The X-Men are my first comic love. When I first had some disposable income and decided to get into comics, the X-Men were the first place I looked. I’d played X-Men Legends, saw the movies and was familiar with the characters from friends. So I jumped in and have not regretted it since. And no matter how many other superheroes and other stories I read, I keep coming back to the mutants. In light of the upcoming Avengers VS X-Men, I’ve decided to list my top 10 personal favorite stories/arcs. Note that these are my own choices only, not reflective of anyone else on the site. This article will contain numbers 10-6, with the final five coming next week.
Honorable Mentions:
The Dark Phoenix Saga, God Loves, Man Kills, Cable and Deadpool
#10: House of M
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by: Olivier Coipel, Tim Townsend, Frank D’Armata
Reason on list: “No more mutants.” Few events in the X-Men’s history have had as big of an effect as M-Day. The depowering of the majority of active mutants completely changed the tone of every X-story after it. The X-Men went from being heroes to the last of an endangered species. The whole tone of the series changed. Cyclops became the leader of a doomed people. Stories had been dark and dire before, but nothing compared to some of the stories after M-Day. It was reminiscent of Children of Men, as not only were a vast population depowered, no new mutants were being born, until Messiah Complex. M-Day happened in 2005, and even now in 2012 the X-Men are still dealing with the repercussions.
Highlight Moment: “No more mutants”
#9: Days of Future Past
Written by: Chris Claremont
Illustrated by: Alex Bryne, Terry Austin
Reason on list: Probably one of the shortest stories on the list, but also one of the most influential. Days of Future Past presents the dystopian future where mutants and humans waged war, and the robot and sentinels won. Kitty Pryde gets sent back in time (with help from Rachel Grey) to inhabit her modern teenage persona and prevent the spark that ignites the war. This future gets visited and referenced often. It also has one of the most iconic covers.
Highlight Moment: Kitty Pryde saving the world with help from her future self. Seeing one of the most iconic dystopias in comic history.
Fun Fact: The TV show Wolverine and the X-Men features the X-Men trying to prevent this future from occurring.
#8: Wolverine and the X-Men
Written by: Jason Aaron
Illustrated by: Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend
Reason on list: The newest series on the list, Wolverine and the X-Men is a new favorite of mine. After the Schism, Wolverine went back to the school and restated it, taking most of the young mutants with him. He also brings a surprisingly awesome faculty roster:Kitty Pryde is a great headmistress, Beast is Vice Principal, Rogue, Gambit, Rachel Grey, Cannonball are also on board. But most importantly, it’s a fun read. It really is. It’s one of the best things to happen to the X-Men. Its silly, over the top, beautiful, colorful, dire, but not depressingly dire like so many recent stories. Read this!
Highlight Moment: Iceman controlling an army of icemen while defending the school from Frankensteins with flamethrowers.
Fun Fact: Ties in with X-Men Legacy and Uncanny X-Force
#7: Grant Morrison’s New X-Men
Written by: Grant Morrison
Illustrated by: Frank Quitely
Reason on list: The series starts with the destruction of Genosha. The series starts with the deaths of sixteen MILLION mutants. In a matter of seconds. And it only escalates from there. Morrison took the X-Men out of their spandex and into the modern age. He made a new X-Men for a new audience, and succeeded spectacularly. The writing is supreme, the characters are very human and emotional. They aren’t paragons, they have their own problems, but step up when the situation arises. There are a lot of great arc included in Morrison’s run. This series is also notable for introducing Cassandra Nova, the perfect villain to counter Xavier. There are so many great moments that I don’t want to spoil for you.
Highlight Moment: The destruction of Genosha, The riot at Xavier’s, the introduction of Fantomex, so many…
#6: New X-Men: Childhood’s End
Written by: Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle
Illustrated by: Paco Medina
Reason on list: Because Yost and Kyle know how to write characters. Childhood’s End started at M-Day, at the school with many students being depowered. In her infinite wisdom, Emma Frost has the remaining students fight and the last six standing will form her new team. This includes Rockslide, Surge, Dust, Hellion, Mercury, Elixer and X-23 (at Cyclops’ insistence). Yost and Kyle write these characters excellently. The story is dark, and there is great deal of fighting and death. It’s intense, and you really feel for the characters.
Highlight Moments: Hellion and X-23 saving Mercury from Weapon X, Stryker’s assault on the school
Fun Fact: Yost and Kyle brought their own created character X-23 to prominence during this run. She now has her own book. Well done, gentlemen.
Stay tuned next week for the final five! Let me know what you think. Leave a comment or find me on twitter @theindiegeek.
 (Avengers VS X-Men)){kind=link}
I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ve been waiting a long time for this.
this Books sucks…
LOL! this is why I stick my my N64.
Thanks for this!
I am reading through issue 87 of Supreme Spiderman and for the life of me I can not keep in mind when these two began dating. Does anyone know which issue it was. I have not go through the annuals yet so possibly I will verify there.
What are the very best on the internet tutorials or books that you can purchase that train you how to draw X-Men characters? My favorite is Shadowcat, so I would certainly want something to learn how to draw her. Thanks!
Give the real name of the actress who played the part of kitty pryde in X-men and X-men 2…
I’m creating a admirer fiction and frequently I draw illustrations. Most of my drawings are based off genuine people so I’m asking yourself if anybody out there has a suggestion for Kitty? I do know she was played by Ellen Web Page in the X-men motion picture but I Am thinking of even more tips (though if you did believe Ellen Web Page is the greatest choice, experience free of charge to say so)
colossus reduction his hair why?
and for kitty, after being released in to space…. how she get back again and how is she pregnant?
