Who do you think were the best writers for the X-Men? Here's the list of writers:

Chris Claremont - Dark Phoenix Saga

Grant Morrison - New X-Men

Joss Whedon - Astonishing X-Men (1st run)

Warren Ellis - Astonishing X-Men (2nd run)

Matt Fraction - Uncanny X-Men

Chuck Austen - Uncanny X-Men

Craig Kyle and Chris Yost - X-Force

Kieron Gillen - Uncanny X-Men

Peter David

Rick Remender - Uncanny X-Force

Jason Aaron - Wolverine and the X-Men

Mark Millar - Ultimate X-Men (1st run)

Brian Michael Bendis - Ultimate X-Men (2nd run)

Scott Lobdell - Onslaught Saga

Ed Brubaker - Deadly Genesis

Victor Gischler - Curse of the Mutants

Mike Carey - X-Men: Legacy

Stan Lee - X-Men

My favorite writers are Chris Claremont because I loved his Dark Phoenix Saga story, Joss Whedon's run on "Astonishing X-Men," and Mark Millar's run on "Ultimate X-Men."

None of them. I love many of the X-men characters, and I've enjoyed their adventures in comics other than their own and in TV shows. However, in my experience (and I've read a lot of X-Men comics), X-Men comics do nothing other than periodically ruin the characters, confuse me with (really) weird storylines, and generally make me depressed.

@-Vigil- said:

None of them. I love many of the X-men characters, and I've enjoyed their adventures in comics other than their own and in TV shows. However, in my experience (and I've read a lot of X-Men comics), X-Men comics do nothing other than periodically ruin the characters, confuse me with (really) weird storylines, and generally make me depressed.

I agree that there were times where I just stopped reading X-Men comics because the stories got so frustrating and the characters changed for no good reason. I especially didn't like the way that the writers had changed Cyclops' personality so much over the years.

@Boogiepop said:

Kyle and Yost's run on X-Force was my favorite X-Men comics.

@-Vigil- I don't get how you can say "none of them" though. Some of them never ruined anyone, or did anything depressing. And aren't all comic stories kinda weird lol. Just say "Stan Lee" if you don't like the rest lol.

Well, I haven't read them all. I just mean none of the stuff I've read. I love many of the writers listed, particularly Ed Brubaker and Peter David, I just haven't really enjoyed many X-Men comics aside from the occasional few-issue stretch and maybe "God Loves, Man Kills". As for Stan Lee, sure he's a visionary and I love him, but his actual writing doesn't really hold up to today's standards, I think. Don't shoot me. :)

@Rabbitearsblog said:

@-Vigil- said:

None of them. I love many of the X-men characters, and I've enjoyed their adventures in comics other than their own and in TV shows. However, in my experience (and I've read a lot of X-Men comics), X-Men comics do nothing other than periodically ruin the characters, confuse me with (really) weird storylines, and generally make me depressed.

I agree that there were times where I just stopped reading X-Men comics because the stories got so frustrating and the characters changed for no good reason. I especially didn't like the way that the writers had changed Cyclops' personality so much over the years.

Yeah, exactly. I haven't given up on the X-Men comics altogether, I'm just taking a break.

@-Vigil- said:

@Rabbitearsblog said:

@-Vigil- said:

None of them. I love many of the X-men characters, and I've enjoyed their adventures in comics other than their own and in TV shows. However, in my experience (and I've read a lot of X-Men comics), X-Men comics do nothing other than periodically ruin the characters, confuse me with (really) weird storylines, and generally make me depressed.

I agree that there were times where I just stopped reading X-Men comics because the stories got so frustrating and the characters changed for no good reason. I especially didn't like the way that the writers had changed Cyclops' personality so much over the years.

Yeah, exactly. I haven't given up on the X-Men comics altogether, I'm just taking a break.

I basically stick with Joss Whedon's run of Astonishing X Men and Chris Claremont's earlier run of X-Men, but I would occasionally read a new X-Men comic if it holds my interest.

@Pbott said:

This is an easy one, for first place Its a tie between Remender and Whedon. These two runs are not just two of the best x-men runs, but two of the best comic runs of all time. Behind them I would say Morrison, Yost on x-force, and Careys early stuff on legacy, the new stuff not so much.

Yeah! Whedon's work on Astonishing X-Men was a classic!

@cattlebattle said:

Give me the classics anyday Chris Claremont solo or with Jim Lee Stan Lee Joss Whedons run was the most memorable one out of the past 15 years

I agree about Joss Whedon's run being the best run of X-Men for the past 15 years or so.

I don't understand all the love that Remender's X-Force gets. It's a really good read, but it's not on par with Whedon or Morrison's runs and it's not on par with the Kyle/Yost run of X-Force.

I feel like people measure it not by a general consensus of what good writing is, but by matching it up against the other X-Books, which for the most part, aren't exactly the best measuring stick.

