Stories occurring between Uncanny X-Men #308 in January 1994 and Uncanny X-Men #337 in October 1996. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Collecting X-Men: A Definitive Guide. Last updated January 2013.
Ongoing X-related titles in this era:
- Uncanny X-Men #308-337
- Alpha Flight #128-130 (end)
- X-Factor #98-126
- Excalibur #72-101
- Wolverine, Vol. 2 #76-105
- Marvel Comics Presents (features Wolverine) #150-175 (end)
- X-Force #29-58
- X-Men, Vol. 2 #27-57
- Cable #6-35
- X-Men Unlimited #3-12
- Generation X #1-19
- X-Man #1-19
Notes:
- This era includes the entire Age of Apocalypse event and all of its titles as well as Onslaught. The end of this era marks the start of the Heroes Reborn universe occupied by The Avengers and Fantastic Four.
X-Men Unlimited #3
When: For the moment, this issue has been orphaned by collections.
X-Force #26-31
Excalibur #72-74
When: Shadowcat appears next in Cable #9. Nightcrawler appears next in UXM #310.
X-Factor #93-100
When: #93 is best read with Fatal Attractions in the prior era, but it is not collected there so I have repeated it here. Professor X appears in #97 after UXM #309, but this is still the best place to read this overall story, since it occurs prior to the wedding issues.
The Wedding of Cyclops & Phoenix
Occurs across Uncanny X-Men: #308-310 & X-Men #27-30
When: Note that UXM Annual 18 precedes XMv2 #30 but is not collected with these issues
X-Factor/Spider-Man: Shadowgames
Wolverine #76-78
Cable #5-14: Classic, Vol 2
When: Cable #5-8 occurs prior to the wedding, though #12-14 occur after X-Force #32-37.
Excalibur #75-78
X-Factor #1o1-105 & Annual 9
When: #102 and Annual 9 occur prior to XMv2 #31
MCP #152-155: Wolverine
Wolverine #79-84
Uncanny X-Men #311-315 & Annual 18
+ X-Men Unlimited #4-5
When: The B-story in Annual 18 falls after #314, where it was released – though the majority of the issue belongs prior to XMv2 #30. UXM #315 exclusively features the Acolytes. X-Men Unlimited #4 comes after the wedding but before XMv2 #31.
Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
When: Alternately, this time-travel story can be read prior to Cable’s debut in New Mutants, as it details his origins
X-Men, Vol. 2 #31-25
When: #31-32 are best placed directly after the X-Factor run, above, but you can read this entire chunk here.
Excalibur #79-81
X-Force #32-37
Deadpool Vol. 2 #1-4
Phalanx Covenant
Generation Next: Uncanny X-Men #316-317 & X-Men Vol. 2 #36-37
Life Signs: X-Factor #106, X-Force #38, Excalibur #82
Final Sanction: Wolverine #85 and Cable #16
X-Factor #107-109
X-Force #38-43
Cable #15-20
Collectd in Cable Classic, Vol. 3
When: Several X-Men appear in #16-19 after their appearances in UXM #314.
Uncanny X-Men #318
+ X-Men Unlimited #6-7
+ X-Men Annual 3
When: These issues form a bridge from Phalanx Covenant to Generation X.
Bishop #1-4
Generation X #1-4
Wolverine #86-90
When: Some of this occurs prior to X-Men Unlimited #7.
Rogue #1-4
When: Occurs prior to Uncanny X-Men #320
Excalibur #83-86
Collected in Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis, Vol. 1
When: This begins just after the Bishop limited series. Note that stopping at #86 will cut this collection in half – you can just as easily read it in its entirety after the end of AOA.
Legion Quest & Age of Apocalypse
The correct read-order leading into this event is: XMv2 #38, UXM #319, XMv2 #39, UXM #320, X-Factor #108, X-Men #40, XFo #43, UXM #321, X-Men#41, Cable #20. That means you can read X-Factor #109-111 sometime parallel to the rest of those issues.
The final issues prior to Age of Apocalypse were:
-
- Uncanny X-Men #321
- X-Factor #111
- Excalibur #86
- Wolverine #90
- X-Force #43
- X-Men, Vol. 2 #41
- Cable #20
- Generation X #4
See Marvel Events: Age of Apocalypse for the full collection and read-order of that event.
After Age of Apocalypse
This period begins with X-Men: Prime, which is reprinted in The Complete Age of Apocalypse, Vol. 4
Excalibur #83-90: Visionaries: Warren Ellis, Vol. 1
When: This begins just after Phalanx Covenant, but reading it in its entirety prior to AOA will create spoilers. #87 is the first issue following Phalanx Covenant.
X-Men: Gene Nation =
+ Uncanny X-Men #322-326
+ X-Men, Vol. 2 #42-45 & Annual 95
+ Wolverine #91 & Annual 95
+ X-Force #44
+ X-Men Unlimited #8
This has not been collected effectively.
