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Before the Movies: The Best X-Men Comics of the Neon Decade
Most X-Men movies since 2000 borrowed from comics published in one outstanding decade: the 1980s. X2 came from God Loves, Man Kills. The Last Stand took Dark Phoenix. Days of Future Past kept its title. Wolverine adapted Claremont and Frank Miller’s 1982 miniseries.The best X-Men comics to collect and read across the 1980s are: The Dark Phoenix Saga (Uncanny X-Men #129-138), Days of Future Past (#141-142), God Loves, Man Kills (1982), Mutant Massacre (1986), and The Fall of the Mutants (#225-227). And Chris Claremont wrote every single one.
The five major stories win the decade, and it’s mostly undisputed based on how consistently these appear across published best-of lists.
1. The Dark Phoenix Saga
The Dark Phoenix Saga is Uncanny X-Men #129-138, cover-dated January to October 1980, written by Chris Claremont with art by John Byrne and Terry Austin. It’s most frequently ranked number one in the decade and the story sets the standard for what followed.
Jean Grey, already carrying the Phoenix Force, is manipulated by Mastermind and the Hellfire Club to harness her power until she breaks the mental shackles and flees only to spiral into a catastrophic consumption of energy. It tragically ends with Jean sacrificing herself to save the universe.
The arc introduced two of the decade’s most important characters along the way. Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost both first appear in #129.
2. Days of Future Past
Days of Future Past is Uncanny X-Men #141 and #142, dated January and February 1981, by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. It is one of the most influential two-issue story in superhero comics and is the closest rival to Dark Phoenix for the decade’s top spot.
In 2013, Sentinels rule North America and mutants live in camps. An adult Kate Pryde sends her mind back to 1980 to stop the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly, the event that started it all
The dystopian future timeline it created became a permanent fixture, and the concepts and structure have been copied across comics, film, and television ever since. The story drew parallels to the cultural challenges and biases experienced across all of society.
3. X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills
God Loves, Man Kills is Marvel Graphic Novel #5, published in November 1982 with a January 1983 cover date, written by Chris Claremont with art by Brent Anderson. It is the only story on this list that was never part of a monthly run.
Reverend William Stryker preaches that mutants are not human and builds a movement around it. Children are murdered. The X-Men and Magneto end up fighting for the same cause.
It pushed the civil rights metaphor at the center of the X-Men from subtext into text, and it did so in a format Marvel reserved for its more adult works. The 2003 film X2 took its central villain and premise from this book.
4. Mutant Massacre
Mutant Massacre is the 1986 crossover that runs across 12 issues and six titles, cover-dated October 1986 to January 1987. It was the first time Marvel built a line-wide event around the X-Men.
Mister Sinister’s Marauders enter the Morlock tunnels beneath New York and kill the mutants living there. The X-Men arrive to rescue survivors rather than to achieve an all-out victory. Wolverine and Sabretooth collide in a real confrontation for the first time, Angel’s wings are destroyed, and the story ends with the team utterly broken and physically diminished.
5. The Fall of the Mutants
The Fall of the Mutants is Uncanny X-Men #225-227, cover-dated January to March 1988, with the event running across X-Factor #24-26 and New Mutants #59 - 61.
Unlike Mutant Massacre, the three titles do not cross into each other. Each runs its own self-contained ending under a shared banner, which is why it is often filed as three stories rather than one event.
In the Uncanny chapters, the X-Men face the Adversary in Dallas and die on live television to stop him. They are returned to life, but the world believes them dead, and they use it as cover. The team relocates to an abandoned town in the Australian outback and operates as ghosts for the next two years.
Uncanny X-Men Emerging Characters of the 1980s
The 1980s was the most expansive decade for the X-Men franchise. During this era, the monthly Uncanny X-Men title grew rapidly, introducing an iconic gallery of new characters and transforming the heroic roster with permanent new additions.Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) (Uncanny X-Men #129, 1980): A 13-year-old from suburban Illinois who can walk through walls. She is the newest and youngest X-Man, so readers see the team through her eyes, and she grows up across the decade from scared kid to the hero who takes the name Shadowcat.
Dazzler (Alison Blaire) (Uncanny X-Men #130, 1980): A mutant pop/disco star capable of converting sound vibrations into raw light and energy beams. Marvel created her as a tie-in with Casablanca Records, and her 1981 solo series was the first Marvel ongoing sold only in comic shops. She joined the X-Men in #214 (1987).
Caliban (Uncanny X-Men #148, 1981): A pale, lonely Morlock who lives in the tunnels under New York and can sense other mutants nearby. In #179 Kitty Pryde promises to marry him to save her teammates, one of the strangest bargains of the decade.
Rogue (Avengers Annual #10, 1981 / Uncanny X-Men #171, 1983): Originally introduced as a troubled villain working with Mystique's Brotherhood. She stole Ms. Marvel’s powers and memories for good. In Uncanny X-Men #171 (1983) she comes to Professor X for help to control her power.
