X-Men by Jonathan Hickman: Reading Order

A suggested reading order for the Jonathan Hickman written issues throughout the various X-Men series, including House of X/Powers X and the X of Swords and Hellfire Gala crossovers.

Updated: 9/29/2021

Jonathan Hickman has returned the X-Men to prominence in the Marvel universe. The line was completely relaunched after House of X/Power of X with several titles alongside Hickman’s X-Men. As the architect of the new era of X-Men, Hickman is also dipping into other books for key storylines. This is a list to follow just those issues. If there are books not written by him, but seem essential to follow the overall story, they will also be included (and italicized).

The issues have been ordered by how well they flow narratively, not necessarily chronologically. The always excellent Comic Herald’s reading order and Marvel’s own Hickman author page were used for reference.

House of X/Powers of X

This order is the same thing that was published (and needed) within the books themselves.

Collected: House of X/Powers of X

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

Dawn of X

This is where it gets a little tricky since Hickman writes a few non-sequential issues of New Mutants. I’ve gathered these in narrative chunks for the most part, but New Mutants can be read any time after X-Men #1 and before X-Men #8.

Part 1

Collected: X-Men by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1

1. Marvel Comics #1000
2. X-Men #1
3. X-Men #2
4. X-Men #3
5. X-Men #4
6. Incoming #1

New Mutants: Let’s Go to Space

Collected: New Mutants by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1

1. New Mutants #1
2. New Mutants #2
3. New Mutants #5
4. New Mutants #7

Part 2

Collected: X-Men by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 2

1. X-Men #5
2. X-Men #6
3. X-Men #7
4. X-Men #8
5. X-Men #9

Giant-Size X-Men

From the title alone, it seemed like this was supposed to be part of the main series, but after hearing from Hickman himself, it’s definitely its own thing. The first one spins off from events in X-Men #5, but a certain incapacitated character appears fine in later issues, so it makes sense to read these after the previous section of the main series.

Collected: Giant-Size X-Men Vol. 1

1. Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey & Emma Frost #1
2. Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1
3. Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto #1
4. Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomax #1
5. Giant-Size X-Men: Storm #1

Empyre: X-Men

This one-off issue and mini-series seem to stand fine on their own from the main event series. The timeline is a little fuzzy for X-Men #11 since they don’t acknowledge that they just had a huge battle, and Magik is featured in both stories. But it makes more sense where Magik was at the beginning of Empyre: X-Men #1 to place #11 at the end.

Collected: Empyre: X-Men

1. X-Men #10
2. Empyre: X-Men #1
3. Empyre: X-Men #2
4. Empyre: X-Men #3
5. Empyre: X-Men #4
6. X-Men #11

X of Swords

This one comes with a handy checklist from Marvel, but by publish-time, X-Men #15 and Excalibur #15 had been swapped. At least a chunk of the issues amount to what are essentially fetch quests as the various characters collect their swords, so can be skipped unless you’re invested in that particular character/book. All issues crucial to the overall story are bolded (with non-Hickman-penned issues still in italics).

Collected: X of Swords

Prelude

1. Excalibur #12
2. X-Men #12

Creation

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

Stasis

1. X of Swords: Stasis #1
2. X-Men #14
3. Marauders #14
4. Marauders #15
5. Excalibur #14
6. Wolverine #7
7. X-Force #14
8. Hellions #6
9. Cable #6
10. X-Men #15
11. Excalibur #15

Destruction

1. X of Swords: Destruction #1

Reign of X

Collected: X-Men by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 3

1. X-Men #16
2. X-Men #17
3. X-Men #18
4. X-Men #19
5. X-Men #20

Hellfire Gala

Non-Hickman-penned issues in italics.

Collected: X-Men: Hellfire Gala – The Red Carpet Collection

Prelude

1. Hellfire Gala Guide #1

Main Event

1. Mauraders #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. Cable #11

X-Men Unlimited

This is the webtoon-inspired series that’s exclusive to Marvel Unlimited. It is definitely canon, but so far it’s not clear where in the timeline it’s happening, so we’ll go with published order.

Collected: X-Men Unlimited: Latitude #1

1. X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #1
2. X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #2
3. X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #3
4. X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #4

Inferno

Collected: Inferno by Jonathan Hickman

1. Inferno #1
2. Inferno #2
3. Inferno #3
4. Inferno #4

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