If the title of this blog/podcast/fan space didn't give it away, I'm a big X-Men fan. My earliest X-Men memories is the animated film Pryde of the X-Men where Wolverine had an Australian accent, and X-Men #1 by Chris Clairmont and Jim Lee that totally revamped the team's roster and look. It would also go on the be the definitive X-team probably to this day. Recently I've been working my way through the X-Men films. I'm on Days of Future Past, my favorite of the franchise. I will say The Last Stand wasn't the big pile of garbage I remember to be. It's still a garbage X-film, but just not as bad as I remember. However, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is worse than I remember. I didn't even bother finishing it.
Anyway, since I've been in an X-Men mood I decided to do a "time-wasting project" as my wife would call it. I picked out what some consider the most pivotal X-Men storylines throughout the almost 60-year history. Some of them I don't prefer, but I also added my personal favorites to create my own essential X-Men reading list. You will notice it may be a little skewed on the Cyclops and Phoenix side, because, well, Cyclops is my favorite X-Man.
But if someone was to ask me what my X-Men recommendations are, or where to start, I think this is a good reference point. Of course, I know I'm leaving out hundreds of other X-books that some would consider "essential" or great, but this is my list. Make your own. I'd love to see it. I hope you get a kick out of this, and if you haven't read some of them it's like I always tell my buddy Josh. Check your local public library! And then find me online to chat about X-Men.
SECOND GENESIS: This book introduces what would become some staples of the X-Men team like Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine. They are on a mission to save the original X-Men, and afterwards, The Phoenix is introduced.
DARK PHOENIX SAGA: Considered by most to be "thee X-Men story" we see Jean Grey lose control of the cosmic force and threaten the galaxy. The movies have tried twice to do this storyline and blown it both times. If you want the best interpretation of the book, I recommend the 90's animated series version.
DAYS OF FUTURE PAST: Another popular X-Men tale that sees a bleak future for mutants, so Kitty Pryde is sent back to her younger body to try and stop that future from coming true. 
GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS: This legendary tale sees the X-Men team up with their enemy, Magneto, to stop the end of all mutant kind. To be honest, I barely remember the story since I haven't read it in maybe a decade. I know it was the basis of X2: X-Men United.
GENESIS AND APOCALYPSE: After the death of Jean Grey, Scott Summers leaves the X-Men, marries a woman who looks a lot like Jean, and has a son; Nathan. But when the Avengers find Jean alive, she's eager to find her old friends and get the band back together. Thus, a new X-Team is created.
MUTANT MASSACRE: The slaughtering of the Morlocks and the beginning a very important life change for Angel. This event ripples through X-Men for all time.
FALL OF THE MUTANTS: X-Factor gets majorly changed, New Mutants lose a teammate, and the X-Men die. 'Nuff said.
INFERNO: Colossus sister and Cyclop's wife are at the center of this story that threatens to bring Hell to Earth. It's big and epic. Trust me.
DAYS OF FUTURE PRESENT: Not gonna lie, I have never read this. I know it centers around Franklin Richards, and has appearances by Scott and Jean's daughter, Rachel, and a grown-up Nathan Summers.
X-TINCTION AGENDA: Pretty much everything before Mutant Genesis I've only read once, which is why I plan on going through this list at some point. I remember the X-teams go to Genosha, and someone dies. That's all I remember. Sorry.
MUIR ISLAND SAGA: This one is right before everything changes for the X-Men. The Shadow King shows up, and so does Charles Xavier's son Legion. Fighting ensues. 
MUTANT GENESIS: Hands down, the best-selling book in the 90's, except maybe Superman #75. Clairmont and Lee redefined the X-Men. We see the return of Magneto and the first appearance of Omega Red. Plus, we learn more about the Weapon X program.
X-CUTIONER'S SONG: A guy looking a lot like Cable shows up to cause the X-teams a lot of trouble. Turns out he's Cable's better clone.
FATAL ATTRACTIONS: Big things happen in this book. It includes X-Men #25 where Magneto rips the adamantium out of Wolverine's body, causing Professor X to go into Magento's mind and turn it off. Colossus also leaves the team after the death of his sister.
WEDDING OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX: Pretty self-explanatory right?
THE ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX: Want an exotic honeymoon? How about a trip to an apocalyptic future to raise your son who was sent to the future to save him from a life-threating virus? How about also starting a revolution to overthrow an evil, immortal, being? Sounds like a great trip!
