The X-Men series remains the single biggest publishing phenomenon in comics history. Its ongoing popularity, as well as its ability to succeed in every medium into which it is translated—from comics to animation to motion pictures to television to video games and beyond—stems largely from two sources: compelling characters lovingly written and illustrated, and the title’s ability to serve as a rich, resonating metaphor for a variety of universal human experiences.

The Origin of the Species

Despite its pedigree as a Lee/Kirby creation, Uncanny X-Men spent its first decade as a third-tier series, a lesser light for Marvel Comics that fell into reprints by the early ’70s. In 1975, it enjoyed a “Second Genesis” beginning with the “All-New, All-Different” Giant-Size X-Men #1 … and over the next ten years grew from a solid title into a juggernaut that outpaced Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and all of Marvel’s other flagship characters, evolving from bestseller into an ongoing publishing phenomenon.

And in the early 1990s, the time came for the X-Men to conquer an all-new, all-different audience…

Let’s Get Annimated

In the 1990s, the popularity of the X-Men increased exponentially, thanks to the animated series produced by Saban Entertainment for the Fox Kids Network. Overnight, the comic book phenomenon gained a huge TV audience, and Wolverine, Rogue and Storm won lifelong fans among people who would never even own a comic book.

Viewers expecting a superhero show with hard-hitting battles and apocalyptic confrontations got exactly what they wanted, and longtime X-Men fans were surprised by the respect for  …