3. Joe Kelly & Steve Seagle
Following the landmark Age of Apocalypse X-Men event, the editors placed a firm, iron-handed grip on the books. This is what caused the departure of longtime writer Scott Lobdell from the book, which, depending on you asked, may have been a mixed blessing. The future for the X-Men looked promising when Marvel hired two relatively novice writers, Joe Kelly and Steve Seagle. Both men had proven their worth on some of Marvels lower-key titlesSeagles run on Alpha Flight had conspiracy intrigue to rival The X-Files, whereas Kellys hysterical run on Deadpool combined humor with strong characterization in a way that serves as the definitive run. Im listing these two together because they had a stronger collaboration on the two flagship X-Men titles that no team of writers before or after has matched. With Professor X out of the picture and the team in shambles following the Operation: Zero Tolerance story, Kelly and Seagle planned to split the books focusSeagle would focus on a proactive strike force led by Cyclops, while Kelly would have Beast training the younger mutants like Cannonball and new recruits Cecilia Reyes, Maggott, and Marrow. Instead, editorial stepped in. They dictated that Seagle and Kelly reduce the X-Men to an eight-member line-up of Storm, Wolverine, Marrow, Rogue, Gambit, and, returning to the X-Men from the recently-captured Excalibur, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Colossus. Two books focusing on this one team seems like a waste of an awful lot of characters, but Seagle and Kelly rolled with it, and managed to handle the characterization of this grouping extremely well. Even Marrow, who was little more than a Wolverine knock-off, became an interesting character under their pen. They also attempted to try and make Maggott likable, but didn't quite succeed. Unfortunately, when editorial screwed up Kelly and Seagles planned return of Magneto and twisted it into something unrecognizable from what it originally was, that was the last straw and the duo left the books.