PopCultureHOARD

Sanderson: Then let’s get on to the other original member, Jean. There is some criticism, as you are probably aware, that Jean could not have evolved from the character she was in the early issues to the character she became in your issues. Do you feel like becoming the Phoenix created that radical change in her personality or do you think she was becoming more independent and attractive before you made her Phoenix?

Claremont: First, Dave and I deliberately set out to make her more independent and attractive before we made her into Phoenix. I saw no reason why a young, intelligent, attractive, courageous, heroic young woman should look like a Republican frump. I told Dave, “let’s jazz her up” - visually jazz her up, changing her hairstyle, giving her slightly flashier clothes - and when he became attracted to her, he liked drawing her and we liked using her again. I told him to do something with her along the lines of what Neal did with the Sentinels story - big effects - which we did in #98, against the Sentinels. 

And partly because there was all this talk about Ms. Marvel, we felt some pressure to get rid of the Marvel Girl name…

Sanderson: Not to mention the fact that her name was “Girl”.