Created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the X-Men form the third point on the Marvel Universes holy trinity of superhero teams. But the X-Men were different. Unlike the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, the X-Men were teenagers at first and despite saving the world countless times over, the fact that they were mutants made them outcasts, hated and feared by the very people they were sworn to protect. These days, its hard to imagine that the X-Men were ever unpopular, but in the beginning, the title was plagued by poor sales and was constantly under threat of cancellation. Eventually though, fortune turned and the X-Men skyrocketed from one of Marvels lowest-selling books to one of the most popular comics ever. And that success has translated to other mainstream success, with cartoons, video games, and, of course, the popular series of live-action films. Its not hard to see the popularity of the X-Men. Outcasts from society, they provide a form of escapism that many people can relate to, particularly unpopular nerdy kids, like yours truly was once upon a time. The X-Men may not have been the first comic I ever read, but it was the first that really spoke to me on a personal level, and Ive been a fan ever since, through the good and the bad. And there has been a lot of good and bad. Over the years, the X-Men have been handed over to some extremely talented comic book writers and others whowerent as talented. For now, lets take a look at the best of the X-Men writers and also the worst that left fans wondering just what Marvel was thinking. Well start off with the good.