The X-Treme X-Men comic books definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, trade paperback, & digital collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated February 2023 with titles scheduled for release through July 2023.
The X-Men line received a major shake-up to its status quo in 2001. To make way for Grant Morrison’s tightly-focused cast in New X-Men (2001), Marvel spun off some of its most beloved X-characters into a third flagship X-title: X-Treme X-Men, penned by veteran scribe Chris Claremont and launched with artist Salvador Larroca.
This new team boasted heavy-hitters and fan-favorites Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, Bishop, along with newer charaxters Thunderbird, and Sage, It would later feature Cannonball, Gambit, and Shadowcat. Beast, and Wolverine also appeared, though they were shared with Morrison.
It’s important to note that, at its launch, X-Treme X-Men was the only X-team that featured a consistently fantastical, heroic theme. Morrison’s New X-Men trended more cerebral and sci-fi, while Austen took Uncanny X-Men to a more soapy, relationship-focused feel. Meanwhile, X-Force relaunched as the tongue-in-cheek X-Statix. At the time, X-Treme was alone in carrying the banner of a classic X-Men feel.
It was also the only comic book at the time to feature Storm, Rogue, or Bishop, who barely even make a guest appearance elsewhere during this run.
X-Treme ran for the full length of Morrison’s run on New X-Men. Afterwards, Morrison’s slimmer, scholastically-focused team was in turn spun off into Astonishing X-Men, penned by Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. Astonishing borrowed Kitty Pryde from this book, with the main two X-Men titles absorbing most of the other characters.
The title went unused for almost a decade before being revived in 2012 for an unlikely purpose – a reality-hopping Dazzler vehicle penned by Greg Pak that might have been better off known as Exiles. Then, in 2022, Chris Claremont returned for a revival.
- X-Treme X-Men by Chris Claremont (2001 – 2004)
- X-Treme X-Men (2001) #1-46 & Annual 1 by Chris Claremont & Salvador Larroca (July 2001 – June 2004)
- X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land (2001) #1-4 by Chris Claremont, Kevin Sharpe, & Danny Miki (Nov 2001 – Feb 2002)
- X-Treme X-Men: X-Pose (2003) #1-2 by Chris Claremont & Arthur Ranson (Jan – Feb 2003)
- Kitty Pryde in Mekanix (2002) #1-6 by Chris Claremont, Juan Bobillo, & Marcelo Sosa (Dec 2002 – May 2003)
- X-Treme X-Men (2012) #1-13 & 7.1 by Greg Pak (2012 – 2013)
- X-Treme X-Men (2022) #1-5 by Chris Claremont & Salvador Larroca (2022-2023)
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X-Treme X-Men (2001) by Chris Claremont (July 2001 – June 2004)
X-Treme X-Men (2001) #1-46 & Annual 1, X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land (2001) #1-4, X-Treme X-Men: X-Pose (2003) #1-2, & Mekanix (2001) #1-6 (July 2001 – June 2004)
Begins July 2001, parallel to the launch of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men (#114), Uncanny X-Men #394, the launch of what would become the X-Statix team in X-Force #116, Wolverine #164, Cable #93, and Deadpool #54.
[Marvel Unlimited: main series, annual, Savage Land, X-Pose, Mekanix]
in oversize hardcover…
#1-24 & Annual 1: X-Treme X-Men By Chris Claremont Omnibus Vol. 1 (2022 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302946395)
Collects Uncanny X-Men (1963) 389, X-Men (1991) #109, X-Treme X-Men (2001) #1-24 & Annual 1, X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land (2001) #1-4, X-Treme X-Men: X-Pose (2003) #1-2, and material from X-Men Unlimited (1993) #36.
#25-46: Not yet announced for this format. Since the first omnibus already collected X-Men Unlimited (1993), this may omit Mekanix entirely.
as originally collected…
#1-9: Vol. 1: Destiny (2003 paperback, ISBN 978-0785108412 / digital)
Savage Land #1-4: X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land (Vol 1.5) (2002 paperback, ISBN 978-0785108696 / digital)
Collects X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land (2001) #1-4, which fits between #4-5.
Annual 1 fits here after issue #9 but is collected much later in the final volume.
#10-18: Vol. 2: Invasion (2003 paperback, ISBN 978-0785110187 / digital)
#19-23: Vol. 3: Schism (2003 paperback, ISBN 978-0785110842 / digital)
Also collects X-Treme X-Men: X-Pose (2003) #1-2, which fit between #19-20. “Schism” not to be confused with the later 2010 X-Men event of the same name.