When: This tightly plotted group of issues should be read in the following order: UXM #322, Wolv #91 & Ann95, XMv2 #42-44, XFo #44, UXM #323-324, XMv2 Ann95, #325, XMv2 #45, UXM #326, XMU #8
X-Factor #110-115
X-Force #44-48 & Cable #21-28
When: Cable #23 comes after UXM #326. X-Force & Cable Ann95 fits at the end of these issues.
Wolverine/Gambit: Victims
When: Begins after UXM #324 and Wolverine #92
Generation X #5-11 & Annual 95
When: #7 occurs after UXM #324. Ann95 is after UXM Ann95.
Wolverine #93-96 & Annual 95 + Ghost Rider #67-68
When: Begins after UXM #325 and Cable #23. Ghost Rider #68 comes after #96
Excalibur #91-95 + Starjammers #1-4
Collected in Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis, Vol. 2
X-Factor #116-124
Not collected
X-Men: In the Red =
+ Uncanny X-Men #327-330
+ X-Men, Vol. 2 #46-49
+ X-Men Unlimited #9
+ Sabretooth: In the Red Zone
+ Archangel
See various pages for collection information but, spoiler alert, none of this is collected.
When: This tightly-plotted group of issues is best read as XMv2 #46, UXM #327, XMv2 #47, XMU #9, UXM #328, Sabretooth: In the Red Zone, XMv2 #48, UXM #329-330, Archangel, XMv2 #49, XMU #10. Note that the Sabretooth ITRZ special directly follows UXM #328 as it conclusion.
X-Force #49-51 + Ann95
When: You should read UXM #328 prior to X-Force #51.
X-Man #5-14 & Cable #29-31
Collected in X-Man: Dance with the Devil
When: Cable #29 is before X-Men/Brood and X-Men #50.
X-Men: Wrath =
+ X-Men/Brood #1-2
+ Uncanny X-Men #331-332
+ Wolverine #97-103
+ X-Men #50-52
+ X-Men Unlimited #11-12
See various pages for collection information but, surprise!, none of this is collected effectively.
When: X/B comes after UXM #330, XMv2 #49, and Cable #31, so it is the next chronological X-Men story. Read this sequence as X/B #1-2, XMv2 #50, UXM #331, XMv2 #51-52, Wolv #97-100, UXM #332, Wolverine #101-103, XMU #11, XMU #12 (which can also be read as indicated below in Onslaught)
Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4
Cyclops and Phoenix depart for this time-travel tale from UXM #331.
Storm #1-4
When: Begins after UXM #333, but is not a part of Onslaught.
X-Force #52-58
When: The team appears here after UXM #331. X-Force #57-58 include effects of Onslaught, as noted below.
Generation X #12-19
When: Much of the cast appears here directly from UXM #331. #18-19 include effects of Onslaught, as noted below.
Onslaught
This crossover is about as confusing as Marvel gets – over 30 issues in two months divided into Phases and Impacts. What does it mean? It’s actually pretty simple: “Phase” issues are the main action and “Impact” issues are the resulting effects.
When it comes to reading order, you can choose to skip non-X-title Impact issues.
Event Prologue: UXM #333, EXC #99, XMa #15-17, Cable #32-33, XMv2 #53, XMU #11, UXM #334, XMv2 #54, Onslaught: X-Men
Phase 1 (& Impact 1): UXM #335, XMa #18, (XFo #57), Cable #34, (IncredHulk #444), Avengers #401, (Exc #100), FF #415, (XFa #125), (GenX #18), (WolV2 #104), XMv2 #55
Phase 2 (& Impact 2): UXM #336, (XFa #126), Cable #35, (XFo #58), (IncredHulk #445), (Iron Man #332), (Avengers #402), (Punisher #11), XMa #19, (Green Goblin #12), FF #416, (GenX #19), (Amazing Spider-Man #415), (WolV2 #105), (Spider-Man #72), XMv2 #56, (XMU #12)
Event Epilogue: Onslaught Marvel Universe, UXM #337, XMv2 #57, Onslaught: Epilogue
Of course, the collections don’t really align to this distinction at all – especially when it comes to the Impact issues, some of which are collected in full and some of which are only excerpted. Argh!
I summarize Marvel’s collection of this event in full in Marvel Events: Onslaught. However, for your reading purposes it might also be helpful to understand – at a glance – what is collected with Onslaught Vol. 0-4 and what isn’t. As you can see in the summary below, Excalibur, X-Men Unlimited, and Generation X are not collected with this event.
-
- Uncanny X-Men #333-337 = Collected
- X-Factor #125-126 = Collected
- Excalibur #99-100 = Not Collected (but available separately in Ellis Visionaries)
- Wolverine, Vol. 2 #104-105 = Collected
- X-Force #57-58 = Collected
- X-Men, Vol. 2 #53-57 = Collected
- Cable #34-35 = Collected
- X-Men Unlimited #12 = Not Collected
- Generation X #18-19 = Not Collected
- X-Man #15-19 = Collected
After Onslaught
Excalibur #96-104 & Pryde & Wisdom #1-3
Collected in Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis, Vol. 3
When: #99-100 include effects of Onslaught.
