Several years ago, I decided I wanted to make an effort to get back into the X-Men (being 20ish years behind).
This happened to be around the start of the Krakoa era in the franchise, so it was a good time to rejoin I was told. It’s a reboot, the guy at the comic store said.
I didn’t like it and stopped reading.
More recently, I heard the Krakoa era was ending and they’re starting over again, so I tentatively ordered the TPB (are they still called that?) for Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone.
I liked it a lot and also thought it was incredibly overrated*. But I was intrigued and wanted to know what else was going on in the X-world.
So I bought X-Men vol. 1 by Jed Mackay and enjoyed it more than I thought I would*.
Finally, I got Exceptional X-Men vol. 1 by Eve Ewing. It’s the one starring (formerly and maybe currently know as) Kitty Pryde, who was probably the character I had the lowest tolerance for back when I was up to date on the franchise. And surprisingly it was my favorite one of the three. My expectations were definitely the lowest of the three. Maybe I subconsciously admired keeping the E in exceptional. Mostly, I just enjoyed it for its own sake.
Where will the X- Men go from here? I dunno, but I know my next step is the solo titles and determining how/if to jump from TPB to monthlies.
* I also learned that things I see and don’t read in reddit post titles and bluesky skimming don’t align with my personal current X-Men preferences.