Where To Start With X-Men Comics: Top 10 Entry Points!
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- The 10 essential starting places for reading X-Men comics!
Keep in mind, that as you read current X-Men comics from the Dawn of X into the Reign of X and into the future, there will be references to other X-Men comics and history that you may not have read, and that I likely will not reference here. Don't panic! This is ok! This is how comics work, and how they will always work, but generally there will be sufficient context in the story that you can get by. And hey, if you want more, I'm breaking it all down on Krakin' Krakoa here on the UA-cam channel weekly.
As always, there are many more highly recommended X-Men stories than what you'll see included here, and I'd encourage you to check out some of them via the links to CBH in the show notes. In the meantime, these 10 picks will get you set on a path to X-Men fandom!
#1) House of X / Powers of X: geni.us/hoxpox
#2) Dark Phoenix Saga: geni.us/phoeni...
#3) Grant Morrison's New X-Men: geni.us/newxmen
#4) Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's X-Men: geni.us/leekir...
#5) House of M / Decimation: geni.us/house-...
#6) Days of Future Past: geni.us/dofp
#7) Age of Apocalypse: geni.us/age-of...
#8) 1991 Jim Lee X-Men: geni.us/jimlee...
#9) Mike Carey X-Men: geni.us/carey-...
#10) ...
Full article, Where to start with Marvel's X-Men Comic Books: www.comicbookh...
For the full Krakin' Krakoa X-Men playlist:
• X-Men (Krakin' Krakoa:...
For the full X-Men comics reading order:
www.comicbookh...
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About Comic Book Herald:
My name's Dave, and Comic Book Herald is a labor of love designed to help new, lapsed, and curious comic book readers explore and enjoy the wonderful world of comics. I've been developing reading orders, chronology guides, and detailed comics recommendations since late 2011. Comics can be confusing and intimidating; I try to help.
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Hickman's Fantastic Four is something every comic fan should read. It is simply brilliant.
One of my fav comics of all time, also FF
I'll raise you Secret Wars. The ultimate masterclass in weaving together the entire mess of Marvel continuity with one hand and writing a standalone masterpiece in the other.
That said I do get those two runs mixed up in my head all too often.
dark reign or regular?
everything by hickman should be read
its borderline stupid and i hate the fact that the human torch is alive, it was one of the very few intriguing scenes when he died (even though he could have been saved by franklin if the writing wasnt so contrived) yes when you establish your character is super strong you actually have to use that power when its needed instead of killing off anotjer character then bringing him back
I started reading X-Men off and on during the Claremont era. But I got hooked during the Jim Lee era ( yes I have all 4 covers of X-men #1) and a year after that the animated series. Been a fan to this day.
Then you are missing one variant cover.
There was one that folded out and had all 4 covers together to form one battle scene. :D
The fold-out cover also had a bunch of art in the back, like a rogue’s gallery and an X-men pool Party.
What about Classic x-men? I’m reading the Claremont run for the first time and I feel classic x-men gives greater context and characteratoin
I started just at the end of Fatal Attraction and the start of the Phalanx Saga with the introduction of Gen X.
It was a perfect introduction and I feel like that was intentional. There were a few good runs including Age of Apocalypse and I stopped reading after Onslaught.
Imo those were the best years of X-Men in general.
I would add to your awesome thoughts, that maybe read what ever run you can afford to buy. If you can pick up 100-200 comics in a row, Uncanny Xmen and Xmen to read in parallel, Then do it. This will help shape your collection and thoughts and give you a launch pad. If you love it, buy forward and backward for as far as you can afford. You can basically pick up and start reading almost anywhere but best to try to pick the start of a story arc.
The Jim Lee 1991 era is MY era personally... from there up until Onslaught saga 😍😍😍... the BEST X-Men era for me
Thank you so much for making this! Perfect advice for the most daunting franchise and now I feel like I know where to go
Why can’t Marvel hire you to organize reading lists in the Marvel Unlimited app?
Chris Claremont. That's where you start.
Dear new reader, don't start anywhere but the Claremont era. Begin just pre-Claremont with Giant Size X-Men #1, and then issue #94 (which resumes the series after a reprint hiatus of several years). Read the stories that MADE this the most popular comic book... not just the ones that came after.
So Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1 will suffice?
@@ParzivalTheThird It's the best place to start! If you like it, check out Omnibus 2, then 3, then 4. Alternatively, you could save some money and do the Epic collections, in which case you'd start with Second Genesis.
