The X-Men have been graced by some amazing artists, but few of them are as beloved as Jim Lee. Lee came aboard Uncanny X-Men with issue #248, and his pencils graced the book until 1991’s X-Men (Vol. 2) #1, where he drew and co-plotted the book until issue #11. From 1989 to 1992, Lee take what was known as the “pin-up style” that Marc Silvestri had pioneered and rode it to the bank. The team became more popular than ever with Lee on pencils, and the artist still holds the record for the bestselling comic of all time, selling eight million copies of X-Men #1.
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Lee helped make the ’90s the decade of the X-Men, but he’s far from the only great artist that has graced the comics of Marvel’s merry mutants. Over the decades, the publisher has made sure that the team has had the best artists that money can buy, leading to some all-time great visuals. These seven X-Men artists aren’t Jim Lee, but they are phenomenal.
7) Joe Madureira
Joe Madureira is one of the most popular artists of the ’90s, and made his name on Uncanny X-Men. He drew issues #312-313, 316-317, 325-326, 328-330, 332, 334-338, 340-343, 345-348, and 350, as well as Astonishing X-Men #1-4. Madureira’s manga influenced style was unique back then — he popularized this style of art in American comics — and he was heavily influenced by legendary mangaka Masamune Shirow. He wasn’t the fastest penciler out there, but when he was at his best (basically every issue he drew post-Astonishing to #350) is fantastic. He’s a great, and it’s shame he couldn’t draw faster, honestly.
6) Chris Bachalo
Chris Bachalo got noticed at DC, working on horror books like The Sandman, Shade the Changing Man, Death: The High Coast of Living, and Death: The Time of Your Life. He moved to Marvel for Generation X, and then got the nod for Uncanny X-Men in 1997. Since then, he’s drawn Uncanny X-Men #349, 353-356, 358-36-, 362-365, 464-468, 472, and 600, Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 3) #1-4, 8-9, 12-14, 16-17, 19-22, 25, 27, 29-32, New X-Men #142-145, X-Men (Vol. 2) #188-190, 192-193, 197-200, 205-207, Wolverine and the X-Men #1-3, 8-10, 12, 16, and 42. He drew X-Men books for over 20 years, and his unique style, which melded American horror comics with manga, has been a favorite of fans for years.
5) Andy Kubert
Andy Kubert grew up in the comic business. His father was legendary DC writer/artist Joe Kubert, and he helped ink and letter his father’s books while he was a teenager. Eventually, he and brother Adam got their start at DC Comics, with Andy eventually getting fill-in issues of Uncanny X-Men before taking over X-Men (Vol. 2) after Lee left the book. Kubert drew Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #279-280, and 288, X-Men (Vol. 3) #14-20, 22-26, 28-34, 36-38, 40-41, 44-47, 50, 52-57, and 59, Amazing X-Men (Vol. 1) #1-4, and Ultimate X-Men #5-6 and 50-53. Kubert picked up Lee’s baton and ran with it, giving readers some excellent imagery. Art sold books in the ’90s, and Kubert’s skill kept the book flying off the spinner racks in the ’90s.
4) Carlos Pacheco
Carlos Pacheco is one of the greatest artists in comic history, and left the industry much too early with his death in 2022. He did work across the comic industry, and his short time drawing X-Men (Vol. 2) helped his star raise immensely. He drew issues #62-67,-1, 69-72, and 74 in 1997, and would return to the team in 2011 with Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-3, 9-10, and 20. Pacheco’s detailed, clean lines gave readers some amazing imagery and while he didn’t even draw over 20 issues of the team, he still made a huge impact. He was a titan in the industry, and his time drawing the X-Men was fantastic.
3) Dave Cockrum
Chris Claremont gets all the credit for the X-Men’s success, but one of his earliest collaborators on the book doesn’t get nearly enough credit: Dave Cockrum. Cockrum drew Giant-Size X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #94-107, 110, 145-150,153-158, and 161-164. Cockrum designed the costumes for Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Thunderbird, gave Wolverine his most familiar mask, designed the Phoenix costume and the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard, and so much more. Cockrum was an amazing talent, and his work on the book only got greater as the years went on. He’s often overshadowed by artists who came after him, but he’s always been amazing.
2) John Byrne
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is amazing, and we’d never have gotten it if it wasn’t for John Byrne. Byrne is a controversial figure in the comic industry, but you can’t deny his skill as a writer or artist, even if he’s done some things that none of us like. He worked in the trenches at Marvel for years, but it was the X-Men comics that made him a star, his work with Claremont as co-plotter and penciler getting him more attention than ever, leading to everything he’s done since then. He came onboard Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) and worked on #108-109 and 111-143. He’s partly responsible for helping change comics with books like “Days of Future Past”, and became a superstar who worked on characters like the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk, Superman, Wonder Woman, and more.
1) Marc Silvestri
Marc Silvestri is, in my humble 34-year reading comics opinion, the most underrated legendary artist ever. Silvestri changed comic art forever in the late ’80s, working on Uncanny X-Men and finding a way to bring the pin-up art style to the monthly books. His simple, clean linework was a revelation back then, and his detail was immaculate. His style launched a thousand pretenders, and he doesn’t get enough credit for just how important he is to the history of comic art. Silvestri drew Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #218, 220-222, 224-227, 229-230, 232-234, 236, 238-244, 246-247, 249-251, 253-255, 259-261 and New X-Men #151-154 in 2004. Silvestri went to Wolverine (Vol. 2) after leaving Uncanny, giving the ol’Canucklehead some amazing art (when I started reading the book) before helping found Image Comics. He’s an elder statesman of the industry and we all need to put more respect on his name.
Who’s your favorite non-Jim Lee X-Men artist? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
