Recs to newcomers to X-Men comics for the First Class fans

[salinea]

So, in case you loved X-Men First Class and you want moar and you would be interested in checking out the comics because of that, a little intro on some of the series I've read which are good.

I'm kind of a new convert to comics myself, so my knowledge is narrow, and especially I'm limiting myself to recent-ish (21st century only) comics because they're those I know best, though there's quite a wealth of good stuff in old stories, hopefully someone else might complete my infos. (ETA: sandoz_iscariot suggests some in the comments)

Grant Morisson's run on X-Men, usually called New X-Men (#114-154 X-Men)
Dating to the early 00's
I have some very mixed feelings on this run. Otoh it's got some brilliant ideas, especially in term of how it plays up the basic X-Men themes, and has fun writing and gorgeous art and efficient flow. Otoh Morisson has this tendency to sacrifice characterizations to his beautiful ideas in a way that makes me want to bash my head against a wall at times (Magneto especially suffers from some character assassination which was thankfully retconned) and often come across as mean spirited. Still it's a good run overall, and not a bad way to start reading about X-Men. It's a quite wacky and surrealist at times, which I don't personally mind but might not be to the taste of everyone. Features Xavier, Emma, and Beast.

Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. (#1-24 Astonishing X-Men)
It builds well from Morisson while also trying to recapturing a more classic vibe, and it's pretty good, profiting from Whedon's gift for writing ensemble dynamics in a fun and witty way. It's fairly separate from comicverse events so easy to get into without bothering with all that mess. Features a little bit of Xavier (being quite badass), and Emma and Beast quite a lot.

New X-Men (Academy X)
If one of the thing you like about X-Men is the whole high school for mutants conceit, you might want to read this. It is divided in two runs, Academy X by Weir & DeFilippis before Decimation (#1-19 + Hellion miniseries), and the run after by Kyle & Yost (#21-46). The former is kind of basic high school drama; and the latter is about giving a lot of poor innocent kids PTSD. Love the characters but it's pretty uneven in terms of stories; so it's rather superfluous. Doesn't feature Xavier or Magneto.

Excalibur v3, by Claremont (#1-14)
If, and only if, the thing you liked about First Class was Xavier and Magneto making a lot of eyesex with one another and you want more of that, specifically, this is the book for you. It's not very good, but boy is it slashy. It deals with some of the consequences from Morisson's run on X-Men, and leads into House of M.

House of M
THE big crossover event that has influenced the most X-Men status quo by bringing on Decimation, in which the large majority of Mutants in the world were suddenly depowered. It's not extremely good, but it's kind of important for that. Also the art is gorgeous; and, if you like melodrama, the stuff dealing with Erik and his family can be appreciated in a kind of epic tragedy way.

House of M - Civil War
Is a miniseries exploring how Magneto rose to power in the House of M alternate reality; it's pretty interesting, and features a little bit of Xavier as well as Erik.

X-Factor v3 by Peter David (starting with the Maddox miniseries; #1-still on going)
Is a very good, kind of Noir series about a detective agency ran by mutants in New York, as the impact of Decimation is being felt. It's got nice ensemble chemistry and witty writing. It doesn't feature Xavier or Erik (at least no more than cameos), but I'm reccing it anyway because of the being good thing, because it mostly does its own thing which makes it easier to get into for newcomers; and because it features a canon gay relationship. Also Darwin features in it for a while, and so does Banshee's daughter.

X-Men by Carey (#188-204)
Deals with one X-Men team led by Rogue. Carey's writing is very good and so is the art, Rogue in it is awesome (if you still remember her fondly from the first movies ^^), Mystique is also in it, and it leads well into the next big X-Men event.

Another series that is really peripheral to X-Men but I love to death is the Cable & Deadpool series (#1-50). It is hilarious and raises some interesting ideas as well; and is the most slashy text I've ever read or watched without technically being canon gay (and it's a very thin technicality). Nothing to do with either Xavier or Magneto though.

Messiah Complex
Is the following big X-Men crossover event. It deals with the birth of the first Mutant baby since Decimation, and the battle for seizing it. It's okay-ish (as far as event goes), and features Xavier a little.

