Classic X-Men #7

History

Classic X-Men launched in August 1986 as a deliberate value-add reprint series, not merely reprinting the 'All-New, All-Different' era X-Men stories but augmenting them with new pages and, across the first 44 issues, entirely new backup stories written primarily by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Bolton. Issue #7 (cover-dated March 1987, released December 1986) reprints Uncanny X-Men #99 — the Sentinel space-station chapter of the 'Deathstar Rising' arc — with three new pages by artist James Sherman inserted to bridge continuity. The backup, 'Out with the Old,' was written by Claremont and illustrated by Bolton, who served as the series' signature backup artist; editors Ann Nocenti and Terry Kavanagh oversaw the issue. The cover was produced by Arthur Adams and P. Craig Russell, consistent with the premium presentation Marvel gave the series' first sixteen issues.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Lourdes Chantel: a mutant teleporter and lover of Sebastian Shaw, created by Chris Claremont and John Bolton, debuting in the backup story 'Out with the Old.'
• The backup story provides the first dramatized origin of Sebastian Shaw's takeover of the Hellfire Club — depicting how Ned Buckman's Sentinel attack on Shaw's allies, and Lourdes's apparent death, drove Shaw to execute a coup and install himself as Black King alongside Emma Frost as White Queen.
• The issue reprints Uncanny X-Men #99 ('Deathstar, Rising!') with three newly interpolated pages penciled by James Sherman and inked by Joe Rubinstein, scripted by Chris Claremont to update continuity.
• Other Hellfire Club characters present in the backup include Emma Frost, Harry Leland, Tessa, White King Ned Buckman, and White Queen Paris Seville — several of them dying in the same story.
• Claremont modeled Lourdes Chantel on Lourdes Ortiz, his translator at the 1985 Barcelona Comics Convention — a characteristic real-world nod common throughout his X-Men run.
• The issue's cover was produced by Arthur Adams and P. Craig Russell (front) and John Bolton (back), maintaining the high-quality presentation of the series' early phase.
• The material collected in this issue — including the backup — was later reprinted in X-Men Classic: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2018) and the X-Men Classic Omnibus (2017), keeping the backup stories in print.
• Lourdes Chantel returned to active Marvel continuity in 2021's Marauders #22 (the Krakoa era), more than three decades after her debut in this backup, with Marvel reprinting the Classic X-Men #7 backup inside that issue as a historical reference.

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