The vast majority of X-Men reading recommendations will start you with 1975’s X-Men Second Genesis (including right here on CBH!), but as the name implies, there is of course an original genesis! It’s funny because for the vast majority of Marvel characters created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee (or Steve Ditko and friends!), the 60s origins are a great place to start and see how Marvel Comics began. This is true for Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Thor and so on. But for the X-Men, there immense success and popularity wouldn’t come until their second act.
Still, there’s a lot created in the early days that’s worth reading – Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Sentinels! Professor X acting sus! – and I’ve cataloged the reading order and how to collect those first X-Men Comics here.
If you want a more curated approach to the best of these comics, I highly recommend the My Marvelous Year reading club and podcast!
Related Reading Orders:
X-Men Epic Collection: Children Of The Atom
Collects: X-Men (1963) #1-23
My Marvelous Year picks for which comics to check out first include Uncanny X-Men #1, #4 and #7, which gives you the team’s first showdown with Magneto, and then the formation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with Mag Daddy, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Toad and Mastermind.
My personal favorite stretch of Silver Age X-Men comes in issues #12 through #16, as we get the origins of Professor X and his half-brother, Juggernaut, and then the debut of the Sentinels, all via Jack Kirby and Stan Lee!
X-Men Epic Collection: Lonely Are The Hunted
Collects: X-Men (1963) #24-45, Avengers (1963) #53, and material from Not Brand Echh (1967) #4 and #8
X-Men Epic Collection: The Sentinels Live
Collects: X-Men (1963) #46-66, Ka-Zar (1970) #2-3, and Marvel Tales (1966) #30
X-Men struggles to find its footing as the end of the 60s approaches, but once Neal Adams joins as artist with issue #57, the book – then written by Roy Thomas – does find new life. Well, new short-lived life, as Adams is off for Batman with Denny O’Neil, and X-Men officially ends with March 10, 1970’s X-Men #66. Still, there’s nice development of Sauron and the Savage Land before the mutants hit their years of wandering.
X-Men Epic Collection: It’s Always Darkest Before The Dawn
Collects: Amazing Adventures (1970) #11-17, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #92, Incredible Hulk (1968) #150, #161, #172, and #180-182, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #4 and #23, Avengers (1963) #110-111, Captain America (1968) #172-175, Defenders (1972) #15-16, Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4, and material from X-Men #67-93 and Annual #1-2
Since this confuses every X-Men fan who has ever lived: X-Men #67 to #93 – aka the issues between when the books “ends” and when it starts again with Wein, Cockrum and Claremont’s “Second Genesis” – are reprints of previous X-Men Comics. Marvel just kept publishing reprints and adding to the numbering. Does this make any sense? Not really! But that’s what happened. This is why when you look at Uncanny X-Men in Marvel Unlimited, you’ll see the series jump from issue #66 to the next new issue in Uncanny X-Men #94. Clear as mud!
With this being the case, the collected “X-Men” comics that bridge the gap all occur in other comics Marvel published from 1970 to 1975, wherever some mutants show up and make their presence known (or in the case of Incredible Hulk #180, where Wolverine debuts!).
Next: Claremont Era X-Men Reading Order
2000s Marvel Comics That Revisit X-Men in the Silver Age
Collects: X-Men: Grand Design #1-2, X-Men: Grand Design — Second Genesis #1-2, and X-Men: Grand Design — X-Tinction #1-2
Grand Design is an interesting project where cartoonist Ed Piskor attempts to recreate a unified theory of X-Men that simplifies their entire history into one “Grand Design.” It’s a cool idea that falters as it progresses, BUT, it works great for the earliest days of the X-Men!
Collects: X-Men: Season One original graphic novel
Marvel’s “Season One” graphic novels attempted to modernize the origins of all their biggest franchises, and the X-Men get the update from Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie (with Mike Norton, and Matthew Wilson colors). If you’ve enjoyed Wicked+Divine or Young Avengers, you know McKelvie creates eye-popping teenage action, and X-Men Season One is a great chance to see those skills developing as the teens take on Magneto, the Blog and Unus the Untouchable.
X-Men: First Class – Tomorrow’s Brightest
Collects: X-Men: First Class (2006) #1-8
Before “First Class” hit theaters in 2011, comics creators Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz revisited the earliest days of the X-Men in a series of “First Class” X-Men comics. This concentrates on the adventures of the first five Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast and Iceman, in more or less “one and done” standalone issues.
X-Men: First Class – Mutant Mayhem
Collects: X-Men: First Class (2007) #1-5 and X-Men: First Class Special #1
X-Men: First Class – Road Trips
Collects: X-Men: First Class (2007) #1-9
X-Men: First Class – The Wonder Years
Collects: X-Men: First Class (2007) #11-16 and Giant-Size X-Men: First Class #1
Collects: X-Men: First Class Finals #1-4 and Giant-Size X-Men #1
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