Magik (Illyana Rasputin) (Uncanny X-Men #160, 1982): Colossus's younger sister. Even though she appeared as a little girl in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), #160 is where she becomes Magik. After being trapped in Limbo by Belasco, she aged up instantly into a powerful, sword-wielding sorceress capable of stepping through space.
Forge (Uncanny X-Men #184, 1984): A Cheyenne inventor who lost a leg and a hand in Vietnam and built replacements for both. He built the gun that took away Storm’s powers, then fell in love with her, a story Claremont told in “Lifedeath” (#186).
Rachel Summers (Phoenix) (Uncanny X-Men #141, 1981): The daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey in the Days of Future Past timeline. She escapes to the present in #184 (1984) and takes her mother’s name, Phoenix, in #199 (1985).
Longshot (Longshot #1, 1985 / Uncanny X-Men #215, 1987): A genetically engineered rebel fighter from Mojo's TV-driven world who possessed supernatural good luck. His miniseries was Arthur Adams’s first major comics work.
Jubilee (Jubilation Lee) (Uncanny X-Men #244, 1989): A Los Angeles orphan living in a shopping mall who shoots fireworks from her hands. She follows four X-Men home through Gateway’s portal to their Australian base and becomes Wolverine’s sidekick.
Uncanny X-Men Major Villain Debuts
The Hellfire Club & Emma Frost (Uncanny X-Men #129–130, 1980): A secret society of rich, powerful mutants led by Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost, the White Queen. They brainwash Jean Grey, and that breaks her and leads to Dark Phoenix. Emma later switched sides and co-led the X-Men with Cyclops in the 2000s.The Brood (Uncanny X-Men #155, 1982): Insect-like aliens that lay eggs inside living hosts and grow into new Brood. In space, they implant the X-Men, and the story plays like the movie Alien in a superhero comic. Kitty’s pet dragon, Lockheed, comes from this story (#166).
Belasco (Ka-Zar the Savage #11 / Uncanny X-Men #160, 1981–1982): The demon ruler of a hell dimension called Limbo. In Uncanny X-Men #160 he pulls young Illyana Rasputin into Limbo, and when she returns seconds later, she is seven years older and has learned his magic.
Mister Sinister & The Marauders (Uncanny X-Men #210–221, 1986–1987): The Marauders are the killers who carry out the Mutant Massacre, including Sabretooth. Their boss, Mister Sinister, a Victorian scientist obsessed with mutant DNA, doesn’t show his face until #221. He’s also the one who made Madelyne Pryor.
Madelyne Pryor (The Goblin Queen) (Uncanny X-Men #168, 1983): A pilot who looks exactly like the dead Jean Grey. Cyclops marries her in #175 (1983), and their son Nathan, born in #201 (1986), grows up to be Cable. In the Inferno crossover (1988-89) she learns she is Mister Sinister’s clone of Jean and turns on the X-Men as the Goblin Queen.
The 1980s X-Men Omnibuses vs. GIT Collections
GIT offers the full continuous run of the X-Men spanning more than 6 decades – Issues covered in the 1980s: #129 through #256; whereas Omnibus Vol. 6 stops at #231.
How to Read the whole decade of Uncanny X-Men
GIT Collections offers the complete X-Men run as a full series on physical media.The collection includes X-Men from the very beginning, read in sequence via our catalog or dive into the issues as you choose.
Transfer your comics on up to three devices concurrently, and the collection is yours to keep, with no subscription and nothing to renew.
Note: This collection is the full X-Men run. Spin-offs like X-Factor, New Mutants and Wolverine aren’t included, and neither is the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel.
How GIT Collections stands out amongst a crowded market of options
We’ve built something that is both physical and digital. Making our products tangible and collectible - something to keep, gift, or bequeath; while enabling convenient offline reading that is compatible across almost any device and operating system – phone, tablet, Mac, Windows. With over 700 issues in the collection there’s something for all generations of fans and collectors.What’s In the Box
The packaging designs are carefully chosen for aesthetic appeal and ultimately had to be approved through MARVEL's licensing team. We intentionally built a collector-grade package with elevated materials of construction and a multi-connector USB key specifically for owners to display on a shelf.The content comes directly from MARVEL’s legacy files, and the images are rich and vivid at 300 DPI resolution. Every issue is expertly mapped and cataloged across 6 decades and by each year for easy navigation and continuous reading.
Everything we produce is officially licensed through MARVEL Entertainment.
The Collector’s Conundrum
In the digital age, today’s customers feel the tension that exists between casual and practical enjoyment of comics weighted against the intrinsic nostalgic value of having pieces of history in their possession. They each are confronted with assessing and navigating the constraints of expenses, storage, access, curation, completeness, and preservation.GIT alleviates those constraints:
- At around 10 cents per issue, there’s unmatched value.
- Access the complete series of the most iconic MARVEL titles on almost any device, anytime and anywhere, offline and private.
- Storage now fits in your pocket or in the palm of your hand. Once the comics are transferred to your device the USB can go back on the shelf for display.
- Each collection is carefully curated and organized in chronological order across decades and by year.
- Every Title is the completed series validated by MARVEL and experts in the industry.
- Condition is preserved on your USB and within your devices.
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