XMen 97 Reading Guide: Every Marvel Comic You Need to Read

If you are currently watching XMen 97 and want to go deeper as it doesn't come from nowhere. The show’s most exciting moments borrow straight from the Marvel comics, some of them are truly amazing. Writers take a comic arc that ran for a year and compress it into twenty minutes making it the most iconic show ever.

If you want to understand where this version of the X-Men actually comes from, follow the list and start reading important X-Men 97 comics in order. Everything started to make sense, but you must have patience for that.

1. "Dark Phoenix Saga" — X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga (paperback) or Uncanny X-Men #129–137

This is the most essential comic that builds the character’s arc of Jean Grey, her transformation into the Phoenix that becomes the emotional backbone of the entire show. If you want to know which comic is still considered one of the greatest superheroes then pick Dark Phoenix Saga — Chris Claremont and John Byrne wrote this back in 1980. 

The show brings back this story as unfinished business since fans didn’t like the original ending. This is what makes people go crazy about the show so read this first to know what happened to Jean on the moon.

2. The early Claremont/Byrne run — X-Men Epic Collection: Second Genesis

This X-Men epic collection is already running and introduced modern X-Men before Dark Phoenix Saga even happens. This 70’s comic is the origin of Wolverine, Storm, and the team dynamic arc. Once you read it, you will understand why in the show they talk like they are the real family. Every relationship, joke, and grudge in X-Men '97 was built here first. 

3. "God Loves, Man Kills" — X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills (standalone graphic novel)

God Loves, Man Kills is a short comic written by Claremont that actually gave the world the "mutants as a metaphor for prejudice" which every X-Men adaptation follows and pulls back this tone and this one becomes a moral spine of the entire franchise from 1982.

X-Men '97 pulls directly from this book's tone whenever it deals with anti-mutant hysteria, and Magneto's arc across the season only makes sense if you've read how his philosophy was originally built here.

4. The Genosha slavery arc — Uncanny X-Men #235–238, sometimes collected as "Genosha"

The show's early handling of Genosha as a haven for mutants, and everything that goes wrong there, has roots in a comic arc where the island nation was actually a slave state built on mutant labor. If you are watching the show then you should have been thinking that Genosha's fate hit hard but if you read the comic the tone is darker. 

The massive destruction of thousands of mutants on that island was a heartbroken tragedy that the show didn’t even fully present yet.

5. "Mutant Massacre" — X-Men: Mutant Massacre 

Mister Sinister dispatches the Marauders to slaughter the Morlocks — a group of mutants living beneath the streets of New York City, resulting in one of the bloodiest massacres in X-Men history. X-Men ‘97 really doesn’t explain all the reasons why Mister Sinister is so scary. The storyline in this comic will tell you why. It reveals just how ruthless and dangerous he truly is rather than being a mysterious evil.

6. "X-Cutioner's Song" — X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song 

Take a time for this one because it is the bigger storyline, originally spanning four different comic series. X-Men '97 draws on several elements from this crossover, it will help you fully understand about the time travel and Summers family legacy. This narrative helps explain one of the more bewildering aspects of X-Men mythos. If you’re looking for answers on exactly how Cable, Stryfe, Cyclops are related, this book has them. The epic feud between Cable and Stryfe culminates, and the convoluted, time-travel riddled past of the Summers family is revealed. 

7. "Fatal Attractions" — X-Men: Fatal Attractions 

This story arc shocks everyone because it turned the both character’s arc. Since XMen 97 places so much emphasis on Magneto's redemption, this arc gives a clear understanding on how low their trust goes that any chance of reconciliation becomes impossible. The moment where Magneto tears the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton marks the history in the entire franchise of X-Men. 

8. "Onslaught" — Onslaught Omnibus or Onslaught: X-Men

Based on how the first season of XMen 97 ends, everyone can guess that Onslaught will play a role in the future. The 1996 crossover event introduced Onslaught which created Xavier's suppressed rage and trauma and became one of the most dangerous threats the X-Men and Avengers have ever faced together. If you want to understand how powerful Xavier's psychology is, this one will surely help you. This is where the show is headed.

9. "Bishop's Crossing" — Uncanny X-Men #282–287

The entire essence of Bishop is that he has survived a mutant genocide in the future that hasn't taken place yet and that fear is exactly what he brings to every encounter in the show. This is the arc where his history, as well as a fixation with stopping a specific kind of betrayal, are first described, and it puts a lot of his paranoia in the show into context. 

The Comic That Never Got Made: Morph's History

A quick note for readers confused about Morph — the character barely existed in the comics under that name and role. Most of Morph's presence in X-Men '97 is original to the animated continuity, built from a character called Changeling who died early in Marvel history. There's no single comic to point you to here, and that's fine. Not every emotional gut-punch in the show has a comic-book receipt.

Conclusion

The show is built to work without any comic knowledge at all. This guide is for viewers who finished an episode and wanted to go deeper, not a prerequisite. The most important comic is The Dark Phoenix Saga which is an absolute emotional and narrative center of the entire franchise. 

This X-Men 97 Marvel Comics guide will help you understand the deeper narrative that already lived in comics. You can read them one-by-one and they are all available on Amazon.

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