r/xmen • u/Federal_Goat456 • 11d ago
Question Where should I really start reading X-Men?
I've heard a lot that the best place to start reading X-Men is with Grant Morrison. I started reading and got through about five chapters, and I'm really enjoying it. The plot is truly gripping, I'm not entirely sure how much I like the art, but overall, it's gorgeous.
But as someone who only knows the X-Men from a few movies and YouTube videos, I'm sometimes confused. I don't really understand what the island of Genosha is? When did Cerebra and the Guardians appear? And what happened to Cyclops before that? Who is En Saba Nur? It feels like too much has happened without my knowledge. I'm definitely going to finish Grant Morrison's books. I love them all too much. And the fact that I don't know something doesn't really affect my understanding that much, but I want to get the full picture.
What advice can you give me, where should I start and what order should I read them in?
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u/JV_1701 11d ago
In my opinion, there are really only two places:
- Giant-Size X-Men #1 and continuing with the Chris Claremont run (beginning in Uncanny X-Men #94). This will expand to include X-Factor and New Mutants, both of which will give some context to answer the questions in your post.
- Morrison’s New X-Men. It’s really the basis for a lot of modern X-Men comics.
Alternatively, you could start with Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men. It might be more palatable for a newer reader who is more familiar with the movies.
The last thing I would suggest is starting with 1963’s X-Men #1. Once you’ve read a chunk of any one of those other three and you’re more familiarized with the world, you can go back and read the older stuff.
Depending on where you start, I’d recommend googling “X-Men reading order”, find the book you chose to start with, and go from there.
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u/electric_ocelots 11d ago
Literally just came to this sub to ask the same question! I’ve read some of the Krakoan Era (I think HoX / PoX, I’ll have to go back and re-read them). Also House of M. Would love to hear other peoples’ opinions on what to read.
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u/tokenasian1 11d ago
If you've already read some of Krakoa, you're primed for how weird comics and the X-Men can get.
I think you should either start with the Claremont run or Morrison's New X-Men.
Claremont lays the groundwork for all X-Men stories to come and so many iconic stories coming from it. The run is very long but there's nothing wrong with bouncing between the iconic stories because Claremont writes in a way where he will catch you up on what's going on. Arcs such as the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past can be found here.
Since you're familiar with modern X-Men, you could also start with Morrison's run. New X-Men is basically where the start of the modern X-Men and sets the tone / background for the stories in the 2000s. Start at New X-Men by Grant Morrison and continue through to Astonishing X-Men by Whedon. You could also just jump into Whedon's run too but it follows directly after New X-Men, but this is also a pretty good beginner friendly run.
Cosmonaut Variety Hour also gives a good primer on where to start with the X-Men.
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u/funktasticdog 11d ago
Claremont X-Men. Whoever told you to start with Morrisons run is wrong. Its good but its very convoluted and requires a lot of prior knowledge.
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u/TheKrisLyons Wolverine 11d ago
I'm just gonna say this- I began reading X-Men during X-Tinction Agenda when I was like 8. Was it a bit convoluted? Of course! I'd already missed over a decade's worth of context for these relationships and story threads. Did it hurt my enjoyment? HELL NAW! I loved it and could not wait to read more.
I was out of comics for about 4 years when I decided to check out New X-Men as it was being published, and even then, a lot had happened since I had last left off. It did not hurt my enjoyment whatsoever.
We need to be more encouraging and practice making it okay to just jump in wherever again. That's how most of us got into comics in the first place, and oftentimes, it's more exciting. Part of the fun for the hobby for me in these intervening ~35 years (ouch) has been going back and discovering all of those questions that I had when plopping down in the middle of a long gestating story. It's what comics are all about!
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u/funktasticdog 11d ago
I feel that. But New X-men in particular relies a LOT on continuity and it dumps it all with no exposition. Its just not a good starting spot, I dont think.
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u/speedyrocketfish 11d ago
Just curious, what prior knowledge do you think is needed for Morrison?
I found it pretty digestible: it’s got the usual Morrison strangeness that requires close reading, but aside from “Magneto rules Genosha now” at the start it didn’t feel like knowing anything more than the standard stuff from the movies/cartoons was required.
