The X-Men have a bit of a reputation for being, well--complicated is probably putting it lightly. Divisive may be a better buzz word. There`s a tendency in fan circles for people to fall into one of two categories: The kind whose eyes light up at the mere mention of a mutant and the kind who instantaneously go gaunt and fearful the moment they realize they`re about to have to engage in an X-Men related conversation. This reputation is certainly well earned--X-Men live-action films pre-date the MCU, their cartoon series is second only to Batman: The Animated Series in terms of Saturday morning nostalgia bombs, and the team`s most famous members are more readily recognized and understood by the general population than most of the Avengers.It`s just that their comics are also notoriously insurmountable, their stories are the absolute epitome of everything that makes superhero comics seem absurd, and their continuity seems to be in an almost permanent state of flux. Trying to figure out just how and where to engage with X-Men stories can feel like the worst kind of homework, where well-meaning fans will spout off list upon list of classic stories that are required reading, and then follow them up with list upon list of caveats to explain which parts need to be remembered, which parts should be cherry-picked and forgotten, when the dead characters come back, where the time travel kicks in, how Cyclops is the worst, how Cyclops is the best, how Jean Grey`s powers are changed and then changed again--and so on, and so on.The past several years of Marvel comics publication haven`t really helped the problem. The X-Men status quo has been up in the air, split between multiple color-coded team books with key players like Charles Xavier tabled, time-travel plots bringing duplicate past versions of characters like Jean Grey and Bobby Drake to the present, and mutantkind itself being all but wiped out because of an Inhuman disaster that may or may not have been thanks to some ...
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