Era #6: Fatal Attractions X-Men Reading Order Guide Era #8: Reassembled
When do I read Askani’ Son 1-4 as well as X-men: Phoenix 1-3 included in The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix trade?
James,
X-Men Phoenix should be read after Rachel Summers trades places with Cap. Britain in Excalibur #75 (I would read it immediately before “The Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix”.
Askani’Son should be read immediately after.
The read order should be:
X-Men Phoenix 1-3
The Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix 1-4
Askani’Son 1-4
Regards
X-Factor 119 occurs after Sabertooth: In The Red Zone
X-force 55 occurs after uxm 333
I understand enjoying reading chunks of one book at a time but man… some stuff you need to keep in order. There have been major spoilers in the last era and in this era if you want to enjoy the cable lineage reveal as it actually played out do not read in this order… just go by the monthly release of all the books.
I’m sorry if you wound up spoiled, Bob – but, this reading order is explicitly not concerned with spoilers! It’s about putting each character’s experience in explicit story order, even if that means pulling forward reveals from many years in the future. That said, I do think I can do a better job of noting where something I’ve pulled forward could interrupt a big plot development.
Hello, great list! But why did you put Cable 20 after X-men 41? And also missing X-Factor 110-111. Cheers!
X-Men 39’s listed as being after Wolverine 90, but needs to be the other way round as Sabretooth escapes, fights Wolverine and gets a claw in the brain at the end of 90, but needs to be intact enough for his confrontation with Gambit in 39.
X-Men Unlimited #4 belongs between Excalibur #75 and Excalibur #76. Great work by the way!
Thanks for the catch. I’m just wrapping up my revisions to the prior era right now.
Generation X #5-#6 fits best between UXM #324 and #325, imo.
That’s a good suggestion, thank you.
I know you said you don’t care about spoilers, but X-factor 119 spoils the end of Sabertooth: itrz, and thus the whole In The Red arc. Seems like an simple swap to put 116-124 after that instead of before.
Good catch, thanks!
I think you are missing Sabretooth and Mystique (1996) in this reading order.
Thanks, Alex! I definitely need to add that when I revise this guide.
Funny I was just about to comment about that in the next page
I don’t have any suggestions, just sharing info as someone who recently read these minis, fanfare 6 and am up to X-factor 132. I’ll correct myself if anything pops up.
Sabretooth and mystique: sabretooth’s collar is damaged at the end. Haven’t seen it mentioned in anything else and it doesn’t really fit in anywhere because it starts with them faking their death in a plane crash that I have no memory of.
Ditto for Fanfare 6: his collar is destroyed in this one too. It doesn’t really make sense to happen concurrent with 130 because at the end of ff6, the XF team sans mystique picks up sabretooth, but in 130 they make a point of showing the collar restraining him near creed.
Also the rise of apocalypse mini happens around here. I think it’s entirely flashback but it’s been a week or 2 since I read it. I read it as the first thing after onslaught.
Thanks
The ‘Sabretooth & Mystique’ mini-series would go between ‘X-Factor’ #126 & 127 – in issue #4, Mystique mentions “the Onslaught” incident, so the mini-series has to occur after ‘X-Factor’ #126; likewise, it should be prior to ‘X-Factor’ #127, as the fallout between Mystique & Sabretooth that is part of ‘Operation: Zero Tolerance’ clearly hasn’t happened yet.
Great placement. I need to keep this in mind both here and in the Sabretooth guide.
The last issue of X-Factor before AoA is #111.
Also I’ve been trying to fit some of the X-Men Legends issues from a few years ago into this, and #1 and 2 explicitly come after X-Men #39, but due to Havok being with Cyclops, in control of his powers and in his blue and yellow costume, in the issue I think it has to come before X-Men Prime, but after AoA.
Thanks, I fixed that! (But, I still need to place X-Factor #109-111 into reading order!
X-Factor 109 ends with a note saying that Legion will next appear in X-Men 39, and 110 and 111 don’t crossover with anything else as far as I can tell, so I’d put it all before X-Men 39.
This list is kind of annoying at times, when an issue ends on a big cliffhanger that leads directly into the next issue I don’t want to have to go and read some other title first.
Then you’ll want to follow the guide to whatever individual title you want to read! They’re all on the site. This is specifically for an integrated read of ALL mutant material, so it bounces around a lot.
You’ve mentioned that the ‘Storm’ 4-issue mini-series takes place after UXM #333, but all the trade ads at the time (like the blurbs in all the Marvel titles) specifically state that the story is set after UXM #325. ‘Storm’ #1 was released in February ’96 (with a March cover date); ‘Uncanny X-Men’ #333 was May ’96 (with a June cover date).
Ooo, an interesting catch! I’m a few months away from #325-333 in my re-read, so I’ll need to think about if something Storm does after #325 forces the series to start later. I’m suspect I have it like this because the Official Index has since placed it that way, but it’s been 10+ years since I re-proofed the placement on my own.