Claremont. He wrote the blue print on all of these characters, & therefore, understood them better than anyone who's come along after him. Decades later, when you're asked about the all time greatest X-Men stories, it always goes back to 'The Dark Phoenix Saga"  & "The Days of Future Past' two parter. I'd argue that there hasn't been a truly memorable X-Man added to the cast since Claremont left. 
 
After Claremont, I'd go with Morrison. He mad the book his own, which is really what needed to happen. Too many writers have just tried to do their version of Claremont's X-Men, & in my opinion, have largely failed. Morrison's X-Men were pretty far afield from Claremont's, & thus, it was easier to judge those stories on their own merits, rather than constantly compare & contrast them with Claremont's run.  
 
I'm a huge Brubaker fan, but his Deadly Genesis mini-series was too much set-up, & not enough actual story. All that series accomplished was the introduction of Vulcan, the pointless death of Banshee, & giving us one more reason to regard Xavier as a douchebag. The latter we really didn't need, since we already had plenty. 

@chalkshark said:

Claremont. He wrote the blue print on all of these characters, & therefore, understood them better than anyone who's come along after him. Decades later, when you're asked about the all time greatest X-Men stories, it always goes back to 'The Dark Phoenix Saga" & "The Days of Future Past' two parter. I'd argue that there hasn't been a truly memorable X-Man added to the cast since Claremont left. After Claremont, I'd go with Morrison. He mad the book his own, which is really what needed to happen. Too many writers have just tried to do their version of Claremont's X-Men, & in my opinion, have largely failed. Morrison's X-Men were pretty far afield from Claremont's, & thus, it was easier to judge those stories on their own merits, rather than constantly compare & contrast them with Claremont's run. I'm a huge Brubaker fan, but his Deadly Genesis mini-series was too much set-up, & not enough actual story. All that series accomplished was the introduction of Vulcan, the pointless death of Banshee, & giving us one more reason to regard Xavier as a douchebag. The latter we really didn't need, since we already had plenty.

I agree that Chris Claremont's Dark Phoenix Saga was probably one of the best stories he has ever done!

@Rabbitearsblog said:

Who do you think were the best writers for the X-Men? Here's the list of writers:

Chris Claremont - Dark Phoenix Saga

Grant Morrison - New X-Men

Joss Whedon - Astonishing X-Men (1st run)

Warren Ellis - Astonishing X-Men (2nd run)

Matt Fraction - Uncanny X-Men

Chuck Austen - Uncanny X-Men

Craig Kyle and Chris Yost - X-Force

Kieron Gillen - Uncanny X-Men

Peter David

Rick Remender - Uncanny X-Force

Jason Aaron - Wolverine and the X-Men

Mark Millar - Ultimate X-Men (1st run)

Brian Michael Bendis - Ultimate X-Men (2nd run)

Scott Lobdell - Onslaught Saga

Ed Brubaker - Deadly Genesis

Victor Gischler - Curse of the Mutants

Mike Carey - X-Men: Legacy

Stan Lee - X-Men

Morrison, Carey, Kyle and Yost, David, Lobdell, Remender and Whedon only.

Bendis and Millar are okay, to be fair.

@John Valentine said:

@Rabbitearsblog said:

Who do you think were the best writers for the X-Men? Here's the list of writers:

Chris Claremont - Dark Phoenix Saga

Grant Morrison - New X-Men

Joss Whedon - Astonishing X-Men (1st run)

Warren Ellis - Astonishing X-Men (2nd run)

Matt Fraction - Uncanny X-Men

Chuck Austen - Uncanny X-Men

Craig Kyle and Chris Yost - X-Force

Kieron Gillen - Uncanny X-Men

Peter David

Rick Remender - Uncanny X-Force

Jason Aaron - Wolverine and the X-Men

Mark Millar - Ultimate X-Men (1st run)

Brian Michael Bendis - Ultimate X-Men (2nd run)

Scott Lobdell - Onslaught Saga

Ed Brubaker - Deadly Genesis

Victor Gischler - Curse of the Mutants

Mike Carey - X-Men: Legacy

Stan Lee - X-Men

Morrison, Carey, Kyle and Yost, David, Lobdell, Remender and Whedon only.

Bendis and Millar are okay, to be fair.

Yeah, I really liked Millar's run on Ultimate X-Men, but I wasn't too fond of Bendis' run on Ultimate X-Men.

@chalkshark said:

Claremont. He wrote the blue print on all of these characters, & therefore, understood them better than anyone who's come along after him. Decades later, when you're asked about the all time greatest X-Men stories, it always goes back to 'The Dark Phoenix Saga" & "The Days of Future Past' two parter. I'd argue that there hasn't been a truly memorable X-Man added to the cast since Claremont left. After Claremont, I'd go with Morrison. He mad the book his own, which is really what needed to happen. Too many writers have just tried to do their version of Claremont's X-Men, & in my opinion, have largely failed. Morrison's X-Men were pretty far afield from Claremont's, & thus, it was easier to judge those stories on their own merits, rather than constantly compare & contrast them with Claremont's run. I'm a huge Brubaker fan, but his Deadly Genesis mini-series was too much set-up, & not enough actual story. All that series accomplished was the introduction of Vulcan, the pointless death of Banshee, & giving us one more reason to regard Xavier as a douchebag. The latter we really didn't need, since we already had plenty.

