In the long history of X-Men, many great writers (as well as a number of not-so-great ones) have had a part in crafting the decades-spanning epic that we all love today. But three of those writers stand above the rest in terms of the impact they had on completely transforming what we know the X-Men to be. Chris Claremont, of course, sits at the top of X-mountain. Grant Morrison sits at his right hand. Jonathan Hickman now has a place in their presence. Unlike Claremont, Hickman did not stick around for nearly two decades, and unlike Morrison, Hickman did not even stay long enough to complete the story arc he had originally envisioned; he left that to others. But what he launched in late 2019 gave us the Krakoan Age, and was enormously different from anything that had come before.
House of X and Powers of X reveal to us a new nation of mutants, born of the vision of Charles Xavier, Eric Lehnsher (Magneto) and one other who hasn’t been seen in a while. The island nation is Krakoa (a sentient mutant island formerly considered a threat). The inhabitants of this nation are all mutants – that is to say, any mutants who want to live with others in peace. All past sins, no matter how egregious, are forgiven. The laws are their own. Gone are the days of mutants allowing humans to tell them how to live their lives. Finally, there is no more death – for mutants, at least. They have solved it. If it sounds magical, like some sort of mutant paradise, that’s because it is. But it also isn’t. Things here are deeply complicated. Secrets lie beneath everything. Characters we have known for decades develop in new ways, some liberating, some frightening, some a mixture of both. The world is new and topsy-turvy. A long time hero embraces his path to villainy, and a long time villain may in fact have been some kind of hero all along. The biggest and most controversial change, the one that allows for all of these things to happen, is that Professor Xavier’s dream of humans and mutants living side-by-side is deemed a failure and replaced with something new. I’ll be honest: there are some foundational aspects about this era of X-Men that I kind of hate. But at the same time, the storytelling is as fresh as it has ever been, and I am constantly compelled to see what happens next.
- House of X #1
- Powers of X #1
- House of X #2
- Powers of X #2
- Powers of X #3
- House of X #3
- House of X #4
- Powers of X #4
- House of X #5
- Powers of X #5
- House of X #6
- Powers of X #6
- X-Men #1
- Marauders #1
- X-Men #2
- Excalibur #1
- Excalibur #2
- Excalibur #3
- Excalibur #4
- Excalibur #5
- Excalibur #6
- New Mutants #1
- X-Force #1
- X-Force #2 (pgs 1-7)
- Marauders #2
- Marauders #3
- X-Men #3
- Fallen Angels #1
- X-Force #2 (pgs 8-24)
- X-Force #3
- Fallen Angels #2
- Fallen Angels #3
- Fallen Angels #4
- Fallen Angels #5
- Fallen Angels #6
- New Mutants #2
- New Mutants #5
- New Mutants #3
- New Mutants #4
- New Mutants #6
- New Mutants #7
- New Mutants #8
- New Mutants #9
- New Mutants #10
- New Mutants #11
- X-Men #4
- X-Men + Fantastic Four: 4X #1
- X-Men + Fantastic Four: 4X #2
- X-Men + Fantastic Four: 4X #3
- X-Men + Fantastic Four: 4X #4
- Marauders #4
- X-Force #4
- X-Force #5
- X-Force #6
- Wolverine #1 (Story: “Catacombs”)
- Excalibur #7
- Excalibur #8
- X-Men #5
- Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey & Emma Frost #1
- X-Men #6
- X-Men #7
- Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1
- X-Force #7
- X-Force #8
- X-Force #9
- X-Force #10
- Wolverine #1 (Story: “The Flower Cartel”)
- Wolverine #2
- (Skip page 4 because of unresolvable continuity error)
- Wolverine #3
- Wolverine #4
- Wolverine #5
- (Skip last page to avoid unnecessary cliff-hanger that breaks continuity)
- Marauders #5
- Marauders #6
- Marauders #7
- Marauders #8
- Marauders #9
- Cable #1
- Marauders #10
- Marauders #11
- Marauders #12
- New Mutants #12
- Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomex #1
- Giant-Size X-Men: Storm #1
- Cable #2
- Cable #3
- Cable #4
- X-Force #11
- X-Force #12
- X-Force #15
- X-Force #16
- Deadpool #6
- (Read first panel of last page, then skip the rest to avoid unnecessary cliff-hanger)
- X-Factor #1
- X-Factor #2
- X-Factor #3
- (Skip last page to avoid unnecessary cliff-hanger that breaks continuity)
- Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto #1
- Hellions #1
- Hellions #2
- Hellions #3
- Hellions #4
- X-Men #8
- X-Men #9
- Empyre: X-Men #1
- Empyre: X-Men #2
- Empyre: X-Men #3
- Empyre: X-Men #4
- X-Men #10
- X-Men #11
- Fantastic Four #24
- Excalibur #9
- Excalibur #10
- Excalibur #11
- Excalibur #12
- X-Men #12
- X of Swords: Creation #1
- X-Factor #4
- Wolverine #6
- X-Force #13
- Marauders #13
- Hellions #5
- New Mutants #13
- Cable #5
- Excalibur #13
- X-Men #13
- X of Swords: Stasis #1
- X-Men #14
- Marauders #14
- Marauders #15
- Excalibur #14
- Wolverine #7
- X-Force #14
- Hellions #6
- Cable #6
- X-Men #15
- Excalibur #15
- X of Swords: Destruction #1
- X-Men #16
- Hellions #7
- Hellions #8
- Marauders #16
- Cable #7
- Cable #8
The Ultimate X-Men Reading Order 