@@jsbethke I think my plan will be to collect the Claremont era via Omnibus, while simultaneously going for the classic Lee/Kirby era via Epic Collection (because even if you can manage to beat the classics, you gotta respect your elders).
@@jsbethke can you start with mutant massacre through inferno?
I read Giant size and issues 94 to 96 or 97 and really was having a hard time getting through it. Does it get better?
I was really into X-Men as a little girl. I watched the animated series & spent my allowance on the comic books. Shit happened, somic became harder to find in pre-internet small town, I developed new interests, but my nostalgia for X-Men was growing.
After nosing through a friend's comics I found myself wanting more. Everything I skimmed made me more curious, When did they move to Krakoa? why Mr. Sinister was funny now? Why Apocalypse is wearing a suit & tie? Why is Cyclopes married to Emma white? When did Xavier become able to walk? Where do I start reading?
I asked my friend where I should start, but she's a casual reader who only collects issues of X-Men & Batman if they have characters she likes, like Mr. Sinister, Mystique, Joker, or Poison Ivy.
I loved Grant Morrison's run on Batman, perhaps I should start with his run of X-Men comics.
I’m in the same boat, old ones seem way better than new ones to me. New ones are so confusing 🤮
The problem with starting someone off on a Claremont issue is the dialogue, the man could plot for years but never once did he write dialogue that sounded like it would actually come out of someone's mouth.
Couldn't agree more. I actually find the whole claremont run overrated in general
In his defense a lot of comics were like that at that time.
You’re not wrong. Claremont did have somewhat of a problem with dialogue (and info dump through those and text boxes) but it didn’t get really bad until later.
My favorite run was still (mostly) Claremont and Wein on words and Cockrum, Byrne, and Paul Smith on art from GS X-Men #1 to about Uncanny X-Men #175. After that some of his writing tics kinda went over the top. Plus the art faltered right about then as well.
I’m also a fan of the later Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely run on New X-Men in the 2000s.
I feel good I've read nearly this entire list. (And the most recent being most of that Mike Carey run)
Apocalypse is amazing but is not a "starting point" by itself because it has no ties to the main timeline. "Starting point" is a point where you can start to keep going and going. AOA is a standalone thing...
Man…the Jim Lee X-Men was great and introduced so much of what we know about the team today. Blue and Gold Teams. Bishop introduced. Xcutioner Song! Great times.
I'm sorry, did you say Karen Gillan!? The actress who portrayed Amy Pond from Dr. Who and Nebula from the MCU? She's a comic book scribe as well?:
Kieron Gillen
The Hickmanverse is absolute must-read comics. I also recommend his Manhattan Projects, also from Image
For anything Marvel ... start with the 1960s.
FIRST CLASS (THE REAL 1ST CLASS) and GIANT SIZE #1 will ALWAYS come to my X-MEN Brain when i think of most mandatory ways to get into our beloved X family
I feel like house of m doesn’t “setup” the hope summers messiah bs, avx stuff. I believe it forces it. Which is why I just cant get into any of these event comics. Maybe xmens continuity is meant to be finite. When all stories have been exhausted, instead of having to turn characters on their heads, cyclops a murderer, irrational, etc, or killing off nearly all mutants, embrace segregation, when it was always villainous every time magneto tried it, screw all that noise. Instead of those desperate tactics, have the xmen succeed in being embraced by the world, having FOH go the way of irl groups, meaning they are mocked into oblivion by most of the public. Thus they have mostly gained acceptance. Their fight is over. Marvel as a company can restart the comic after, but end it, instead of doing house of m, which causes issues, you guys call them xmen stories, I just can’t. They are annoying side effects of house of m. I hope xmen 97 stays far, far away from any of those “event comic” stories, and instead, only take what works. Because turning cyclops into a psychopath, morpheus but bad, just doesnt work. No matter how much they want to try and flesh it out. Dont see why Scott absolutely believes, knows that Hope is destined to retcon House of M, anymore than cyclops absolutely believes Leech is destined to become the world’s best chef, and then robs a bunch of banks, murders people in said banks, to get Leech’s tuition money for culinary school lmao. Chuck can make mistakes, a bad decision even, but he’s just all of a sudden an evil guy? Undoing every story that came before? Nah, dont think so. Oh I got it, let’s have apocalypse shake hands and claim all he ever wanted was for mutants to succeed lmao. Yea, through culling.
