X-men how to start?

Giruilla

Hey, I just saw the new X-men film, and even though i thought it was sorta crap I loved the first two. I really want to start reading the comics but I dont know where to start. The most recent comics I bought where the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volumes, which was great because all the comics came in two books. I really want to start reading the comics from where it all began, or even if anyone could recommend the best place to start?
I think Chris Claremont was the original writer, are his ones best?
After a bit of search I found this 'Essential X-men: v. 1' on amazon. Would this be any use? Does anyone know if i could buy this in town, Forbidden Planet maybe?

Baggly

ive only recently started myself, and i began with the ultimate xmen volumes. these are collections of the comics, and the ultimate series is an updated version of the xmen. same characters, pretty much same stories, different style. i think they are pretty good anyway.

the Shades

X-men started in 1963 written by Stan Lee and pretty much completely created by artist Jack Kirby, it never really took off very well and so was re-launched as Giant Sized New X-men in 1975 which introduced Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Wolverine to the team. This was when Claremount strated writing it and while it did better than the previous incarnation it wasn't until the 1980's when Claremount was joined by artist John Byrne that the book became the success it's continued to be. All in all X-men has a long and complicated history stretching back 30 or so years so it's a lot to catch up on. If you want to read the original comic it's best to just jump in and catch up on the history through fansites, magazines and the 'event' trades. If you want to save yourself all that hassle I agree with petermonaghan, the best place to start is the Ultimate X-men trades. They re-tell a lot of the old stories with a new spin and are usually better written and more interesting than the books they were inspired by.

Mr. K

The Essential TPBs collect the first issues of the comic, in order. The only problem with them is that they're in black and white, no colour. They'd be a great (and cheap) starting point. Chris Claremount's first run is considered the best, the Dark Phoenix Saga is often called the best X-Men arc, I agree with this.

lostexpectation

I don't read/buy comics but my bro downloaded a wholeload of comics including Xmen and batman I tried to start reading a few on the screenreader but thats damn hard, and the early ones are very clunky! imagine trying to print them out to read em on the train whatever thirty years of colour comics!

Its hard to decide cos you want to read the origin stories, but its a slog.

why not find a good comic series thats only starting and read it.

Giruilla

lostexpectation wrote:

I don't read/buy comics but my bro downloaded a wholeload of comics including Xmen and batman I tried to start reading a few on the screenreader but thats damn hard, and the early ones are very clunky! imagine trying to print them out to read em on the train whatever thirty years of colour comics!

Its hard to decide cos you want to read the origin stories, but its a slog.

why not find a good comic series thats only starting and read it.

Well thats sorta what I did with League of EG. They're pretty recent. I just really like the x-men characters. Don't suppose you could point me towards where to download some of the comics like your bro did, just to give me a little taster of what they're like?

Call_Me,Stan

Go to Hodges & Fidgis (bookstore) in town and get the Marvel Pocketbooks.

They cost about a fiver each and they each cover about 14 classic X-men comics -- starting from Chris Clarmount's (the writer who made X-men sucessful) run when Storm, Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler started.

They should be available in a few shop but Hodges & Fidgis is the only one that consistently has them. The Essential volumes are a waste of money, especially considering the lack of colour. (Every time I see them, I want to take out a crayon and get colouring.)

Generally, I advise buying the paperbacks rather then the individual comics as a rule. There's more then enough stuff out there for you to catch up on.

constitutionus

the trade paper backs are a good way to get in. works out a hell of a lot cheaper than buying the comics in single issues. my heart goes out to ya man cause i used the buy X books up untill recently, say about a year ago, and i was interested in getting back in but im hopelessly lost. and i say this as a guy who collected x men since the early 90s and inheirited my bros collection going back to the dark phoenix saga.

your best bet is probably to hop in on XMEN . milligans nearing the end of a story arc so a new one should be starting soon, and on UNCANNY x men i think claremonts finishing up soon so you could jump in on the ground floor of the new writer. personally the only one im collecting now is ASTONISHING xmen by joss whedon of buffy fame. its only a new book so theres not much to catch up on (think theres only two trades so far, gifted and dangerous) the quality of writings really good and cassidys art is gorgeous. at the end of the day it really depends on which team you like:D

P.S whedons work on astonishing was ripped off shamelessly in the third xmen film, he created the character of doctor kavita roa and the first story arc is about the cure (though not comming from leach,they synthesised it themselves) needless to say its handled alot better so if you liked the film youll love this