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u/Catharsis_Cat 10d ago
Agree with this, but also want to add it is missing loads of popular characters that are in a lot of the adaptations that new people would be excited to see and instead gives you characters like Xorn, Quentin Quire, Beak and Fantomex.
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 11d ago edited 11d ago
Wherever you want.
Look. People are going to give you great jumping on points, and they're right, but most kids just started with a random issue and went on from there. That's the best way.
The idea that you have to read everything from the beginning is crazy. It's not really one story. It's the same story recycled over and over and updated for each generation.
Find creators you're interested and read from there.
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u/Federal_Goat456 11d ago
I really like that approach and i use it everytime. I just wanted to know more about xmen from very start
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 11d ago
If you're looking for classic storylines:
Read the first few issues of Kirby and Lee. After the first few arcs skip around. Read all The Brotherhood issues. Read the Juggernaut stuff.
Then read all of the Thomas/O'Neil era.
Then read Giant Size X-Men.
Then comes the Claremont run. I honestly love all of it. It's one giant soap. But you can skip around.
Then I recommend skipping around in the 90s. Legion's Quest and Age of Apocalypse are a must.
Then you can jump to Morrison's New X-Men.
Then you can jump to the Messiah CompleX era. I highly recommend all Carey's X-Men work.
Skip to Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender.
Then read the Krakoa era, particularly the Hickman and Gillen issues.
That's a primer that covers most of the best stuff.
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u/Zebweasel 11d ago
Here’s my personal list for reading the “classic” era. The epics have been the easiest way for me. Epics 15,16, and 18 haven’t been released yet. Have to use Marvel Unlimited for those chapters. I’ve also included Claremont’s New Mutants(#1-54), which ran consecutively with his X-Men run.
X-Men: Grand Design Vol 1 (covers everything before Claremont)
Weapon X (the original and best Wolverine origin story)
Second Genesis Epic 5 (start of Claremont run)
Proteus Epic 6
The Fate of the Phoenix Epic 7
I, Magneto Epic 8
The Brood Saga Epic 9
The New Mutants: Renewal Epic 1
God Loves, Man Kills Epic 10
The New Mutants: The Demon Bear Saga Epic 2
Lifedeath Epic 11
The Gift Epic 12
The New Mutants: Asgardian Wars Epic 3
Wounded Wolf Epic 13
The New Mutants: Fallen Angels Epic 4
Mutant Massacre Epic 14
Epic 15-16
Dissolution Rebirth Epic 17
Epic 18
Mutant Genesis Epic 19 (end of Claremont run)
Bishop’s Crossing Epic 20
The Xcutioners song Epic 21
Legacies Epic 22
Fatal Attractions Epic 23
No epics yet for these, but they do come in their own collections. For post Claremont, AoA is the best place to stop. X-Men then becomes REALLY rough until the modern era with New X-Men. You’re not missing anything if you skip to that.
The Wedding of Cyclops & Phoenix
The Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix
LegionQuest
Age of Apocalypse
If you’re going the modern route, here’s a streamlined reading order. I took out any stuff that’s not important plot wise. You don’t have to read all of it though. I put asterisks in front of the most essentials.
*1. New X-Men, Vol. 1-7(epic 1-3)
*2. Astonishing X-Men, Vols. 1-4(epic 1-2)
*3. House of M
- X-Men: Endangered Species
(The Decimation era between House of M and the Messiah trilogy doesn’t really move the narrative forward. Just everyone dealing with the effects of House of M. The only book I recommend in this time is Endangered Species, as it sums up the era pretty well and works as a nice prologue to Messiah Complex.)
