7 Must Read Comics to Really Understand the X-Men

The X-Men were once the bestselling team in comics. For years, Uncanny X-Men — and X-Men, New X-Men, and Astonishing X-Men — were bestsellers, ruling the sales charts with an iron fist. However, Marvel started to stack other books with A-list talent and the X-Men fell into their own little corner of the Marvel Universe. Calling it a corner of the Marvel Universe is the exact right way to refer it — the X-Men have their own sub-universe of heroes, villains, teams, and allies. This can make becoming a X-Men fan rather daunting. There are so many different eras and characters to choose from, so many entanglements, that knowing what stories really form the core of the X-Men can be pretty hard. Luckily, that’s why I’m here.

While I definitely haven’t read every X-Men comic, I’ve read enough them to understand what the X-Men are about at their core. I know how hard the X-Men can be to crack for a new fan, but there’s hope. There are some X-Men stories out there that get across everything that a reader would need to know. These seven X-Men comics — six of the best of the past and the best current X-Men series to read — are exactly what you need to get into the X-Men.

“Ghost Box”

Warren Ellis is persona non grata for current comic fans for good reason. Ellis is allegedly a predator, and many fans who used to love his work no longer support the writer. However, there are some great Warren Ellis books that are out of print but still on sale on the secondary market that can be bought without supporting him. His Astonishing X-Men run is an example of this, and it has an amazing story to kick things off — “Ghost Box”. The story sees the X-Men called in to investigate the murder of a mysterious mutant, one that leads them to a starship graveyard, the hidden mutant city of Tian, and to the lair of an old ally gone barmy. Ellis’s Astonishing is basically what would have happened if Grant Morrison never left New X-Men (newbies, you’ll understand what I mean about that by the end). “Ghost Box” is the perfect example of beautifully paced superhero sci-fi, topped off by the amazing artwork of artist Simone Bianchi. “Ghost Box” is an X-Men masterpiece, a high concept romp with wit and humor that could only come from the X-Men. And, again, if you don’t want to give Ellis any money, you can still buy “Ghost Box” in either its collected edition — which includes the excellent Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes mini — or the original issues: Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3) #25-30.

X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-3

X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-3, by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee, is the story that made the X-Men into THE team of the ’90s and it has still managed to stand the test of time all these decades later. This is the ultimate Magneto story, as the villain is drawn back into the war between humans and mutants by a group of mutants which take the name of the Acolytes. Magneto and the Acolytes attack Genosha, leading the X-Men Blue Team into battle against them. However, Magneto is, well, Magneto, and suddenly Xavier and Moira MacTaggert have to deal with an irate Magneto who’s found out how much they manipulated him over the years and just taken the Blue Team prisoner. This isn’t just an action packed, beautifully drawn story, it’s a history lesson on Magneto and the X-Men. It was the perfect comic for millions of young fans back in 1991, and the same can be said for it today. It’s the X-Men in their most perfect form, and will make anyone a fan.

“Gifted”

After Grant Morrison’s New X-Men (we’ll get there when we get there!), Marvel needed a blockbuster team to take over the flagship of the X-Men. This led to Astonishing X-Men, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon and superstar artist John Cassaday, a dearly departed artist whose time on Astonishing made him one of the best X-Men artists ever. Their first story, “Gifted”, is pitch perfect X-Men. Kitty Pryde returns to the team after the death of Jean Grey to find the X-Men in a precarious place. Cyclops decides that the team should be superheroes again, leading them to an alien villain with a purpose that could destroy mutantkind. “Gifted” is everything you could ever want from an X-Men comic, full of great characters snarking at each other while interesting things happen around them, all with art that will make your eyes bleed with happiness. This is one of those X-Men stories that you can give to just about anyone and make them a fan of the team, a snapshot of everything that makes X-Men comics worth reading.

