Let’s face it: The Shi’ar are pretty stupid. You heard me, you frickin’ birdos! I’m talking about you, you dumb Silverhawks-lookin’ space pigeons. You can’t decide who belongs on the throne, you can’t even get a bunch of your own people to defend yourselves so you have to manufacture a bootleg Legion of Super-Heroes. Heck we all know the Kree suck, but at least they have the Supreme Intelligence and that Accuser guy, and the Skrulls can do the whole transform-into-stuff thing. What can you do? I’ll tell you the only thing you’re good for: giving the X-Men an excuse to leave the petty confines of their Earthly home so they can adventure in SPAAAAAACE!
This week, ex-Head of X Jonathan Hickman is launching new cosmic adventures with Imperial, with artwork by Federico Vicentini and Iban Coello. And while the pitch looks X-Men-less, we already know the recent X-Manhunt crossover was largely an excuse to move Xavier and a newly resurrected Lilandra back onto the galactic chessboard.
And so we consulted Battle of the Atom’s Big Ol’ List — an official ranking of more than 1,000 of the best X-Men stories — to find the 10 best stories involving those blasted bird buggers, the Shi’ar! (No surprise, lots of ‘em involve the Phoenix Force.) Don’t see your favorite Shi’ar story here? Keep in mind that despite ranking 1,000+ X-stories, we haven’t ranked ’em all. It’s also important to remember that we are X-perts, so as Zack says, “There is no room for arguments, and no room for disagreement.”
Uncanny X-Men #129-137, ‘The Dark Phoenix Saga’
(Current ranking: 2)
Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is considered by many to be the apex of X-Men storytelling (eclipsed only by House of X and Powers of X in our estimation). It is a complicated text that despite its difficulty level seems to also be perfect for new, first-time X-readers. Our heroes meet corporate creation Dazzler, they fight the Hellfire Club and Wolverine becomes Wolverine. Jean then goes full Dark Phoenix before committing interstellar genocide, being put on trial and finally sacrificing her own life on the moon. The amount of twists and turns contained in these issues, let alone the scope and scale, are nothing short of epic. It’s why the two attempts to adapt the material to the big screen have failed: How do you capture the emotion and range of this story in under two hours? In many ways, X-Men as an endeavor is constantly chasing the impossibly high stakes of Jean’s sacrifice. Given that the decision to kill Jean was ultimately former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter’s, Dark Phoenix’s triumph is in its complexity, not only on the page but behind the scenes as well, guaranteeing its place in comics history for eons.
Uncanny X-Men #162-167, ‘The Brood Saga’
(Current ranking: 34)
The X-Men return to the stars after Chris Claremont took in a screening of Ridley Scott’s Alien and decided what the X-Men needed most was to fight xenomorphic bugs in the belly of a space whale, and frankly I can’t argue with that! The resulting six-issue arc, starting with classic X-Men artist Dave Cockrum and ending with arguably the greatest X-Men artist, Paul Smith, is a worthy interstellar follow-up to “Dark Phoenix” filled with creatures, body horror and, wait, did Xavier just die again?
Uncanny X-Men #107-108, ‘The Phoenix Saga’
(Current ranking: 37)
“Hear me, X-Men! No longer am I the woman you knew! I am fire and life incarnate! Now and forever — I am PHOENIX!” With those words, Claremont ups the ante yet again on what X-Men was going to be. These classic stories leading up to “The Dark Phoenix Saga” are less of a “saga” and more of a loose collection of adventures as Jean is reborn as Phoenix and the team battles a variety of foes including Black Tom, Juggernaut, Firelord and the Entity. Where this really goes cosmic is when the team ends up in space in pursuit of Lilandra. Claremont and Cockrum introduce the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, the mad Emperor D’Ken and a totem that will haunt the entire Marvel Universe for decades to come, the M’Kraan Crystal. That’s a lot of apostrophes!