PHALANX COVENANT: Just as Generation X is being formed a group of mutant-hating, techo-organic, beings attack and want to wipe out Marvel's Mighty Mutants. Bad timing. 
AGE OF APOCALYPSE: What if Charles Xavier never formed the X-Men? Well apparently, it would look very different, but super cool. This alternate future see's the time-traveling Bishop looking to restore the timeline and save Xavier before his son accidentally kills him instead of Magneto. This is the storyline that got me hooked on X-Men comics and I have been reading them ever since.
ONSLAUGHT: What would happen if Charles Xavier went nuts? Well apparently, he'd create a new personality hellbent on mutant superiority and it's up all the heroes in the Marvel U to stop him. And a lot of them don't make it out alive!
THE TRIAL OF GAMBIT: When I was a kid, Gambit was my favorite X-Man. He was cool and mysterious. As I've grown my taste in role models has changed a bit. This book dives into the Cajun's past and his involvement in the Mutant Massacre, and his sins will cost him everything. 
OPERATION ZERO TOLERANCE: Bastion is a bad guy. Bastion has an army of Sentinels. Bastion gets government approval to reign hell down on the X-Men. This leads to torcher, unlikely alliances, and Cyclops with a bomb in his stomach. It's great!
HOMECOMING: In the aftermath of Operation Zero Tolerance and The Trial of Gambit, the X-Men are back at the mansion with some new house guests that could cause trouble. Scott and Jean are looking to leave and put Storm and Wolverine in charge. But the main question is, where is Charles Xavier?
THE HUNT FOR PROFESSOR X: After the new team gets settled it's time to find Chuck. But what they find in their journey leads to a whole lot of trouble!
THE MAGNETO WAR: Magneto is back, and he is holding the whole world hostage. He's decided to reverse Earth's magnetic poles unless he gets what he wants. And the only person who can stop him is his younger clone that was made to kill him. It's tight!
THE TWELVE: Apocalypse is looking to become the ultimate being. But to do that he needs the life force of twelve specific mutants. As he captures them one by one the rest of the X-Men are gonna have to find a find a way to stop him.
THE SEARCH FOR CYCLOPS: SPOILER! Scott Summers is dead. Cyclops saved his sort-of son from merging with Apocalypse by merging with him instead. But Cyclops isn't as powerful as Nate Grey, so he killed himself and Apocalypse. Or did he? Jean and Cable are on the hunt for their loved one who may still be merged with Apocalypse and En Sabah Nur's followers are after him.
EVE OF DESTRUCTION: Ol' Magneto is stirring up trouble again. This time Erik is looking to march his army of Genoshians against the humans. While Jean tries to gather a team to stop a war, Cyclops and Wolverine infiltrate Genosha to try and save Magneto's prisoner, Professor X.
NEW X-MEN: Grant Morrison's run on X-Men has become legendary. He, along with artist Frank Quitely, shepherded Marvel's Mutants into a new era. Spanning several books, we discover Charles has an evil twin sister, a mutant riot breaks out at the school, Scott becomes unfaithful to Jean, and the island of Genosha is obliterated by a giant Sentinel attack. Oh, and of course the classics; Magneto attacks and the Phoenix returns.
ASTONISHING X-MEN: Following the events of New X-Men, Buffy creator Joss Whedon had a four-book run that added Whedon's special brand of creativity to the X-Men. We see a mutant cure, a mutant resurrection, and plenty of quips that we all expect from Whedon's writing. The title continued on with several other writers after Whedon left, but the Joss's books are the ones that are worth a read in my opinion.
HOUSE OF M: The Marvel event rocks the X-Men to their core and shows a level of power that fanboys are looking forward too as Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch grows stronger in the MCU. The precursor to this is Avengers: Disassembled when Wanda goes nuts and starts killing Avengers. Xavier tries to help heal her mind but feels the humane thing to do would be to kill Wanda for the good of the world. FLASH! Wolverine wakes up to a world where all his friends are living their ideal lives, and Magneto rules the most powerful nation in the world. The conclusion of this story changes everything!
THE DAY AFTER: 90% of the world's mutants are now human. Most of the those who are left have gathered at the X-mansion to seek refuge. Tension is high and patience are short. What do the X-Men do when they go from the next stage in evolution to an endangered species?
