X-Men by Jonathan Hickman Reading Order: How to read the most ambitious X-Men run in a long time?

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For a long time, X-Men comics were just a second thought at Marvel Comics. And then, Jonathan Hickman came.

What is the X-Men by Jonathan Hickman series about?

A new era begins for the mutants of the Marvel World. With artists Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva, writer Jonathan Hickman used past, present, and future to build a new kind of X-Story for the Mutantkind.

Charles Xavier has a plan. He makes an offer to the human in order to build a new Mutant nation on Krakoa Island where all the mutants in the world-good or bad-are welcome.

Together, they will take their place in the future and nothing will stop them. It’s a new beginning, but humans may not be ready to accept it.

Information This article will not be updated anymore. Since we have launched a blog dedicated to comic book reading orders, you can find an up-to-date version of this X-Men by Hickman Reading Order here.

Follow the X-Men by Jonathan Hickman Reading Order:

I. House of X/Powers of X

These two miniseries work in concert to build a prologue to the newly revised world of the X-Men by Jonathan Hickman.

The House of X & Powers of X are collected in one book, but if you want to read issue by issue, this is the reading order:

  1. House of X #1
  2. Powers of X #1
  3. House of X #2
  4. Powers of X #2
  5. Powers of X #3
  6. House of X #3
  7. House of X #4
  8. Powers of X #4
  9. House of X #5
  10. Powers of X #5
  11. House of X #6
  12. Powers of X #6 (of 6)

II. Dawn of X

The new X-Men status-quo is in place. Now, new series are created to tell the multiple stories written by Jonathan Hickman and his Marvel collaborators.

  1. X-Men #1
  2. X-Men #6
  3. Excalibur #1-6
  4. New Mutants #1-4
  5. New Mutants #6
  6. Marauders #1
  7. Incoming #1 “Bar Sinister”
  8. X-Men/Fantastic Four #1-4
  9. X-Force #1
  10. Fallen Angels #1-4
  11. Marauders #2-3
  12. New Mutants #8
  13. X-Men #2
  14. Marvel Comics #1000 “The First Horsemen”
  15. X-Men #3
  16. New Mutants #5
  17. New Mutants #7
  18. New Mutants #9-11
  19. X-Force #2-3
  20. X-Men #4
  21. X-Force #4-5
  22. Fallen Angels #5-6
  23. Hellions #1-4
  24. X-Force #6
  25. Marauders #4-6
  26. Cable #1
  27. X-Men #8-9
  28. X-Men #5
  29. Giant-Size X-Men #1: Jean Grey & Emma Frost
  30. Marauders #7
  31. Giant-Size X-Men #3: Magneto
  32. Marauders #8
  33. X-Force #7-8
  34. Excalibur #7-8
  35. X-Force #9-10
  36. X-Factor #1
  37. Wolverine #1-3
  38. Cable #2-4
  39. Marauders #9-12
  40. Giant-Size X-Men #2: Nightcrawler
  41. New Mutants #12
  42. Marvel’s Voices #1 “The Race”
  43. Giant-Size X-Men #4: Fantomex
  44. Giant-Size X-Men #5: Storm
  45. X-Men #7
  46. X-Men #10
  47. Empyre: X-Men #1-4
  48. X-Men #11
  49. Wolverine #4-5
  50. X-Factor #2-3
  51. X-Force #11-12
  52. X-Force #15-16
  53. Excalibur #9-12
  54. X-Men #12

X of Swords >> The X-Men Crossover of the Year begins here

  1. X of Swords: Creation #1
  2. X-Factor #4
  3. Wolverine #6
  4. X-Force #13
  5. Marauders #13
  6. Hellions #5
  7. New Mutants #13
  8. Cable #5
  9. Excalibur #13
  10. X-Men #13
  11. X of Swords: Stasis #1
  12. X-Men #14
  13. Marauders #14
  14. Marauders #15
  15. Excalibur #14
  16. Wolverine #7
  17. X-Force #14
  18. Hellions #6
  19. Cable #6
  20. X-Men #15
  21. Excalibur #15
  22. X of Swords: Destruction #1