“Here Comes Tomorrow”

The X-Men have quite a history with alternate timelines. At this point in most lists, you’d get either a recommendation for The Age of Apocalypse — an over 40-part story that while a must read has some mid entries that a new fan wouldn’t enjoy — or “Days of Future Past”, the comic that introduced the X-Men to dark alternate futures and one of the greatest X-Men stories of all time. However, instead, we’re going to go to Morrison’s New X-Men (see, I told you to be patient) for the four issue story that ended their run, “Here Comes Tomorrow”. “Here Comes Tomorrow” takes place an alternate future where the X-Men are trying to find the Phoenix Egg before the Beast of the Apocalypse can. They fail, leading to the return of Jean Grey and the end of the world. Morrison teamed with X-Men legend Marc Silvestri for this blockbuster, and took the dark X-Men future trope and kicked into overdrive. While someone who hasn’t read Morrison’s run isn’t going to get all of the references to earlier in the book, it’s still an amazing work of X-Men fiction, showing off why Morrison’s New X-Men is so perfect — big concept X-Men with a great group of characters bringing it all to life.

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“E is for Extinction”

To really appreciate Morrison’s run, though, one has to check their first X-Men story, “E is for Extinction”. This book kicked off an all-new era of the X-Men, concentrating on the X-Men as mutant teachers, rescue workers, and general problem solvers for homo superior. “E is for Extinction” joins the team in the midst of this change and are immediately thrust into battle with an all-new threat, Cassandra Nova. However, Nova isn’t just a powerhouse on par with the most dangerous mutants ever, she also has a secret weapon, one that will help her hurt Xavier worse than anyone else ever has. “E is for Extinction” is yet another example of the X-Men at their best. It lays out all kinds of interesting ideas and characters developments, contains the introduction of Emma Frost to the team, has Wolverine and Cyclops working together, and one of the biggest moments in the history of the X-Men. Artist Frank Quitely’s stylized and bizarre pencils are perfect for this story, bringing Morrison’s strange concepts to life perfectly. “E is for Extinction” is the best of the best, and that’s really all there is to it.

“The Dark Phoenix Saga”

“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is the best X-Men story ever. There’s really no other way to describe it. Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s classic pits the X-Men against Phoenix, the beloved Jean Grey, the omnipotent power of the Phoenix Force and the telepathic machinations of the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle transforming her into the Dark Phoenix. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is everything the X-Men do well turned up to a thousand. The action is powerful and well-rendered, the characters are perfect, and the events are exciting, harrowing, and heart-rending. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” lays it out all on the table — this is a story that was built over the process of almost three years of stories, yet it can easily be read by anyone as one of their first X-Men comics. That’s the power of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” — it touches the same thing in readers that Shakespeare or Greek tragedies do. It’s brilliant and will teach you everything you need to know about the X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 6)

After reading all of those, you’re going to want a current X-Men comic to read. The current “From the Ashes” X-Men publishing initiative is lackluster, but there are some stellar X-Men comics being published right now. One of them is perfect for someone who wants to understand the X-Men: Uncanny X-Men 9Vol. 6). The book is written by Gail Simone, one of the best superhero writers in the history of the medium, and with art by David Marquez, a brilliant artist on an entirely different level than most others, and fill-in artists like Javier Garron and Gavin Guidry. Uncanny X-Men stars Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee as its core, along with four new mutants known as the Outliers — Ransom, Calico and Ember, Deathdream, and Jitter. The team is living in New Orleans, dealing with a world that hates mutant more than ever, and where the X-Mansion is a mutant prison, trying teach these new mutants to use their powers. There’s also a terrible prophecy, Gambit gaining a high-powered magical object, and a new bunch of young mutants to teach. However, they’re still heroes and still out to defend a world which hates and fears them. What makes Uncanny X-Men so perfect is that it understands the balance between X-Men character soap opera and action packed superhero comic. Simone just gets how to structure a team book — her work is very Claremont-esque — where she is able to build multiple characters in the book at the same time while giving readers exciting stories with perfect pacing. This is the best current X-Men book for a fan who wants the X-Men ideal, and Simone tapping into a vein of Southern Gothic horror is just the perfect accoutrements.