The X-Men rose to prominence in the ’80s, with multiple books grabbing the attention of readers. The team was at a creative peak as well, with brilliant creators like Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Marc Silvestri, Bill Sienkiewicz, John Byrne, Paul Smith, and many others giving readers amazing stories. The X-Men were Marvel’s most complicated characters, and the success of the ’80s led the X-Men to some of their greatest stories ever. Then the ’90s happened. On the one hand, saleswise, the X-Men were at the height of their powers, easily beating every other Marvel and DC Comics on the stands. Creatively, things weren’t nearly as good, but this was the case for the vast majority of Marvel comics in the decade of extreme. The X-Men can be pretty overrated at times, and the ’90s are a perfect example of that — they were the bestselling books, but they weren’t always the best books.
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However, that doesn’t meant there aren’t some great stories from the ’90s. The X-Men books had some amazing artists, and while some of the writers aren’t exactly beloved, they did a great job at times. Looking at the X-Men books in the ’90s, there are definitely some diamonds in the rough, stories that gave readers the kind of action they desired from the team. These ten X-Men stories are the best of the ’90s, and still stand up to this day.
10) “Onslaught”
“Onslaught” doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to superhero comics, but I’ve always felt the hatred for it was overstated. “Onslaught” is prime Marvel event cheese, a well crafted story that did everything that it promised it would do. Onslaught was a cool villain idea, and definitely presented a challenge for the heroes of the Marvel Universe. Onslaught taking over New York City and sending the Sentinels against the heroes made for some exciting stories, and the Uncanny X-Men and X-Men issues were especially good, as were the bookend issues. Seriously, go back and read Onslaught: X-Men #1 and Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. They are everything you could want out of Marvel event comics, and if you read the “Phases” issues (there were two type of chapters of “Onslaught” — the main issues were called “Phases” and the less important were called “Impacts”), you’re going to get a pretty good story.
9) “The X-Cutioner’s Song”
1992 was a bad year for the X-Men. Jim Lee, Whilce Potracio, Marc Silverstri, and Rob Liefeld left the X-Men office to found Image Comics. This was a massive blow, because the X-Men line had been built around them the moment that Chris Claremont left. However, Marvel had a plan and “X-Cutioner’s Song” was the cure for losing their biggest talents. Professor X is shot with a techno-organic virus by Cable, with the various X-Men teams scrambling to find the mutant soldier and X-Force. However, things are much more complicated than all of that, and by the time the smoke clears, the true identity of Stryfe is revealed and Apocalypse has come back. “X-Cutioner’s Song” is pure ’90s X-Men goodness, a well drawn story with some big shocking moments. It stands on the shoulders of giants to give readers a cool story, with some killer art from Andy Kubert, Brandon Peterson, Greg Capullo, and Jae Lee. It’s not the best written story, but it’s still a great ride.
8) “X-Tinction Agenda”
In a lot of ways, “X-Tinction Agenda” is the last gasp of the ’80s in the X-Men books despite releasing in 1990. The story saw former X-Factor ally Cameron Hodge team with the Magistrates of Genosha, along with a mind-controlled Havok, to attack the X-Men. The team, along with the New Mutants and X-Factor, jump into action, attacking Hodge in order to save their kidnapped teammates. This is an exciting X-Men story, closing out the Genosha plotlines, and has some amazing art from Jim Lee and John Bogdanove (Rob Liefeld was there too, but no one thinks his art is amazing anymore). Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson did a great job with this story, and it is one of the last great X-Men stories of the Claremont/Simonson era.
7) “Fatal Attractions”
“Fatal Attractions” is a huge turning point for the X-Men books in the ’90s. It brought back Magneto, thought dead since X-Men (Vol. 2) #3, as he prepared the world for his most devastating attack. Magneto begins trying to recruit mutants from around the world who are “worthy of Avalon”, his new space fortress. The X-Men and their allies at their lowest ebb following the death of Illyana Rasputin, and a high-level defection shocks the team. When Magneto paralyzes the world, the team springs into action, leading to one of the most important X-Men comics of the ’90s, X-Men (Vol. 2) #25. When it was all over, Magneto was mindwiped and Wolverine’s adamantium had been torn out his body. “Fatal Attractions” is pretty uneven — the only legitimately great chapters are Uncanny X-Men #304, X-Men (Vol. 2) #25, and Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75 — but those three chapters are pretty amazing, all things told. Plus, it’s one of the most important stories of the ’90s. It changed the X-Men and Marvel’s most popular hero of the ’90s for years to come.
