Almost a decade ago I was a serious Marvel Comics nut, collecting pretty much every monthly at my local comic book shop. As I got older real life got in the way of my hobby and I gave it up, sold off the thousands of books I had and I thought that was the end of it. But recently I've had a jonesing to get back into it, to a lesser extent (I hope). Back in the day crossovers were king, special issues were coming out on a seemingly monthly basis, and I know how hard it is to just jump in and understand the continunity.
So my question is this, after browsing the Marvel website for subscription information (comic book stores are out of the question, can't find one to save my life) I've decided to just focus on the various
X-Men, and related titles. Is it possible to maintain this hobby through subscriptions, I've never subscribed to a monthly before, seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure. These are the titles I'm looking at UNCANNY X-MEN, X-MEN, ASTONISHING X-MEN, NEW X-MEN, X-FACTOR, and WOLVERINE. Is the quality of these titles right now up to snuff, will my brain explode trying to comprehend them after being away for so long, any current monthlies in the X-Men line I'm missing? I'd have no problem picking up a couple trades to fill me in on major storylines if, I knew what to look for, and where to look for them.
Any responses would be greatly appreciated, I'd rather not throw $100+ away on subscriptions if it's really not worth it.
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First of all, get every Astonishing X-Men trade you can get your hands on. that's priority, since they are the core X team.
X-Factor should be second on your list. It's a fucking awesome monthly, even though it's probably the least "significant" X-team.
Third is a tie with Uncanny and X-Men. Just back order to the start of the current arcs, and you'll be fine.
New X-Men is the hotsauce, but optional.
Wolverine and all his solo books can go die in a fire.
now they come in plastic with a cardboard backing. i'm not a collector anymore but it certainly is a very nice change.
i'm like you just got back into them after many years of being a comic freak. the more casual pace of subscriptions is nice.
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They've also been really good at touching on elements of the X-Men's history without just rehashing it. It's one of the best teen team books I've ever read.
If you only get one X-title, I suggest X-Factor. But Astonishing is the main team, so you should probably pick that up, too.
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Husk is still around and has her powers, though she's not being used much.
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Even if you thought that was the case in a book with someone like Wither in it, it's not as though they couldn't have changed the fact or at least written him out in a more appropriate manner. Hell, dying with everyone else would have been preferable to proving to be the most gullible idiot in the world.
That said, First Class (which I've yet to get any of for myself) got upped to an ongoing after the current mini ends, so you might want to look at that too. (The 8-mini series finishes next month, too, I believe)
http://www.amazon.com/New-X-Men-Omnibus-Grant-Morrison/dp/0785123261
Bar none.
That could not be more of a lie then anything I have ever heard.
New X-Men was absolute garbage before HoM... now it is one of the best X-books out.
I don't like Hellion, so I'm kind of happy that this arc is over, but I think that the current lineup still has a bunch of potential.
Seems like I'll have to pick up House of M for sure, I've seen quite a few different HoM trades, do all of them matter, or just the ones with X in the title? What about Civil War, did that effect the X-books in any signifigant way. I guess things don't change all that much, eight years later and Marvel loves it's crazy ass crossover events.
...I think that title comes off as a Young Avengers or Runaways Lite.
The rest of those titles range from terrible to disposable. Brubaker is currently shitting the bed with Uncanny, while Carey has devolved Adjectiveless into a meandering mess. You should probably pick up the House of M trade so you can understand the current clusterfuck that is Mutantdom in the MU.
Civil War didn't really affect the X-Men all that much at all. There was a Civil War: X-Men miniseries, but it wasn't very good.
Also, Uncanny really has improved over the last couple of issues. I didn't really like the opening part of Brubaker's run, but I think he's getting his feet under him now.
And yeah, I haven't really been able to figure out what's going on in adjectiveless. There are some neat moments though.
I've never actually read those, but after reading his little run of miniseries that follow the characters from it (Mutopia X, X-Men: the 198 and Civil War: X-Men), I'm kind of glad I didn't. At least the covers for the last two series were cool.