Just finished banging out Essential X-Men Volume 3, basically where I stopped reading Uncanny when I was kid. I'll definitely be buying Volume 4 and reading that because I know from my research that there are storylines I never got to read that I'm very interested in, eg, Storm's charcter development, the Brood, Binary, and more.

However, due to the very same research, I think Volume 4 will be the last Essential X-Men I buy. From Volume 5 and on, I've read that either the stories are sub-par or that any good stories remain unresolved within the actual Essential Volumes due to the many Marvel Universe crossovers of the period and the stories being resolved or completed in other X-books.

I'm primarily A DC nerd -- but I love and buy a lot of old and new Marvel -- and any sage advice out there from some X-Men nerds would be appreciated!

Thanks.

I have 1-6 of this set of Essentials. I really enjoyed 1-3, and 4 wasnt bad. 5 I did not like quite as much. The team starts changing(I'm not a big fan of Rachel Summers or Shadowcat) and crossover issues start to be used. and I just was not as impressed. So much so as I did not even hint at volume 6 when my family asked me to make a Christmas list. Someone still gave it to me and after looking at the first issue, I found New Mutants, not X-men. I had no interest in New Mutants. This summer I finally got around to reading it and just finished it last week actually. I skipped some of the beginning and got to what I found is now one of my favorite X-Men story lines - the Mutant Massacre. This also crosses over with New Mutants, X-Factor, and Thor, but these are all worth reading and I'm glad I came back to read it. There is also a great fight between the X-Men, Hellfire Club, and Nimrod.

You find out how Psylocke, Rachel Summers, and Rogue join the team, although Rogue may have been in Vol4, its been a long time since I read them all.

Overall, I think 5 & 6 are not nearly as good as the rest, but that may just be me.

I love the X-Men, and reading the Essential Volumes has been the only way I could reread the issues I had as a child.

I don't necessarily like how they mix in other issues, as it seems like a way for them to stretch out the trades, and get us to buy more.

But there are still some great stories in the other volumes ( I have 1-6 also), chiefly the most excellent (and afforementioned) Mutant Massacre.

Volume 5 (IIRC) also has the very important Life/Death Storm issues, and some stuff with Nimrod.

Being a HUGE fan of that era of the X-Men, I would say, go ahead and get them.