I agree that the writers after Claremont should just write their own stories instead of trying to follow up what Claremont was doing, although Claremont's work shouldn't be ignored.

Claremont absolutely shouldn't be ignored, especially in regards to the character's themselves, but his shouldn't be the only well that writer's are plumbing. One of the things I liked about the aftermath to House of M was that it forced a paradigm shift on the X-Men titles, & compelled writers to take the X-Men in a new direction. While I don't agree with every decision  that's been made since, nor do I appreciate every story, it at least broke the stranglehold Claremont's legacy had on the X-Men, & allowed for some new voices to be heard on the book. It's just unfortunate that those new voices only seem to want to speak through Cyclops, Wolverine, or The White Queen. Too many great characters, in my opinion, have been relegated to the sidelines for a long time, & thus have seen little to no character growth in the past decade. Claremont's biggest strength was in character building, & that's the part of his legacy I'd most like to see current, & future, writers building upon.

@chalkshark said:

Claremont absolutely shouldn't be ignored, especially in regards to the character's themselves, but his shouldn't be the only well that writer's are plumbing. One of the things I liked about the aftermath to House of M was that it forced a paradigm shift on the X-Men titles, & compelled writers to take the X-Men in a new direction. While I don't agree with every decision that's been made since, nor do I appreciate every story, it at least broke the stranglehold Claremont's legacy had on the X-Men, & allowed for some new voices to be heard on the book. It's just unfortunate that those new voices only seem to want to speak through Cyclops, Wolverine, or The White Queen. Too many great characters, in my opinion, have been relegated to the sidelines for a long time, & thus have seen little to no character growth in the past decade. Claremont's biggest strength was in character building, & that's the part of his legacy I'd most like to see current, & future, writers building upon.

Well said, well said!!! I agree that the concept of House of M was really interesting and I wanted to see more about how the mutants who lost their powers had to deal with this issue. Unfortunately, after House of M, so many great ideas were thrown out the window such as focusing more on the mutants who lost their powers and Scarlett Witch's attempts at redeeming herself. Every time I was reading the current X-Men, all they focused on was Scott, Emma and Wolverine and I was wondering to myself about what happened to characters like Iceman, Beast, Colossus and Kitty. I think the House of M storyline could have been the greatest X-Men storyline ever if only the events after wards had focused more on all of the X-Men characters instead of just Wolverine, Scott and Emma.

Chris Claremont hands down. And it's pretty obvious why. It starts with the fact it was a 17 year run, but everything you know about the X-Men came from him. And newer writers are STILL recycling his stories. I don't consider anything he did after leaving the book in 1991 a part of this legendary run though, because he's now completely insane.

I'll give Peter David props for his X-Factor runs too though.

The absolute worst was Grant Morrison.

Claremont

Alan Davis - Excalibur is my favorite x book

Morrison

Whedon

Jason Aaron

DeFilippis

in that order

Claremont - For his early 80s - 90s X-men development and New Mutant work. I loved the X-Men's seperated days, introduced Gambit, redefined Psylocke, gave definition to all chars on the team. Early 80s had loads of memorable events, and then the oh-so-confusing Inferno came in.

Whedon and Rememder - Brilliant story writers. Emma Frost turning Wolvie into a little b!tch scared cat was the most brilliant thing since slice bread. Also adding humour like Colossus planning to destroy worlds for years. priceless. UXF, the emotional roller coaster has everything; humour, philosophy, ethics, romance. you name it

Peter David - X-Factor is fun. No overly complicated plots, No ties to the rest of the X-Universe. No complicated mojo (except for the time travel bit). X-Factor greatly recycles characters from the past. M, Rictor, Shatterstar, Longshot would not be remembered if its not for this guy.

Peter Milligan - X-Statix, who can argue?

GMorrison had great story telling, but art was ughh. First arc and middle to end was great though, and developped the X-Men from soldiers to teachers was pretty solid IMO.

Chuck Austen and Matt Fraction - lol jokes

Whedon

Morrison,

Gillen

Ellis

Rick Remender was gorgeous. 
 
All the homo'.

Dark Phoenix Saga, easy! Probably the best Marvel story ever told. I'm a die hard 1990's X-men fan too (Onslaught, AoA, Fatal Attractions, X-Force, etc). Claremont's story is mythic, structured, suspenseful, action packed, different, basically everything you want in a good story and the art of John Byrne is one of my all time favorites. The story arc "X-men: Proteus" right before Dark Phoenix is equally as Good (also featuring Claremont and Byrne and contains a lot of set up for Dark Phoenix).