(Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1): I think you are overselling it a bit, Claremont. I still insist Stan Lee did more characterization in one issue than you did in 5. Stan Lee made Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and Beast almost all immediately amazing and stand out characters. In issues #96 to #108, you only ever give any substantial development to Storm and Banshee! Your cyclops stories were rushed and your love of Jean Grey really doesn't come through. I think adding Moira MacTaggert to the backstory of Professor X was pretty clever, though. I'll grant you that one.
Still, his writing on this foreword is kind of nice. I do like the picture he paints of Marvel in the 1970s, the small company with only a few staffers. It's not a bad intro, although I still don't think Chris Claremont actually likes Jean Grey. If he did, he wouldn't change her character to become a goddess. He'd have made the original character Stan Lee and Roy Thomas created super interesting in her own right. But no, he couldn't be bothered to do that. He didn't care one iota, and I would challenge opposition to that claim.
PS: The o5 X-Men for life! Scott, Bobby, Hank, Warren and Jean are better than the new line-up by a mile! The o5 were actually a cohesive team, while these new guys have nothing in common and fight every other issue. I kept expecting the X-Men to break up, honestly. And I still think they should. They need to break up, if only to learn how valuable they are to each other. They don't have the heart of the o5!
