i just finished joss whedon's x-men run "astonishing x-men" last night, so it's pretty funny for me that you've asked this question. i'd say, speaking as someone who used to like the x-men back in the early/mid-90s, id start with grant morrison's run, new x-men (originally published in the early 2000s i think). i read it right as i was getting into comics last year, and it was awesome (a bit trippy and "wtf" but in a good way). whedon's run was decent but i enjoyed the tripped out final third of morrison's run more, and by proxy the rest of it).

so without further ado this is where i'd start:

https://www.amazon.com/New-X-Men-Vol-Grant-Morrison/dp/0785132511/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1496081040&sr=8-3&keywords=grant+morrison+new+xmen

Then after i read some of the x-men series i will totally give Swamp Thing and Ms. Marvel a try Thank you for telling that there was an actual series about her, i found out that are actually more then one and I will totally want to read them
I saw that there are a lot of Uncanny X-Men series from different years. Do you remember the year of the ones you recommend i read? Or should i read them all?

And from what i saw the New X-Men and Astonishing X-Men seem quite interesting i will try to read them :)

Thanks for the recommendation i will definitely read it :)

Just don't.

I did start at the very first X-Men comic a while ago and at some point every second issue ended with a cliffhanger to be concluded in another Marvel series (Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man etc...) so if you stay just with the X-Men series you miss 50% of several important stories and never know the end of them. Often the results permanently changed the cast as well so I was just like "WTF happened?".
It was a cheap way to get the kids into other series and made a huge mess of the series.
I had to abort somewhere in the 90s issues since it happened way too often then.

And all that is just about the characters from Marvel comics. The original character named Captain Marvel, and probably the best known one, was created in the early 1939 and was published Fawcett Comics. He was immensly popular, outsold even Superman, but was also sortof a rip-off of the Man of Steel, and legal action and diminishing popularity fof superheores in general forced Fawcett to stop publishing his adventures, and eventually he was aquired by DC comics, and started appearing the main DC universe. Recently his name was changed to "Shazam" to avoid confusion with Marvel comics.

I still call him Captain Marvel, because damn it, that's what his name always was. And Shazam was the wizard who gave him powers.

I hate the serialization of comics. It ruins the stories for me. Especially when the stories stretch across several comics that you'd need a subscription to. It's just a stupid marketing gimick. That said, some of the stories are great. And the greatest thing is that the best stories are compiled into graphic novels.

So that's where I would start. Buy graphic novels or visit your local library (mine has several graphic novels) and start reading.

There are also comics on DVD-rom if you want to get a bunch and read them. Not as fun to read in my opinion, but still pretty decent.

Well, there used to be a lot of great single issue stories in the 70s and 80s, even 90s. But now it almost never happens. I only buy collected editions, this way I get to read a story as a whole, and they look much nicer on shelves.

The most important stories you can probably find separately, but the whole series is compiled chronologically in the Marvel Masterworks collection. The Marvel Masterwork Uncanny X-Men Vol.1 begin in 1975 with the story that ends the original team run and introduces Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, etc. (for the Stan Lee series that preceded it, you need the Marvel Masterwork X-Men, without the word "Uncanny".)

The Phoenix Saga begins in 1976, you'll find that one in the Marvel Masterworks Uncanny X-Men Vol.2.

Vols. 3 and 4, don't have anything really memorable, I think, but some stories were adapted for the 90's animated series.

The Dark Phoenix Saga begins in 1980, you'll find that one in Vol.5. There's also an issue in this book that tells you everything important that happened from the Stan Lee days until that point right after the Dark Phoenix saga.

Days of Future Past is in vol.6.

I don't have more of those Marvel Masterworks books (actually, I don't have vol.6, but vol.5 ends with a teaser telling you Days of future Past is the next issue), so I can't tell what else is there or how many books there are.

It's great that you want to check out New X-Men and Astonishing X-Men, those are really cool, also from those days (early 2000s) there's another story I recommend, by Mark Millar and pencils by Romita Jr.: Wolverine Enemy of the State.

Happy reading! :)

Yeah, they're alternate universes but they do call him Captain Marvel in Thunderworld and the Convergence series. The comics have been Shazam even before, of course, but that's because of how the deal they worked out with Marvel back in the '70's went (because Marvel had introduced their Captain Marvel while Fawcett's Captain Marvel was unused before DC licensed, and later bought, the rights). I haven't read the Convergence series, but Thunderworld was great and I've heard Shazam Convergence was good too.

The Epic collection Second Genesis might be a better choice for the start, it looks like it collects everything in the Masterworks volumes 1 and 2, plus some extra stuff, but the next one jumps ahead to pick up where the last Masterwork collection (volume 10 it looks like) left off.

I just know it's going to get really infuriating when the movies (Marvel's Captain Marvel and DC's Shazam) get closer to release and actally get released. For me, because every time I see a headline about Captain Marvel I'll think about what is actually Shazam, and for those around me because I will keep calling Shazam Captain Marvel to the day I die :P And seeing how I'm usually the guy explaining all the comic book stuff to my friends when we got to the movies (some of them can't even tell if Batman is DC or Marvel), that will just confuse them beyond all hope :D

Cool, I didn't know that one, probably it was published after I stopped collecting. But it may be indeed a less expensive alternative for the first two Marvel Masterworks Uncanny X-Men volumes, plus the extras not included in the Masterworks are a nice addition. :)

Results in Amazon also showed a bunch of other X-Men Epic Collection books, not sure what's on each one, but may be worth to check them out.

this x 100. as a kid, the billion issue crossovers are why i quit comics. today, with collected editions easy to come by and adult money, i'm back into it.

Start with the Fox TV series from the 90s and then just work from there.

That's actually probably the best advice here. It's how I started, and except for some of the live action movies, I don't think the X-Men were ever better than they were in that cartoon.