I'm trying to find a Christmas present for my friend, who is just entering the magical world of comics. She really likes the X-Men movies, so I figured I would get her a trade paperback. Thing is, I'm not too well-read when it comes to the X-Men, having only read the first volume of Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. I'm thinking something relatively modern that would require little to no previous knowledge of their mythos. She's also a big fan of Matt Fraction's run on Hawkeye, if that helps.

Well if she's a fan of Xmen 2.. I'd say get God Loves Man Kills. Some of the other movies seem to pull a little from the Ultimate line so thats a little more difficult

@hawk2916: I agree, "God loves, man kills" isn't only a great graphic novel (maybe the greatest x-novel), but it is also perfectly understandable by all. Also by who haven't never read a story of the X-Men.

@numbuh1nerd: No. Don't listen to them. Thematically GLMK ties in vvith the X-Men cinematic universe. She's a casual enthusiast though, and I'd bet money that story is too old and slovv paced to hold her attention.

Ultimate X-Men. The original run. That's vvhat you vvant.

Also, Grant Morrisons run on X-Men. Much of the original X-Men movie trilogy borrovved from that.

Lastly, Old Man Logan. The art is great and just.....yeah....lots of fun.

Morrison?

The thematics of his run are totally different by the movie and Morrison wrote the X-Men since 2001, while the first movie is dates back to 2000. The second movie is inspired by "God loves, man kills" and the third by the Dark Phoenix saga.

There are some similarities between the second movie and "Germ free generation", but also these three stories are inspired by "Good loves, man kills".

Obviously I don't say Morrison isn't a good gift.

Uncanny X-Men Vol 1, Days of Future Past or Wolverine goes to Japan,

I think Whedon's run is great for beginners. I've had a lot of people tell me that's the first X-men comic they read, and they generally become fans.

There's relatively few X-men comics I haven't read, and I still consider all four volumes of Whedon's run among my favorites.

I dont know. Books are better than Movies in terms of stories and characthers.

Taking all of this and my (very) limited budget into consideration, I'm considering just getting Wolverine and the X-Men on DVD instead. That would be a bit more time consuming, though. I'm not sure.