10 Best X-Men Runs of All Time

Once upon a time, the X-Men were Marvel’s teen team and no one cared. However, all of that would change in the late ’70s. The group has always consisted of amazing heroes and battled the greatest villains in comics, but what really made them the bestsellers they are is the creators. Creative runs are one of the most important parts of the bedrock of any comic, as the successful ones are able to take their books to the next level. The men and women of X have been very lucky; they’ve had some of the most amazing in comic history, selling millions of comics.

Their best runs are the stuff of legends. They were able to take the central concept of the team and its fantastic characters and take them to the next level. These ten X-Men runs of the best of all time, changing the team and comics forever.

10) Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

2004 was a turning point for the X-Men. Grant Morrison was gone and the Avengers were about to become Marvel’s favorites. However, they still needed a superstar X-Men title and that would be Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3) by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator was beloved at the time, and he brought a Claremont vibe to the team. Cassaday is the real MVP of the run. The artist gave the book some amazing visuals, which really helped the rather basic stories shine. Over the first 24 issues of the book, and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1 ending the run, readers got some good stories with tremendous art that took them to the next level.

9) Scott Lobdell

Scott Lobdell is a writer who a lot of fans dislike in the present, but he is one of the best X-Men writers of all time, by sales alone if nothing else. Lobdell stepped onto Uncanny X-Men #286, working with superstars Whilce Potracio and Jim Lee (Lee was plotting and inking) before taking over the writing when the artists left. He would write the flagship X-Men book until issue #350, and kept it at number one while giving readers some stories that are actually better than they get credit for. He was one of the masterminds of “Age of Apocalypse” and kept a generation of readers hooked to the team.

8) Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis’s run on Astonishing X-Men is highly underrated. Ellis took over for Whedon and Cassaday with issue #25 and wrote two five-issue storyarcs, with artists Simone Bianchi and Phil Jimenez, as well as Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1-2, with Alan Davis, Clayton Crain, Adi Granov, and Kaare Andrews and Astonishing X-Men: Exogenesis #1-5, with Andrews. His 17 issues took the vibe of Astonishing and mixed it with the vibe of New X-Men. It’s a fantastic run full of big sci-fi ideas and awesome characterization, and not enough fans have read it.

7) Fabian Nicieza

The ’90s were the X-Men’s decade and Fabian Nicieza played a big role in that. Nicieza scripted Uncanny X-Men #279 and 280, and would take over as writer of X-Men (Vol. 2) as Jim Lee was leaving the book, writing issues #12 through #45. Nicieza mostly worked with artist Andy Kubert and was putting out some of the coolest stories of the ’90s for the team. He wrote the issue were Wolverine lost his adamantium, issue #25, and was one of the minds behind “Age of Apocalypse”. He was always the superior writer between him and Lobdell (also check out his New Warriors (Vol. 1) run, which got him the X-job), fondly remembered by fans decades later.

6) Al Ewing

The Krakoa Era was fantastic, and its best two books are some of the best in X-history. Al Ewing joined the X-office to write SWORD, a ten issue series that got roped into three different event stories and never established its own identity. However, the book would morph into X-Men Red (Vol. 2), which would become one of the best Krakoa books. Ewing brought together Storm, Magneto, and Sunspot on Arakko, creating a new Brotherhood to keep the Arakkii free and powerful. Over 18 issues, Ewing closed out the plots he set up in SWORD, gave readers some amazing battles, and gave us one of the best Storm renditions ever. Ewing is known for excellence and his run on this book is an all-timer.

5) Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen is one of the best writers working right now (go read The Power Fantasy and DIE: Loaded) and has had two runs on the X-Men. His time writing Uncanny X-Men in the ’10s was great, but his run in the Krakoa Era was even better. He wrote Immortal X-Men #1-18, A.X.E. Judgment Day #1-6, Sins of Sinister #1, Immoral X-Men #1-3, Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1, X-Men Forever (Vol. 3) #1-4, Rise of the Powers of X #1-5, and Uncanny X-Men #700/X-Men (Vol. 6) #35. Immortal was the flagship of the Krakoa Era, dealing with the Quiet Council, moving the overall story of the era along in tremendous ways. He was able to somehow salvage the wreckage left in the wake of Hickman leaving and his books are some of the few worth reading from “Fall of X”.

4) Jason Aaron

Jason Aaron made a splash with the Vertigo book Scalped and would move over to Marvel to write Wolverine. Fans loved his work on the ol’Canucklehead and this gave him an in to writing the X-Men. Aaron wrote X-Men: Schism #1-5, which led into Wolverine and the X-Men (Vol. 1) #1-35 and Amazing X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-6. Aaron took the team back to the school after years of being in San Francisco and it was fantastic. His stories were classic X-Men while taking the team to new places. His new version of the Hellfire Club was way better than it had any right to be and his books were some of the best of the era, especially after Avengers vs. X-Men and the maligned Bendis run started.

3) Joe Kelly and Steven Seagle

Joe Kelly and Steve Seagle were given the reins to the X-Men after Scott Lobdell left the books and is the most underrated run in the team’s history. Kelly wrote X-Men (Vol. 2) #70-85, with Seagle doing Uncanny X-Men #350-365. They were basically left with something of a mess and did their best to take the team in new directions. Their 15 issues each paid homage to the past while setting up interesting plots that could have gone somewhere cool. However, clashes with Marvel editorial cut their time short. Their crossovers stories like “Children of the Atom” and “Hunt for Xavier” are amazing, and it’s a shame they weren’t given more time to cook.

2) Grant Morrison

New X-Men is the best X-book of the 21st century, thanks to superstar writer Grant Morrison. Morrison decided to leave DC after the “Superman 2000” pitch wasn’t chosen and The Matrix used their intellectual property from The Invisibles without getting paid, moving to Marvel. They were handed the biggest book in comics: X-Men (Vol. 2). It was retitled New X-Men and Morrison wrote the book from issues #114 to #154. Morrison’s time with the team lived up to the book’s title. They took classic X-Men tropes in new directions, taking the familiar and making it into something special. No one has lived up to their example in the 22 years since they were forced off the book, robbing us of more X-goodness.

1) Chris Claremont

Chris Claremont is the greatest X-Men writer ever, and it’s not even close. If you love the team, it’s because of his first 17-year run (he’d return to the team several times over the years; altogether he wrote them for more than 20 years). He created every major plot line that creators have been milking for years. He made the team into icons, bringing so much maturity and complexity to them and comics in general. Claremont is one of the most important writers in comic history, his time writing Uncanny X-Men from issue #94 to #279 taking the entire industry to the next level. Stories like “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past” pushed comics forward and we wouldn’t have the modern comic industry without Claremont’s run.

What’s your favorite X-Men run? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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