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[CortJstr]

A FoaF wants to read some X-Men after seeing the movies. Which TBP is best for somebody new who isn't looking to start collecting? She mainly just wants a better feel for the source material. Ultimate X-Men? I haven't read any comics myself since like '94 so I'm pretty out of it and am not even sure what these Ultimate versions are.

[jough]

TBP = Trade Baper Pack?

I don't know anything about the X-Men books really, but does the FoaF want to start early or just do the recent essential stuff, like since the late 80s, which is what the movie is sorta based on?

[Lister]

The Ultimate line is meant to be a "legacy-free" version of the Marvel universe for new comics readers, where almost every character is younger, hipper, and freer of that pesky history that comes from writing 40 years of stories with the same characters.  It also lets them recycle good stories, and change Nick Fury to look/act like Samuel L. Jackson.

If your friend wanted to start reading comics and continue reading them without being confused by stuff that happened in 1975, the Ultimate line would be a good idea.  Trouble in this case is that the X-movies were based on the original Marvel universe, and there are significant differences in characters and history between them, so reading the Ultimate line wouldn't help them understand the movies at all.

That said, I have no idea what a good collection would be, 'cause nearly all of my comic knowledge comes through osmosis and not actual reading.

[CortJstr]

I don't see her actually reading comics. I think she'll get through 1 maybe 2 of these and move on. I thought the Ultimates were a bit of a reset but I wasn't really sure. I'm surprised the movies don't have more in common with them, as virtually all the characters appeared to be much younger in the movie than I remember them being in the comics.

My other problem is that I was never much of an X-Men guy. I have the Dark Phoenix Saga, most of Weapon X, then 20 or 30 scattered issues from the early 90's boom period.

[Doc]

I never read any of the old X-men (I was of the age to be enraptured by the cartoon that all you genuine fans no doubt despised at the time) but I would have thought Dark Pheonix and Weapon X storylines would be basically perfect since they'd be taking the storylines from the movies and then showing her how they were fleshed out and where they came from.

[AugustWest]

Just do what I did.  When I was a sophomore in high school, I had a friend who gave me a box of X-Men comics.  It had from #1 to about #143.  I read them in about two weeks.  That dang Magneto!

[Hobot]

Just do what I did.

Only $10K up front.

[AugustWest]

Well, it was free for me, and since the guy I borrowed them from  bought them as they came out it just set him back the cover price.

[thedudeabides85]

Definitely read Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men (it's collected into 7 TPB's, most of which should be available at a good library).  Compared with the films, Morrison's work is an order of magnitude more sophisticated and interesting, etc., and though his approach is a bit nontraditionalist, the only thing sacrificed is the two-dimensionality of the characters and the vacancy of the dialogue.

[Ben-San]

I dunno, I can't give that kind of unqualified praise to Grant Morrison's run on X-Men. It's not bad, but kind of a disappointment if you're familiar with his "classic" work, and his somewhat irresponsible behavior behind the scenes forced some pretty serious plot contortions from other authors trying to work with the stuff he was doing. Moreover, it will do nothing to familiarize the new reader with anything like the "classic" X-Men from which the other media derive, and I am in no position to judge how accessible it would be to anyone not familiar with the characters already.

[CortJstr]

I dunno, I can't give that kind of unqualified praise to Grant Morrison's run on X-Men. It's not bad, but kind of a disappointment if you're familiar with his "classic" work, and his somewhat irresponsible behavior behind the scenes forced some pretty serious plot contortions from other authors trying to work with the stuff he was doing. Moreover, it will do nothing to familiarize the new reader with anything like the "classic" X-Men from which the other media derive, and I am in no position to judge how accessible it would be to anyone not familiar with the characters already.

Inaccessability is why I ruled out lending them my copy of Dark Phoenix Saga. But I think the person in question has basically lost interest and moved on to another mini-obsession anyway.