Chris Claremont Anniversary Special delayed to 2021 after writer breaks his hand

Chris Claremont Anniversary Special #1
(Image credit: Bill Sienkiewicz (Marvel Comics))

This week's planned Chris Claremont Anniversary Special #1 has been postponed four weeks, into 2021. The anthology special is in celebration of Claremont's 50th anniversary of his career at Marvel.

The Chris Claremont Anniversary Special #1 is now scheduled to go on sale on January 13, 2021. While the publisher didn't disclose the reason for the delay, Claremont did break his left hand in early November.

(Image credit: Salvador Larroca (Marvel Comics))

"Celebrate Chris Claremont's enormous impact on your favorite Marvel comics of the past five decades with an all-new story!" reads Marvel's solicitation for the special. "Dani Moonstar is drafted for a mission across time and space for an incredible psychic showdown against the Shadow King—joining forces with characters created and defined by the pen of Chris Claremont!"

Claremont began at Marvel in 1970 as a 'gofer'/editorial assistant and made his debut as a writer three years later.

The 40-page special will have four stories, drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz, Sean Chen, Diego Olortegui, and Brett Booth - with lettering by Tom Orzechowski.

"Uncanny X-Men was where it all began for me as a young fan, and it's an honor for everyone here at Marvel to celebrate Chris Claremont's 50th Anniversary as a writer with us!" editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski said when the one-shot was announced. 

"In this special, Chris masterfully weaves an all-new story that takes us down memory lane and revisits many of the fan-favorite characters he's helped create over the years, re-teaming him with some of the classic artists he's collaborated with. With a few surprises along the way!"

Check out our list of the best X-Men stories of all time - Chris Claremont wrote many of them!

Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)