10 Best X-Men Comics From Its Most Legendary Writer

Posted on November 25, 2025

by Eric S

Typically, with superheroes, before they get to the iconic, fully formed versions we know and love today, the characters go through decades of molding and refining by countless creators, each helping to shape the mythos in their own way. Occasionally, you have a superhero franchise in which nearly every major and lasting component was the result of a single individual. While Chris Claremont, who turns 75 this week, did not create the X-Men (that would be Jack Kirby and Stan Lee), his contributions during his 20-year stint on the book would basically shape every X-Men-related comic, movie, video, and novel thereafter.

Starting his career with Daredevil and Iron Fist at Marvel in the early '70s, Claremont took over Uncanny X-Men with issue #94 in 1975—right after Len Wein and Dave Cockrum's iconic Giant-Size X-Men #1. At the time, X-Men was on the verge of cancellation, having been reduced to old story reprints and a bimonthly shipping schedule. Claremont quickly set to work on making it one of the highest-selling comics of the era. He wrote influential storylines like "The Dark Phoenix Saga," "Days of Future Past," "Fall of the Mutants," and the Wolverine miniseries, but also co-created X-Men mainstays like Rogue, Shadowcat, Mystique, Sabretooth, Gambit, and Mister Sinister—among countless others. A key to Claremont's success was his approach to writing characters. Nearly everyone on the page had a complex internal life and a level of emotional depth that was rare in '70s superhero books. Readers got to experience characters with doubts and insecurities—which is to say, characters who were relatable.

Today, Claremont still writes the sporadic miniseries here and there, but his two-decade run on Uncanny X-Men still looms large over not only Marvel comics, but the entire comic book industry.

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