END OF THE GREYS: Growing up in a dystopian future Rachel Summers never had much of a family, but her grandparents are looking to fix that. Meanwhile, the Shi'ar Empire are looking to end the entire Grey bloodline for fear of another Dark Phoenix. But do you really wanna piss of the daughter of Phoenix?
DEADLY GENESIS: Remember Second Genesis? Professor X sent Wolverine, Storm, and the others to go save the original X-Men? That wasn't the first team Xavier sent. Now a "deadly" secret is about to come back and haunt the X-Men.
RISE AND FALL OF THE SHI'AR EMPIRE: Vulcan has taken to the stars to exact revenge on those who tortured and wronged him; the Shi'ar. Professor Xavier gathers a team to chase after him and warn his love, Lilandra, before Vulcan's vengeance brings down the might empire.
EMPEROR VULCAN: Vulcan now rules the Shi'ar Empire and the galaxy next. Alex Summers and a handful of rebels may be the only thing that stands in his way. This isn't the last part of the Vulcan storyline, but it is the last part where the X-Men play a big role. Vulcan's tale concludes in War of Kings.
ENDANGERED SPECIES: There are less than 100 mutants left in the world. And more are dying. Beast is on a crusade to find a way to save his species. He looks for help with allies and with enemies. But will it be enough? Can he reverse M Day?
MESSIAH COMPLEX: For the first time in years a new mutant has been born. And everyone is after the child. The X-Men are looking for the man who has the baby, Cable. But he's on the run from Marauders and Purifiers. Who will get to Cable and the child first? This is one of my favorite X-Men stories!
DIVIDED WE STAND: Following the events of
Messiah Complex the X-Men are scattered. Their home is destroyed, and "Hope" may be lost. But they may find both in an unexpected place.
MANIFEST DESTINY: The X-Men are in San Francisco and not everyone in town is welcoming. In this multi-book arc, we see the appearance of the Magneto, Sentinels, and the Hellfire Club. Also, Cyclops's ex-wife, Madelyne Pryor, is still alive!
ANGELS AND DEMONS: Times are tough for mutants. Facing an unknown future, Cyclops and Wolverine form a new X-Force team to take out their enemies before they strike against them. But this team is unstable, and full of killers. It's awesome!
OLD GHOSTS: After their first mission didn't go as planned X-Force is back at it and gets even more crazy.
MESSIAH WAR: Part three of the Messiah trilogy catches up with Cable and his daughter, Hope, hiding out through time as they are being tracked by Bishop, who is convinced Hope will bring about the horrible future he came back in time to stop. Cable's brother, Stryfe, is also causing them trouble, and the X-Force have caught up with Cable as well.
NOT FORGOTTEN: The aftermath of Messiah War, the team is struggling to stay together while individually they are falling apart.
UTOPIA: Harry Osborn has control of S.H.I.E.L.D. And he is looking to flex his power muscles when things get rocky in San Francisco. His Dark Avengers are looking to teach the X-Men a lesson, but everyone always underestimates Scott Summers. My favorite part of this book is when Cyclops tells the former Green Goblin to basically f%ck off.
NATION X: Asteroid M has been risen from the sea and has become the new island haven for mutants everywhere. Now the X-Men must find a way to secure their home from their enemies, both outside and inside.
NEROSHA: Not gonna lie, I barely remember this storyline, but it's marked as a "Milestone" in X-Men history. I remember it heavily involves X-Force and some villain named Selene. I don't know. Guess I'll just have to re-read it.
SECOND COMING: Cable and Hope are back from the future, and once again, everyone is after them. They're trying to find their way back to the X-Men, but along the way, teammates are lost, secrets are revealed, and I love this book!
THE BIRTH OF GENERATION HOPE: Five new mutants are detected after Hope's return to the present. Now she is on a journey to find these new mutants, and possibly herself along the way. But some don't agree the alleged Mutant Messiah should doing this.
THE CURSE OF THE MUTANTS: The X-Men are still trying to find a way to keep safe in an unsafe time. But Dracula shows up and offers to help by joining mutants and vampires together. Cyclops refuses, and before we know it several of the key X-Men are part of the undead. But don't worry. Blade is there too.
UNCANNY X-FORCE: Cyclops disbanded X-Force after the secret of the mutant hit squad got out. But that hasn't stopped Wolverine from continuing his mission. Rick Remender puts his team through the ringer with the stories like The Dark Angel Saga and the Apocalypse Solution. Would you kill a kid version of the mutant devil?
