With X-Men ‘97 Season 2 more than halfway done, fans shouldn’t feel the impending doom of waiting between seasons. Luckily, there are many stories that fans can use to fill the gap before Season 3.
There are two series that tie directly into the show. The X-Men ’97 run by Steve Foxe covers the events before the start of Season 1 and X-Men ‘97 Season 2, also by Foxe, bridges the gap between the first and second seasons. This is a pretty easy starting place for anyone just looking to stick to the show’s timeline without the mess of Marvel’s sliding timescale continuity.
To follow some of the other teams we got a glimpse of in the start of Season 2, you can read the original X-Factor by Peter David or the X-Force by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. For the main team, however, there’s a lot of places to look.
For those looking to dive deep into X-Men, there are a few starting places that new readers can rely on. Without a doubt Len Wein’s Giant-Size X-Men is one of the best starting places. It features Charles Xavier recruiting a new class of students to rescue the X-Men, introducing some familiar faces like Nightcrawler, Storm, and Wolverine. It’s even available to read for free on Marvel Unlimited.
After that, it’s highly recommended that you follow that story starting with Uncanny X-Men #94 which kicks off the iconic Chris Claremont run. You can keep going on this run for as long as you like and feel free to skip around. The amount of action and story in each issue makes up for their incredible wordiness. Each issue is usually a singular story and allows you to get to know the characters. However, if you want to get to some action quick, you can read the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga (#101-108, #129-137) or the Days of Future Past event (#141-142).
If the older stuff isn’t your speed, you might want to pick up New X-Men by Grant Morrison. X-Men ’97 Season 2 has already taken inspiration from this run, including the Weapon X arc and the Danger Room. With mutant drugs, evil twins, and a return to the school status quo, New X-Men is one of the most fun collections of stories the X-Men have. It’s even organized by arc if you wanted to skip around.
Some might want to jump forward to the Krakoa era, where mutants explore a new status quo as a sovereign nation. It’s usually recommended that you start with the House of X/Powers of X crossover series. After that, you can dive into X-Men (Hickman) to follow Cyclops, Jean, a teen Nathan and Wolverine as they work to protect their new nation.
You can also check out Excalibur (Tini Howard and Marcus To) for some familiar faces such as Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and Apocalypse. Jubilee fans may also be delighted to know about X-Terminators by Leah Williams, where Jubilee teams up with Laura Kinney and some other explosive friends to fight vampires.
Out of the two current titles, Gail Simone’s Uncanny X-Men is the one to follow. X-Men ‘97 has been a great introduction to these characters and their histories. As intimidating as the comics might be, fans of the show should find it easy to drop in anywhere.
