1. Chris Claremont's X-Men
Speaking of franchisesChris Claremont knows a thing or two about franchises. Yes, it was Len Wein and Dave Cockrum who gave us the core of the all-new version of the Uncanny X-Men, but it was Chris Claremont who built the X-Men into what they are today, and have been for the past 20-plus years: Marvels money-spraying fire hose. Claremont was lucky enough to go on to work with the likes of John Byrne, whos no stranger to breathing new life into flatlining characters himself (see his 80s work on the Fantastic Four and Superman), and together they crafted one of the most memorable arcs in comics history with the Dark Phoenix Saga. They also brought us the lesser-known, but equally beloved Days of Future Past storyline, which probably wont stay lesser-known for long since its the blueprint for the next X-Men film. If that was all Claremont had accomplished, he would go down as a comics legend with his name remaining inextricably linked to Byrnes, but Claremonts handling of the comic and its ever-multiplying spin-offs continued to grow in popularity even after Byrnes departure. After the Dark Phoenix Saga the X-Men were number one by pulling in sales of over 300,000; by the time of Marvels dismissal of Claremont in the early 90s however (talk about not going home with the date who brought you to the dance), the latest X-title, the adjective-free X-Men, became the best-selling single issue of all time. Since then, with Claremont s template firmly in place and spin-offs and mini-series having become standard operating procedure for whatever hero or team is most popular at Marvel, it seems like theres never been less than 10 different X-titles in any given month. If it can be said that Marvel is the house that Stan and Jack built, its fair to say that Chris Claremont renovated and refurbished it.