The 9 greatest X-Men stories of all time
polygon.comBack in the old days (I say, settling into my rocking chair to dream dreams of VHS tapes and floppy disks), getting into a new superhero universe was largely a matter of cracking open an issue — or borrowing a few favorites from a friend — and catching what you could as you went. The Internet has brought with it the possibility of previously near-impossible completism, and with it, the overwhelming implicit weight of years of continuity and the necessity of “catching up” before you dive in.
Among the already forbiddingly convoluted worlds of shared-universe superhero franchises, X-Men continuity is legendary for its density. It’s complicated — clones, time travel, and retcons galore — but it’s also just really, really big. I pay my rent podcasting about X-Men continuity, which should be a pretty good indication of both how much of it there is, and how confusing readers find it.
The upside of the breadth and variety of the line is that there’s a custom point of entry for pretty much anyone interested in reading X-Men. Read on for a guide to the core stories of X-canon, and where to go next.
by Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie
Okay, look, you could start with X-Men #1. But for readers who want a more modern take on the early days of the team, Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie’s graphic novel provides a great self-contained introduction to the original five X-Men, distilling down the first half dozen issues of the often-overwrought Silver Age. Hopeless and McKelvie’s teen X-Men read like actual teenagers — in particular, the historically underwritten Jean Grey, who serves as the book’s primary point-of-view character — and the story itself is fun, heartfelt, and deftly crafted. There’s no single X-Men title I’ve recommended more to readers looking for an inroad to the series.
by Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz
No, there’s no relation to the film of the same title. X-Men: First Class is a modernized retelling of — again — the Silver Age adventures of the first team of
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