X-Men Marvel Cover

The X-Men, created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, became a cultural phenomenon through Chris Claremont's seventeen-year writing tenure alongside artists including John Byrne, Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith and Marc Silvestri. Subsequent generations — Grant Morrison with Frank Quitely and Ethan Van Sciver, Jonathan Hickman's Krakoan era — have made the franchise one of the longest-running experimental projects in mainstream American comics.