So, uh, when does X-Men start to get good?

[SaltBoy]

I've always been a geek, but never a comic book geek. However, with all of the attention that has been made towards the great comic book movies that have come out in the past five years or so (Spider-Man, X-Men, Blade, etc.), I decided to see what all of the hub-bub was about and actually read some legimiate Marvel comic books.

I (ahem) "procured" images of a good number of X-Men comics, starting with #1. As I started to read through them, however, I discovered that the stories were EXTREMELY stupid. There was so much cheesy dialog, simplistic "deus ex machina" plot lines, overdramatic characterization... ugh. I felt like clobbering Cyclops and/or Jean Grey ("Marvel Girl?!") whenever I read their thoughts of unrequited love for each other. It was just so bad...

I won't mention the artwork because I know that the artistic ambitions of comic book illustrators back in the 60's were not nearly as big as the Alex Ross's of today. Okay, maybe I'll mention one thing -- Iceman was a SNOWMAN in the first couple of episodes. Sheesh!

Anyway - would any of you like to point me to a point when the X-Men comics actually get good? Or maybe when Wolverine or Nightcrawler first appear? Every issue I'm reading, it's just Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, and Professor X, saying and doing the same things over and over again. It's getting really old, really fast.

 

[torpid]

I don't know if it got better, but for me X-men was never terribly well written. I remember liking the apocalypse threads, but I bet if I went back they'd be equally cheesy. I think for comic books it's more of a long term thing.

There are some exceptions. I remember the mcfarlane spiderman series being pretty good, and spawn.

 

[Skel]

The books didn't start to get good till Claremont started writing them, and then it took a about a year or so before the story arc started to come together. Claremont likes to write arcs that take a year or more to start picking up.

 

[LeetViet]

When Onslaught appeared in the various X-Men comic books is when it was good, then returned to crap.

 

[NuclearNed]

Try the issues from the mid to late 1980's. Its nice to have a little knowledge of the early history of the XMen, but the book's stories didn't get real good until about 1986-1987. I don't know about any of the real recent issues; I quit collecting in the early 90's.

 

[Fireball77]

find the "Age of Apocolypse" story line....the death Professor Xavier, they all tie together. I own every issue. For other storylines....Day's of Future Past is good. Check out the Cable series. All comics have their low points...Get good, and then go to being average again. Anything with Magneto is usually good.

 

[aircooled]

It was good in the 80's

 

[imported_Strang]

The X-Men got popular after Chris Claremont took over the writing (and especially after John Byrne took over co-plotting and pencilling in Uncanny X-Men #108). This stuff would include Days of Future Past and the Phoenix Saga (which are probably the two most famous X-Men storyarcs ever).

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Try the issues from the mid to late 1980's. Its nice to have a little knowledge of the early history of the XMen, but the book's stories didn't get real good until about 1986-1987. I don't know about any of the real recent issues; I quit collecting in the early 90's.

yeap bingo.

i have ALMOST all the orginal comic books.

i agree it didn't start getting good until the 80's. I stoped collecting in about 96.

I prefer Wolverine and spider man over the X-men myself.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: SaltBoy
I've always been a geek, but never a comic book geek. However, with all of the attention that has been made towards the great comic book movies that have come out in the past five years or so (Spider-Man, X-Men, Blade, etc.), I decided to see what all of the hub-bub was about and actually read some legimiate Marvel comic books.

I (ahem) "procured" images of a good number of X-Men comics, starting with #1. As I started to read through them, however, I discovered that the stories were EXTREMELY stupid. There was so much cheesy dialog, simplistic "deus ex machina" plot lines, overdramatic characterization... ugh. I felt like clobbering Cyclops and/or Jean Grey ("Marvel Girl?!") whenever I read their thoughts of unrequited love for each other. It was just so bad...

I won't mention the artwork because I know that the artistic ambitions of comic book illustrators back in the 60's were not nearly as big as the Alex Ross's of today. Okay, maybe I'll mention one thing -- Iceman was a SNOWMAN in the first couple of episodes. Sheesh!

Anyway - would any of you like to point me to a point when the X-Men comics actually get good? Or maybe when Wolverine or Nightcrawler first appear? Every issue I'm reading, it's just Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, and Professor X, saying and doing the same things over and over again. It's getting really old, really fast.

Wolverine and Nightcrawler appeared in Classic X-Men #1. The Classic series just reprinted the issues from Uncanny X-Men from that point forward. I don't remember the issue numbers of Uncanny X-Men that the story was originally from, though.

 

[y2kc]

"the uncanny" X-Men, somewhere around issue 100 that's when I got into them. Jean turned into Phoenix around 135...

 

[imported_Strang]

Originally posted by: y2kc
"the uncanny" X-Men, somewhere around issue 100 that's when I got into them. Jean turned into Phoenix around 135...

Actually she turned into Phoenix before that, but that's right around the end of the Dark Phoenix Saga (which ended at 137).

What makes it complicated for people trying to get into the X-Men for the first time is that there are so many different titles -- Uncanny X-Men started in the 60s (which sounds like what the OP is referencing w/ Stan Lee writing and Jack Kirby on art) and eventually was turned into a reprint book until Giant-Size X-Men #1 was published (in '75), at which point Uncanny X-Men #94 continued with new stories (and Claremont writing). That was the time that Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine (at least as a member of the X-Men) were introduced.

After that, it gets increasingly more complicated to the point where you have to know a lot of backstory to understand what's going on.

 

[OrByte]

I started reading right around the time of the morlock massacre.

it was uncanny X-men.

Stopped reading right after the age of the apocolypse storyline, that was probably the last arc I was willing to spend $$ on.

it was a great story tho.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: Skel
The books didn't start to get good till Claremont started writing them, and then it took a about a year or so before the story arc started to come together. Claremont likes to write arcs that take a year or more to start picking up.

Exactly. Xmen was always the "other" comic book in the 60 and 70s. It really didnt get popular and peak until the late 80s. Like Skel said, when Clairemont took over and Byrne was drawing, thats when things started to get pretty good. But, IMO, aorund issue 200-250 is where things were best. Fall of the Mutants was an awesome story line. The murauders were my favorite villanous group. If you're checking out the really early stuff, dont expect too much from the stories dude. Remember, back then comics really were written for kids. Plots and sub plots were very very cimplistic compaired to stuff now-a-days.

If you're interested in some really great "mature" reads, I highly suggest the following:

A Killing Joke - Single best Batman/joker story with incredible art.

Watchmen - One of the most original superhero stories ever written. It asks the question, what if superheros really exsisted.

The Dark Knight Returns - Takes place in the future. Batman comes out of retirment for a few reasons, one of them being to stop Superman (you heard me right).

...any of those should be a good start for you. If you're interested in more, let me know.