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X-Men

X-Men Legacy – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for X-Men Legacy comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections – including runs by Mike Carey, Christos Gage, and Simon Spurrier. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated December 2024 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

X-Men Legacy (2008 / 2013) #300 TextlessX-Men Legacy is a title that covered a pair of X-Men volumes published from 2008 to 2014. Both volumes shared a theme of diving deeply into the continuity of a single lead character – first Professor Xavier, then Rogue, and finally Legion in the second volume.

The first volume of X-Men Legacy emerged from the “Messiah Complex” crossover. At the close of the event, the traditional co-flagship book of “adjectiveless” X-Men (1991) was renamed to “Legacy” and dropped its cast to focus solely on Professor Xavier in the wake of the event.

Initially the relaunched series was partially driven by the flashbacks of Xavier’s fractured psyche, which comprised half of each issue. In an intriguing turn of storytelling, the flashbacks – which called back to specific moments in classic X-Men issues – were illustrated by different artists than the present day sequences.

This mined a lot of deep X-Men history and reconciled it with the present day. That was especially useful, given Wolverine had recently regained his full memories and Cyclops was currently in Xavier’s place as the leader of the X-Men.

Starting with issue #219, the focus moved to Rogue as a primary protagonist. Fresh from enduring considerable physical and psychic strain leading up to “Messiah Complex,” Rogue underwent a major transformation at the top of the run – she gained control of her absorption powers.

With the curse of her powers finally lifted, this version of Rogue felt as though she had the most agency and development in her 40-year history – even though we had seen Rogue lead several X-Men teams over the previous 20 years! The next 50+ issues of X-Men Legacy cast her as a rebel, a mentor, and a leader while continuing to tie up long-hanging threads of continuity.

In 2012’s Marvel Now, Legacy relaunched with Professor Xavier’s son Legion as the improbable lead character. The tidy, 24-issue run spent as much time in his mind as it did on real world adventures. Both settings were soaked through with X-Men lore and British cheekiness, courtesy of series writer Simon Spurrier.

Fun fact: Nightcrawler, Vol. 4 by Chris Claremont was originally intended to be X-Men Legacy, Vol. 3! At the last moment, editorial decided that the market had X-title fatigue and that solo series were more in vogue, thus the name change.

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New X-Men by Grant Morrison & X-Men (1991) #157-207 – Definitive Collecting Guide

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for New X-Men by Grant Morrison and X-Men (1991) #157-207 comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels.Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

New X-Men (2001) #114 textless coverX-Men (1991) was rechristened New X-Men in 2001 when Grant Morrison took the helm with issue #114, indicating their radical (and sometime controversial) departure from X-Men status quo.

Morrison created the first truly definitive period in X-Men history since Chris Claremont’s departure. They stripped down the core team to the bare bones of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Emma Frost, and Beast – all also acting as the staff at the Xavier school.

New X-Men is a challenging, often off-putting run packed with new ideas, challenging concepts, and artwork that ranges from beautiful to near-obscene (sometimes in the space of a few panels).

This is the run that forged the Cyclops and Emma Frost relationship that exists to this day, but not at the expand of Jean Grey. Morrison was the first writer to meaningfully develop Jean Grey in years. They also introduced Fantomex (in Annual 1) and exploded the size and scope of the world of mutants at large, developing the idea of mutant culture outside of the X-Men.

After Morrison’s run ended in 2004 the book reverted back to its prior X-Men, Vol. 2 name while maintaining its issue numbering for another 52 issues as written by Chuck Austen, Peter Milligan, and Mike Carey.

Meanwhile, the remainder of Morrison’s team continued directly to Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men. [Read more…] about New X-Men by Grant Morrison & X-Men (1991) #157-207 – Definitive Collecting Guide

X-Men Vol. 2 in the 90s – Definitive Collecting Guide to X-Men (1991) #1-113

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for the 1990s run of X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections – including X-Cutioner’s Song, Fatal Attractions, Phalanx Covenant, Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught, and more! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

Adjectiveless X-Men: X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) #1 – 113 (1991 – 2001)

After almost thirty years with Uncanny X-Men as the core book in the X-Universe, Marvel launched a second, adjectiveless flagship X-Men book in 1991.

X-Men, Vol. 2 (1991) #11 - Jim Lee's final issue on art.

X-Men Vol. 2 was the biggest possible of comic blockbusters at its launch – it’s first issue remains the highest-selling comic of all time over 25 years after its release!

It featured the hottest team in comics battling their most-iconic villain in a gut-wrenchingly awesome story penned by their most-celebrated scribe (Chris Claremont) and with all-new looks from the hottest artist in the industry (Jim Lee). The regular roster was even stacked with fan favorites – Cyclops, Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, Rogue, and Psylocke!

Yet, things were unraveling behind the scenes almost before the book was underway. Claremont departed after issue #3, unhappy with Marvel’s increasing tendency to give their superstar artists like Lee the leeway while rushing writers (a subsequent brief stint by John Byrne ended similarly).

Lee lasted for less than a dozen issues before leaving to become a founder of Image Comics.

