The X-Men In 5 Seasons Worth Reading, Season 1: Uncanny

A few years ago, while working on the now defunct VeXed-Men website, I did a series of The X-Men in ten seasons, where I did some exhaustive reading, some skimming, some Wikipedia-ing, and some trips to the used book store that carries comics, and put together an exhaustive timeline of how to read the X-Men using pretty much all of the trade paperbacks that were then available.

Don't do that to yourself.

In the last few weeks, I've been reading every 90s X-Men and X-Men adjacent book (Cable, X-Factor, X-Force, X-Man, Generation X, Rogue, Wolverine, Wolverine & Gambit...if it has been collected into trade in the last fifteen years or so, I've read it and reviewed it on Goodreads.) and it made me question why I ever even liked the X-Men.

For this project, I'm just going to condense it down to the books I enjoyed reading. There are going to be ten "episodes" per season, and it's going to lean heavily and more modern stories/collections because they're easier to access, and some of the writing techniques of the 60s, 70s, and 80s haven't aged well.  Season One is going to take us from a condensed retelling of the first 60 issues of the series all the way up to the prelude to The Age Of Apocalypse, which won't be where season two begins.

cover to X-Men Grand Design by Ed Piskor

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Season 1:
Uncanny

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Episode 1: X-Men Grand Design
(written by Ed Piskor based on Stan Lee, art by Ed Piskor based on Jack Kirby)

I'm so glad this exists and is widely available. I can't ever bring myself to slog through the Silver Age of the X-Men. There is so much exposition. So much tiresome dialog written in a "hip parlance" that only existed in the minds of the out-of-touch. It's fairly inscrutible for modern readers. But there were some good stories. Ed Piskor, using the same oversized and stylized format that he employed for Hip Hop Family Tree, retells the entirety of the X-Men Silver age in one book. Each issue being slimmed down to two pages. That it exists is kind of cool, that it works is nothing short of amazing.

If you like this volume, I recommend checking out Piskor's Grand Design: Second Genesis, which takes the same format to tackle the Claremont run. 


Episode 2: X-Men Epic Collection Second Genesis
(written by Chris Claremont, Len Wein, and Bill Mantlo; art by John Byrne, Dave Cockrum, Sal Buscema, Bob Brown, and Tony Dezuniga)

This collection starts out with some of the style that I find difficult to slog through, but it's a good introduction to the major X-Men characters of the 80s and 90s, as the X-Men becomes more of an international team. And though it's rife with stereotypical cliches at the beginning, they do get somewhat smoothed out as the collection goes along. I said in my Ten Seasons list that "Claremont isn't the father of the X-Men, but he's the mentor who guided them into adulthood." and I still believe that. This collection presents us with some familiar villains from Grand Design but also shows us what a new generation of X-Men would look like.

If you enjoy this, consider checking out X-Men Proteus to see what a terrible parent one of the X-Men is. This is a theme that will be revisited late in the season, and every other season.

Episode 3: X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga
(written by Chris Claremont and Jo Duffy; art by John Byrne, John Buscema, Mike Collins, and Jerry Bingham)

THE classic X-Men story. Space. Aliens. Possession. Cyclops being a bit of a dweeb. A female character being so powerful that her power overwhelms her. This is very tropey. But while we did see a death in the Second Genesis episode, this death is the first Major Death in X-Men history. Or, it would have been, had any X-men team member actually ever been permanently killed.

If you enjoy this, Days Of Future Past is another story from this era that is viewed as a classic. And while it does introduce some new characters, and is sort of fun, it didn't quite make the cut for this list.


Episode 4: X-Men From The Ashes
(written by Chris Claremont; art by John Romita JR and Paul Smith)

Professor Xavier is a jerk! Jean Grey is dead! Cyclops's rebound relationship is Hella Creepy! Storm gets an epic haircut! Morlocks! Japan! A wedding doesn't turn out as planned! For all the techniques that didn't age well, Claremont is a master at weaving short form stories into a long-form narrative. He wrote big crossover events but he didn't rely on them the way later writers would. This is one of his best examples of small chunks of stories and character development fitting together really well into one, focused story.

If you like it, check out Claremont & Brent Anderson's God Love, Man Kills another classic, this one with a religious bent, that didn't quite make the cut.


