X-Men

Created by writer Craig Kyle, X-23 first appeared – not in a comic book! — in the television series X-Men: Evolution, in season 3 episode 10. At the time, Kyle created her in an attempt to make a Wolverine to “connect more to the younger kids”.  It was a success and, after a second episode, she became so popular, that she ended up in the comics, like Harley Quinn in her time. Her first appearance in comics was in NYX #3, published in February 2004 and written by Joe Quesada before headlining two miniseries written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost where her origins were explained.

In the beginning, X-23 is simply a product of The Facility, an organization that attempted to recreate Weapon X and failed. The geneticist Sarah Kinney thought that cloning was the way to go, but the genome recovered from Wolverine was too damaged. Sarah decided to alter the DNA against the Facility orders and Laura was born. She was trained to kill Wolverine, but when she got the opportunity, she joined the X-Men. Since then, she has realized she was Wolvie’s biological daughter, and eventually, his successor.

Since her first appearance on television, Laura has made quite a name for herself, on the comic book pages, but also on the big screen in the movie Logan. She’s a perfect example of a legacy character done right, well worth having her own reading order.

Read More »X-23/Wolverine, Laura Kinney Reading Order

This is Part #7 of our tentative to compile a comprehensive X-Men Reading Order using the collected editions – You can find the first part here (The Silver Age & Chris Claremont, 1963-91), the second part here (Age of Apocalypse & Onslaught, 1991-2001), the third part here (From the Grant Morrison era to Civil War), the fourth part that leads us to Avengers Vs. X-Men, the fifth part (from Marvel NOW Reading Order to ResurrXion Era), and the sixth part (The Jonathan Hickman Era).

Titled “The Second Age of the X-Men of Krakoa,” the X-Men era is not a new one. It’s the continuation of the Jonathan Hickman Era, without Hickman. He left after the last Inferno miniseries. It’s the direct sequel to “Reign of X.”

The first part of this new age for the X-Men of Krakoa is “Destiny of X“. Like “Dawn of X,” there’s a prelude story and a new collection of spin-off series (like Immortal X-Men, Knights Of X, Legion Of X, and X-Men Red). Here is the pitch: Mutantkind’s future is reshaped once more, as Krakoa’s greatest triumphs and most crushing challenges still lie ahead.

Read More »X-Men Reading Order, Part. 7: Destiny of X, The Second Age of the X-Men of Krakoa

Launched in 1986 by Bob Layton and Jackson Guice as a spin-off from the X-Men franchise, X-Factor was a team formed by the five original X-Men – Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), and Iceman – in response to the outlaw status of the then-current X-Men team.

The five original members X-Men disassociate with the current team because Professor X had placed Magneto as its leader. Quickly, they decide to set up a business advertised as mutant-hunters for hire in New York City, pretending to be “normal” (non-superpowered) humans to their clients. Eventually, the X-Factor team decides that the “mutant hunter” angle was bad for everybody and stops. Louise Simonson took over the title (with art by Walt Simonson) and quickly introduced Apocalypse and other major elements of the X-Mythos.

At that time, the series was massively connected to the other X-Titles and events. In 1991, the original members of X-Factor rejoined the main X-Men team. Marvel didn’t kill the title though. Peter David became the main writer (with art by Larry Stroman) and began by reintroducing X-Factor with new members (with Havok, Multiple Man, Polaris, Quicksilver, Strong Guy, Valerie Cooper, and Wolfsbane).

Being part of the X-Men Universe, you can find how to read X-Force with the other X-series in our complete X-Men Reading Order.

Read More »X-Factor Reading Order

In 1991, the first volume of New Mutants (see the reading order) just ended, but Rob Liefield jumped to a new series called X-Force (introduced in New Mutants #100) with the help of writer Fabian Nicieza. In the beginning, this new (and more military) team included Boom-Boom, Cable, Cannonball, Domino, Feral, Shatterstar, Warpath, and Siryn.

But what is X-Force about? Here is the official synopsis of the beginning of the series. Beset from all sides by a growing roster of vicious foes, the New Mutants and their mysterious mentor Cable have no choice but to transform into a proactive, butt-kicking, take-no-prisoners mutant strike team! But can the new X-Force survive head-on clashes with Deadpool, the Morlocks, Proteus, Stryfe and his Mutant Liberation Front, the Juggernaut, the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and…S.H.I.E.L.D.? 

Being part of the X-Men Universe, you can find how to read X-Force with the other X-series in our complete X-Men Reading Order.

Read More »X-Force Reading Order (including Uncanny X-Force & X-Statix)

This is Part #6 of our tentative to compile a comprehensive X-Men Reading Order using the collected editions – You can find the first part here (The Silver Age & Chris Claremont, 1963-91), the second part here (Age of Apocalypse & Onslaught, 1991-2001), the third part here (From the Grant Morrison era to Civil War), the fourth part that leads us to Avengers Vs. X-Men, the fifth part (from Marvel NOW Reading Order to ResurrXion Era).

After the Age of X-Man event, Marvel decided to bring back the X-Men to the front and recruited Jonathan Hickman to take charge of the launch. He started with the House of X/Power of X miniseries that introduced an ambitious new conjecture. Here is the official synopsis: “While you slept, the world changed.” With those words, Professor X announces to the people of Earth the new mutant nation of Krakoa. It is a safe haven for all Homo superior, with its own rules and its own language. In return for international recognition, Xavier will offer humanity great scientific advancements, borne of Krakoa’s unique flora. But the time for integration has ended. Xavier’s old dream is dead -and now a new one begins. But is mutantkind’s greatest enemy the prejudice of humans or the cold artificial intelligences that await a hundred -even a thousand years -from now?

After that, Marvel started to relaunch more and more x-series, introducing new teams and new challenges.

Read More »X-Men by Jonathan Hickman Reading Order, Part. 6: Dawn of X & Reign of X (2019-2022)

In the Marvel Universe, Wolverine is so popular, there’s more than one! We are not speaking of X-23 today but of Old Man Logan. He is an aged version of Wolverine coming from an alternate future universe where the supervillains overthrew the superheroes, Earth-807128. He is a creation of writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven.

This Old Man Logan – he in fact no longer calls himself Wolverine – was introduced in a storyline published in the regular Wolverine series (in 2008-09) set after the Death of Wolverine story – at that time, X-23 took the Wolverine mantle. His own solo series started later, during the Secret Wars event (reading order here). After that, Old Man Logan came back in the newly rebooted Marvel Universe.

Here is the story: Fifty years from now, Logan will have endured many atrocities: The Marvel Universe’s villains will have banded together and rid the world of its heroes. Logan’s closest friend, Hawkeye, will have been murdered in cold blood right before his eyes. And driven mad by the same radiation that gave him his superhuman strength, Bruce Banner will have fathered a family of hillbilly Hulks…that eventually went on to slaughter Logan’s wife and two children. But now, in the present, Old Man Logan wakes up to discover himself in a world before these atrocities, before the Wasteland. And he’s going to seize this opportunity and change history to ensure that his future never comes to pass…

Once Old Man Logan finds his place in the regular universe, he joined Jeff Lemire’s team of Extraordinary X-Men. Later, he also appeared in X-Men Gold, Weapon X, and Astonishing X-Men. Of course, he also appeared in major events of that time like Civil War II, Inhumans vs X-Men, and Secret Empire. His story ended with the 2018 miniseries Dead Man Logan.

Read More »Old Man Logan Reading Order