Giruilla

Cheers for the replies!! As i thought it's a pretty daunting task. I'm never gonna be a huge collector of the magazines, but with those tips I think my best bet is to try catch up on the Astonishing Joss Whedon comics.
Btw do Hodges Fidges actually have a lot of comics? I went in there before and they just had a really small section of graphic novels? is that where I'd get X-men or was I looking in the wrong place?

the Shades

No they just have the graphic novels for the comics yourself your best bet in Dublin is one of the three comic shops. I'd recommend the Third Place in Temple Bar they're usually a little cheaper and the staff are nicer.

constitutionus

the Shades wrote:

No they just have the graphic novels for the comics yourself your best bet in Dublin is one of the three comic shops. I'd recommend the Third Place in Temple Bar they're usually a little cheaper and the staff are nicer.

i'll second that. im getting alot of stuff in trade off the net but the remaing single issue collecting i still do i get at the third place. cheaper and the staff take an interest in your custom. they'll even point you in the way of similar stuff you might like (marvels ultimates and the current civil war storyline for instance)

oh and another thing, ASTONISHING XMEN is bi monthly at the moment cause cassidy is finishing up on PLANETARY so you can only get it every two months for now. but after that its back to a monthly periodical

Fysh

Giruilla wrote:

Don't suppose you could point me towards where to download some of the comics like your bro did, just to give me a little taster of what they're like?

Naughty naughty - read the charter please, discussion of where and how to download comics isn't allowed on here. You're new though, so we'll let you off Just bear it in mind in future please.

(I'm not saying scans are inherently evil or single-handedly Destroying Teh Industry or anything like that, but discussing where to find free copies of copyrighted material is pretty much banned across all of boards.ie, and I don't see why the comics forum should be any different).

Giruilla

Fysh wrote:

Naughty naughty - read the charter please, discussion of where and how to download comics isn't allowed on here. You're new though, so we'll let you off Just bear it in mind in future please.

(I'm not saying scans are inherently evil or single-handedly Destroying Teh Industry or anything like that, but discussing where to find free copies of copyrighted material is pretty much banned across all of boards.ie, and I don't see why the comics forum should be any different).

Very true, sorry about that!

Tsukanda

Essential X-Men is quite a good collaboration. It's still on-going, contains many great arcs, reprints old classics, it follows both the characters and the storyline satisfactorily.

Although I never got my hands on early issues of Essential (the Phalanx story being the first I can remember, I think) it's definitely worth collecting if you're new and want in. Very user-friendly, you know.

Call_Me,Stan

Seriously, don't get Essential X-men - it's not worth it.
It's got no colour and is fairly expensive. Get the Marvel Pocketbooks.
They're cheap, in colour and in a handy size for reading.

RAIN

I started with the new xmen and tried to read astonishing xmen afterwards and it felt forced and crap so read that last !!!!

DilbertPartII

Was there an X-Men online a while back? Sort of a comic book on the web?

chopperbyrne

Get the Panini reprints. Their X-Men one is also called Essential X-Men, but it's in full colour.

It is monthly and you should be able to find it in most newsagents. Eason always sell them.

It is the same size as US comics although it is 76 pages long and reprints three issues a month.

It is about a year or so behind US continuity, but it is well worth it as it's only about €4.30.

I think they still say Collectors Edition along the top so they should be easy to spot.

Hope this helps.

irlZaphod

As a big X-Men fan, I whole-heartedly recommend the Essential X-Men black and white repint TPBs. Chris Claremont's stuff isn't great these days, but his original run was just brilliant. I would ignore the early Lee/Kirby stuff, it's not great. Roy Thomas and Neal Adams' run was pretty good too (X-Men (Vol. 1) #55-66). The series really didn't get good until Giant-Size X-Men #1/X-Men (Vol. 1) #94.

If you're looking at getting into more recent X-stuff, you're in luck. Both Uncanny X-Men and Adjectiveless X-Men got new creative teams and directions (again) this month, starting with #475 and #188 respectively. They're pretty good jumping-on points, but I've done write-ups for each to help new/returning readers:
http://www.sketchyorigins.com/comics/showthread.php?t=6698

As for Astonishing X-Men (the third 'core' title), there are TPBs of the first 2 story arcs, Gifted (which X3 was partially based on, but nowhere near as good), and Dangerous. The series is only up to #15 or so, too, and is bi-monthly until September or so, when it returns to monthly publication. It's written by Joss Whedon, and John Cassaday's art is just wonderful.