Despite the break-up of that initial creative team team, this volume remained a who’s who of X-creators – Fabian Nicieza scripted nearly half of this volume, followed by brief writing runs by Terry Kavanagh, Joe Casey, and Mark Waid.

The book also sustained a strong stable of artists, with Andy Kubert helping to define the look of the early-90s era of X for a third of this run. Claremont would later return for a run, and Alan Davis both wrote and penciled an arc.

This period is exemplified by more then 20 different events, direct crossovers, or runs with informal crossovers with Uncanny X-Men (1963) it endured in its first 100 issues. The team’s A-list roster held up for almost two years before the crossovers muddied the lines between this and the flagship Uncanny X-Men, robbing the book of definition and the Rogue and Gambit drama that drove its earliest issues. [Read more…] about X-Men Vol. 2 in the 90s – Definitive Collecting Guide to X-Men (1991) #1-113

Uncanny X-Men in the 00s – Definitive Collecting Guide to Uncanny X-Men #394-545

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for the 2000s trade paperback era of Uncanny X-Men comic books from 2001 to 2011 in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections – including runs by Chuck Austen, Chris Claremont, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, & Kieron Gillen and events like House of M, Messiah Complex, Second Coming, & Fear Itself! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through March 2025.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #394 – 545: The Trade Paperback Era (1991 – 2001)

The X-Men franchise reached a crossroads in 2001 that would forever alter its direction, but also usher in a decade of substantial runs penned by just five authors – all of which was collected upon initial release starting with issue #410!

That’s why I think of this final decade of Uncanny X-Men as “The Trade Paperback Era.” It was the beginning of the idea of X-Men being “written for trade,” with tidy 4-6 issue story arcs rather than bursts of shorter stories and one-shot issues.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #500

The slick, black leather costumes of the first Fox X-Men film existed in the public consciousness in 2001, but X-Men comics of the period were a hard-to-parse mess of neon spandex. Not only that, but Marvel’s newly-launched Ultimate Spider-Man reimagining of Spider-Man for the modern day was proving to be massively popular. An Ultimate X-Men followed at the beginning of 2001 that felt closer in style and tone to the films.

Together, these two changes allowed Marvel to experiment with the core of the X-Men franchise. Writer and actual psychedelic warlock Grant Morrison reimagined X-Men (1991) as the sci-fi, leather-clad, and frequently absurd New X-Men. Meanwhile, X-Force metamorphosed into X-Statix under the guidance of Peter Milligan and Mike Allred.

What’s often forgotten is that Uncanny X-Men also relaunched at the same time. Twice, actually! First, Joe Casey took the reins for a similarly leather-bound and slightly-absurdist take on X-Men. Then, midway through Morrison’s run, Uncanny swapped to author Chuck Austen.

Austen’s run is often reviled for its soap opera elements, as well as for deeply unpopular moments for Nightcrawler and Angel. Despite that, it remains very much in the Claremontian tradition of constantly-churning conflict and romance. It often introducing wild concepts from far outside the X-Men’s typical range of influences.

Chris Claremont himself would return as Austen’s replacement with The New Age in 2004. While opinions remain split on this run, it’s certainly more popular than his prior return on “Revolution.” The New Age finds Claremont intermingling new toys and old favorites, writing a team that includes Storm and Rachel Summers, but also playing with Bishop and X-23. His run crossed the House of M event that would decimate Marvel’s mutant population, though he did not deal with the fallout – instead, choosing to focus more on Rachel and the return of Psylocke.

Ed Brubaker took over from Claremont with an audacious change in direction. Brubaker followed up on his Deadly Genesis mini-series by taking a core of X-Men to space for Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire. The cosmic plot lasted for an entire year of comics and lead into the massive War of Kings event. It eschewed many popular mainstays of the team for a cast of Xavier, Havok, Polaris, Nightcrawler, Rachel Summers, and Warpath – along with the Starjammers. Afterward, Brubaker refocused on Earth, steering the flagship towards a rebirth from the ashes of Messiah Complex.

Though Brubaker wrote for an arc following Messiah Complex, the following era of the X-Men in San Francisco mostly belongs to Matt Fraction. Fraction reimagines Uncanny X-Men less as a team and more as a society of mutants, with nearly every heroic mutant passing through the background panels of the book at some point in his run. He writes through Dark Reign to the considerable crescendo of Second Coming, a resolution of the remaining threads of House of M.

Finally, Kieron Gillen gradually transitions onto the title over the course of the following year, graduating from Matt Fraction’s secret co-plotter to Fraction’s credited co-writer before finally taking over the reigns with issue #534.1. Gillen slims down Fraction’s massive cast to one foreboding “Extinction Team” lead by the increasingly revolutionary Cyclops and featuring Emma Frost, Wolverine, Magneto, Namor, Storm, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, and Hope. His run continues past the punctuation of Schism through to the following run of Uncanny X-Men, Volume 2.

For a complete X-Men reading order for this period, start with The Definitive X-Men Reading Order: New X-Men.

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