Read Nation X, Breaking Point, and Wolverine and the X-Men
Excellent choices. House of M and New X-Men are really high on my list, not just as great X-Men stories…but great superhero comics, kind of transcending what you’d normally expect from the genre.
Give the real name of the actress who played the function of kitty pryde in X-men and X-men 2…
What are the best on-line tutorials or guides that you can purchase that teach you how to draw X-Men characters? My favored is Shadowcat, so I would certainly want one thing to discover how to draw her. Thanks!
colossus loss his hair why?
and for kitty, soon after being launched in to space…. how she get back and how is she pregnant?
What are the very best on the web tutorials or publications that you can get that teach you how to draw X-Men characters? My favored is Shadowcat, so I would definitely want some thing to learn how to draw her. Thanks!
I was reading Final Spider-man, I was just considering to myself that Spider-man was a a lot better match with kitty pryde, but he rather be stuck constantly conserving mj, undesirable alternative to me. what do you think?
i have the rest of the codes except for those two.
im looking for a book thats similar to childhood’s end. particularly about human transcendalism and some sort.. perhaps human instrumentality too
I read this book last year, and I thought it was absolutely excellent. To anyone who’s read it, can you recommend anything else? Preferably only a single novel in length, rather than a series.
I need at least three reasons why the book by Arthur C. Clarke is named Childhood’s End… I can only think of one.
I’m looking up nightcrawler and it keeps metioning Kitty’s death and being a fan of her i would like to know in what issue she died so i can find out how she died.
JULY 15TH, IT’S GOING DOWN. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS I WANNA HEAR EM. I’VE GROWN UP WITH HARRY POTTER AND NOW THIS IS ENDING, IT’S LIKE MY CHILDHOOD’S ENDING. LET’S HEAR IT.
For the record, there are many questions and these are only the few that I need help with.
1) Are the films in New Athens better than or worse than the films in the 1950s?
2) What did Karellen do to Hitler? Bring him to power, introduce American technology, or drive him crazy?
3) Who sees Karellen first? I want to say Stormgren, but another choice is “three young children.”
4) True or false: the Overmind is represented by a color-changing volcano.
5) True or false: Jan is welcomed to the Overlord world the minute he arrived.
Thanks in advance!
I am working on a book project. Please reply.
First off, I hate reading and have to do this for a report.
Pick out of this list please!
Author – Title
Achebe, Chinua – Things Fall Apart
Agee, James – Death in the Family
Anaya, Rudolfo, A. – Bless Me, Ultima
Arnow, Harriet – The Dollmaker
Austen, Jane – Pride and Prejudice
Azuala, Mariano – The Underdogs
Baldwin, James – Go Tell It on the Mountain
Borland, Hal – When the Legends Die
Bradbury, Ray – Fahrenheit 451
Bronte, Charlotte – Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily – Wuthering Heights
Brookner, Anita – Look at Me
Bryant, Dorothy – Miss Giardino
Buck, Pearl – The Good Earth
Camus, Albert – The Stranger
Candelaria, Nash – Memories of the Alhambra
Carroll, Lewis – Alice in Wonderland
Cather, Willa – My Antonia
Chopin, Kate – The Awakening
Cisneros, Sandra – The House on Mango Street
Clark, Walter V. – Ox-Bow Incident
Clarke, Arthur C. – Childhood’s End
Conrad, Joseph – Heart of Darkness
Cormier, Robert – The Chocolate War
Crane, Stephen – The Red Badge of Courage
Craven, Margaret – I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Dickens, Charles – A Tale of Two Cities
Doerr, Harriet – Stones for Ibarra
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor – Crime and Punishment
Ellison, Ralph – Invisible Man
Erdrich, Louise – Love Medicine
Faulkner, William – The Bear
Fitzgerald, F. Scott – The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave – Madame Bovary
Forster, E.M. – A Passage to India
Frank, Rudolf – No Hero for the Kaiser
Gaines, Ernest J. – The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel – Love in the Time of Cholera
Golding, William – Lord of the Flies
Green, Hannah – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Greene, Bette – Summer of My German Soldier
Guest, Judith – Ordinary People
Hale, Janet Campbell – The Owl’s Song
Hammet, Dashiell – The Maltese Falcon
Hardy, Thomas – The Mayor of Casterbridge
Hawthrone, Nathaniel – Scarlet Letter
Heinlein, Robert A. – Stranger in a Strange Land
Heller, Jospeh – Catch Twenty-Two
Hemingway, Ernest – The Old Man and the Sea
Hesse, Hermann – Siddhartha
Hinojosa, Rolando – Dear Rafe
Hugo, Victor – Les Miserables
Hurston, Zora Neale – Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous – Brave New World
Islas, Arturo The Rain God
Jackson, Helen Hunt – Ramona
James, Henry – The Turn of the Screw
Jolley, Elizabeth – Miss Peabody’s Inheritance
Joyce, James – Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kawabata, Yasunari – Snow Country
Keyes, Daniel – Flowers for Algermon
Kim, Richard E. – Martyred
Kincaid, Jamaica – Annie John
Kinsella, W.P. – Shoeless Joe
Knowles, John – Separate Peace
LaFarge, Oliver – Sons and Lovers
Leffland, Ella – Rumors of Peace
LeGuin, Ursula – The Left Hand of Darkness
Lewis, Sinclair -
Can anyone recommend books similar to: Never Let Me Go, Childhood’s End, 1984, Brave New World, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Inherit the Stars, etc.
Heavy on ideas, characterization, analysis of how sci-fi topics affect humanity, more about philosophy than action.
No epic space wars, galactic politics, or saving the universe, please. Unless that’s just the backstory and the book explores the lives of individuals coping with these realities. Basically, I don’t want to read something that has the pacing and characterization of a big-budget action movie.
Thanks!