Uncanny X-Men was not a popular comic book—until Chris Claremont made it one. In 1975, when Claremont took over writing Uncanny X-Men, the series had just been rebooted after a five-year hiatus due to poor sales. Claremont promptly assembled a new, multicultural team of Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, and Warpath, and began planting plot seeds he would reap for the next 17 years of his authorship.
One such seed was 1980’s “Dark Phoenix Saga,” which became one of the most salient stories comics have produced. Claremont took the original X-Men’s lone woman character, Jean Grey—formerly known as Marvel Girl—and introduced her to a cosmic bird of fire called the Phoenix. Together, Jean and the Phoenix saved the universe from a corrupt alien emperor—but afterwards, the Phoenix’s power overwhelmed Jean’s humanity and corrupted her.
With Dark Phoenix, Hollywood is making a second attempt at adapting Claremont’s story. Nearly 40 years after Claremont wrote the riveting tale, I got the chance to call him up and ask how the story has aged.
