I've been reading some Uncanny X-Men, I've ordered the Claremont Uncanny Omnibuses, and I'm about to start All-New, but I want to go back and read some of the "modern classic" type X-Books, so I was thinking either Ultimate X-Men or Astonishing X-Men - which would you recommend?

Thanks in advance

Joss Weadon's Astonishing massively curbstomps Ultimate X Men. It's not considered one of the greatest X Men stories ever written for nothing. P.S please don't read All-New.. just don't do it. Read House of M, Decimation, Deadly Genesis, Endangered Species, Messiah Complex, X Force, Second Coming and Uncanny X Force. Everything that's out right now like "All-New" just doesn't compare.

Ultimate had some good stories but I enjoyed Whedon's Astonishing more, it's more tied together and Cassaday constantly pays homage to the Claremont era artists/storylines and Kitty Pryde as the main focus really pays off.

I'm weird and really like Ultimate X-Men, but Astonishing X-Men is a must for new X-Men readers. I would personally recommend reading Grant Morrison's New X-Men before Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, but it's not necessary.

As for Ultimate X-Men, as I said before, I really like it, but it's not really required reading for X-Men. It's really good for the first 65 issues, and I feel like it's pretty underrated. Definitely check it out sometime. I was hesitant about reading it, but it's now one of my favorite X-Men comics.

As for the current X-Men titles, only read the firs 15 issues of All-New X-Men. After that, drop it. But make sure you read the current Uncanny X-Men. It's really good so far.

I would also recommend reading Jason Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men. It's a little inconsistent, but it's a fun title that gets you acquainted with the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Also make sure you're familiar with the events of Schism and Avengers vs. X-Men. Don't read them--just make sure you're familiar with what happened. Comicbookgirl19 has a video on YouTube that recaps the events of Avengers vs. X-Men pretty well, so you might want to check that out.

Even though I love the Ultimate X-Men title, I gotta with Astonishing on this one. Everyone already mentioned the reasons why to read it so I won't restate anything. I will say that if you get the chance in the future to definitely check out Ultimate X-Men. It does start to take a dip once it gets near Ultimatum but because of the drastic cast change afterwards, it definitely picks back up. My only complaint is some of the plot points brought up after Ultimatum are left out in limbo and haven't been revisited yet and until Marvel restarts the Ultimate X-Men line and makes them a focus, they probably won't be mentioned again

Ultimate X-men is one of the worst X-men series. Only read Ultimate if you read comic books for weird romance and only a little fighting. The only issues in the whole series I actually enjoyed was Gambit's introduction. I really wouldn't recommend it.

@testament: Oh I already read AvX (didn't actually hate it, had its problems sure but relatively entertaining) but Schism is something I need to wiki.

Looks like it's going to be Astonishing for me then; I was mainly considering Ultimate because of how confusing the X-Men books can get without backstory and obviously Ultimate X-Men HAS NO backstory. That was a big plus for me since aside from AvX and the new Uncanny my only X-Posure (couldn't resist) has been the movies and the 90s cartoon.

As for the new books, I'm actually really enjoying Uncanny, and All-New seems pretty cool (and I was never intending to read All-New beyond BotA after all the crap I've heard about it).

I'm also about to go on a bit of an X-Men binge, I've ordered both Claremont's Uncanny Omnibuses, and the Wolverine and the X-Men omnibus too. My X-Men reading is about to go through the roof, I probably shouldn't be picking up any more titles at all, but hey, Astonishing is going straight on the list.

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

@minisaladfresh:

astonishing torn is the best, you can see some of it in motion comic at youtube