7 Great X-Men Comic Arcs Nobody Ever Remembers

The X-Men have been around since 1963, although if we’re being honest, you can mostly ignore anything from before 1974 unless you like ancient history. Over the decades, the team has been a part of some of the greatest stories in the history of the comic book medium. These classic tales combined soap opera-esque character interactions, insane action plots that ran the gamut from sci-fi to horror to everything in between, and some of the best most gorgeous art you can imagine. The truly great X-Men stories are well-known and their praises sung wherever comic fans congregate, but they are merely just the beginning of the greatness of Marvel’s merry mutants.

There have been easily over a thousand X-Men comics. While some are timeless and unforgettable, other cool stories slip through the cracks and that’s unfair to them. These seven X-Men arcs were awesome but no one really talks about them anymore.

7) Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #342-345

The X-Men ran the ’90s, their flagship books Uncanny X-Men and X-Men (Vol. 2) pulling in readers. While not all of the stories were amazing, there were a lot of really cool mini-arcs, including Uncanny X-Men #342-345, by Scott Lobdell, Joe Madureira, Salvador Larocca, and Melvin Rubi. These four issues saw the Shi’Ar grab a team of X-Men – Rogue, Beast, Gambit, Cannonball, Iceman, Joseph, Bishop, and Beast’s girlfriend Trish Tilby, who are joined by Deathbird – to fight the Phalanx. It’s a cool little story that would lead into bigger and better things in the issues to come (#346-350 are also worth a read, dealing with the fallout from this story and “Operation: Zero Tolerance”.

6) “End of Greys”

Chris Claremont is the greatest X-writer and has had three runs with the team. His first run is legendary, his second line is maligned, and his third run has its peaks and valleys. “End of Greys” is one of the highest peaks. Rachel Summers-Grey had been embracing her recently dead alternate reality mother Jean Grey’s legacy, finally finding a semblance of family with the Greys. However, the Shi’Ar have decided that anyone related to the Phoenix needs to be killed, including their families. When Rachel fails to save the day, all she and the X-Men have left is revenge. This story from Claremont and Chris Bachalo is outstanding, one of the better Rachel stories of the 21st century.

5) “End of History”

Claremont’s third run kicked off in 2004 and it began in the best way possible. The writer was teamed with one of his best collaborators in artist Alan Davis and the two knocked readers socks off with immediately with “End of History” (it came out at the same time as Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3) and I honestly enjoyed it more). The X-Men have taken a new role as peacekeepers in the world and are pulled into a battle against the Fury, an interdimensional killing machine that can adapt to anything and wants nothing but destruction. Claremont and Davis take a page from the Alan Moore Captain Britain that Davis drew for an awesome four-issue action spectacular that deserves way more praise than it gets.

4) “Assault on Weapon Plus”

New X-Men has always been brilliant, but a lot of fans don’t really dig into the nitty-gritty of the run. Grant Morrison on the X-Men was a treasure and one of the most underrated stories of their run was “Assault on Weapon Plus”, with artist Chris Bachalo. This story spun out of “Murder at the Mansion”, with Wolverine retrieving Cyclops from the Hellfire Club to help Fantomex storm the World, the new home to the people who made him Weapon X. This is four issues of quirky X-Men sci-fi that could only come from the mind of Morrison, with Bachalo’s art taking all of the weird Morrison-isms and making them sing.

3) Uncanny X-Men #353-355

1997 was a turning point for the X-Men. Scott Lobdell was leaving the team and he was replaced on Uncanny by Steven T. Seagle. Seagle teamed with Chris Bachalo (this is all a coincidence, I swear) and kicked off this new run with this three-issue story. The X-Mansion was completely stripped by Bastion and his forces in “Operation: Zero Tolerance” and they team had to deal with figuring out how to accomplish their mission with nothing. Rogue was having issues, Jean and Scott were in Alaska and a certain bird starts making appearances, Sauron shows up, and things keep getting weirder. These three issues are fantastic, with Seagle and Bachalo kicking off a new era of the team with aplomb.

2) X-Men (Vol. 2) #77-78

Seagle was joined in the writer’s room by Joe Kelly on X-Men (Vol. 2) and their short time working together was one of the best X-Men runs of all-time. Kelly’s X-Men was outstanding and one of the best parts was “Psi-War” from X-Men (Vol. 2) #77-78, with artist German Garcia. The team is attacked by the African trickster god Anansi, but it’s all a front for the return of one of the most dangerous X-villains ever: Shadow King. Without a high octane telepath and Psylocke’s powers on the fritz, the team faces a near impossible task, with their only hope being a terrible sacrifice. Kelly and Garcia didn’t do a lot of issues together but what they did was fantastic and this story is not only a highlight of their run but of ’90s X-Men in general.

1) Uncanny X-Men #329-330

The mid ’90s were something of a nadir for the X-Men, with the team’s popularity cooling off significantly in the days after “Age of Apocalypse”. However, there were some pretty great stories from issue #322 until “Onslaught” started in issue #335. Uncanny X-Men #329-330, by Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, and Joe Madureira, is basically a riff on Big Trouble in Little China, as Wolverine and Archangel try to find Gomurr the Ancient to get help saving Psylocke’s life, who had been nearly killed by Sabretooth in the previous issue (you should pick that one up as well, it’s outstanding). They go on a mission to another side of New York City, one that they might not come back from. This is insane magical martial arts action, with Madureira’s art hitting an especially high level. This two-issue tale is way better than it gets credit for and it’s a shame more fans don’t know about it.

What’s your favorite X-Men story that doesn’t get enough attention? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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