Storm

Collecting X-Men regular series as Graphic Novels

The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide on collecting X-Men ongoing series – including X-Men solo series – via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated April 2016 with titles scheduled for release through December 2016.

he X-Men universe consists of a lot of comic titles as one of Marvel’s most-popular properties and the first after Spider-Man to develop its own set of spin-off series.

Ever since the successive launch of New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, and Wolverine in the 1980s there have never been less than five X-titles in circulation counting both team books and X-Men solo series.

The biggest titles with the lengthiest runs tend to be team books, followed by X-Men solo endeavors from Wolverine, Cable, and Deadpool. However, there are many other X-Men ongoing series that last just a few years and are less collected than their more popular brethren.

This page lists every X-Men ongoing title that occurred in the main Marvel Universe (Earth-616). “Ongoing” means the titles – however brief – were not advertised as limited series (i.e., headlined with “Issue # of N”). The biggest, most-long-running titles will link to their own guides, but titles with a shorter lifespan are explained right here.
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X-Treme X-Men – Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order

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 December 2024 with titles scheduled for release through February 2025.

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-Men by Chris Claremont – Definitive Collecting Guide to Uncanny X-Men #94-280

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for the original run of Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through July 2025.

Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont (1975 – 1991)

X-Men did not officially become Uncanny X-Men until issue #142. However, the cover featured the “Uncanny” adjective starting with #114. Ultimately, many fans and comics resources refer to the entire relaunch from issue #94 forward as Uncanny X-Men – a convention Marvel upholds with the titling of their Marvel Masterworks reprints.

This 16-year period of X-Men by Chris Claremont is indisputable as the most classic era of X-Men, as well as generally considered to be one of the best runs of superhero comics of all time. The vast majority of thematic material later expressed in other forms of X-Men media including films, games, and toys originated in this run.

It all begins in 1975 with Len Wein and Dave Cockrum on Giant Size X-Men, which brought back Wolverine from a single appearance in Incredible Hulk and introduced a trio of characters that have become anchors of the franchise: Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. It also brought Banshee and Sunfire back into the X-Men cast from their earlier Silver Age appearances, plus introduced Krakoa – the mutant island!

Chris Claremont took over writing duties from Len Wein just a few issues later. Under his pen, the trio of Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus would persist throughout a historic 16-year run that saw X-Men go from a marginal book returning from cancellation to the most-popular comic book franchise in America.

Along the way Claremont and a who’s who of artist collaborators steered the title through many signature foes and historic plots that have influenced movies, books, games, and toys for decades.

The first half of Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont – alongside Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, and John Romita Jr. – features a core of the classic Giant Size team, plus Kitty Pryde, under the leadership of Cyclops and Professor Xavier.

It included classic storylines like Proteus, The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, The Brood Saga, and God Loves Man Kills. Claremont and his collaborators introduced characters including Moira MacTaggert, Lilandra and the Shi’ar Empire, Arcade, Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club, Dazzler, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers, Callisto, Caliban, Forge, Selene, and many more – including importing Mystique and Deathbird from his run on Ms. Marvel! Plus, it saw him launch New Mutants and begin Magneto’s heroic turn.

The latter half of Chris Claremont’s landmark run on Uncanny X-Men – with Romita Jr., Marc Silvestri, & Jim Lee – begins with Storm usurping leadership of the team from Cyclops, who leaves the team for X-Factor. That means none of the original five X-Men star in this period of the book. Storm, Wolverine, and Colossus have seniority, and the team features some lesser-known characters such as Longshot, Dazzler, and original-body Psylocke, while introducing Mister Sinister, Jubilee, assassin-body Psylocke, and Gambit – plus, bringing back Sabretooth from his Bronze Age run on Iron Fist. And, it featured Magneto’s slide back to villainy.

That period bears a distinctly more dark and rebellious tone, with 21 issues passing with no X-Men team in existence! It also introduces the idea of both X-book and Marvel-wide crossovers with Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, and X-Tinction Agenda.

This guide is not a complete reading order that follows the team through all of their various guest appearances! Instead, this guide focuses only on the issues of the Chris Claremont run and issues routinely collected alongside them. For a complete X-Men reading order for this period, start with The Definitive X-Men Reading Order: Second Genesis.