Episode 5:  X-Men: Mutant Massacre
(written by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, and Ann Nocenti; art by John Romita, Alan Davis, Bret Blevins, and Rick Leonardi)

The first major crossover on our list. We met the Morlocks, an underground dwelling group of mutants who "aren't pretty enough" to live above the surface, in the last episode. In this one, we focus on them, as Daredevil, Thor, the New Mutants (the young X-Men team), X-Factor (the original flavor X-Men team), and the current X-Men team contend with a group of mutant assassins called The Marauders who end up doing Major Damage to pretty much everyone in this story.

If the New Mutants team interests you, definitely check out New Mutant: Demon Bear, which has some next level Bill Sienkiewicz art)


Episode 6: Fantastic Four Vs. The X-Men
(written by Chris Claremont; art by John Bogdanove)

I've written about/talked about this every time I've ever discussed essential X-Men books. This is the first comic book I ever read, and I can't believe how well it's held up. It's the aftermath of the Mutant Massacre, and the X-Men have contacted the Fantastic Four to help save Kitty Pride, whose power to phase is out of control (see, once again the powerful female character's powers threaten to be her undoing).  

If you like this, I'd backtrack a bit to X-Men Epic Collection: Ghosts to see The Trial Of Magneto, which gets referenced here.


Episode 7: X-Men X-Tinction Agenda
(written by Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson; art by Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, John Bogdanove, and Guang Yap)

The third teamup story in a row. This time it's just three X-Teams converging on a nation where mutants are bred and enslaved. The island of Genosha becomes a hugely important locale in X-Men mythology, and this appearance is a big part of why. For an 80s superhero comic, it does a surprisingly good job of handling issues of race and oppression. 

Around this time in comics, there are some weird developements for various X-Men, particularly Storm. I would check out Epic Collection: Dissolution & Rebirth to follow her adventures, meet everyone's favorite Cajun mutant, and spend a great deal of time with Forge as he attempts to put The X-Men back together after a major catastrophe.


Episode 8: X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis
(written by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and Tom Raney)

The end of the Claremont era! Also, yet another multi-team adventure. This collects the best selling X-Men comics of all time, as the various X-Teams must first overcome The Shadow King and then defeat their oldest foe...in space! This is the series that launched the X-Men Animated Series (though it did some backtracking to include events like X-Tinction Agenda). If you were born between 1975 and 1990 and only ever read one X-Men book, it was probably this one. I was excited that they finally collected the Muir Island Saga that led up to X-Men #1 in the same collection as the first few issues of X-Men (the main series having been referred to as Uncanny X-Men). While Fantastic Four Vs. X-Men was my first comic, this was the series that got me back into comics as a kid. I was completely confused by virtually everything I picked up between these two series.

I can't in good conscious recommend any of the X-Men comics written by Scott Lobdell, who wrote the X-Men for an absurd amount of time after Claremont left the title. But there is a collection called X-Men The Skinning Of Souls that, of all the ridiculous 90s continuity comics,  is the one I find most enjoyable.


Episode 9: Magneto Testament
(written by Greg Pak; art by  Carmine Di Giandomenico)

No character ever truly dies in X-Men comics, but the last volume was meant to be the final Magneto story for a while. It wasn't. He came back nearly instantly. But this book would have been a good coda to a Last Ever Magneto Story. It's one of the many origin stories for the purple bucket helmeted magnet villain. But it's the best from both a storytelling and an art perspective.

For more Magneto storytelling that's relevant to this season, check out X-Men/Avengers: Blood Ties.


Episode 10: X-Men Prelude To The Age Of Apocalypse
(written by Mark Waid, Jeph Loeb, Scott Lobdell, and John Francis; art by Andy Kubert, Steve Epting, Terry Dodson, and Roger Cruz)

There is no bigger mess of an event in Marvel comics history than The Age Of Apocalypse. They took An Entire Year to reimagine every X-title. Villains became heroes, heroes became dead, the dead became villains, etc. I don't recommend it. BUT. The story of how The Age Of Apocalypse came to exist was done really well. So we close the first season with an expose on how Charles Xavier's terrible parenting led to the complete destruction of the timeline, and the death of everyone and everything he ever loved. Nice job, Chuck.

If you're a masochist, you can check out The Age Of Apocalypse. Some of it is really good but there is A Lot Of It, and much of it is trash.