III. Reign of X

  1. S.W.O.R.D. #1
  2. X-Factor #5
  3. Excalibur #16
  4. Hellions #7-8
  5. Cable #7-8
  6. X-Men #16
  7. New Mutants #14
  8. Marauders #16
  9. Wolverine #8-10
  10. X-Factor #6-9
  11. New Mutants #15-17
  12. Marauders #17
  13. S.W.O.R.D. #2-4 (King in Black tie-ins)
  14. King in Black: Marauders #1 (King in Black tie-ins)
  15. Excalibur #17-20
  16. Hellions #9-11
  17. X-Men #17
  18. Marauders #18-19
  19. Children of the Atom #1-3
  20. Cable #9
  21. X-Force #17
  22. Juggernaut #1-5
  23. X-Force #18-19
  24. Wolverine #11-12
  25. X-Men #18-19
  26. Cable #10-12
  27. New Mutants #18
  28. X-Men #20
  29. X-Corp #1
  30. S.W.O.R.D. #5
  31. Children of the Atom #4-5 (takes place during the Hellfire Gala, but are not officially tie-ins to the event)
  32. Way of X #1-2
  33. Marauders #20

Hellfire Gala –>The X-Men Crossover of the Year begins here

  1. Marauders #21
  2. X-Force #20
  3. Hellions #12
  4. Excalibur #21
  5. X-Men #21
  6. Planet Size X-Men #1
  7. New Mutants #19
  8. X-Corp #2
  9. Wolverine #13
  10. S.W.O.R.D. #6
  11. Way of X #3
  12. X-Factor #10
  13. Children of the Atom #6
  14. S.W.O.R.D. #7 (part of The Last Annihilation crossover)
  15. Cable: Reloaded #1 (part of The Last Annihilation crossover)
  16. New Mutants #20-23
  17. Marauders #22
  18. The Trial of Magneto #1
  19. Marauders #23
  20. X-Men #1
  21. Wolverine #14-16
  22. The Trial of Magneto #2-4
  23. Inferno #1
  24. Hellions #13-16
  25. S.W.O.R.D. #8
  26. Hellions #17-18
  27. The Trial of Magneto #5
  28. New Mutants #24
  29. X-Men #2
  30. X-Force #21-22
  31. Excalibur #22
  32. Way of X #4-5
  33. X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation #1
  34. X-Corp #3-5
  35. Excalibur #23
  36. X-Force #23-24
  37. Marauders #24-25
  38. X-Men #3
  39. Excalibur #24-25
  40. X-Men #4
  41. S.W.O.R.D. #9-11
  42. X-Men #5
  43. Wolverine #17-18
  44. X-Men #6-7
  45. Devil’s Reign: X-Men #1-3
  46. Inferno #2
  47. X-Force #25-26
  48. Marauders #26
  49. Excalibur #26
  50. Wolverine #19
  51. Marauders #27
  52. Inferno #3-4

IV. Destiny of X

This is not Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men anymore! I will continue the work here, but more slowly.


I have to credit the Krakoa Era website, some Reddit users like deleted59 and regurgitatedthought but also some leagueofcomicgeeks.com users for their hard work doing what I failed to do (keeping up with everything!). Their work was a great help.

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59 Comments

    1. I’ll try. I stop reading some of the series, but I’ll do my best to keep track of all of them.

    1. At the beginning, X-Men and X-Force seemed to be more important than the others. I used the bold type to make it easier to read and I just stuck with it. Also, the number #1s are in Bold too.

  1. Thank you for compiling and maintaining this list. Marvel has been hit and miss with its listing having not included it in books for a month and occasionally not including some issues (NM #8, X-MEN/FF #’s 2 & 3).

  2. I just finished reading everything up through X-Men #9 and have a couple suggestions. The order listed in the back of most books seems to simply follow the publication order. If one were to read the books chronologically based on events in the books, I would place the entire X-Men/FF mini-series fairly early in the order. Certainly before Kate’s status changed and maybe even before she adopted her pirate outfit. I would also move Hellions #1 to the end and have it continue to float down until Havok’s status in the other books catches up with his “joining” the Hellions. That said, there’s always room for flashback stories. :}

    1. This does seem to follow publication date more than chronological story telling. Other sites have deviated dramatically from this order. I’m still trying to piece together the best way to read them as i haven’t read any but the very first couple of issues after House and Powers, and it seems wildly interconnected (for better or worse).