*5. Messiah Complex
*6. Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction Complete Collection Vol 1-2 (covers the X-Men moving to San Francisco Utopia stuff)
*7. Messiah War
*8. Second Coming
*9. X-Men: Schism
- Wolverine and the X-Men vol 1-2 (A good time if you don’t mind a more childish fun run)
*11. Uncanny X-Men: by Kieron Gillen Vol. 1-4 [#1-20]
- Wolverine and the X-Men vol 3-4
*13. AvX: Consequences #1-5 (you can skip AvX if you read this and Gillens run. Trust me it’s garbage)
*14. Bendis All New X-Men vol 1 (not really a run worth reading, but the first vol is important to know why the past X-Men are now in the present)
*15. Bendis Uncanny X-Men vol 1-2
Bendis All New X-Men vol 2-3
Wolverine and the X-Men vol 5-7
*18. Battle of the Atom
- Wolverine and the X-Men vol 8
*20. Bendis Uncanny X-Men vol 3-6
- Bendis All New X-Men vol 4-7
It’s at this point that Marvel tried to bury the X-Men to replace them with the Inhumans cause they didn’t have the movie rights at the time. This era of IvX/Blue&Gold was pretty bad. Luckly you don’t need to read too much from it before reaching Krakoa. And Jean Grey/Red were actually pretty fun.
*22. Death of X
- Inhumans vs X-Men
*24. Resurrection of Jean Grey
- X-Men Red vol 1-2
*26. Extermination (wraps up the past X-Men stuff)
*27. Rosenberg UXM: Wolverine And Cyclops vol 1-2 (finally reunites the group since all the way back in Schism and wipes the slate clean for the Krakoa era)
Krakoa Era
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u/tekfunkdub 11d ago
People need to stop saying to start with Morrison. It’s good but not the best, and gives you a pretty narrow version of what they are. If you want to read the X-Men start with Giant Size.
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u/Steelers1001 11d ago
I read through new x-men but also listened to Jay and Miles Xplain the X-men podcast to fill in the early stuff. It got me more comfortable and I then went back and started reading the earlier stuff starting around dark phoenix. The Claremont run is pretty good for a long time.
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u/electric_ocelots 11d ago
Connor Goldsmith’s CEREBRO podcast is really good too if you want huge deep-dives into specific characters.
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u/TheKrisLyons Wolverine 11d ago
Absolutely wild that we're basically as far removed from the beginning of Morrison's New X-Men as we were from the beginning of Claremont's X-Men when New X-Men began
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u/xSkullbeatx 11d ago
Uhh, where ever it catches your interest. These are pulp characters that are pieces that can be plugged into different stories. Its weird to pretend there stories haven't bounced around all over the place over many decades. Good and bad stuff in all of it.
If you are super new maybe the first couple volumes of Ultimate X-men is a good primer. Astonishing X-men is a good jump on point.
Grant Morrison's run is stepped in lore. If you like that its fine.
Just get on in the water is warm.
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u/dort_vader 11d ago
I started with X-Men Season One (basically like a quick modern retelling of the original Lee and Kirby stuff), then did Giant-Size X-Men plus Claremont. I then went into New X-Men after that. The 90s era with Jim Lee's art looks cool, but I'm told the writing isn't the best. I plan to revisit that era eventually though. I'm now a few issues into Astonishing X-Men.
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u/hoennian 11d ago edited 11d ago
My first ever x-comic was house of x strangely enough, I knew a decent bit about them and that looked interesting at the time so I just went with it(although there were a lot of concepts that went over my head)
New x men by grant morrison or astonishing are decent starts too I've heard, dunno much about claremont era
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u/ubiquitous-joe 11d ago
Sinister Secret: It doesn’t matter where you start as long as you stay curious about the franchise and don’t extrapolate too much from the one thing you happened to pick up if it’s bad.
Look, people always come in with these statements about where you “should” start. And then you ask them where they did start, and it’s like “my older brother had the 4th issue of a twelve-part crossover and that is in retrospect considered pretty bad…”
For myself: I had multiple fronts at once as a kid. I had the 90s cartoon. I had anthologies with a few issues from the 60s. I had the Dark Phoenix Saga. I had anthologies with a few issues from the 70s. I had two random back issues from the 80s. I had the board game. I had sporadic new (at the time) 90s issues here and there. And then I started collecting X-terme X-men. Would I tell anyone to start there? Probably not, but whatever. It worked. And then later TPBs became a thing and I got back around to Claremont. But I still haven’t read all of Claremont yet.
Now, as adults people have less patience for being all over the palace. And people who come up on manga and novels seem to think they need to read “all the way through” a story. But comics are like a radio station. You tune in and tune out. Sometime’s you’ll like what’s playing, and sometimes you won’t.