The Mighty Thor #15-19, ‘The Asgard/Shi’ar War’
(Current ranking: 106)
If you listen to BOTA on a regular basis, you know we’re tired of Jason Aaron’s overused “God is dead and I’m gonna let you know because this story is about killing God” shtick, but even though this is literally the second time he does it in the pages of Mighty Thor Vol. 3, there is no arguing against the absolutely mind-blowing artwork of Russell Dauterman (God, we need Russell doing pages again) illustrating the pair of very unhappy Shi’ar gods K’ythri and Sharra, who are determined to be the best gods in the galaxy, which means Asgard’s gotta go!
New Mutants (2019) #1-2, 5, 7
(Current ranking: 116)
Rumors abounded that Hickman originally wanted to write a cosmic X-book about the Imperial Guard during the Krakoan era. The closest we got was this arc of New Mutants Vol. 4 that sends Sunspot and co. into space basically because Roberto misses his best friend, Cannonball. Soon they’re off on adventures with the Starjammers. Incredible art from Rod Reis captures both his own style and hints of classic Bill Sienkewicz. Bonus: Generation X fans get Chamber and Mondo in this lineup!
War of Kings
(Current ranking: 168)
Hey, kids! Did you like Deadly Genesis? No? Well, if you already hated Vulcan, the secret Superman-y Summers brother, you’re about to hate him a whole lot more as he attempts to rule the whole flippin’ universe. While actual X-Men roster characters are limited to Havok, Polaris and Rachel Grey, War of Kings is an exploration of galactic conflict featuring a wide group of X-adjacents including the Shi’ar, the Starjammers and the Imperial Guard. It’s epic, to say the least.
Uncanny X-Men #466-468, ‘End of Greys’
(Current ranking: 171)
We’re big fans of Chris Bachalo on BotA, so it makes sense that we’d enjoy a story where Bachalo gets to design the Shi’ar Death Commandos, quintessential Bachalo designs who serve one purpose: massacre the remaining relatives of Jean Grey. Which they do in a heartstopping countdown-clock issue written by Chris Claremont. It’s an artist showcase, and gives Bachalo a chance to deliver a shocking story while trying new storytelling techniques.
What If? Vol. 2 #32-33, “What If … The Phoenix Had Not Died?”
(Current ranking: 198)
I’ve already mentioned that Jean Grey was not originally supposed to die at the end of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” but she did. What this two-issue arc of What If? presupposes is … what if she didn’t? In this alternate timeline, the Shi’ar are able to remove the Phoenix’s powers so Jean and Scott can live happily ever after. If you think that’s where the story ends, you’ve never read a What If? comic, because of course writer George Caragonne and artist Rod Ramos hit the swerve as a simple twist of fate results in a world war and no happy endings for anyone.
Uncanny X-Men #273-277
(Current ranking: 235)
Jim Lee was at his absolute peak artistically during this early ’90s run of Uncanny X-Men as he and inker Scott Williams teamed up with Claremont to tackle the simultaneous stories of Rogue and Magneto in the Savage Land and the X-Men facing an evil Charles Xavier in space. He gets to draw everything from dinosaurs to spaceships and throughout his work remains fluid and active, showing off great character acting and huge, insane fight scenes like the X-Men battling the Imperial Guard. While narratively this trends toward the quality of the late Claremont run, there’s a reason this era remains a fan fave today.
‘The Trial of Jean Grey’
(Current ranking: 327)
If there’s one thing we’ve learned on this list, it’s that the Shi’ar are not gonna sit idly by while a potential Jean Grey Phoenix host lives. Brian Michael Bendis knew this, and took advantage of the fact that he was also writing Guardians of the Galaxy to put All-New X-Men’s time-displaced Teen Jean on trial for a crime she hadn’t yet committed. This is probably the best example of Bendis’ core concept of the O5 dealing with their future selves. Superstar artists Stuart Immonen and Sara Pichelli trade incredible two-page spreads as they helm their respective books. Bendis pushes the Teen Jean powerset in new ways that will ultimately be handwaved away, but this trial is worth serving jury duty for.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
