X-Men Milestones: Complete Collected Events Fast Track!

This week on “Previously On,” I explore Marvel’s “X-Men Milestones” collections, considering the selected events and whether they provide an adequate exploration of X-Men comics history. The inspiration for the column is inspired by the following question.

Joshua asks via the X-Men reading order:

This guide is incredible, thank you for putting it together! i’m interested in reading the messiah complex storylines and subsequent related arcs; do you think the three new milestones trades (messiah complex, messiah war, and second coming) do a good job of covering the necessary material? and should i also read the necrosha milestones trade in the middle of there somewhere?

Related Reading Orders:

Claremont X-Men

Modern X-Men Events

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My Favorite X-Men Comics!

Marvel’s “X-Men Milestones” series of collected editions kicked off alongside the Hickman era of House of X and Powers of X, starting with the “Dark Phoenix Saga” released July 2019. At the time of publication (approximately one year since launch), there are 15 Milestones titles released or announced, covering X-events from 1980 to 2011.

The Claremont X-Men Era

You can find all of these X-Men events and the surrounding comics published around them in Comic Book Herald’s complete Chris Claremont X-Men reading order.

Dark Phoenix Saga (1980)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #129 to #137

While starting with the “Dark Phoenix Saga” as a first major milestone for the X-Men makes some sense, you’re also missing a lot of the build to this moment by starting here. This highlights the first crucial purpose of “Milestones,” which is to provide a fast track through a curated selection of big memorable moments in X-Men lore.

I’m also noticing that “Dark Phoenix Saga” is the only edition of the Milestones series contained to a single comic book title; the remainder from here on out are crossovers and events. In many ways, we have the success of the next entry (and editor-in-chief at the time, Jim Shooter) to thank for that. Big picture, you’d get a nice fast track overview of X-Men history reading all these volumes, but you’d also miss out on some of the absolute best comics, from Claremont/Sienkiewicz New Mutants

to Remender/Opena Uncanny X-Force.

Mutant Massacre (1986)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men (1981) #210-214, X-Factor (1986) #9-11, New Mutants (1983) #46, Thor (1966) #373-374, Power Pack (1984) #27 And Daredevil (1964) #238.

Reading order:

Uncanny X-Men #210
X-Factor #9
Uncanny X-Men #211
New Mutants #46
X-Factor #10
Thor #373
Thor #374
Power Pack #27 to #28
X-Factor #11
Uncanny X-Men #212
Daredevil #238
Uncanny X-Men #213

Fall of the Mutants (1988)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men (1981) #225-227, New Mutants (1983) #59-61 And X-Factor (1986) #24-26

Reading order (I’ll note here that there are additional comics crossing over that aren’t included in the “Milestones” collection):

X-Factor #24 to #25
Power Pack #35
Captain America #339
Daredevil #252
Fantastic Four #312
X-Factor #26
Uncanny X-Men #225 to #226
Incredible Hulk #340
Uncanny X-Men #227
New Mutants #59 to #61

Inferno (1989)

Collects: X-Terminators #1-4, Uncanny X-Men (1981) #239-243, X-Factor (1986) #35-39 and New Mutants (1983) #71-73

Reading order:

Uncanny X-Men #239
X-Factor #33 to #35
X-Terminators #1 to #3
New Mutants #71 to #72
X-Terminators #4
Uncanny X-Men #240 to #241
X-Factor #36 to #37
New Mutants #73
Uncanny X-Men #242
X-Factor #38
Uncanny X-Men #243
X-Factor #39

X-Tinction Agenda (1991)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men (1981) #235-238 and #270-272, New Mutants (1983) #95-97, and X-Factor (1986) #60-62

Reading order:

Uncanny X-Men #235 to #238
Uncanny X-Men #270
X-Factor #60
New Mutants #95
Uncanny X-Men 271
X-Factor #61
New Mutants #96
Uncanny X-Men 272
X-Factor #62
New Mutants #97

90’s X-Men

You can find all of these events and the comics published around them in Comic Book Herald’s complete 90’s X-Men reading order.

