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This book celebrates Claremont’s fifty years-plus as a writer at Marvel, and the publisher has decided to spice the whole thing up by adding in a rare Claremont story that was once only available in an out of print hardcover called Marvel Made Paragon Collection: Chris Claremont.
“Revisit the nightmarish world of tomorrow that is Days of Future Past in a revelatory prelude by the legendary scribe and illustrated by his X-TREME X-MEN collaborator, Salvador Larroca! Discover at last how the surviving X-Men saved one of their own, Rachel Summers, from her torment as a Hound – and find out which surprising faces had a vital part to play in the mutant resistance! Presented alongside the original saga in which Claremont and John Byrne unveiled their darkly dystopian vision of the future Marvel Universe – where Sentinels stalk the Earth, and the X-Men are humanity’s only hope…until they die! The giant-sized one-shot will also include bonus materials celebrating Chris Claremont’s fifty-plus years in comics!” Marvel said of the release. They also gave readers this first look at the comic, with a cover from Salvador Larocca.
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Chris Claremont’s first stint writing the X-Men lasted over seventeen years and spanned from issue #94 to #279. Claremont’s importance to the history of the X-Men can’t be understated, nor can that of “Days of Future Past”. This story was the one that popularized dark futures in comics, and its role in the X-Men mythos has paid dividends. At first, the dark future of the story, one thought to be caused by the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly, was one of many possible futures. However, Claremont slowly but surely built the future of “Days of Future Past” to be the actual future of the X-Men, with the ascendance of the Sentinels as rulers of humanity becoming a foregone conclusion. While the X-Men have moved away from the exact future of “Days of Future Past”, it’s still inspired every possible X-Men future there is.
Marvel paying homage to Claremont is honestly long overdue as well. Claremont gave Marvel its bestselling comic of all time, X-Men (Vol. 2) #1, and took the X-Men to the tops of the sales charts. Stories like “The Dark Phoenix Saga”, “Days of Future Past”, “Mutant Massacre”, “Fall of the Mutants”, “Inferno”, and more all made the X-Men into something special and changed the Marvel Universe forever. Claremont played a huge role in the maturation of Marvel alongside creators like John Byrne, Frank Miller, the Simonsons, Ann Nocenti, J.M. DeMatteis, Peter David, and more. He’s a huge icon, and while most people think of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” as his best story, “Days of Future Past” is almost as important to the Marvel Universe. Giving readers a chance to get another Claremont written installment of the story, allowing fans who didn’t get to experience it in 2020 the chance to finally get their hands on it, is a great way to remind readers of just how important to the X-Men Claremont was.
Chris Claremont: Prelude to Future Past is on sale July 2, 2025.