AGE OF X: Another X-Men Milestone that I read but wasn't super into. Kinda seemed like a pho-Age of Apocalypse to me.
SCHISM: The Hellfire Club is attacking the X-Men, and Cyclops asks some new recruits to help defend their home. Wolverine has had enough of Cyclops decisions and they battle each other while a Sentinel attacks them both. The result is the division of the X-Men.
REGENESIS: This event is broken into two books. One is a new Uncanny X-Men with Cyclops and his team, and the other is Wolverine and the X-Men and the opening of The Jean Grey School For Gifted Youngsters. I recommend at least the first book in the Uncanny run and the first three of the Wolverine title.
X-SANCTION: Cable is back, and he has his sights set on the Avengers. Nathan Summers believes the Avengers will bring about the mutant downfall so he's out to take them out before the techo-organic virus he's had all his whole life finally ends him.
AVENGERS VS X-MEN: I remember the day issue one came out and the local comic bookstore had posters and pins asking if you were Team X-Men or Team Avengers. Guess which one I was? The Phoenix is heading back to Earth, and everyone believes it's heading right for Hope Summers. Captain America wants to hide her, while Cyclops wants to see if the Phoenix can restart the mutant race. Lines are drawn, sides are chosen, and the ending to this one rocks!
AvX CONSEQUENCES: Cyclops is locked up for his crimes in AvX while the rest of the two teams decides what to do next. But the "consequences" of this one while be felt for a long time.
ALL-NEW X-MEN: Scott Summer is the world's #1 criminal. But Beast gets the idea of bringing a younger Scott to the present to gain some perspective. The rest of the original X-Men also come along to see what their fate becomes, and none of them are happy with it. Over the course of several books, and several events, like Children of the Atom and The Trial of Jean Grey these kids go through many changes, all the while wondering what will happen when (or if) they return to past with knowledge of their future.
UNCANNY X-MEN: Scott Summers is the world's #1 criminal. But that doesn't mean he's going to stop helping mutants. But the after effects of the Phoenix still sway on him, Emma, and even Magneto. They're still saving mutants, but can they save themselves? Brian Michael Bendis gives us several great books in what has become a historic X-Men run.
DEATH OF X: After the success of Avengers vs X-Men, Marvel was ramping up of their Inhumans TV series (which bombed) and decided to put them against the Mighty Mutants of Marvel. A Terrigen Mist cloud that makes Inhumans is killing mutants. The two teams fight, and the end result is, well, the death of an X-Man.
PHOENIX RESURRECTION: THE RETURN OF JEAN GREY: After several fake-outs, and the presence of a younger Jean, the real deal comes back to life, almost two decades after her death in New X-Men.
EXTERMINATION: The five original X-Men have overstayed their welcome and someone is hunting them. This is the true end of All-New X-Men. I never thought it would go as long as it did, but I ended up loving it!
DISASSEMBLED: Nate Grey comes from another world. And while here, he's never lived up to his potential. Now his powers threaten the entire world, and the X-Men will have to die trying to stop him. Not a great story in my eyes, but it sets up a few of my favorites.
SUMMERS AND WINTER: The X-Men are dead. Cyclops returns from the grave to find his former friends, teammates, and family gone. Where does he go from here?
WOLVERINE AND CYCLOPS VOL 1: Cyclops is back, and he's in a world without the X-Men. Wolverine is also freshly alive and gets roped in helping Slim in his crusade to restore the X-Men, save mutants, and kick some ass!
WOLVERINE AND CYCLOPS VOL 2: The X-Men are hiding out in the back of a bar, taking out their enemies, and just trying to get along. I like these two volumes because it makes the X-Men true underdogs just trying to survive. Then it all changes.
HOUSE OF X: Moria MacTaggert has always been an important X-Men character. Now she is THE MOST important X-Men character. Mutants have established their own nation with so many medical and technological advancements the world is willing to leave them alone just to get a taste of it. Oh, plus they've secretly made it so no mutant can ever really die. All thanks to Moria MacTaggert, and her mutant ability to be reincarnated. With every death she hopes her next life will be the perfect one.
INFERNO: I'm not sure why they have another X-Men storyline with the same name, but the two events are nothing alike. Xavier and Magneto are the only ones who knew the secret of Moria MacTaggert. But now that secret is out, and some mutants are taking to kindly that Charles, Erik, and Moria get to decide their "Destiny" and the fate of everyone in the world.
