Claremont has cited “Terry and the Pirates” as an inspiration for his approach to both comics in general and X-Men specifically. Created by artist Milton Caniff in 1934, the comic strip adventure serial informed a number of Claremont’s notable approaches to comics. #xmen 1/7

As described by the Library of American Comics, Caniff would “forevermore would be known as 'The Rembrandt of the Comic Strip.' No cartoonist has so heavily influenced his medium as has Milton Caniff, and no comic strip has had more imitators than Terry and the Pirates.” 2/7

The similarities between Terry and the X-Men are numerous. First and foremost, the strip told a very long continuous story. Though Caniff would leave over creator’s rights after a decade on the strip, it would continue into the 70s, telling one continuous narrative. 3/7

The series is also famous for launching the “Dragon Lady” an iconic femme fatale for whom the “dragon lady” archetype is named. Caniff’s comics are well-known for strong sexual subtext and his characters frequently became sex symbols, pinups, and even advertising mascots. 4/7

Caniff’s work is also somewhat infamous for queer representation, particularly through the character Sanjak, who Caniff named after an island adjacent to Lesbos (origin of the term lesbian) as a signifier to the queer community. 5/7

The series' most direct influence on Claremont comes in the first Wolverine ongoing, however, which features the same Pacific island adventuring that defined Terry and the Pirates, along with a similar tone, style, and even illustration elements in the hands of John Buscema. 6/7

All combined, Terry and the Pirates represents an important and deeply influential antecedent to the Claremontian style of writing that came to the forefront in the pages of UXM. 7/7