Marvel took C2e2 2019 by storm with the in-person announcement that writer Jonathan Hickman is returning to the publisher to write two congruent X-Men series. From 2008 to 2015, Hickman stood out as one of the best Marvel Universe writers, delivering impressive work across titles like Fantastic Four, Avengers, and the 2015 Secret Wars event (among others!).
Since Secret Wars, Hickman’s been focused on excellent creator-owned work with Image (books such as East of West
and The Black Monday Murders
), and Marvel’s been struggling to regain their footing. The promise of the writer’s return to an X-Men franchise that has also seen vast inconsistency throughout the 2010’s is an immensely satisfying prospect for fans of either.
Intriguingly, in pre-release hype Marvel has celebrated four distinct major eras of X-Men since Uncanny X-Men debuted in 1963: Giant Size X-Men #1 (1975), X-Men #1 (1991), Age of Apocalypse, New X-Men. The implication is that Hickman’s two series – House of X and Powers of X – will be the beginning of the 5th era.
Below you’ll find a complete guide to the X-Men comics of Jonathan Hickman, as well as connected prelude and tie-in issues that help explain the story.
Related Reading Orders:
Chris Claremont Era X-Men (1975 – 1991)
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Road to Hickman’s X-Men
In interviews (including a brief C2E2 chat with yours truly), Hickman is quick to laud Morrison’s work with praise, from Marvel Boy to New X-Men. It should not come as a surprise if his X-Men comics treat the New X-Men era with a degree of reverence.
Indeed, Hickman’s already pulled from Morrison’s lofty ideas, including the concept of the “phoenix egg” in his “Time Runs Out” build through to Secret Wars.
Comic Book Herald’s Jonathan Hickman Reading Order (2008 to 2015)
Speaking of massive, ambitious all-time great runs in Marvel history, Hickman’s run from 2008 to 2015 across the Marvel Universe stands as my favorite modern sequence of comics in Marvel.
Of particular interest, I’ve also dissected how Hickman wrote specific X-Men characters and concepts, and what we might expect moving forward given this history.
Uncanny X-Men (2018) #11 to #22
Marvel made much ado over the ($7.99) 2018 release of a new Uncanny X-Men #1, and the series ran weekly for the first 10 issues/weeks. While those ten issues do set the stage for a clear break that happens in Uncanny X-Men #11, they’re most focused on driving to the Age of X-Man event.
So, yes, long time X-Men fans can read the entire series, but purely for the purposes of a road to Hickman’s X-Men, I’d argue you can start with Matthew Rosenberg’s time writing the run solo from UXM #11 on.
Uncanny X-Men #22 is scheduled for release July 17, 2019, and is set to conclude this series of Uncanny (which began all the way back in the long ago known as 2018). The first issue of House of X will release the following week.
Hickman on X-Men Checklist
House of X and Powers of X Reading Order
You can find my exploration of some stand-out references to past Hickman comics in Krakin Krakoa: Secrets of House of X!
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
After HoX & PoX
Uncanny X-Men
New X-Men
Excalibur
Fallen Angels
Uncanny X-Force
Marauders
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