As far as I'm concerned, the X-Men comics went downhill fast following the end of the original Brood storyline, shortly after Dave Cockrum ended his second run on Uncanny X-Men. From there on out, all the fun and joy was sucked out to be replaced with angst and grimness. I finally gave up with issue 190, and I have absolutely no desire to read any of the mainstream X-Men stories published afterward (Well, with the sole exception being X-Men: The Hidden Years, and I only read that title because John Byrne worked on it.).

Of course, I'm still happy I ended my read when I did. I don't think I would have been able to stomach the undoing of Jean Grey's death, the transformation of Cyclops into an adulterer, and Wolverine's bone claws and ridiculously overblown regenerative powers as much as I have if I'd read them first hand.