Mekanix #1-6: Vol. 4: Mekanix (2003 paperback, ISBN 978-0785111177 / digital)
Collects Mekanix (2003) #1-6, a collegiate adventure that focuses on Kitty Pryde, and her subsequent appearance in X-Men Unlimited (2003) #36. She departs X-Treme in issue #19 and returns in #25. Also collected in Marvel Universe by Chris Claremont Omnibus (2017 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302907150)
Meanwhile, after #23, Bishop and Sage make a brief detour to X-Men Unlimited (2004) #1 and a featured story in New X-Men (2001) #140-141.
#25-30: Vol. 5: God Loves, Man Kills (2003 paperback, ISBN 978-0785112549 / digital)
Rehashes (and also reprints) Marvel Graphic Novel 4 – “God Loves, Man Kills” OGN by Chris Claremont, which is the skeleton of the plot for the movie X2.
#24 & 31-35: Vol. 6: Intifada (2004 paperback, ISBN 978-0785112303 / digital)
#36-39: Vol. 7: Storm – The Arena (2004 paperback, ISBN 978-0785109365 / digital)
This solo Storm adventure was disliked by fans at the time.
#40-46 & Annual 1 / 2001: Vol. 8: Prisoner of Fire (2004 paperback, ISBN 978-0785113515 / digital)
Also included the 2001 Annual. Similar to the last volume, this is panned by most fans.
X-Treme ended in June 2004 concurrent with the X-Men Reloaded event. Its characters are dispersed to Uncanny X-Men (1963) #444 (Storm, Cannonball, Rachel Summers, Evangeline Whedon, Sage, Sunspot), X-Men (1991) #157 (Rogue, Gambit), and the launches of Astonishing X-Men (2004) (Kitty), District X (2004) (Bishop), and Excalibur (2004) (Callisto).
X-Treme X-Men (2012) #1-13 & 7.1 by Greg Pak (2012 – 2013)
This is an alternate-reality series that could’ve easily been titled “Exiles” headlined by a single regular-reality Marvel character: Dazzler.
This story is spun out of alternate realities glimpsed in Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 5: Ghost Box (hardcover and paperback) and Astonishing X-Men: Exalted (hardcover and paperback). See Guide t0 Astonishing & Amazing X-Men for more information.
This run wwas a cult hit that never caught on with a larger fan community and which was up against line-wide changes due to Avengers vs. X-Men introducing Marvel Now..
(This title spinning out off Astonishing is ironic, since the initial volume of X-Treme was cancelled to make way for the debut of Astonishing.)
#1-5: Vol. 1: Xavier Must Die (20xx paperback, ISBN 978-0785165644 / digital)
Dazzler leaps to an alternate reality doomed by a conglomeration of evil alternate Xaviers, with a team of alternates including White Queen, a pre-teen Nightcrawler, and a gold-plated Wolverine!
#6-11 & 7.1: Vol. 2: You Can’t Go Home Again (2013 paperback, ISBN 978-0785165651 / digital)
This series awkwardly straddles Avengers vs. X-Men, leaving Dazzler disconnected with what’s happening with her friends – which is acknowledged in the standalone #7.1.
#12-13:X-Termination (2013 paperback, ISBN 978-0785184430 / digital)
Collects X-Termination (2013) #1-2 [AKA Alpha & Omega], Age of Apocalypse (2011) #13-14, X-Treme X-Men (2012) #12-13, Astonishing X-Men (2004) #60-61.
From here, Dazzler begins to appear in Uncanny X-Men (2013) with issue #10.
X-Treme X-Men (2022) #1-5 by Chris Claremont & Salvador Larroca (Nov 2022 – Mar 2023)
Original X-Treme creators Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca reunite for a story set just after their original run on the title. [Marvel Unlimited]
#1-5: X-Treme X-men By Claremont & Larroca: A New Beginning (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302946753 / digital TBA)
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Check Amazon for Marvel’s newest X-Treme X-Men titles.
[…] I’m back with another X-Guide Update! This guide was NOT a guide I expected to have to update this year, and certainly not for two different reasons. First, Marvel is relaunching this title (with its original creative team!) into a new series later this year that picks up directly from its end in 2004. Second, certainly related to that, Marvel is publishing the first of two omnibuses that will cover the entire run! Of course, I’m talking about my Guide to X-Treme X-Men! […]