Ex-X-Men Fan Trying to Catch Up

[alonzo]

In the late 80's/early-mid 90's I was a big fan of the X-Men titles written by Chris Claremont. From what I remember the last issues I read involved a new X-Men team led by Forge. It was at that point that I felt exhausted from keeping up with the title and stopped reading.
Walking through a book store a few months ago I noticed that Barnes & Noble is now selling Graphic Novels (or TPBs.. but still! Barnes & Noble?). I randomly picked up the main House of M TPB and suddenly I am hooked on comics again. Though not a fan of the character when I was younger, I also bought and read the entire Daredevil Vol 2 storyline in TPBs (started with Kevin Smith, and followed up by Brian Bendis) which I thought were absolutely fantastic. I only mention this to give you an idea of what I enjoy in both writing and art.
SO, I really would like to get back into the X-Men.. but don't know where to start. I know of a Grant Morrison run on "New X-Men" I respect the writer, should I start there? If so what do I move to after that, "Astonishing X-Men" by Joss Wheedon? I've done some reserach on Ultimate X-Men and it sounds like it's simply a re-interpretation of classic X-Men stories and themes (possibly geared toward the X-Men movie crowd: I am not one of these), this doesn't appeal to me.
Where do I start and where do I go from there? I'm looking for mature storylines and writing, but I also want to be lead in a direction that will relate to the current climate of the X-Men universe.
Thanks so much for your time-

 

[world in progress]

I'm in a similar situation - big Claremont fan back in the day, now reading more comics after being hooked back in (by Bendis's works, mostly).

Haven't really felt the need to get back into the X-titles strangely enough, thoug. Claremont has come back to write at least one two of the books (Uncanny and Excalibur??) and has written a several-title "X-Men: The End" limited series purporting to be one possible "last X-Men story", though I haven't read any of these.

Whedon's Astonishing is, IMO, over-rated. Solid work, to be sure, but not living up to the ginormous hype and word-of-mouth that's out there. His run on the Buffy spin-off Fray was his best comic work so far, though I'm looking forward to his take on Runaways.

Enjoyed Kitty Pryde: Shadow & Flame a mini-series that follows on, partly, from the Kitty Pryde & Wolverine mini series from ages ago ... though I'm biased in favour of the character.

Also am enjoying Emma Frost, an 18-issue run from a couple of years ago, about the early days of the White Queen (who somehow over the years transformed from villain into hero, and a hottie to boot ... where did that come from??). No classic, but a solid mix of coming-of-age, soap opera and mutant psychic goings on. With some incredibly alluring covers.

Haven't tried Morrison's New X-Men though have heard good (if controversial) things about it.

Haven't read Ultimate X-Men either, but did pick up the first two issues of Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk, which features possibly the best opening scene hook of any comic I've ever read. Too bad the series has been stuck in limbo for months now.

Well... none of that was terribly helpful really, was it? :-/

 

[Ozymandias]

Grant Morrison's run back in 2000 was great. He took it in a direction that I was really digging; new, more practical uniforms, the elements of science of science fiction he brought back, and truly menacing villians. Worth checking out.

 

[devilsgrin]

Claremont created and wrote the first several issues of X-Treme X-Men, which if you liked Claremont's Storm heavy 80s X-run, you'll like these TPBs too.
X-Men has been pretty strong lately. Not a lot to fault. Polaris regaining her powers kind of negated the House of M effect for the main x-characters.

and your probably aware - Jean Grey is DEAD! and has been for several years now... lets hope she stays that way.

Some of the recent villains - Cassandra Nova in particular - have been truly menacing indeed.

X-Men core titles remain largely unchanged in terms of target and writing from the 80s/90s run, obviously art, writers and characters have changed. But the stories are as strong as ever, thanks largely to the influence of people like Claremont and Bendis with their endlessly intricate plotlines but ultimately satisfying action and resolutions