X-Cutioner’s Song (1992)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men (1981) #294-297, X-Factor (1986) #84-86, X-Men (1991) #14-16, X-Force (1991) #16-18, Stryfe’s Strike File #1

Reading order:

Cable: Blood & Metal #1 to #2
Uncanny X-Men #294
X-Factor #84
X-Men #14
X-Force #16
Uncanny X-Men #295
X-Factor #85
X-Men #15
X-Force #17
Uncanny X-Men #296
X-Factor #86
X-Men #16
X-Force #18
Uncanny X-Men #297

Fatal Attractions (1993)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men (1981) #298-300, 303-304, 315; X-Factor (1986) #92; X-Force (1991) #25; X-Men Unlimited (1993) #2; X-Men (1991) #25; Wolverine (1988) #75; Excalibur (1988) #71

Reading order:

Uncanny X-Men #298 to #303
X-Factor (1986) #92
X-Force (1991) #25
Uncanny X-Men #304
X-Men Unlimited (1993) #2
X-Men (1991) #25
Wolverine (1988) #75
Excalibur (1988) #71

Phalanx Covenant (1994)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men (1981) #305-306, 312-313, 316-317; Excalibur (1988) #78-80, 82; X-Men (1991) #36-37; X-Factor (1986) #106; X-Force (1991) #38; Wolverine (1988) #85; Cable (1993) #16

Reading order:

Uncanny X-Men #305 to #306
Uncanny X-Men #312 to #313
Excalibur #78 to #80
Uncanny X-Men #316
X-Men #36
Uncanny X-Men #317
X-Men #37
X-Factor #106
X-Force #38
Excalibur #82
Wolverine #85
Cable #16

Onslaught (1996)

Collects: Uncanny X-Men (1981) #333-337; X-Men (1991) #53-57; Onslaught (1996): X-Men, Marvel Universe, Epilogue; Avengers (1963) #401; Fantastic Four (1961) #415; Wolverine (1988) #104; Cable (1993) #35

The complete Onslaught reading order.

We’ve now reached the point in “Milestones” that makes me stupid nerd angry. I don’t dispute the inclusion of “Onslaught,” but no “Age of Apocalypse” prior! A travesty!

During the hyped up build to the Jonathan Hickman written era of X-Men in 2019, Marvel continually promoted 4 seminal moments in X-Men history: 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1, 1991’s X-Men #1 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee, 1995’s Age of Apocalypse, and 2001’s New X-Men by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Literally none of these stories are collected in “Milestones” to date! That’s honestly strange to me.

Operation Zero Tolerance (1997)

Collects: Generation X (1994) #27, X-Men (1991) #65-70, Uncanny X-Men (1981) #346, Wolverine (1988) #115-118, Cable (1993) #45-47

Reading order:

Generation X #26
Generation X #27
X-Force #67
Generation X #28
X-Men #65
Uncanny X-Men #346
Generation X #29
X-Men #66
Wolverine #115
Cable #45
Cable #46
Cable #47
X-Force #69
Wolverine #116
Generation X #30
Generation X #31
X-Men #67
X-Men #68
X-Man #30
X-Men #69
Wolverine #117
Wolverine #118
X-Force #70
X-Men #70

For my money, “Operation Zero Tolerance” is the least familiar crossover included thus far, and among the least essential (at least until we get to Necrosha). It’s actually a pretty interesting inclusion, perhaps signifying the perceived relevance of Bastion and Prime Sentinels in the Marvel offices.

2000’s Messiah Saga

The 10 year gap in “Milestones” comes down to two possibilities: 1) Marvel simply hasn’t filled in these collections yet or 2) they are sticking exclusively to mega crossover events. This conclusion is based on the fact that no X-Men fan in their right mind would tell you there are no essential moments in X-Men comics history from 1997 to 2007. The challenge that Marvel’s collections department clearly faces here is that “the good stuff” from this era is all already collected as parts of iconic “runs.” So you have New X-Men, X-Statix, Astonishing X-Men and plenty more all operating more or less on their own wavelength. Those books – must-reads that they are – don’t crossover or really star in “EVENT” comics.

That leaves Marvel with another option for inclusion: 2005’s House of M event. While this would actually make sense to me, it’s also a Marvel Universe event that technically runs through Avengers, despite its deep ties to mutantkind. I don’t know how you really tell the story of X-Men without House of X / Decimation, though, so I could see this being the most likely addition from this neglected time period.

You can find all these X-Men events and the comics around them in Comic Book Herald’s complete modern X-Men reading order.

