MID-OHIO-CON: CHRIS CLAREMONT

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Switching time zones and a very long walk from the hotel to the convention center made Chris Claremont tardy for his panel at Mid-Ohio-Con on Saturday.

"Like all comics writers, I'm a little late," he joked in greeting the audience.

Claremont made up for his tardiness by extending the length of his panel, answering questions for more than an hour and previewing his upcoming projects.

Following are highlights:

* Claremont noted that the last time he had been through Ohio you could fill up a 22-gallon tank for "five and a half bucks."

* Claremont said he's still writing mutants. "I keep trying to move onto Avengers or Justice League, but they keep pulling me back in," he said. "Oddly enough, it's been fun."

* Claremont said he's attempted some other projects recently and hopes that the Big Hero Six mini-series will evolve into an ongoing series.

On his exclusive with Marvel: "I have two kids, Marvel has a health plan and they pay a lot more." Claremont said he had pitched a 15-book concept for ways to remake DC Universe to DC executive editor Dan DiDio, and then DiDio hired Grant Morrison.

* Claremont said he adapts his writing techniques to the artistic talent. Working with Tom Grummett for New Exiles, he said he works with plots, but for Big Hero Six and GeNext, he wrote full scripts.

* Claremont said New Exiles will adapt a format of an "A" story of 15 pages and a "B" story of seven pages.

* Claremont noted that a year's worth of stories today would probably fit into one issue of a Stan Lee story from the 1960s.

* Claremont called the success of X-Men "a case of synchroncity," recalling accepting Len Wein's invitation to write the then-bi-monthly book. "You never know what purely random decisions will have ramificatons undreamed of," he said.

* Claremont said he would like to work with X-Treme X-Men artist Salvador Larroca again, but "he's on an Avengers track."

* Claremont talked about his titles being away "from the Marvel center" and he doesn't have to worry about events like Secret Invasion. "Skrulls were boring in 1964. They were boring in 1969," he said, noting time hasn't served them well.

* Claremont said the challenge in writing GeNext is that he literally had to reinvent the Marvel Universe -- in five issues.

* Claremont noted there is a large growth in young adult novels, with writers seeking to create the next Harry Potter. "But that market isn't reading comics," he said.

* Claremont said his advice to writers is that it's not what the writer tells the reader, it's what the writer tells the artist. "If you watch a blockbuster film, the writer doesn't get top billing," he said. "Michael Bay gets the top billing. The director gets the top billing."

* Claremont talked about his French graphic novel, Wanderers Book 1: The Winter King, a 46-page creator-owned book that will be released this month from Panini and Soleil. He said the story picks up from The Once and Future King and involves the next 20 years of history.

"It's historical fantasy. It's the last day of the age of magic and the beginning of the days of reasoned humanity," he said. "The premise is what if the legend of Arthur left out some important things."

Phil Briones, who drew Marvel's White Tiger mini-series, did the art. Claremont said the book's coloring "is just breathtaking."

Claremont said the second volume is planned for spring 2009, with the third volume in January 2010. Claremont said he is looking for a U.S. publisher and, if it is successful in Europe, there will be more in the series.

* Claremont said his website, www.chrisclaremont.com, is now up. It will include a segment called "Answer Girl," in which he will respond to inquiries.

* Talking about New Exiles, Claremont said the alternate worlds concept allows him to explore ideas like, "What if the Chinese discovered America?" and shuffle them into the Marvel Universe.

* Claremont said a second arc for GeNext would take the story from Genosha into Central Asia. "So we'll see Indian heroes, perhaps some Persian heroes, some Chinese heroes or villains," he said.

* Claremont said he is enjoying thinking outside the box with the Marvel Universe. "What new stuff can entic I the readers with?" he said, noting the "Americentric" nature of Marvel's stories.

* The New Exiles Annual, drawn by Grummett, with deal with Morph and guest-star Valeria Richards.

* Asked what he would do if he ran Marvel Comics, Claremont said he would end the big-event crossovers. "The characters tend to lose any sense of individuality or uniqueness," he said.