The X-Men comics love a dystopian future. Many classics stories lines have taken a peek ahead in time and shown readers how awful thing can be for Marvel’s mutants. For instance, Days of Future Past showed readers a future where mutants are incarcerated in internment camps, where Age of Apocalypse showed us a terrible timeline ruled by Apocalypse.
Sins of Sinister is the latest X-Men story to offer a possible future. This time, it will be looking at a dystopia orchestrated by Mr. Sinister and through the lens of the franchise’s current status quo. To change it up further, readers will take a peek 10, 100, and 1000 years into the future to see how things evolve over time.
Comic book events can be confusing. Luckily, this Sins of Sinister reading order is here to help make sense of things. It features a recommended reading order, background reading, creator credits, and heaps more to help you read the latest X-Men story.
Temporary changes in titles
It’s worth pointing out some temporary changes to pre-existing comics before jumping into the reading order for Sins of Sinister. Some X-Men series will take a short break and be replaced with specific Sins of Sinister tie-ins. These include:
- X-Men Red becomes Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants
- Legion of X becomes Nightcrawlers
- Immortal X-Men becomes Immoral X-Men
The above changes will be in affect February through to April.
This is not the first time that Marvel has done this for a comic book event. The most notable instance is the classic mid-90s X-Men event Age of Apocalypse, where it was done on a much larger scale.
Sins of Sinister’s structure and how to read it
Sins of Sinister is not structured like your traditional comic book event. Two one-shots bookend the event. The first one sets it up, while the other brings the various plot threads together and concludes it. While that is common for a lot of superhero events, where it differs is in the middle.
The miniseries discussed above are not specifically linear. All the first issues are set 10 years in the future, the second instalments are set 100 years in the future, and the final issues are set 1000 years in the future. Each series explores a different corner, with some character or thematic connection throughout.
If you plan to read it all, it’s best to read Sins of Sinister in this order:
- Sins of Sinister #1
- All the #1s
- All the #2s
- All the #3s
- Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1
Don’t want/can’t read everything? It should be okay to choose the miniseries that you want.
Background reading
Are you looking to do some background reading to get up to speed with Sins of Sinister? Here are a few comics I recommend.
Powers of X
Written by Jonathan Hickman. Art by R.B. Silva.
Readers have seen the the futures featured in Sins of Sinister before in Powers of X. Long-time readers will want to check these out again for a bit of a refresher.
Newer readers will want to read House of X as well. These two miniseries are companions, which that work off each other. You can find out more about how to read them in this reading order.
Immortal X-Men #1-8
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Lucas Werneck.
Mr Sinister features heavily in Immortal X-Men and these issues are where you are going to see a lot of the build up for Sins of Sinister.
Uncanny X-Men (2011 series) #1-3
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Carlos Pacheco.
This is not essential reading. I’ve added these issues from Keiron Gillen’s original X-Men run for anyone who wants a good taste of how he has written Mr Sinister in the past.
These issues, plus many more, are collected in Uncanny X-Men by Kieron Gillen: The Complete Collection Volume 1.
Sins of Sinister reading order
Below is a recommended reading order for the Sins of Sinister event.
Immortal X-Men #9 (Prelude)
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Lucas Werneck.
Available 7th December
Immortal X-Men #10 (Prelude)
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Lucas Werneck.
Available 18th January
Sins of Sinister #1
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Lucas Werneck.
Available 25th January
Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1 (of 3)
Written by Al Ewing. Art by Paco Medina.
Available 8th February
Nightcrawlers #1 (of 3)
Written by Si Spurrier. Art by Paco Medina.
Available 15th February
Immoral X-Men #1 (of 3)
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Paco Medina.
Available 22nd February
Nightcrawlers #2 (of 3)
Written by Si Spurrier. Art by Andrea Di Vito.
Available 8th March
Immoral X-Men #2 (of 3)
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Andrea Di Vito.
Available 15th March
Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #2 (of 3)
Written by Al Ewing. Art by Andrea Di Vito.
Available 22nd March
Immoral X-Men #3 (of 3)
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Alessandro Vitti.
Available 5th April
Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #3 (of 3)
Written by Al Ewing. Art by Alessandro Vitti.
Available 12th April
Nightcrawlers #3 (of 3)
Written by Si Spurrier. Art by Alessandro Vitti.
Available 19th April
Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Lucas Werneck and Paco Medina.
Available 26th April
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After Sins of Sinister
What should you read next after the conclusion of Sins of Sinister. Plot threads and fall out from the series will happen in the following comics.
X-Men Red #11
Written by Al Ewing. Art by Jacopo Camagni.
Available May
Immortal X-Men #11
Written by Kieron Gillen. Art by Lucas Werneck.
Available May
X-Men: Before The Fall – Sons of X #1
Written by Si Spurrier. Art by Phil Noto.
Available May
X-Men: Before The Fall – Sinister Four
Written by Keiron Gillen. Art by Paco Medina.
Available July
Collected editions
Prefer to read Sins of Sinister in a collected format? The whole event will be collected together in a single hardcover, which will be available (according to Amazon) on 19th September.
Sins of Sinister
Collects: Sins of Sinister #1, Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1, Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1-3, Nightcrawlers #1-3, and Immoral X-Men #1-3
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