More "Comics Creators On X-Men" (Titan Books - 2006)...

From the Louise Simonson chapter -- 

Do you know why John Byrne left X-Men?

Louise Simonson: I think it really came down to struggle for control. John wanted to control X-Men and Chris wanted to control X-Men. It was my job to mediate between the two. They were doing such a wonderful job, but John and Chris couldn't seem to share the creative process. John wanted to be in charge and I couldn't let that happen because I thought Chris was very important to the book. Sure, I disagreed with Chris on occasion, but on balance there was more instances, plot-wise, where John wanted to do something and Chris wanted to do something and I thought Chris had the better idea. I think John was not happy with this and had his own vision. So, at that point, John left and did a book where he could be in complete control, which was Fantastic Four. He could write and draw it all by himself. I think he made the right choice.

How did you feel when he quit?

Louise Simonson: I thought, 'Oh my God, I've broken X-Men. I've been given this perfect gem of a book and I broke it. I have allowed John Byrne to go away.' I was just completely appalled. I loved John's stuff and I liked John personally. I was really unhappy about the split between the two creators, but I do think it was inevitable.

Louise Simonson: I think it really came down to struggle for control. John wanted to control X-Men and Chris wanted to control X-Men. It was my job to mediate between the two. They were doing such a wonderful job, but John and Chris couldn't seem to share the creative process. John wanted to be in charge and I couldn't let that happen because I thought Chris was very important to the book. Sure, I disagreed with Chris on occasion, but on balance there was more instances, plot-wise, where John wanted to do something and Chris wanted to do something and I thought Chris had the better idea. I think John was not happy with this and had his own vision.

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Not even close to true.

I left, as I have stated many, many, MANY times, because I finally hit the end of my rope when it came to Chris and me (and sometimes Chris on his own, and sometimes me on my own) plotting out very specific scenes for very specific purposes in advancing the story, then seeing the finished issue and finding Chris had scripted the scene as something else entirely.

Shooter, at one point, had offered me script approval -- I would be sent a copy of Chris' script to "edit" before it went to the letterer -- but that sounded like too much extra work, especially since I would be expected to do it gratis. So, since I was already set to write the FF, with Bill continuing to pencil, when Bill decided to go with Doug over to MOON KNIGHT, I decided to pencil FF, too.

There was never so much as a single instance of me wanting to do something, Chris wanting to do something else, and Weezie choosing Chris' idea over mine.

You have always been very clear with your reasons for leaving the X-Men, JB. You've always given a consistant answer for moving on. Your interviews in the 80's state the same reasons you state today.

Louise Simonson seems to be a bit off on the facts -- and Claremont doesn't seem to have a clue!...... 

"Comics Creators On X-Men" (Titan Books - 2006)...

When you and John Byrne first took over X-Men, you mentioned you guys had a good rapport going there. What happened?

Chris Claremont: Honestly, I don't know. I do not know what the hell happened to this day. John got royally pissed off at me, but never told me why -- directly or indirectly. We had a good synergy with Roger Stern as editor. Less so with Jim Salicrup. When Louise Jones/Simonson came in as editor, I guess he figured that she was more simpatico with me and that's when he decided to move on. You'll have to read John's autobiography to find out what pissed him off. I just know that it was so major that the last thirty years haven't smoothed things out between us. I think he always felt that he was the one who was actually plotting the book, but I wasn't giving him credit for it. I just figured it was a collaboration. The line of division between aspects of contribution was hard to separate, especially when you're talking about a relationship that was as freewheeling as they were in those days. Sometimes I would look at a sketch and say, 'Hey, that's a great character. Why don't we make something out of it? I got this idea where you could blah-blah-blah.' The next thing you know, you've got a twelve-part epic. 

JB: They asked Weezi why I left. They asked Chris why I left. Is there anywhere in this book where they asked ME why I left?

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Yes, they did...

Why did you leave X-Men at that point?

John Byrne: I know exactly why. Chris and I were getting further and further apart on who the characters were, and what the characters were about. When Roger Stern was our editor, he worked closely with Chris, to make sure the stories came out as close to what Chris and I plotted as possible. Jim Salicrup, who replaced Roger, sort of leaned in my camp. Then Louise Simonson came in as the editor and she came from the school of thought that says the writer is the important guy. All of a sudden, I had no power. I started to develop what I call my 'Argh' moment -- which is, 'How deep can I delve into this issue before I hit something that makes me go, "Argh!"?' There was one particular issue [X-Men #140] where Colossus is pulling a tree trunk out of the ground with a chain on the splash page, and I went, 'Argh!' right on the splash page because of the way Chris wrote it. I said, 'Okay, this is obviously telling me it's time to go.' There was also a little piece off to one side where Chris and I had argued a great deal about who the characters were and how the characters act, and what they say and what they do and I realised that the Chris version of the characters was what was seeing print. They way Chris wrote it was what was seeing print, regardless of what I thought it was in my head while I was drawing the pages. So if I didn't like what Chris was doing, that meant I didn't like the characters. So when I hit that 'Argh' moment, I basically picked up the phone and called Louise and said, 'I can't do this any more.' I was originally going to stay on for another couple of issues, but ultimately I didn't. The characters deserved better than for me to turn in what was going to be a whole lost less than my best work. So I just left.

Ever wonder why Wolverine became a Samurai? Because Frank Miller thought Logan was dull...

More "Comics Creators On X-Men" (Titan Books - 2006)...

What is the secret origin behind the Wolverine limited series that you did with Frank Miller?

Chris Claremont: Frank Miller thought Wolverine was an incredibly dull character and didn't want to have anything to do with him. He had absolutely no interest in drawing a story about a berserk psycho killer. The two of us got stuck in traffic on the way to Los Angeles after a San Diego Comiccon. Border Patrol was doing searches and the traffic was backed up almost thirty miles. We were there for around two hours, just creeping along. Since we had nothing else to do, we started talking about Wolverine, about who he is and why he is. The conversation ranged over Samurai pictures and manga and all of the things we were enjoying at the time. During the course of the discussion, we basically started building the story. This is one of the rare occasions where a story evolved out of the character, rather than the plot.

••

Odd recollection, since the Samuari elements were first hinted at during the X-Men's trip to Japan while I was on the book. (Chris and I had both read SHOGUN!)

Also, Frank and I used to talk all the time, in those days. At least twice a week. And he had often expressed a fascination with Wolverine -- precisely BECAUSE he was a "berserk psycho killer". Frank loved it when I described what I thought was the "perfect" Wolverine scene -- wherein he casually disembowels Kitty because she happens to say "Good morning" in JUST the wrong tone of voice, while he's eating breakfast.

As to story evolving out of character --- that was where I ALWAYS started. One of the reasons I left the book was that I was tired of important character moments being lost as Chris wrote something else entirely. Cyclops-the-Big-Jerk was born mostly out of this kind of mishandling of scenes.

My X-commission is framed! YooHoo!!!