppets without Jim Henson [we actually know how bad the second one is but thankfully nobodies dared to try the first]. We have the benefit of CC actually being alive. Lets not let X-men Forever die an Internet assasinated death.

[JohnKalogerakos]

so sick excited for this book, it isn't even funny. I really think one of the worst injustices in comic's history was Claremont being run out of town, hopefully this will help make up for it.

[Lightningboltjs]

Good to hear it John. If you ever get a chance go on X-men.net and let them hear it to. If you saw how Claremont supporters are treated on that site you'd be disgusted.

[Excelsior]

Good to hear it John. If you ever get a chance go on X-men.net and let them hear it to. If you saw how Claremont supporters are treated on that site you'd be disgusted.

ohhh really. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Lightningboltjs]

Yep, if you stick up for Claremont on X-men.net and if you take any shots at the supposedly good X-writers since him like Morrison or Whedon [Evil twin sister! Angry danger room!] then I promise you will get blocked and banned from the site very quickly. I credit that Web site for getting Claremont pulled off Uncanny the second time around and frankly it might be responsible for the guy's heart problems. I encourage all Claremont fans to go there and let your voices be heard!!

[Grunty]

Did you read the interview?

Claremont said it's late 2008, or early 2009.:wink:

This only means that the backround setting is 2008-2009 but not that the story jumped 18 years later. It still takes place shortly after X-men 1-3.

[Tobias March]

Oh noes.....

On the other hand it's true that the many varying 'creative visions', that have been introduced into the X-Men book have its overall tone inconsistent.

So this return to the early 90's is meant to give it just that - a consistent storyline, a history intact from CC's start on the title until the present day.

But as it's been pointed out, it's not like he's not had a chance to do that with the main title before. Or indeed Exiles. Or Excalibur.