I'm new to Marvel comics(or pretty much comics in general for the matter) and I'm wanting to start on an ongoing series. Can I start on one of the new X-men comics without the worry of not knowing whats going on? Which series would you recommend?

Also, I read on another's post that the avengers vs x-men is a big factor in the newer Avengers and X-men comics. If so, can someone who knows only basic knowledge of characters from movies/google read these? Or is there a ton more lore behind the series itself?

EDIT:New question on post 9.

AvsX is one of the more relevant recent events, yeah, but I think the marvel Now books do a decent job of reviewing the parts of it relevant to the stories in the early issues of each. So my advice would be to just jump into a new book and go back to it later if you're still interested.

Both Uncanny X-Men and All-New X-Men have their beginnings in that series, but both deal enough with the fallout of that book early on to make them easy to get into. Uncanny Avengers, though not actually an X-men book, also deals with a lot of the relevant issues from AvsX; it feels like a really good mix of classic Avengers with classic X-men characters and themes, and I'd recommend it quite highly.

If you want to jump into an X-men book without having to worry about that stuff at all, I also highly recommend Brian Woods' (adjective-less) X-men. http://www.comicvine.com/x-men/4050-62383/ It's only on the 3rd issue, and so far it's just classic.

Ignore all of the current stuff, it's terrible.

Go back and read Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, then stop and don't read any more.

You can read Mike Carey's run if you really want to. Same with Joss Whedon's. Morrison's is the best though, by miles.

After that, you're finished with the X-Men, and if you want to read more current Marvel ongoings then try Indestructible Hulk by Mark Waid. Supposed to be pretty good. All of the Avengers series are terrible, so you want to avoid those. Spider-Man has had his body and mind stolen by Doc Ock, so the Spidey comic is a no-go.

Try Scarlet Spider. That's pretty new and Yost is a good writer.

Morrison's New X-Men is pretty good, though inconsistent; it starts off really great and then gets pretty bad about half way through, but that's just my opinion.

Whedon's Astonishing X-Men (issues 1-24, or the first four trades) follows it directly, and is far more consistent, even if it is somewhat less original. I'd be far more inclined to recommend it as a starting point if you wanted to go back as far as that. Actually, I'd just highly recommend it anyway, since I think it's so great.

@oldnightcrawler said:

Yes, you're incorrect opinion :P

@fadetoblackbolt: well, not everything's for everyone. I do really love the first 3 or 4 arcs of Morrison's run and actually consider them to be the most essential X-men stories of that decade; the later stuff, well, it just does nothing for me. I encourage any X-man fan to read it, but if you stop reading when Xorn takes his helmet off (which is what I recommend), what are you really missing?

Anyway, my point was just that I think Whedon's run is a better place to start as it's a more consistent run overall, but I'm sure that's not everyone's opinion.

@oldnightcrawler: Planet X is one of the best arcs of all time, imo lol

The thing about Morrison's run is that it's about mutants, a society of mutants, what mutants as a species have to endure. It's not heavy handed metaphors of genocide, or irrelevant space opera, it's about the little things that make discrimination such a prevalent thing. The idea of mutants like Beak being picked on by other mutants because of how they look. The idea of the X-Men being superstars to young mutants because they're basically all a group of supermodels with only positives for mutations. Magneto being a fad that immature people go through.

All of this was just so damn brilliant and so far beyond anything that anyone had done before (or after) and was the most true expression of what the X-Men should be about.

yeah, see, that's the stuff that I think was really brilliant about the book, and on those counts I totally agree with you.

It's when it gets into the more meta-stuff that I think it loses me. The baffling return of Magneto, the stuff with the Pheonix (it still had too much space opera for me), killing Jean Grey again (after he'd finally succeeded in making her interesting again), and the irrelevant alternate future story all just seemed like Morrison commenting on the genre of the X-men more than the premise or actual themes. I can see why people like that, but I personally found it disappointing after how strong the series was starting out.

Could I start with the AvX series, then go to a new series like yhe uncanny xmen?

Yes. But don't waste money on the VS portion of the AvX run. Uncanny would probably a safe choice since it doesn't rely on too much X-Men history. Many of the new characters in Uncanny were introduced in the first couple issues of All New so you might want to check them as well.

All of the current X-Men series are terrible.Don't read a single thing.Go back and read Whedon's run,Morrison's run and even though I have not read it Claremont's stuff because I have heard only good things about it.

lol Planet X is like the only relevant thing that's been done with Magneto since the 80s.

The easiest thing to do would be to start reading Brian Wood's X-Men volume 4, as @oldnightcrawler said. If you want to get deep into it, you'll have to do some digging in the past. The more old stuff you read, the more it'll pay off as far as X-Men goes. I compiled a big list of arcs and trades to get if your serious about X-Men, I'll try to dig it up and post it here sometime! But I mean, it's comics, just do enjoy whatever you can, you don't have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything :D

Morrison run is far from the top of X-Men stories. Read Joss Whedon Astonishing X-Men, Messiah trilogy(Messiah Complex, Messiah War and Second Coming) and Age Of Apocalypse. Chris Claremont books on X-Men is at the top thought, even if it's more old.