6) “Children of the Atom”
After Claremont and Simonson left the X-Men books, the writing wasn’t the best (well, except for Wolverine (Vol. 2), which had the best writers of the X-books throughout the decade). This lasted until the later stages of the decade, when Marvel got Joe Kelly and Steve Seagle to write X-Men and Uncanny X-Men respectively. I recommend their entire run, but we’re going to focus on two stories on this list. The first of them is “Children of the Atom”, running through Uncanny X-Men #360 and X-Men #80. It kicks off with Charles Xavier, who hadn’t been seen since “Operation: Zero Tolerance”, recruiting a new team of X-Men to battle the main team. That’s pretty much the whole of the story, as the two teams of X-Men clash, resulting in a battle at the site of the X-Men’s first fight with Magneto at Cape Citadel. This story has it all — great characterization, excellent action, and gorgeous art from Chris Bachalo and Brandon Peterson. It’s a simple story, but it’s the best of the best.
5) X-Men (Vol. 2) #53
Mark Waid had a very short run on X-Men (Vol. 2), leaving the book because of clashes with writer Scott Lobdell. His six issue run is pretty cool in general, and the best issue is X-Men (Vol. 2) #53, by Waid and Andy Kubert. Jean Grey is pulled to the Astral Plane by Onslaught, where the two of them verbally spar, as Onslaught tries to convince Jean Grey that Professor X isn’t everything she thought he was. There’s no big action in this issue, just some really cool moments between Onslaught and the patron saint of the X-Men. The art is in his issue is amazing, and is easily among the best work Kubert did on the title. This issue was so hype back in the day, as it was the first time we actually saw Onslaught, but even without all of that hype, this is still a pretty great comic.
4) “Magneto War”
“Magneto War” ran through X-Men: Magneto War #1, Uncanny X-Men #366-367, and X-Men #86-87, by Alan Davis, Fabian Nicieza, and Leinil Yu. Magneto returns, deciding to hold the world hostage by threatening to reverse the magnetic poles of the Earth. The X-Men spring into action, but they’re not the only ones, as an enemy from Magneto’s past employs Joseph to destroy the Master of Magnetism. This story kicked off Alan Davis’s sometimes maligned run as writer of Uncanny X-Men/X-Men (I’ve always enjoyed it, personally, and definitely recommend it). Davis had to tie up a lot of loose ends established over the ’90s, and this story gave readers the truth about Joseph. All in all, it’s definitely an excellent story, giving readers all of the great stuff that X-Men fans love.
3) Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #268
Chris Claremont’s run on Uncanny X-Men was winding down by the time the ’90s began, both in length and quality (X-Men group editor Bob Harras was pushing the artist’s ideas over Claremont’s own, so not every story was the best), but there are some great stories from this time. One of the best, and most legendary, is Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #268, where Claremont and artist Jim Lee teamed up to tell the story of Wolverine’s first meeting with Black Widow and Captain America. This is one of those classic stories, as it fleshed out the pasts of three of Marvel’s most important characters. It’s all-around excellent, giving readers action, adventure, and some of the best Jim Lee art of his time on Uncanny X-Men.
2) “The Hunt for Xavier”
Joe Kelly and Steve Seagle’s run on the X-books does not get nearly enough credit for just how great it is, and “The Hunt for Xavier” is a perfect example of why, which ran through Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #362-364 and X-Men (Vol. 2) #82-84. The X-Men finally get some clues on where Xavier is, and find themselves facing their greatest challenge yet — the sentient Cerebro, who is also hunting down Professor X. What follows is an action packed epic, as the X-Men have to face an enemy who knows all of their weaknesses. This is peak ’90s X-Men starring the best roster of X-Men of the decade (yes, better than the Blue Team). The art by Chris Bachalo, Adam Kubert, Leinil Yu, and Pascual Ferry is excellent, bringing this mini epic to life brilliantly. This is a vastly underrated story, and every X-Men fan owes it to themself to check it out.
1) X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-3
Chris Claremont and Jim Lee’s final X-Men story together is easily the best X-Men story of the ’90s. It introduced fans to the Blue/Gold Team split, debuted the Acolytes, and made Magneto into the X-Men’s greatest enemy again, instead of his place as an ally of the team, which Claremont had developed since the ’80s. This story made millions of people X-Men fans, and remains highly ranked among X-Men stories. It can be a tad overrated at times, but it’s still a near perfect story to hand to any new fan of the team, even over thirty years later. It contains probably the best X-Men/Magneto fight of all time, and Lee’s art is the best of his decades spanning career.
What are your favorite ’90s X-Men stories? Sound off in the comments below.
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