A reading order for stories starting from Uncanny X-Men #201 in January 1986 and ending with Uncanny X-Men #243 in April 1989 (and X-Factor #40) in May 1989. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Collecting X-Men: A Definitive Guide. Last updated November 2018.
Era #3: New Mutants 
X-Men Reading Order Guide Era #5: X-Tinction
What does Era #4: X-Factor include?
This era of the X-Men Reading Order is focused on the time period where X-Men truly became a franchise, gaining three additional ongoing spin-off titles with X-Factor, Excalibur, and Wolverine – plus Wolverine’s run in Marvel Comics Presents and a handful of mini-series that covered the team’s first real, extended interactions with Fantastic Four and The Avengers!
It’s also the era just before the rise of the superstar artist altered the course of the X-Men. We see Marc Silvestri on some issues here and Jim Lee is still on his initial assignment on Alpha Flight. (Elsewhere at Marvel, Todd McFarlane had just made his leap from Incredible Hulk to Amazing Spider-Man at the end of this era.)
As the X-Men’s comic book footprint widened, so did the scope of their stories. Prior to this era, Chris Claremont had never penned a direct crossover between two X-Men titles, but here we got both Mutant Massacre and Inferno. Also, “Fall of the Mutants” this was the first time an ongoing bannered event ran across multiple titles.
This period saw the introduction or joining of X-Men who have been the primary cast of the franchise over the past thirty years. Claremont introduced Psylocke to American audiences, added Ann Nocenti’s Longshot to the team, finally made Dazzler and X-Men, brought Havok and Polaris into his fold for the first time, and made Forge a full-time cast member.
(At this point, we’re just waiting for the introductions of Jubilee, Gambit, and Bishop before we’ll have the full cast of adult X-Men recognized across all media.)
The story of this era of X-Men is very much about graduation and being an adult. That plays out differently across the three major team titles.
The X-Men largely have to fend for themselves with Xavier and then Magneto gone from an advisor role, and not all of their decisions are wise ones.
That leaves the team feeling more “grown up” than ever before under Claremont. Cyclops loses his leadership to Storm, Rachel Summers is whisked away by Spiral, and the light-hearted pair of Nightcrawler and Shadowcat leave to recover from serious injuries. In the midst of those changes, the X-Men face one of their most-horrific experiences with the decimation of the Morlocks in Mutant Massacre.
Without Cyclops around to butt heads with Wolverine or Storm, team tensions move down a generation to Rogue, Dazzler, and Psylocke. After the necessity of faking their own deaths, they move to a base in the desert wastes of Australia for the first half of the team’s “Outback Era.” They also encounter the island nation of Genosha for the first time, portraying the eventual extreme of anti-mutant discrimination in a situation that reflects both American slavery and the beginnings of the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, X-Factor reunites the original X-Men under their own direction for the first time due to the shocking resurrection of Jean Grey!(Fun fact: Before Kurt Busiek solved the problem of Jean’s resurrection, the fifth member was originally going to be Jean’s sister or Dazzler.)
The team wants to aiding the mutant race, but they pick an unfortunate way of doing it – by impersonating an anti-mutant task-force. Along the way, they introduce us to characters like Rictor, Rusty, Skids, and Artie, and expand the personalities of Boom Boom and Leech.
Finally, New Mutants has the feel of a group of kids who have graduated from intermediate school to college or university. Though they remain under the direction of Magneto for much of the era, they are on their own missions, making adult choices and sacrificing themselves – leading to the death of one member and depowering of another! At one point, Sunspot and Warlock break off from the rest of the team for their own series, Fallen Angels.
Altogether, these themes make for an era dense with story and thematic content.
Flagship X-Series in this era:
- Uncanny X-Men #201-243 & Annuals 10-12 – see Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont
Ongoing X-titles released in this era (listed in order of age of series):
- Alpha Flight (1983) #30-70 & Annual 1 – see Alpha Flight
- Dazzler (1981) #41-41 [end of series] – see Dazzler
- New Defenders (1983) #151-152 [end of series] – see Defenders
- New Mutants (1983) #36-73 & Annuals 2-3 – see New & Young X-Men
- X-Factor (1986) #1-40 & Annuals 1-3 – see X-Factor
- Excalibur (1988) Special Edition & #1-7 – see Captain Britain & Excalibur
- Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #1-17 (features Wolverine and others) – see Wolverine
- Wolverine (1988) #1-3 – see Wolverine
Limited Series released in this era (listed in alphabetical order):
- Mephisto Vs. (1987) #1-4 – see X-Men Limited Series
- Fallen Angels (1987) #1-8 – see New & Young X-Men
- Fantastic Four vs. X-Men (1987) #1-4 – see X-Men Limited Series
- Heroes For Hope (1985) Starring The X-Men
- Secret Wars II (1985) #7-9 – see Marvel Universe Events
- Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine (1987) – see Wolverine
- X-Men vs. Avengers (1987) #1-4 – see X-Men Limited Series
- X-Terminators (1988) #1-4 – see X-Men Limited Series
Later X-titles set in this era:
- Wolverine: Doombringer (1997) – see Wolverine
Notes:
- This era includes the events Secret Wars II, Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, Evolutionary War, and Inferno.
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