  3. I don’t know yet. The “dark ages” part is 4 pages about Tony Stark. The X-Men part of this FCBD book is more of a teasing for the “X of Swords” event. The two of them will start this fall. I’ll say that it could take place before Excalibur #12 and X-Men #12, two books that will serve as a prelude to the X-event. It’s a supposition for now.

  4. Thanks so much for reading order, got behind with X-Men after the HOX/POX event and was confused with some of the continuity! About half way through now, slowly catching up, thanks again!

  5. Can you just read house of x / powers of x then the xmen run or so I need to read all this that’s on the list? Thanks

  6. Does the Dawn of X series collect all the issues in this list? wondering what the most finance-friendly route is with regards to reading every issue

    1. I have a very broad question, and I am not a noob, however I just haven’t gotten around to Jonathan Hickman’s full X-Men run starting with house and powers of x. My question here is would I be lost if I skipped house and powers of X and started at Dawn of X and continued to X of swords Etc? Or is house and powers of X a must. I’m assuming that it is. Only reason I’m asking is I’m going to watch these videos on YouTube and unfortunately my favorite channel has a full video that starts at dawn of x and goes on to X of swords and everything on until the present. Thanks in advance

    2. Yes, House of X/Power of X can’t be skipped. After that, you can skip some of the series if you don’t like them, they are not as connected as Marvel pretends they are. But House of X/Power of X is the introduction needed to understand the situation with the mutants, the stakes, and the mysteries.

    3. Any idea where X-Men Green (The marvel unlimited comic fits into this, it definitely takes place in this current state of X-Men, but when? Not a clue)

    1. Well, at first, it was what seemed to be important, but it turned out that there were not as many tight connections as I thought there was going to be. Then, it became the #1 or the issue at the beginning of some major storylines. Honestly, I lost the point some time ago, I can’t even remember why some issues are bold. I probably need to take a look back and make a change. Don’t worry about it.

    1. In other words, is the back page list just to show release dare, but that isn’t necessarily the reading order?

    2. Having used this list and having read through to X of Swords, you’ll be ok. It’s not really all that interconnected. You can read this list or go by the comics and you’ll be just fine.

  7. kinda confused by this reading order as some of the stories seem wrong, one minute Xavier is dead awaiting rebirth, then in another issue he’s already alive, then in the next he’s just being rebirthed? I’ve been using the Marvel Guides reading order list which seems to make a lot more sense chronologically, but they haven’t updated for a while now… 🙁

  8. Am I missing excalibur #12….and we have to read children of the atom 1-2 twice in this reading order? I may be missing something here. I am not sure. Thank you for doing this…despite my questions….I do appreciate this.

    1. Sorry about that, excalibur #12 (& x-men #12) was lost in the shuffle, it’s the prelude to X of Swords! For children of the atom, you only read them once 🙂 I just put them twice. Have a good read.

    2. Thank you very much for the quick response!! I really appreciate your list. I look at it every few weeks. Thank you again!!

      -Pam

    1. It’s fixed, and I fixed a lot around it too. I kind of lost the plot and still trying to catch up. Sorry for the confusion.

  9. Hi, Fabien.
    You mentioned some editorial debacle re: Inferno/ Trial of Magneto and that you stopped reading certain series. Which ones have you stopped reading?

  10. hi Fabian, is this list exactly in chronological order? is that I’m starting new mutants to read and I would like them to understand as best as possible, without confusion 😀

    1. This is in chronological order. Things are a lot less interconnected than Marvel wants us to believe. So, don’t worry too much.

  11. Hey I was wondering, do you know when the FCBD comic for Xmen in 2020 sits in here, I have it put just before X of Swords?

  12. Just wanna comment to say THANK YOU! Even now this is so helpful for someone trying to get back into the comics and makes it much less overwhelming.

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