The Claremont Run

e391. Manga-101: Why is Manga? — The VoxPopcast It’s always weird and oddly exciting when we discover that we have a hole in the things we’ve covered one the show. And in fact, It’s actually quite surprising that…

My partner and I spent some time on the Voxpop podcast this week, talking about all things manga, and just a little bit Claremont... voxpopcast.com/wp/2025/10/0...

Chris Claremont (Biographix) Amazon.com: Chris Claremont (Biographix): 9781496859570: Deman, J. Andrew: Books

As an aside, Chapters 3 & 4 of the new book talk about the Mutant Massacre and subsequent X-spinoffs. It's a really cool piece of X-Men history. www.amazon.com/Chris-Clarem...

Kurt becomes a capable leader, a better fighter, and more willing to lean on others (it helps that Rachel and Kitty force him). Most importantly, though, Kurt is still a superhero, and that representation matters within the context of the disability metaphor. 9/9

At the point of Claremont’s departure, he has Kurt (and Kitty) still pursuing a slow recovery, but – more importantly – Kurt has learned how to live and excel with his injury, adjusting his approach to superheroism in accord with the demands of his embodied experience. 8/9

As with the others, Kurt’s super-injury comes with challenging mental side effects such as depression, frustration, and even suicidal ideation, allowing Claremont to portray a more humanist look at traumatic injury. 7/9

As with Kitty and Colossus, Kurt’s post-massacre disability is specifically centred on his superpowers (and thus supernatural/metaphorical). This further builds on earlier powers-based metaphors for disability seen in both Rogue and Storm. 6/9

More recently, x-scholars have explored perceiving mutanity itself as a metaphor for disability – something that might even be particularly apt for Kurt, who is unable to visibly pass in society the way his peers can. Famously, he rejects trying to pass and accepts who he is. 5/9

In contrast, media such as comics can be seen to, at times, reify ableist perspectives on traumatic injury by having the hero recover fully and and/or immediately, thus portraying disability as something that is antithetical to superheroism. There are, of course, exceptions. 4/9

Dr. Geoffrey Rheaume defines the field of CDS as such: “Critical disability studies view disability as both a lived reality in which the experiences of people with disabilities are central to interpreting their place in the world” 3/9

In UXM #212 from November of 1986, Nightcrawler suffers a catastrophic injury that leaves him without access to his usual power-set. In Excalibur #36 from 1991, just before C’s departure, Kurt is still struggling with the loss of his power and the cascading effects created. 2/9

When perceived through the lens of Critical Disability Studies, Nightcrawler’s ongoing struggle with a traumatic physical injury is rare in both its scope and depth, creating an important and humanizing representation of a disabled superhero. @GoshGollyWow
#xmen #nightcrawler 1/9

Thanks for letting me know. The press has informed me that my copies are on the way. Fingers-crossed!

Thank you. I still don't have my author copy yet. Press says it's on the way though. Excited to see it for myself!

Thank you!

Chris Claremont Chris Claremont (b. 1950) is best known for his landmark sixteen-year author run on Uncanny X-Men. This is the longest author run in Marvel Comics history, one that saw X-Men go from a title on the ve...

New book is officially out in the US! Canada next month (I still don't have a copy). You can find it at your usual online retailers or at www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/C/Chri.... #xmen #claremont #comicsstudies

Absolutely! I really enjoyed reading it against "Mad Love"

Chris Claremont Chris Claremont (b. 1950) is best known for his landmark sixteen-year author run on Uncanny X-Men. This is the longest author run in Marvel Comics history, one that saw X-Men go from a title on the ve...

I wrote a thing! www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/C/Chri...

YouTube video by Jonathon Deman The Toxic Relationship of Captain Britain & Meggan

Yuuuup. I actually did a video essay on this a few years back: youtu.be/XRY7WWh6sLM?...

Overall, then, Claremont weaves in enough complications to the Kurt/Meggan ship to provide the reader with some credible hesitation about the validity of the duo as the idealized alternative to Meggan/Captain Britain. 7/7

Also in the mix, however, is Kurt’s habit of delighting in performative fantasy. As someone who was raised on television, Meggan is uniquely capable of participating in those fantasies – perhaps even uniquely vulnerable to their charms and, by extension, Kurt’s. 6/7

There’s also a bit of power dynamic in the contrast to Brian. As a long-time outcast, Kurt luring the conventionally beautiful woman away from the conventionally beautiful Brian, could be seen as something of an ego trip for Kurt, an unfavorable reading, but worth noting. 5/7

On Meggan’s end, the same projection applies. She too had a tragic upbringing as an outcast “monster,” and could be working through self-esteem issues. Or we could go romantic with this and say that he’s teaching her to accept her monstrous beauty. 4/7

We also, of course, have to mention that when Meggan looks like Kurt, she’s incidentally taking on the appearance of Kurt’s biological mother as well. Kurt never knew Mystique in this capacity, as he was abandoned by her as an infant, but still. 3/7

The most commonly discussed complication is the simple fact that Meggan takes on Kurt’s shape when attracted to him. Thus, his attraction to her could be narcissistic in nature, a projection of his desire to be desirable, despite his atypical features. 2/7

Though presented as the saner option within Excalibur’s love triangle, Kurt’s infatuation with Meggan – and vice versa – presents a number of symbolic complications that undermine the simplistic nice guy/trophy girl dynamic that we often see in the era. #xmen #nightcrawler #excalibur
1/7

I definitely talked about it at some point. I think I saw Silvestri as the main turning point - he heavily altered her figure drawing.

I think the general tone of kids over their heads was one of the main distinctions. I think that worked really well with the brutality of TMNT in the early days.

Agreed!

Since the TMNT origin, Eastman & Laird - and all manner of later Turtles authors - have put their own stamp on these same themes that we see in New Mutants, creating (if nothing else) some intriguing opportunities for comparative analysis. 5/5

The extent to which Claremont’s work on New Mutants surfaces in Eastman and Laird’s original Turtles stories is hard to gauge, but the series does generate internal tension from hormonal teens, isolated from society together by mutation, dealing with big emotions. 4/5