Looking to get back into X-Men, advice needed

[manduck37]

So I have some room on my pull list at my LCS now that some titles I read are cancelled/ending. I asked the guys at the shop to make some recommendations. One of their recommendations was Uncanny X-Men, which intrigued me as X-Men was my gateway into reading and collecting comics. I've always liked the X-Men, so I'm pretty receptive to getting back in. Now, here's what I know. I know the set-up of Uncanny X-Men, with Scott, the two schools the fallout from AVX and so on. I know that there is a kind of companion title of All New X-Men and the set-up for that book. I read the free first issues on Marvel.com and enjoyed them.

So my question is, is there a good jumping on point? It seems like these titles are very continuity heavy, with their set up. So should I wait until I can get the trades and then pick up where the trades leave off? It there a point I can jump in and then back track with trades as i can afford them? Will jumping on now kind of ruin some of the earlier stories?

Without any spoilers, can those of you who read the X titles offer up any advice? I have no problem waiting until I can check out the trades and absorbing it all in order. Though I liked the premise and intro enough that I'm excited to delve back in X-Men again.

[Beezzi]

So I have some room on my pull list at my LCS now that some titles I read are cancelled/ending. I asked the guys at the shop to make some recommendations. One of their recommendations was Uncanny X-Men, which intrigued me as X-Men was my gateway into reading and collecting comics. I've always liked the X-Men, so I'm pretty receptive to getting back in. Now, here's what I know. I know the set-up of Uncanny X-Men, with Scott, the two schools the fallout from AVX and so on. I know that there is a kind of companion title of All New X-Men and the set-up for that book. I read the free first issues on Marvel.com and enjoyed them.

So my question is, is there a good jumping on point? It seems like these titles are very continuity heavy, with their set up. So should I wait until I can get the trades and then pick up where the trades leave off? It there a point I can jump in and then back track with trades as i can afford them? Will jumping on now kind of ruin some of the earlier stories?

Without any spoilers, can those of you who read the X titles offer up any advice? I have no problem waiting until I can check out the trades and absorbing it all in order. Though I liked the premise and intro enough that I'm excited to delve back in X-Men again.

Any favourite characters from the old days? Or any kinds of stories you liked? When did you stop reading? These things might help other posters point you in a direction you'll liked. There's so much X-canon...even if we're just going by Uncanny alone.

[Grey]

If you can afford it and have the time to catch up, I would start with all new xmen #1. It spins off into uncanny xmen- then reading them together goes hand in hand.. Can't say much else without giving spoilers.

I neVer read a comic book before ANXM and since the whole premise is the 05 coming forward in time, I felt like the book explained anything I needed to know as the story went along (because the 05 had to learn about it at the same time on panel). So if it worked for me, a first times reader, I'm sure it would work for someone like you who has a history of reading x-books.

Personally I don't read any of the other xbooks besides these two so I can't comment on the quality of those.

[teddyeatsyourface]

Despite Marvel's constant re-branding and re-number to gain new readers, hardly any of their titles have a decent "jumping on point."

I would suggest starting with the post-schism books. Uncanny X-Men vol 2 (A.K.A the Gillen run), Wolverine and the X-Men vol 1 (Aaron run), New Mutants, vol. 3, Generation Hope, and Astonishing X-Men, vol. 3

Those runs were probably some of the most enjoyable in the past 2-3 years.

[Vaishakh]

Right now I think it'd be better to wait and let secret wars pass since it seems like it is bringing large changes to X-line. Though I would recommend Magneto solo since it seems to going on through secret wars and it is also a great series

[Rotm]

This is probably a good jumping on point actually.

[Anduinel]

Right now I think it'd be better to wait and let secret wars pass since it seems like it is bringing large changes to X-line. Though I would recommend Magneto solo since it seems to going on through secret wars and it is also a great series

I'd agree with this. Might as well wait for the new status quo as opposed to trying to catch up with the current one.

[manduck37]

For characters that I like from my earlier days, I actually like most of the characters that are still around. From my days reading in the early to mid 90's the team was Cyclops, Jean Gray, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, Iceman and Beast. So I still have a fondness for all of them. Though I have yet to find a mutant character that I really didn't like. The stories I read in the past actually seem to be the root of the movies these days. So obviously some of the classics like Days of Future Past, The Dark Phoenix Saga, From the Ashes, Age of Apocalypse. I stopped reading X-Men regularly around the time of Extinction Agenda and the era of constant crossovers, polybagged with trading card style comics of the time. So it's been a long time since I read anything X related. My last big dip into Marvel was probably the Avengers and Civil War. After Civil War, my Marvel reading was trimmed down to more fringe characters like Punisher and Spider-Man 2099. I actually can't even remember what the last X-Men story I read was.

It does seem like a lot of the Marvel titles are quite good but a bit hard to jump in on if you're late to the party. I had actually forgotten about the Secret Wars coming up. So perhaps I should wait a bit before coming back as a regular reader. It doesn't seem like I'd have a problem understanding what is going on in Uncanny or All New, but I'd really have to play catch-up. Which means picking up a lot of trades. I'm not opposed to it, but it will take more time to get up to speed on the X-books. Which is about what I was expecting, as the X-books were always pretty continuity heavy.

Thanks for the recommendations and feedback everyone. Thanks teddyeatsyourface for the recommendations! Having a couple of arcs and runs to get back into the X-books is very helpful.

Side note, oddly enough one of my favorite X-Men was always Colossus. Is he still around?

[Anduinel]

Side note, oddly enough one of my favorite X-Men was always Colossus. Is he still around?

He had decent character development in the Dennis Hopeless run of X-Force (Cable and X-Force). He's getting significant spotlight in the current Amazing X-Men arc, and was part of the team in the last one (World War Wendigo). He'll also be starring in the Secret Wars retread of Inferno.

Also, if you're a 90's X-Men reader, the X-Men 92 mini coming out of Secret Wars might be up your alley.

[ciscostudent561]

He had decent character development in the Dennis Hopeless run of X-Force (Cable and X-Force). He's getting significant spotlight in the current Amazing X-Men arc, and was part of the team in the last one (World War Wendigo). He'll also be starring in the Secret Wars retread of Inferno.

Also, if you're a 90's X-Men reader, the X-Men 92 mini coming out of Secret Wars might be up your alley.

i like the direction the FoX-verse is going

[manduck37]

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the X-Men 92 mini! I didn't know that was coming out. I looks like Astonishing X-Men has a Juggernaut arc going that I may check out as well. I think I'll start on some of the recommended trades and gradually pick up the Uncanny and All New trades while I wait out Secret Wars. Perhaps I can jump back in as a regular reader after Secret Wars, just to see where things stand. I'll certainly have plenty of good reading material in the meantime.

Thanks so much for the help everyone. I really appreciate you taking the time to help an old X-fan get back into things.