Hello!

So I've been a fan of the Marvel characters for a while, in other types of media especially video games and movies. I just recently decided it would be fun to try Marvel Unlimited so I got myself a month. I decided to start with my favorite cast, the X-Men! As someone who has never read a comic until now, holy crap why are there so many parallel series WTF is going on!!!

That being said, I have done some research on where to start but for some reason, I really want to read Uncanny X-Men from the beginning, but I know there is like 500 comics in that alone, I assume the continuity of that series is spread all over the place. I don't even know what X-factor or Astonishing X-Men or the Amazing Astoning X-Wolverwine Factor Men series is.

So basically my questions are, is the original series worth reading in entirety and is continuity contained with in each series or spread out all over the place. Thanks!

I really liked the original X-Men setup and run. The continuity is fairly self-contained all through the '80s, though. It was mainly a few artists and writers who developed the quintessential X-Men "look," so things don't get really ridiculous until the late '80s/early '90s with X-Factor, X-Force, Wolverine, Excalibur, the New Mutants, and a few other one shots crowding the shelves. It's around Issue 261 that you definitely need to be reading, or know what happens, in the other books - but editors were great back then: they'd have panels telling you which issues certain events happened in, and etc. so you wouldn't be lost whereas nowadays, you pick up a comic and don't know what's going on since you don't have thought bubbles, editor citations, or even an omniscient narrator filling you in.

I like reading the original run because those stories were so silly, and self-contained, but you see elements that will become associated with the characters for decades to come - Jean certainly was portrayed in a classically "feminine" manner for the time but she was also called a "titian haired tigress" in a memorable cross-over and had some of the first girl power moments in Marvel history, Scott was portrayed as an introverted but dependable potential leader, Bobby was the wise-cracking little brother, etc. It goes all the way up through Uncanny 92 when the new, Giant Size team comes in.

Classic Uncanny X-Men is the best! Can't beat All-New All-Different and the subsequent Claremont run, IMO. Maybe a little dated now, but still a damn good read. You can pick up the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus collections Vol.1 and 2 that collect a lot of the classic stories (Second Genesis, Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past etc). The Essential X-Men reprints collect nearly all (if not all) of Uncanny through the 80s-early 90s in black and white, though the omnibuses collect some of my favourite X-Men issues in a nice colour format hardback book of pretty high quality.

Honourable mentions to New X-Men by Grant Morrison (2001-2004) and Astonishing X-Men (2004-2008) for other great X-Men runs.

• Claremont's run (Where Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler are introduced - from Uncanny X-Men #94 onwards) is pretty great. Its pretty much made X-Men what it is today and its arguably the best X-Men run there ever was and ever will be.
• Honestly, if you don't want to go through 500+ issues of nonsense, you can always pick up from the 90s: There was a bit of a "reset", where they're split into two teams Blue and Gold. One's in Uncanny X-Men (from #281 onwards iirc) and the other in X-Men #1 onwards. It'll give you less to go through.
• You can also go to "events" section of Marvel unlimited, just go through some of the X-Men related events.

Ah, mate, the 90s. So convoluted.