"Combat Cow is not a mutant. Because if he was a mutant there would be a war between a publishing company and a film company and we don't want that." – Chris Claremont.

Chris Claremont talked with Len Wein, Marc Bernardin and Heath Corson about his and Len's history in comic books a few months ago at Phoenix Comic Con for the Nerdist Podcast. I just got round to listening to the audio (and you can as well, below).

Something unreported however until now, was when asked about creating new characters, Chris Claremont said,

"I have to say quite honestly as I understand it now the X department is forbidden to create new characters. (SHOCK RESPONSE) "Well… who owns them? "All because all new characters become the film property of Fox. "There will be no X-Men merchandising for the foreseeable future because, why promote Fox material?"

Forty-two minutes in… but you should listen to the whole thing. Chris Claremont currently writes the X-Men comic book Nightcrawler, with a new issue out tomorrow.

We have reported this character-creating issue before now, but this is the first time I've heard an X-book creator confirm it publicly. We've also been told though that if you can create new characters under the guise of a Marvel Now style event, then they can be attributed to Marvel Now and not to an Xbook… so Marvel gets to keep the film rights.

About Rich Johnston Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist. twitter facebook square instagram globe

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/nerdistwriters/ncp58_chris_claremont.mp3]