The Best
1. Chris Claremont
I dont think there is a single X-fan who will be surprised by this choice. In the introduction, I said that the X-Men went from a low-selling title to one of Marvels biggest franchises, and that can all be traced to the efforts of one man: Chris Claremont. In 1975, Claremont, who at that time had been a young writer fresh out of college, was quite enthusiastic about the All-New, All-Different X-Men team formed by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (marking the introduction of now-classic characters Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus). Noting his enthusiasm, Wein gave Claremont the sagging title, because there would be no objections from other writers due to the books poor standing. Claremonts approach to the X-Men was nothing short of groundbreaking, not only for that book, but for superhero comics as a whole. His complex plot structures and vivid characterization became a staple of the X-Men and the approach has been mimicked by virtually every comic writer since. While the concept of mutants acting as stand-ins for various minorities was introduced by Stan Lee, it was Claremont who really developed the concept. Religious oppression of minorities took form in the seminal story, God Loves Man Kills (and the basis for the movie X2). He created the African nation of Genosha to act as an allegory for both slavery and apartheid. Claremont even looked to popular films at the time as a basis for many stories, such as Star Wars serving as inspiration for the Phoenix Saga and Alien inspiring the creation of the alien race called the Brood. Although Claremont didnt create all the X-Men, he developed them into their recognized forms. He also created scores of new characters. Famous X-Men characters Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Gambit, Emma Frost, Psylocke, Jubilee, Mystique, Sabretooth, and many, many more all sprung from Claremonts mind. Over the course of his seventeen-year run, Claremont took the X-Men through numerous incarnations and different takes, with an ever-changing roster of colorful characters. Many cite Claremonts seminal run with artist and co-plotter John Byrne as being the definitive period for the X-Men, a collaboration that brought two of the greatest X-Men stories ever, The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past (soon to be adapted as a movie). But that run only lasted for around four years, whereas Claremont remained as writer for close to two decades. He helped turn the X-Men into a franchise, writing initial spin-off books like The New Mutants, Wolverine, and Excalibur. Now that weve looked at the best, its time to have a look at the worst