At this point Carey's run on X-Men is renamed X-Men Legacy, and starts focusing onto Xavier mostly and does a lot of continuity porn. The first few issues also feature Erik in a pretty awesome way. Latter on the run starts featuring Rogue again a little bit, then more strongly (#226), then Magneto also starts featuring a lot as well from Second Coming on. Recently it had a crossover with the New Mutant series called Age of X which was pretty cool. In the most recent issues since that, Magneto, Xavier and Rogue are all main characters of the series. Sadly (imho) so is the Magneto/Rogue relationship - YMMV - but Carey's writing makes it worth it despite that ship as far as I'm concerned.

The next X-Men event is Utopia, detailing the mutants installing themselves on that island in San Francisco's bay. I liked it.

It's followed by Second Coming, when the new Mutant baby comes back all grown up, which pretty much sets the most recent status quo for X-Men. It's not bad.

Gillen's run on Uncanny X-Men has only just started, but it's first issue (Uncanny X-Men 534.1) is centered on Magneto and is awesome (and delivers a fuck you to the third X-Men movie ^_^). Before him UXM was written by Fraction, of which I've only read a couple of issues which dealt with Magneto, and him joining the X-Men - but tbh, I was very much unimpressed by their writing so I can't in good faith recommend them, even for Erik's sake.

I'm also enjoying Uncanny X-Force which has started a few months ago, and deals with a black op team doing the dirty jobs of going after their enemies before they can attack. (It had a predecessor in the v3 of X-Force, taking place between Messiah Complex and Second Coming which I found grimdark in a bad/ridiculous way; but I know other people liked it).

Also the #5th issue of Generation Hope had some very cute Erik & Charles bickering and might be worth getting just for that ^_^

Outside of X-Men, I'd also like to mention the Young Avengers series; which deal with a group of teens vaguely affiliated with the Avengers doing heroic; and which features two kids who are sorta-kinda Erik's grandsons; one of which is in a canon gay relationship. It's a very good series, fun and adorable. The latest story dealing with them, currently being released , Avengers : the Children's Crusade features Magneto.

Magneto Testament is a miniseries exploring Erik growing up during the Shoah. I haven't read it, but it's supposed to be good - though obviously very depressing, and very much focused on detailing the events of the Holocaust rather than anything related to superheroics and mutants.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'll second X-Factor but in the interest of full disclosure, I do have a bias here since I am married to the author

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I also really enjoyed Origins with Wolverine, one of the few I actually own.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I tried reading that once, a long time ago, and I really didn't like it; but perhaps it's just because I'm not that crazy about Logan.

I do love the Daken : Dark Wolverine series though ^_^ but that might be my thing for bisexual manipulative bastards speaking.

[kalikahuntress.livejournal.com]

I need to pick up TPB's for Excalibur and I agree wholeheartedly about X-Men Legacy; and I don't feel IMO that Magneto and Rogue will be together for a long time but I do get why they are; especially from Mags side since it's not like he has many people around him that trust him, much less like him. Charles, rightfully so, isn't totally sure of Erik which must make things a lot worse for them.
I love how in a recent issue Erik tagged a long even though he wasn't suppose to and I suspect its to watch Charles back. And boy was Charles not please with that.:)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Carey's really the writer with the best hang on the character I feel; so yeah, I really love Legacy for that.

Charles, rightfully so, isn't totally sure of Erik which must make things a lot worse for them.
That part I'm not sure I get why. In chronological order, from the fall of Genosha, they have a pretty good relationship up to when Fraction wrote Magneto's arrival on Utopia when Charles' totally bitchy for no reason - which I fanwanked as agreed-upon posturing to manipulate Cyclop into agreeing XD
The thing in the recent series, is well... in the latest issue they reveal why Erik was there with them; and that makes Charles' defiance making a lot of sense for this specifically. Though I like your interpretation! Must have been a factor too :D

[kalikahuntress.livejournal.com]

I am good with Charles defiance about all things as long as it ends with them resuming their relationship; otherwise I call shenanigans; no matter what has happened with them they have managed to resume their friendship and I am waiting for the same to happen here. I hope Carey is trucking with that, without Marvel having to force his hand because of the latest X-Men movies. But there has been some scenes that show that Charles will eventually mellow out about Erik's presence on Utopia so I feel it will happen we just don't know when.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Well with the Schism event coming; I'm not really sure how their relationship will evolve... but right now, I'd say they're already being written as mostly friendly with one another in any case.

