The X-Men are a superhero team of mutants founded by Professor Charles Xavier. They are dedicated to helping fellow mutants and sworn to protect a world that fears and hates them.
mm. I picked Days of Future Past as my number one pick. Besides just being one of the most original and well executed stories of it's generation, and besides being the begining of another whole storytelling theme in X-men stories, for me it's where the X-men I loved first starts: Kitty becoming the main character, Storm becoming the leader, Wolverine becoming the protector, Magneto becoming an X-man, Mystique's Brotherhood.. for me, it all starts here.
That said, though it's less of a personal favorite, I can't in good conscience say that DoFP is actually any better or more relevant than the Dark Phoenix Saga; they're kind of just too different to compare and should probably share the number one spot.
Likewise, while I personally think that Gifted was much better executed than E is for Extinction, the latter is still arguably more original and relevant; so even if I do think Whedon's run was more consistently executed over all than Morrison's, I can't say that either is strictly better than the other. These two would share second place, for me.
The Dark Angel Saga is probably just as good as anything from Whedon or Morrison's run, but as an X-men story it interests me somewhat less. It's just a personal preference, really. Still, it is a very good arc from one of the better runs of the last decade.
Age of Apocalypse was a pretty cool idea for a story, and I especially liked the story leading up to it in Legion Quest, but with the exception of maybe Generation Next, was kind of poorly executed overall.
Messiah Complex really just failed to engage me at all. I can't even say I think it's especially good or bad, I just really didn't connect with it at all.
Dark Phoenix Saga elevated comic storytelling to new heights for its time and stands as the most famous X-Men story of all time for very good reasons, it reinterpreted the super hero team book dynamic for years to come and has one of the best finales of any story arc in X-Men history. It was a beautiful accident, born out of artistic collaboration of very talented people.
It has also been inducted into the Colombia University library.
Comparing it to something like the Messiah Complex is sort of embarrassing.
Hard choices. Days of Future Past was so original and just overall a good story. Dark Phoenix just elevated the Xmen imo, too bad the story was messed up latter by the retcons but still a classic. In a close third but virtually tied for 2nd in my opinion is Messiah Complex. It was one of the best books since the 90's for me. Gifted was very original and was part of a great run. The Dark Angel Saga was a great story as well, in fact this type of storytelling has made me wish that Remender was in Bendis' spot right now and writing the main Xmen stories. Age of Apocalypse was long and ok. It just took so much to read it but it was an extremely interesting story. i wish the art could be updated. E is for Extinction was good but Morrison really was hit and miss for me. Some of stuff was pretty good but alot of his concepts were, well.... just stupid imo. While this was a good story I have no problem putting it at the bottom of these 7 choices
Dark Phoenix, Messiah Complex and Gifted are all in a 3 way tie for second because they scream X-men when i read them, but Days of Future Past is that story arc that, even more then the phoenix, has been repeated and redone because of how much impact the original had. It's the only one on the list i don't think i have to explain things about for a new fan to enjoy.
Dark Phoenix, Messiah Complex and Gifted are all in a 3 way tie for second because they scream X-men when i read them, but Days of Future Past is that story arc that, even more then the phoenix, has been repeated and redone because of how much impact the original had. It's the only one on the list i don't think i have to explain things about for a new fan to enjoy.
good explanation. And I agree, even now someone can just read those two issues and know exactly what the X-men are about.
DPS is relevant and good, sure, but The X-Men #141 still might as well be the first issue as far as I'm concerned.
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