Someone finally asked Chris Claremont about Professor X’s strangely sexy photo collection

There’s a lot to love in the 15 or so years Chris Claremont spent as the book’s lead author X Men franchise (with the Dark Phoenix Saga is perhaps the most obvious choice). There are also many unanswered questions from this time. Some of these are deep cuts in continuity that have since been retconned or ignored. Others involve deeper, more primal questions that have plagued fans of the franchise for decades.

For example: Why the hell did Cyclops send Professor X a post-coital photo from his honeymoon to Madelyn Pryor? Uncanny X-Men #178and who the hell took the photo anyway?!

Let’s take a closer look in case you missed it:

That’s strange, isn’t it? Claremont’s attack on the X-Men certainly never shied away from queer or BDSM undertones – but here is Scott Summers, former leader of the that he actually had sex on his honeymoon. That’s strange!

Over at AIPT News, comics journalist Chris Hassan recently had the opportunity to interview Claremont about his upcoming Wolverine miniseries. Wolverine: Madripoor Knightswhich celebrates the 50th anniversary of the hairy Canadian by re-exploring one iconic early collaboration between Claremont and Jim Lee. But Hassan also took the opportunity to address the elephantine, er, sexy photo in the room:

AIPT: Okay, finally, a fun question (I hope) and something I’ve seen X fans talking and wondering about for a long time. In Uncanny X-Men #178, Professor X opens a letter from Scott Summers, which contains a picture of Scott and Madelyne Pryor in bed on their honeymoon. The question I hope you can finally answer is: Who took this photo?

Claremont hesitates for a moment, remembering how he had actually intended for Cyclops to find a happy ending with Madelyn Pryor – before editorial demands led to the revelation that she was actually a clone of Jean Gray, created by Mr. Sinister specifically was created for breeding with the DNA of Cyclops.

In other words, he avoids the answer. But Hassan, like any good journalist, persists:

AIPT: But Chris, who took the photo?

Nevertheless, Claremont only somewhat complies with this initiative:

Have you never seen the first iteration of? Star Trek, where you have small communicators whose lids open and you can call anywhere? I mean, Scott could have plugged his super-secret X-Phone into the wall. It could have been the White Queen. They may have had an easy relationship. Maybe it was Mister Sinister just hanging around.

He then goes into why Professor’s telepathy

And so the biggest secret in the history of the X-Men remains obscure once again. Oh!

X-Men Monday #228 – Chris Claremont Talks “Wolverine: Madripoor Knights” [Chris Hassan / AIPT Comics]