[kalikahuntress.livejournal.com]

Yeah I am nervous about Schism but Legacy has been fairly good about not rehashing old crap, so I hope for once we get to keep Erik and Charles on the same side for some time. I am behind on Legacy so thanks again for this post.:)

[eisen]

I like this post a lot just for it summarizing my own thoughts on Morrison's X-run in a helpfully clear and efficient manner.

I mean, the rest of it is true enough and this is a really good newbie guide to the current X-books, but I could never have condensed my thoughts into a paragraph like that and I appreciate it.

[salinea]

Heh, thanks.

[ishtar79]

These are such good suggestions, though I'd definitely reccomend at least some of Claremont's earlier Uncanny X-Men stuff-the Dark Phoenix storyline comes to mind.

I'm so torn about Morrison's X-Men. I like some of the aspects you mentioned, but I will never forgive him for the silliness with Magneto...or for killing Jean, especially since the latter stuck.

[salinea]

Yeap, I was only only reccing recent-ish stuff because - asides from a few Charles/Erik focussed issues (like, most of those you posted) - I'm barely at the start of reading the Claremont run (haven't even finished the Dark Phoenix storyline). I'm kinda new in the fandom, I have a lot of catch up to do ^^

I'm so torn about Morrison's X-Men. I like some of the aspects you mentioned, but I will never forgive him for the silliness with Magneto...or for killing Jean, especially since the latter stuck.
Yeah, it's really annoying. For Jean I think I blame Marvel more, since it would be ridiculously easy for them to bring her back if they wanted to, and since they do seem to have a grudge against all their oldest female characters (see where Wasp and the Scarlet Witch are) so it feels like a trend. For Magneto... well I'm kind of glad I already knew it was then retconned when I read it because otherwise I'd have really wanted to throw things at wall. I think I'm actually more pissed off about it now because I've now seen some of the vicious flamewars the whole deal still provokes in the dark, nasty places of the fandom (CBR) and it's utterly disgusted me.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I'll second X-Factor but in the interest of full disclosure, I do have a bias here since I am married to the author

[johnnash.livejournal.com]

From a purely fanboy perspective, I can't say how happy it makes me to find that you're a fan of this pairing.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

My love of the Charles and Erik dynamic goes back to the 1975 re-introduction of the characters.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Woot, I'm glad that when I said the pairing was at least 30 years old to a friend who said "at least the fandom is new" (!!!) I wasn't off by much XD

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Funny thing is that if you go back to what Stan 'the man' Lee wrote between the two, the dynamic was there. It just got hyped up in the next series. Especially after Lee hinted that they were once friends.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

wah, I didn't know that. Lol now you make me want to read silver age stuff.

[sandoz-iscariot.livejournal.com]

there's quite a wealth of good stuff in old stories, hopefully someone else might complete my infos.

For anyone curious about the older comics, I recommend the Essential X-Men books. There's Essential Classic X-Men 1-3, which collects the beginning of the X-Men comics in the 60s, the first fights between the X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, etc. Then there's Essential X-Men 1-9, which collects the later 70s-80s run by Chris Claremont that introduces characters like Storm, Mystique, and Wolverine, has classic stories like "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past," and if you're a Charles/Erik fan, the stories that established the Charles/Erik friendship and loads of character development that made Magneto more than a mua-ha-ha-ing bad guy.

There's also Classic New Mutants, which covers a time in the 80s where Magneto was redeemed and running the Institute to carry on Charles' dream and looking after the next generation of mutant kids. Over the past few years Marvel's been pretty good about keeping older comics in print, thankfully.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the addition of recs :)

[fawned.livejournal.com]

I was just coming over to mention New Mutants! It's consistently among my favorite titles, in large part because of the way Magneto's presence was handled.

[johnnash.livejournal.com]

I love your icon.

[fawned.livejournal.com]

♥!