Bottom line, Have the xmen succeed, humans coexist (for the most part) with humans, and end the continuity when you have to escalate to house of m type storylines and then reboot. Xmen continuity should be finite, or get better writers, i dunno. Seriously don’t get how people enjoy some of these stories. So much work, and time just to undo what should have never been done to begin with. Carefully crafted retcons, until they have to just move on, and ask people to just snap their fingers and ignore parts of the continuity, it’s embarrassing. Imagine if the walking dead was still going on, and they tried some of these tactics. Kirkman could barely continue a few arcs after the story he had outlined, even though he wanted to. It became crystal clear, his storytelling was done, and he couldn’t keep up with the deadline anymore. At least he didn’t phone it in, anymore than he already had, and accepted reality, and ended👏the👏continuity👏
I would recommend all Chris Clarmont and Jim Lee was X-Men at its best defense 1975 to 2010 is the Best top. I would definitely start with Giant Size X-Men #1 to me that's the best starting point I would recommend starting from the back I would still ready the earlier beginning Stan Lee Stuff too because it's Stan Lee.
I just ordered the Second Genesis Epic collection to start with Chris Claremont run, I also ordered a book that has the most important issues only of the Golden age because everyone says it not very good 😂
I really think there’s only one place to start. Giant Sized X-Men. The start of Claremont’s run. That Uncanny X-Men omnibus vol. 1 is one of my favorite omnibuses/X-Men runs of all time. It’s really fun and adventurous. Sure it’s cloaked in it’s time, and that can be annoying, but still it’s well worth the read.
Great picks. Always the best. Thanks Dave!
not Joss Wedon X-men??? :/ i mean, he is banned now, but to put the hickman-verse... not even an x-men story. Anyway, great list.
This is a great video for someone like me, thank you so much! I decided to jump right in with AoA! Do you recommend the material in the AoA companion Omni?
Great X-man comic story. I am one of the readers/buyers of the original x-men - even have one framed on my wall.
No Astonishing X-Men? I understand why, but that’s still a great run and a decent starting place!
That's a really good entry read. I considered it! Ultimately though, it doesn't leave much of a legacy, at least not where comics are now.
But yeah, certainly wouldn't talk a newer reader out of it!
You kind of have to have read New X-men before that to be honest.
I always consider it one of the better back to basics approaches in more modern comics, definitely some of the best characterization for the team, and it did create things like SWORD and Danger, as well as solidifying Emma and Scott for a generation of readers, though yeah I would agree that Morrison’s run would be good to read prior.
For me Astonishing is the continuation of New X Men so... You have to read New X Men and then Astonishing
Im a big fan of x men so i would love to explore the comics
I'd say Gillen's and Aaron's runs are pretty good starting points for a category 2 reader. The references to continuity are not overwhelming and they set up Mr Sinister's current characterization and Krakoa as an ally, which are two salient points of the current era.
Edit: I'm a huge fan of Gillen's work, so I might be biased, but I think he has a great feeling for each character's voice, to the point that I enjoyed his run far more than I expected back in the day. And he also developed the immediate precursor to the current concept of S.W.O.R.D. a lot!
Start either at number one, or with Giant sized X-men 1 and X-men 94. Stop reading before the Hickman nonsense. It's insulting to the legacy of so many writers and creators.
You should consider a video on your own 'Essential Dawn of X Reads and Runs' to target people like myself who sort of fell away after HOX/POX, specifically X of Swords for me. Which wasn't because I hated that first year of Dawn but because life just got in the way, along with a global pandemic, publishing hiatus, all adding to the confusion of following dozens of titles. And who are folding back in due to Inferno and renewed interest. Cheers.
I'll throw my 2 cents in. I cannot stand too much text in comics and the Dark Phoenix Saga offers too much text to me. Great era I grew up with though. Claremont with other great writers like Peter David and the art was fantastic for the times. One of my favorite series is X-Cutioner's Song by David. But I think I'm in the minority there. I loved Cable and Bishop back in the day. I still think you are better off reading major events you think may be interesting from the Claremont era and potentially New X-Men (I personally did not like Morrison's take much at all) and then picking up Astonishing X-Men. I feel like most of that run including post Whedon was decent. Ellis was a fun read. Did tale off a bit but it was pretty good overall. It is a shame the rest of that run was never collected in omnis. Then skip along to Cary, Kyle, Yost and others like Brubaker. I liked the Secret Invasion cosmic tie ins but hated the M Day crap. Two stories I think are fantastic are Messiah Complex (who doesn't love Sinister) and Second Coming from that era. Then just skip forward to HoX/PoX and Hickman's work. Then choose the stuff you want in that too. HoX/Pox was a delight. I loved the crap outta Inferno and wonder what could have been if Hickman was allowed to tell the tale he wanted to.