My favorite X-Men series is Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3 #1-24, + Giant Sizes 1-2 by Joss Whedon. In fact, it's my favorite comic books series of all-time. I highly recommend it!

You should also read Avengers vs X-Men, Dark Phoenix Saga, and Days of Future Past. You'll need a little background for Avengers vs X-Men, but not much. As long as you know about Jean Grey Phoenix.

I like the current series, All New X-Men, and you'll need to know about the Phoenix as well.

Okay, heres a list I gave to a new reader on a different websites forums. Its a few months old but the only thing thats changed is that we now know X-Men v. 4 is great :) Hope this helps:

X-Men are the most complex to hop back into, but they're also MY favourite! Some major trades that you want to pick up, I'll star some that are necessary for lore (I'll start at Dark Phoenix):

-NOTE: the original run of X-Men is pretty difficult to trudge through nowadays, but if you're curious to relive some of their first stories, pick up X-Men First Class (2007) which is a retelling of it. awesome limited series.

-Dark Phoenix Saga (1980) * - this is when X-Men really got serious, so it's a good place to start

-Days of Future Past (1981) ~ ton of fun, not necessary for lore, but worth it, also, the first issue in the modern trade has Scott recollecting EVERYTHING that had happened up until then!

-Inferno (1988) * -classic follow up to Dark Phoenix

-Mutant Genesis (1991) * - awesome, definitely inspired the cartoon's style

-Age of Apocalypse (1995) - fun stuff, but it was retconned, so not necessary for lore.

-New X-Men (2001-2004) * - Grant Morrison's run, one of the best in X history, over 40 issues, so spread across alot of trades, but worth reading some of it!

-Astonishing X-Men (2004) * - Joss Whedon's wrote the first 24 issues, there are 2 trades that collect all of his stuff, they're definitely worth reading!

-Messiah Complex (2007) * - great modern story, brings you up to speed in itself, it's continued in...

-Messiah War (2009) -and...

-Second Coming (2010) - the last 2 are interesting follow-ups to messiah complex, but not as necessary as it was.

-Schism (2011) * - has HUGE effect on all X-men after it

-Avengers vs. X-Men (2012)* -fun, brought some changes to table, worth reading mainly because it's the last major storyline before Marvel NOW!

-

Which brings you up to Marvel NOW!

-Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) - comes after Schism, Wolverine's team's side of the story afterwards, still running at 29 issues as of writing.

-Uncanny X-Men (2013) - the third volume of this name, this is Cyclops' team's side of the story post-Schism

-All-New X-Men (2013) - this is the current major X-Men book, currently at issue 9.

-

Phew! That's about it. I'd recommend the stars to really dive into the lore of X-Men, but they're all cool and worth reading.

I'd also consider most of X-Force, as it's a very fun side book. the current run is called Uncanny X-Force (volume 2 of the name)

I'm a big fan of Ultimate X-Men too, but of course, not important to reading the main universe, and I feel that it was a letdown ever since Ultimatum and issue 100, so whatever.

AND I'm VERY excited for the fourth volume of X-MEN, which is the all-female cast, coming at the end of this month (May 29th I believe)

-

So there you go! I hope my recommendations cross you well. Have fun, fellow X-Fan!

@nightcrawler358: that's a more extensive list than I would have suggested, but most of it is definitely worth checking out, though I don't know that I would have placed emphasis on the stories you did.

yeah, pretty easily. I would skip the Versus miniseries altogether, but the Avengers vs. X-men: Consequences mini is pretty good; arguably better than the main event.

@fadetoblackbolt: what about claremonts run? & dont forget daredevIl and hawkeye are great

@cheesesticks said:

Ha.

Hahahahahhahahahahhahaha.

No.

So you think Grant Morrison had a better run than Chris Claremont and Joss Whedon? Lol alright.

Claremont was the most relevant writer of classic X-men, and Morrison was the most relevant writer of contemporary X-men. It's kind of silly to compare their runs, because (besides being about the X-men) they have so little in common.

Whedon's run is probably my favorite, but he only wrote 25 issues, and his run was largely an homage to both Claremont and Morrison. Definitely more like Claremont's X-men, but still.

Claremont built the X-men, Morrison deconstructed them, and Whedon just put them back together.

@oldnightcrawler: you are spot on. Whedon's Astonishing X-Men is where I started and it was a great place to start. Morrison's X-Men lacked pathos in key moments, specifically when a certain massacre happens and Beast is making jokes.

Start with Astonishing.

I've often thought it seemed like a good place to start, though I definitely do recommend going back from there after.