[greenet.livejournal.com]

Yay X-Factor! Which is, in my opinion, the most constantly good book Marvel has atm (ignoring some bad, bad crossover related shenanigans), and I love all the characters. It's basically the only book I've kept up with, but X-Men First Class made me buy X-Men Legacy: Divided He Stands... and now I'll probably end up with a pile of trades again. :)? :(? :D?

Also, Yay Cable and Deadpool which is brilliantly funny. <3 Deadpool.

I like a lot of New X-Men because I think Morrisson did great things for Emma, who is my faaavorite, and some of her most quotable moments come from that run.

I'm less fond of Astonishing, but it is well-written and has great art.

I'd als recommend at least the first trade of X-Men First Class (which is the one I've read so far) as it is adorable.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

X-Factor is really very good. It's not the only x-men series I currently love; but I guess Legacy is a bit more often entrenched in crossover shenanigans indeed!

If you liked Deadpool you might also like the Uncanny X-Force series too, he's a member of the team and, miracle!, he's actually being written with a bit of depth there (unlike all the other current Deadpool series in which he's just a comic relief, you know)

I certainly can't say New X-Men was bad, despite some of the issues I have with it. Loved Emma in it as well :D

I loved most of the First Class stuff too; all the things written by Park and Peter David for one :D Very funny and adorable (though about listing it, but decided against because I couldn't think of a way to tying it with the First Class movie besides the name)

[q99.livejournal.com]

-
New X-Men (Academy X)
If one of the thing you like about X-Men is the whole high school for mutants conceit, you might want to read this. It is divided in two runs, Academy X by Weir & DeFilippis before Decimation (#1-19 + Hellion miniseries), and the run after by Kyle & Yost (#21-46). The former is kind of basic high school drama; and the latter is about giving a lot of poor innocent kids PTSD. Love the characters but it's pretty uneven in terms of stories; so it's rather superfluous. Doesn't feature Xavier or Magneto.
-

Pretty much the first X-book I got into when I started buying such things :) Well, not counting alt-reality stuff (EXiles).

I love a comic with plenty of characters, and plenty of character development, and both runs brought both of those in plenty.

-
Deals with one X-Men team led by Rogue. Carey's writing is very good and so is the art, Rogue in it is awesome (if you still remember her fondly from the first movies ^^), Mystique is also in it, and it leads well into the next big X-Men event.
-

And the other one that I opened with around the same time ^^ I got into this one because it had Rogue (one of my fav characters concept-wise), and it had Cable, and I had just finished the Cable and Deadpool trades.

-
Another series that is really peripheral to X-Men but I love to death is the Cable & Deadpool series (#1-50). It is hilarious and raises some interesting ideas as well; and is the most slashy text I've ever read or watched without technically being canon gay (and it's a very thin technicality). -

I found it had a *few* uneven spots, but likewise, on the whole it was great ^^

Much to my surprise, I ended up liking the Cable bits at least as much as the Deadpool ones, sometimes more.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I love a comic with plenty of characters, and plenty of character development, and both runs brought both of those in plenty.
It does have that!

I really wish they had a book for all the x-kids (all of them, not just the Generation Hope) once more :(

Much to my surprise, I ended up liking the Cable bits at least as much as the Deadpool ones, sometimes more.
Yeah, I was surprised by how much I liked Cable in that series. The dry wit and manipulative streaks were pretty interesting! I wonder if I'd like him in any thing else as much XD so far no luck.

[q99.livejournal.com]

Hm, yea, Cable in other comics is sometimes ok, but I can't think of one that does him as well.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

!!! Thank you for this! It's just the sort of information I've been looking for.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

yay! Glad my post was of use :D

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you! This is exactly the guideline I need for the exploration I'm going to have to start one of these days!

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Hope it'll be useful then :3

[lilyoftheval5.livejournal.com]

Thank you, this is very helpful.
I'm more of a DC girl and although I'm aware of the basic plotlines in Marvel comics I rarely read them.

I have just recently read the House of M and I must say I liked it very much.
So now I'm taking your recommendation and getting a look at Excalibur v3.
... Yes, I'm getting into it just because of those two.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! :)

... Yes, I'm getting into it just because of those two.
Can't blame you. Those two are very delicious :D

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is so helpful, thank you! I read a lot of X-Men when I was a kid in the early 90s, but I had no idea where to dive in with the more current stuff. I think I need to trundle across the street to the comics shop this afternoon!