Messiah CompleX (2007)

Collects:X-Men: Messiah Complex One-Shot (2007), Uncanny X-Men (1981) #492-494, X-Men (1991) #205-207, New X-Men (2004) #44-46, X-Factor (2005) #25-27

Reading order:

X-Men: Messiah Complex (one-shot)
Uncanny X-Men #492
X-Factor #25
New X-Men #44
X-Men #205
Uncanny X-Men #493
X-Factor #26
New X-Men #45
X-Men #206
Uncanny #494
X-Factor #27
New X-men #46
X-Men #207

Messiah War (2009)

Collects: X-Force/Cable: Messiah War (2009) #1, Cable (2008) #13-15, X-Force (2008) #14-16, X-Men: Future History – The Messiah War Sourcebook (2009) #1

Reading order:

X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #1-3,
X-Men Messiah War One-Shot
Cable #13
X-Force #14
Cable #14
X-Force #15
Cable #15
X-Force #16

Necrosha (2009)

Collects: New X-Men (2004) #32; X-Force (2008) #11, 21-25; New Mutants (2009) #6-8; X-Men: Legacy (2008) #231-234; X Necrosha (2009); X Necrosha: The Gathering (2009); material from X-Force Annual (2009) #1

Reading order:

Second Coming (2010)

Collects: Second Coming: Prepare (2009), Second Coming (2010) 1-2, Uncanny X-Men (1981) 523-525, New Mutants (2009) 12-14, X-Men Legacy (2008) 235-237, X-Force (2008) 26-28

Reading order:

Age of X (2011)

Collects: Age Of X Alpha (2011) 1, X-Men Legacy (2008) 245-247, New Mutants (2009) 22-24, Age Of X: Universe (2011) 1-2

Reading order:

I’m definitely happy to see Age of X among the “Milestones” to give the Mike Carey run of X-Men a spotlight.

Predicted Milestones To Come! (Summer 2020)

Below you’ll find “X-Men Milestones” collections I anticipate Marvel will release to continue the line through present day. Keep in mind these are just predictions based on the types of stories (see: crossovers and events!) typically in the Milestones series to date (for the record, I totally had “Second Coming” and “Age of X” on this list until I realized they already have collections listed for upcoming release!).

Avengers vs. X-Men (2012)

The argument against including Avengers vs. X-Men is that it’s too unwieldy, and too Marvel Universe centric. Much like I wrote about House of M above, this is not expressly an X-Men event.

Again, though, I’d argue the developments that happen specifically for the X-Men and mutants are too important to bypass.

Battle of The Atom (2013)

Collects: All -New X-Men 16-17, Uncanny X-Men 12-13, Wolverine & The X-Men 36-37, X-Men: Battle of the Atom 1-2, X-Men 5-6

I don’t think that highly of Battle of The Atom (I actually much prefer the Brian Michael Bendis “Marvel NOW!” era of X-Men leading up to this crossover), but this one’s a shoe-in. Battle of the Atom is the easiest way to acknowledge the Bendis era and give an overview of his madcap decision to bring the O5 X-Men (Jean, Scott, Hank, Bobby, and Warren) from the Silver Age to modern day.

Black Vortex (2015)

Collects: Guardians Of The Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha 1, Guardians Of The Galaxy 24-25, Legendary Star-Lord 9-11, All-New X-Men 38-39, Guardians Team-Up 3, Nova 28, Cyclops 12, Captain Marvel 14, Guardians Of The Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Omega 1

I’m definitely on the fence about including the “Black Vortex” crossover with Guardians of the Galaxy during the Bendis era on both franchises. For starters, it’s not very good, or particularly important (although, admittedly I could see Hickman pulling from some leftover ideas here). That said, this decade is light on X-Men milestones, and “Black Vortex” is kinda the perfect length for this series!

The other option from this timeframe would be Death of Wolverine, but there’s not really precedent for anything that singularly devoted to a character in “Milestones.”

Inhumans vs. X-Men (2017)

If it was up to me (spoiler: it’s very not), there wouldn’t be any milestones from 2015 until 2019. I’m not really exaggerating when I say there are no good options. Especially if Marvel is actually going to leave ’97 to 2007 uncovered!

That said, if Marvel doesn’t feel like admitting the immense struggles of the time period, Inhumans vs. X-Men is the right size event crossover to pull in the X-Men comics of the era. I also kind of like the idea of an Age of X-Man “Milestones” entry, but that’s particularly challenging given the size of the stopgap event.

House of X / Powers of X (2019)

Marvel’s probably in no rush to give HoX / PoX the “Milestones” treatment since the hardcover is pretty recent, but the gamechanging moment in X-Men history is clearly a necessary addition to the line.

Previously On #110: X-Men Milestones!

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