READING GUIDE

If you're fresh to the X-Men, especially when it comes to the comics, knowing where to begin can be a daunting task. I have to the best of my ability compiled a reading guide for fans interested in reading as a continuous timeline, so you won't need to hop around in confusion.

CURRENT REALITY

Also known as Earth-616, this is the current reality that the mainstream X-Men exist in. In the table below, I have ordered it in the way the timeline would be read. The three columns are to be understood as events in the listed comics occurring at the same time. Reading from left to right signifies titles to be read concurrently. Reading from top to bottom signifies the timeline.

I.e. In "reworked titles", X-Men Origins: Jean Grey is read followed by X-Men: Mythos, then Professor Xavier and the X-Men #1-18 and X-Men: First Class Vol 1, 2, 3 (concurrently). These titles under "reworked titles" are to be read concurrently with the "original title" Uncanny X-Men #1-66 and the "mini series" X-Men: Children of the Atom. This is followed by X-Men: The Hidden Years #1-22, and then Uncanny X-Men Giant-Sized #1 and so on and so forth.

* During the 1990s when the timeline of Uncanny X-Men #194-370(thereabout) and X-Men #1-113 was written, many complicated story arcs were written which required readers to alternate between the Uncanny X-Men and X-Men titles, as well as other titles like Fantastic Four, Wolverine and Cable (to name a few). I will update the reading guide for a detailed walk-through on these arcs when the time comes for those updates.

ALTERNATE REALITIES

Alternate realities exist outside of Earth-616 and can be read separately. Some titles require prior knowledge of Earth-616 to understand the premise of the alternate reality, while other titles require no knowledge of Earth-616.

Titles requiring knowledge of Earth-616: "What If" titles,  Age of Apocalypse, The Adventures of the X-Men, Wolverine: Knight of Terra

Titles requiring no knowledge of Earth-616: Ultimate X-Men, X-Men Manga, 1602, X-Men: Fairytales

OTHER MEDIA

As you know, the X-Men comics spun off into cartoon series (with accompanying comics) and movies (with accompanying graphic novels).

X-Men: The Animated Series -- Cartoon based off the X-Men comics from the 1990s, so knowledge of Earth-616 would contribute to understanding the context. Though it is to be understood that the cartoon writers took liberties with the storylines and thus the timeline of X-Men: The Animated Series will not coincide with Earth-616. X-Men: The Animated Series parallels Earth-616 most closely in terms of content and characters.

X-Men: Evolution -- This cartoon would be considered an alternate reality of Earth-616. Ages of the X-Men are altered, in most cases drastically, and is set in a more modern and simple time (read: high school). X-Men: Evolution is a loose interpretation of Earth-616 but does draw plenty of content elements from Earth-616 itself. A good starting point for young readers to move into the comics.

X-Men: The Movie, X2: X-Men United, X-Men 3: The Last Stand -- Drawing from the characters of the X-Men comics, the writers took extreme liberties, altering ages, relationships and even character histories (which in a turn of events went on to influence the comics in Earth-616 itself) to suit the direction of the movies. If you were introduced into the world of X-Men through the movies and want to get into the comics, now would be a good time to throw all your movie knowledge of the X-Men out the window. (I won't pretend to hide my distaste for the movie adaptations as it did not help do justice to Scott and Jean, where the 1st movie was released about when their relationship in the comics was in peril. The 2nd and 3rd movies just proceeded to distort the perception of their relationship for the worse.)