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yay, have a good trip to the comic shop :D

[flo-nelja.livejournal.com]

J'en ai lu une grande partie ! :-)

Il me manque Magneto Testament, à moi aussi. Et House of M - Civil War, tiens. Je m'étais dit que je résisterais aux univers alternatifs. :-) Mais pour le coup, je vais être tentée.

Sinon, il faut que je finisse l'arc de Morrison. Et New X-men. Et X-Factor, même si, comme on en a parlé, je n'aime pas vraiment la façon dont il écrit les interactions entre les personnages féminins (et je n'aime pas comment il écrit Rahne, non plus, qui est le seul personnage que je connaissais bien avant).

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Testament, je l'ai. Je l'ai juste pas encore lu pasque j'attend d'être d'humeur pour qqchose d'aussi déprimant (déjà les bouts postés sur scans_daily m'ont fait pleuré...>_>;)

Je te l'uploade House of M? Quoique je l'ai vu sur comicunity ya pas longtemps IIRC.

T'as jamais lu l'arc de Morrison? Tiens ça m'étonne. Vi je te blame pas pour X-Factor.

[flo-nelja.livejournal.com]

Ouaip, je l'ai vu sur comicunity aussi.

Je n'ai pas fini l'arc de Morrison. J'ai lu pas mal de bouts, mais jamais tout dans l'ordre.

Oh, et pour X-Factor, il y a aussi le truc que j'ai parfois l'impression qu'il utilise ses personnages pour donner son avis sur certains trucs (ce que je peux comprendre) et qu'il fait exprès de donner à ceux qui défendent l'opinion opposée des arguments particulièrement faibles, ce qui m'énerve toujours.

[fairywearsbootz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the list! I'll definitely check some of these out. I used to read quite a lot of comics a couple of years ago, but unfortunately didn't have the time since to keep up with all the major crossover arcs...

I really liked House of M though, but mostly because I have a sweet spot for doomed-siblings-interaction paired with daddy-issues. Those final panels of HoM#7 with the "Daddy, no more mutants"-line really got me (and right now reminds me eerily of that one Sylvia-Plath-poem, huh).

And Cable & Deapool! My favorite series EVER!!! I pretty much hated the Wolverine-movie just because it ruined Deadpool. I am never gonna watch a movie with Ryan Reynolds EVER AGAIN. That's what you get from slaughtering fan favorites.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

major crossover arcs are the evul :(

Yeah, I enjoyed House of M very much because of the family melodrama as well XDDD

I pretty much hated the Wolverine-movie just because it ruined Deadpool.
HAHAHA I think the Wolverine movie was worth hating even without the thing with Deadpool. It kind of sucked a lot. (though I wasn't yet a Deadpool fan then, so perhaps I would have hated it EVEN MOAR).

I am never gonna watch a movie with Ryan Reynolds EVER AGAIN.
awww, poor Ryan Reynolds. It's not actually his fault! Dyou know he's actually a big fan of the character, and he's made reference to Blind Al and stuff in interviews and if we ever get a genuine Deadpool movie, one that doesn't suck, it would be because he's willing to step up as a producer for it?
I say hate the Wolverine movie director / script writer / producer instead :D

[fairywearsbootz.livejournal.com]

Huh, he did? OK, I did not know that. Maybe I can give him another chance and move my hatred towards the writers/producers :p. I actually checked them out on IMDB and they were involved in some awful stuff, but also some surprisingly good films. One of them's going to be involved in DieHard 5 about which I'm entirely unsure how to feel, so maybe I'll decide after that one comes out ;).

[soleil-ambrien.livejournal.com]

Oh oui, le cycle de Joss Whedon, Excalibur Genosha et House of M sont géniaux !

Mais dans les anciens, de 1975 à 1991 (même si je n'ai pas tout lu, je me suis arrêtée à 1986, environ), lorsque c'est Chris Claremont qui scénarise, c'est très bon aussi. :)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Vi, les histoires de Claremont je suis encore au milieu de les lire en fait (et plutôt au début en fait)