Bendis and future solicits have hinted that the change in Magik's powers are actually related to to something else altogether.

That particular Wolverine story is widely reviled and never really referenced and is not at all indicative of what they have done with the character over the last few years.

Hey, I like the captions.

Yeah the essentials are a good cheap way to check out older classic stories too, though you should be aware they are in black and white

Claremont's run is collected in the Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men trades.

I'd agree the Murder Circus arc was a weak point  but every extended run is going to have it's low spots.

I think Morrison left him comatose but not dead, and then he was woken up by the Phoenix at some point and then promptly forgotten about again for a few years until Jason Aaron decided to use him and through some force of dark wizardry actually made him an interesting character.

from what I can gather she was resurrected magically by Belasco at some point but I think that happened in some terrible CB Cebulski story I've never read.

crazy talk

It's probably my favorite Marvel book after Hawkeye and Thor. I like Bendis though so ymmv, but I've heard anecdotally plenty of people who are iffier on him than I say the same thing.

I dont know why they haven't done this yet.

I'd say a list of essential x-stories (continuity wise, not necessarily quality wise though there is some overlap) would look something like this:
Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men
House of M
Messiah Complex
Utopia
Nation X
Second Coming
Birth of Generation Hope
Schism
Avengers vs X-Men

Legacy's actually been really interesting so far. Si Spurrier also wrote that delightfully weird X-Club miniseries and it has a similar tone to that.

The dependency is entirely one way, yeah Joker talked endlessly about that stuff in this story but one of the big points of the final issue is what a load of bullshit it was from Batman's POV.

Not really a magician, but she has magic powers due to a long history of demonic possession and a long reign as the Queen of Limbo. (80's x-men had some weird shit going on)

except the Joker won, he broke the trust between Batman and his acolytes.

One of the Generation Hope characters is one of the stars of this book!

the reveal was that he dosen't care

Either of the new NOW branded #1s All New X-Men or Uncanny X-Men are perfectly fine places to start if what you're looking for is just to jump into whats currently ongoing.

why does that matter though? It's not like Aaron is leaving six issues from now or something. He's clearly got long term plans for the title.