10 X-Men Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die

When Jack Kirby and Stan Lee first introduced the X-Men into the Marvel Universe, it's doubtful they ever envisioned that their team of mutants would become such an integral part of not just the Marvel Universe, but of the comics medium too.

When they first started out in 1963, most of their stories wouldn't last more than a few issues at a time, as Stan and Jack looked to keep readers interested by introducing new villains and arcs every few months or so. But as time went on, and fans started to look for greater depth to the characters they were investing so much time in, the books became more intricate and the plots followed suit.

Some 56 years later and they are still going strong. They're still selling by the truckload, and not just the books but the merchandise as well, and they've even had a few movies made about them, with varying degrees of success.

With all that past and all that history to look back on, it's time to take a closer peek at what comics made Marvel's most Uncanny team so special, and the ones every fan should read, given the opportunity.

Alright, so this may be a little bit of a cheat but there is no denying that Joss Whedon's run on the Astonishing X-Men, which began in 2005 and ran for 25 issues, reinvigorated Marvel's number one team of mutants.

During his time at the helm, he brought Colossus back from the dead, turned the Danger Room into a living entity, gave the world a new Hellfire Club, sent the X-Men on a violent journey to Breakworld, and had Shadowcat save the planet by phasing into a giant bullet before disappearing into space along with it.

And it wasn't just the brilliance with which he told these tales that make them essential reading, as well as the owning off, but also the vein of humor that fills each page.

Whether that's Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost sniping at each other on the former's return, or Cyclops finally being allowed to show he's much more than a vanilla flavored one-dimensional personality vacuum, Whedon took his legendary writing chops and let them run wild.

This gave the whole thing a fresh look and dragged the once stoic X-Men into the 21st century, and it was about time.