X-Men

Chris Claremont assembles a dream team of artists — John Romita Jr., Arthur Adams, Barry Windsor-Smith and Dave Cockrum — for this massive fifth omnibus collecting issues #194-209 plus the complete Longshot and Nightcrawler limited series. The Juggernaut makes an earthshaking return, the second Lifedeath story explores Storm's journey without powers, and the Asgardian Wars crossover sends the X-Men and New Mutants into Norse mythology. Nathan Summers is born and Rachel Summers grapples with the Phoenix Force, while Barry Windsor-Smith crafts the defining Wolverine solo tale Wounded Wolf. This volume also introduces Longshot, the lucky six-fingered warrior from the Mojoverse, in Arthur Adams' career-making limited series that became an instant classic.

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 4 is the mid-1980s pivot where Claremont's mutant soap opera becomes harsher, stranger and more visually muscular. Storm loses her powers but becomes more formidable as a leader, Rachel Summers brings the Days of Future Past trauma into the present, Nimrod appears as a terrifying future Sentinel, and Kitty Pryde gets one of her defining solo journeys. John Romita Jr. gives this era a bold, angular energy that makes the team feel less polished and more dangerous.

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 3 is Claremont at maximum range: Brood Saga horror, God Loves Man Kills, the Wolverine miniseries with Frank Miller, Magik, Madelyne Pryor and the team's shift into stranger emotional territory. It is not just another early X-Men volume. It is the point where cosmic terror, moral allegory and solo mythmaking all coexist on the same shelf.

Marc Guggenheim (showrunner of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow) brings his sense of TV pacing to the comic: each issue with its emotional arc, each arc with its climax, and the whole working as a serialised season. Focus on individual characters and the ethical dilemmas that define mutants. Good gateway to the modern format.

Closing of the historic Claremont-Lee collaboration. After editorial differences over creative direction, Claremont left the X-Men after 16 years of uninterrupted writing — the longest continuous run on a superhero title in history. Jim Lee briefly took over the script before leaving to found Image Comics alongside Todd McFarlane and others. A moment of historic transition for Marvel and for American comics that changed the industry forever.

First volume of the 1991 relaunch with Claremont and Jim Lee. Issue #1 of the new series sold 8.1 million copies: the best-selling comic in history. Jim Lee on X-Men is absolute visual reference material: the characters as they were drawn for the next decade, the look that inspired the '90s animated series and subsequent films.

John Byrne joins Claremont on art and together they create some of the most important stories ever written at Marvel: Days of Future Past and the Dark Phoenix Saga. Jean Grey, possessed by the cosmic entity Phoenix, becomes the greatest threat in the universe and sacrifices her life to save the X-Men. Absolute must-read.

Start of the longest and most acclaimed run ever written about the X-Men: 16 uninterrupted years of Chris Claremont. With Dave Cockrum visually redesigning the team, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Wolverine are introduced and consolidated as the new X-Men. This volume includes the first appearances and development of characters who would define Marvel for decades. Absolute starting point of the modern mutant universe and required reading for any serious Marvel collector.