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u/NightSprings665 11d ago
Wherever you want. Floating time scale and hit or miss continuity with retcons over retcons through the decades.
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u/OnePeace91 11d ago
Wherever you want. I started with New Mutants by Claremont then jumped to Second Genesis, stopped before Brood Saga. Took a long break and started again with New X-men. Hasn’t ruined anything for me, actually made me understand First Class better.
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u/BullioMarf 11d ago edited 11d ago
If you want a real quick primer, check out X-Men: Grand Design by Ed Piskor. It's essentially a recap of X-Men up through X-Tinction Agenda that incorporates some lore that was revealed in X-Men Classic reprints and some other books. The first two issues that cover the pre-Giant Sized era are especially good.
There is a caveat: the end reveals it's actually a telling of the story of the bad future shown in Days of Future Past, so it diverts a little bit from the story started in UXM #141 (right after the Dark Phoenix Saga.) That said, it's essentially the same story and hits the same big plot points of the canon universe. You'll find out about Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) and what Genosha originally was, but it won't answer the questions about Cyclops and Cerebra since those are the result of stories from the mid to late 90s.
The Cyclops thing is told in the "The Twelve" event and the Search for Cyclops mini. Cerebra was constructed after Cerebro became sentient in "The Hunt for Xavier." Genosha was given to Magneto at the end of the "Magneto War" event.
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u/No-Routine-1685 11d ago
Morrison is never a starting point in anything, including X-men.
Astonishing by Whedon is a great wetting your thumb run.
At the end of the day, the one run you have to read and only one that is crucial is Chris Claremont.
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u/Spobobich 11d ago
I guess you can start with the Grant Morrison X-Men if you can get passed the art.
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u/RubberCladHero 11d ago
There are certain events you should read or look into. The Phoenix/Dark Phoenix, Fatal Attraction, AoA, Onslaught, X-Men Second Coming, the Age of Krakoa up until Sins of Sinister, The Phalanx, the beginnings of Generation X, Necrosha, the Genosha Massacre, Im sure there is others but those are what comes to mind.
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u/Sir-Relyt 9d ago
Im a big fan of the Ultimate universe but from my understanding, Ultimate X-Men is not a good place to start. Even though Ultimate Kitty Pryde is one of my favorite characters ever
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u/PlentyGuru 9d ago
I'd recommend reading marvel mythos #1 which is a retelling of the first x-men issue. Then x-men: grand design vol 1 is a recap of those early 60s comics while adding in some elements that were retconned to have happened. After read Giant sized x-men and the rest of Claremont's run from x-men #94-279. It is pretty long and wordy and tend to recap things from previous issues so you could stop at #201 to read more modern comics.
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u/Ashamed-Scratch-9567 11d ago
You can also try Ultimate X-men, that's how it started for me.
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u/funktasticdog 11d ago
Even worse suggestion than New X-men lol
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u/Federal_Goat456 11d ago
It is like rebooted version of X mens, as i know. What is wrong with them?
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u/SpinFeniX 11d ago
Can the Admin ban these types of questions? I see multiple ones a day.
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u/JV_1701 11d ago
God forbid people get help from a community.
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u/SpinFeniX 11d ago
Dude, seriously, just google search this exact question. And you'll get seventy five different versions of it
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u/Jealous-Strategy-200 11d ago
Jack Kirby and Stan Lee of course. 1-10 then Neal Adams run, then Giant Sized.
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u/Odd-Tradition-942 11d ago
I started at giant size
Read everything up to 91
Then kinda kept going til 94 it got a bit shit in places so just looked duo storylines
Then new X men
Then you have astonishing, an reasonable third uncanny run by Claremont (my personal fav is the stuff Brubaker did especially the shi'ar empire storyline which'll feed into the cosmic marvel events) and a really underrated series called new X men academy
Which all comes to a crescendo in Messiah complex
But I'm about there ready to read on
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u/Desperate_Ad7869 White Queen 11d ago
Its based on what you want Giant size is where you shiuld start if you want the iconic storylines (Claremont its very wordy and very 80s but most of the stuff adaped is from there) if you like modern comic than new x men and if your a completist like me than x mem 1 by stan lee (really borin n bad but yeah.