BloodnoseThePirate said:

I'm currently reading the phoenix arc. which is what 'Last Stand' sort of took from a little, I guess. then I'm planning on skipping to uncanny number 475. I hear that's a decent spot to start.

Do us both a favour and make sure you read from the beginning of the Phoenix storyline (issue ~100 or so) through Inferno. And also X-Factor from the beginning until about 68 or so. For best enjoyment, you can read New Mutants where it intersects with those stories, and make sure you read Magik and X-terminators minis too.

I like a lot of the stories after that (X-Tinction Agenda, X-Cutioner's Song, Summer's Wedding, Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix) but there's a lot of crap in there too, so you have to cherry pick.

If you do pick up at 475, make sure you've read Deadly Genesis. 475 and on are really a sequel to that mini. And then that all continues/colides with Annihilation... so be prepared for that. As I mentioned before, Annihilation, its sequel, and the resulting Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy series are some of my favourites from the past couple years.

I've found Marvel's 7 or so years of summer events to be pretty good, if somewhat fatiguing. Start with Avengers Disassembled and start reading New Avengers. Then get into House of M, then Decimation, (Annihilation and Planet Hulk) then Civil War, (World War Hulk) then Secret Invasion, then Dark Reign, then Siege, and now Fear Itself (which I haven't read). It's nice to see a constantly changing baseline in the Marvel Universe as opposed to the "every issue ends on the bridge of the Enterprise" model that's been status quo for so long. But each event has been marketed as "The one it's all been leading to!" You can only hear that so many times before it's run its course.

And finally- comicvine.com is my favourite source comics info. It's not the first comics database I've used, but it's the best/one that's still up.

*whew* Did I write all of that?