Giant size X-Men #1
While the Jim Lee era was fun (for the flash of it), the Claremont era is what makes the X-men legendary.
Thank you boss.
The Silver age X-Men is BAD!!!!! The only good thing from that era is the Beast stuff when he turns blue. I recommend Season one, the First Class series and the Hidden Years. Read Hidden Years before the Beast stuff and Hidden Years will recap anything you missed between First Class and Hidden Years.
I would say if you're just getting into reading x-men and you dont want to start with the 1963 #1 issue then the next easiest starting point is giant size x-men #1, it's called second genesis for a reason lol
I started with the Claremont Era. Now I'm in #200. But is a little convoluted of spin offs and other things. I shoul read something else to have a break? Can I start reading House of X at least?
I'm a person that loves back stories and origins. So I started with uncanny x men 1 and almost to 90s x men. I'm going to the 2000s and switching to house of x. Is there any x men stories in the 2000s that are worth the read
I love reading from Morrison's New X-Men to AvX, through Messiah Complex/War, Second Coming, Utopia, etc.. a good mix of deep meaningful stories, and straightforward comics mindless clashes
I have volume 4 of Astonishing X-Men but I need to read at the very beginning of where X-Men started. From Stan Lee's run to the Krakowa Saga.
I'm going to read Ultimate X-Men from the Ultimate Universe comic line.
What about someone who's seen everything x men put to film and read house and powers of X and wants go a bit further back and then catch up to the present
Why not Ultimate X-Men? AoA is an alternate universe that is self contained, so I don't see why this wouldn't work as at least one starting point
The wrong reading list was presented for House of M.
You probably could just pick an issue and start with any Claremont issue (1st run) with all of the recapping. I started fine with 158.
All roads lead to disappointment. They made sure.
Could anyone please tell me the name of the issue/event when Emma Frost chahged sides?
Xbox game pass ultimate sent me here 😂 ( free 3 months of marvel unlimited )
Born in 85, read X-Men in early 90s, I'll never forget how popular they were back then
Great list!
2:08 Did you say house powers kickoff?
Is ultimate X-men a good place to start
God, the new comics suck.
yup
or you could just read Classic X-Men series
I pretty much agree with this list. The only thing mentioned here I haven't read is the Mike Carey run,but as I am currently in the process of getting all those issues ( only a few left to go) I plan on binging 'em all at once. Also heavily agree with reading some of Hickman's non X-stuff. His FF run is awesome and this is from a guy who really is not a FF fan at all. I burned thru all 10 volumes of East of West last fall and that is excellent. There is definitely some stuff there that he carried over to HoX/PoX and into the Dawn of X as well.
Thank you so much for making this! It makes so much sense now.
Astonishing X-Men is top three at worst. Wild to leave that one off the list.
Good video, though.
Whedon's Astonishing run should've been here. As a self-contained run, it's perfect for beginners since they don't have to worry about the mess that is the X-Men continuity. It's even better if readers read Morrison's New X-Men (which is on this list)...
11:43 does anyone knows where can I read this online???????????????
I would subscribe to the Marvel Unlimited app, a very economical way to read most Marvel stories past and present (up to 3 months ago), as long as you aren’t planning on owning it.
This is such a top tier vid
thanks dave!
No Astonishing by Whedon? I feel like that fits into category 2 while also being suitable, although to a lesser extent, for category 1. X-Men Season One is also a good way to get to know the OG team before Bendis' All-New X-Men shenanigans.
I feel like whedons is fairly self contained, but it does get some good characterisation in
I see what you mean. I see it as a good first step into the comic universe for people who've seen the movies or cartoons or whatever because it's so beginner friendly. From there, people can easily go House of M and so on.
@@bastardman1 I read through Astonishing and House of M not too long ago. They pretty much go back to back, right? Like you can read through Whedon’s Astonishing and then jump right into House of M, right? (and I had read Avengers Disassembled too, which seems to me all the context you need for House of M)
@@Zoogi.e Reading it that way is probably how most people do it. Instead, I read House of M after issue 12 of Astonishing since someone is still with the group in House of M instead of having been shot into space. And reading issue 13 after that sort of lines up if you squint really hard.