Marvel Universe Must Read Events - Reading Order

[firstmode]

Guys, I am trying to get my wife caught up in the important events of the Marvel universe for the last couple years. Cosmic and Earth Related.

This can include different Categories as I know many events do not and will never correspond with other events (such as Mutant events with most cosmic events, etc)

So help me out in a reading order! I know all the experts are here!

Example:

Avengers Dissasembled
House of M
Illuminati One Shot
Civil War
Silent War (In Middle of Civil war?)
The Initiative (base issues that setup initiative)
World War Hulk
Illuminati series 1-5 (Secret Invasion Lead in)


Where in the timeline do the Kree/Skrull war, Infinity Guantlet, infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Operation Galactic Storm, All the Mutant events, etc fit in?

[firstmode]

Oh yea, Forgot about all the Annihilation stuff, etc.

Where do all the other cosmic stories fit in (eternals, etc)? What other cosmic stories am I forgetting?

[Flâneur]

Annihilation only matters if you want to get into the cosmics stuff - it doesn't intermesh with the earth stuff much. So just Annihilation will do for that.

Silent War does not hugely affect the main stuff so don't worry about it too much unless you like the inhumans. The mutant stuff doesn't intertwine very well with the avengers et al, you'll get lost if you try to match everything up.

Otherwise you've got a pretty good list of what to catch up with.

[TotalWorldDomination]

Ok basic outline-

1) Avengers Dissasembled
2) House of M
3) Illuminati One Shot
4) Planet Hulk
5) Son of M (lead-in to Silent War/House of M fallout)
6) New Avengers Pre-CW arcs
7) Civil War
8) The Initiative
9) World War Hulk
10) Silent War (It takes place over a long period of time, and We're not 100% sure, but I think this has to take place AFTER WWH since BB apears with Medusa and Attilan still exists)
11) Illuminati #5 (The other issues all take place WELL before any of the other events on this list, reading issues 1 and 5 are important to the overall plot that has been going on, but I'd say read them all, it's a good series)

Annhilation happens during the Civil War (They discuss the Chaos on earth at one point) and Eternals takes place either at the end or during the begining of the registration period (Registration is an issue they discuss, but due to the "Who wants to be a Superhero" program and the calm state of the country, I'm guessing it's in the just post-CW period)

[firstmode]

Good answers, but can you guys try to mix some of the older cosmic stuff and mutant stories in the timeline?

[TotalWorldDomination]

Hmmm... ok, what are you looking for as a starting date? I mean we can try and replicate a huge list of every story in the MU, but I'm not sure what you want.

The cosmic stuff has been dormant for quite some time, and the 3 annhilation trades have more then covered most of the big events.

For recent Mutant related stuff, The Decimation events would clock in at #2.5 on my list. read them in the following order-

Decimation, the day after
the 198
Generation M

The best Mutant-related stuff, IMO, is Peter David's X-factor (it also deals with the fallout from house of M and the civil war for a bit, so that's a nice tie-in) and Joss Whedon's Astonishing. If you're looking for a reading order to get her involved in the current big event going on in the X-men corner of the MU (Messiah CompleX, and I do recomend it) I'd ask on the X-Forums. They're very charming helpful people... well most of them are. ;)

[firstmode]

Thanks for the answer! I appreciate it.

If we can go back to the mid to late 90's with just the Large MU type events (cosmic and earth based) that would be good.

With the mutant stuff, House of M is a good starting point, probably do not need much stuff before that time

[firstmode]

What Major events happened before Avengers dissasembled?

What Cosmic stories are best to read, going back as far as you want.

I know about Infinity Guantlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Annihilation, Annihilation Conquest, etc

[firstmode]

Found Some more info on crossovers, so I am posting them here so they can be properly placed in the reading timeline:

X-Cutioner's Song (Marvel Comics)
X-Factor #84-86
X-Force #16, 17
Uncanny X-Men #294-296
X-Men #15, 16

X-Tinction Agenda (Marvel Comics)
New Mutants #95-97
X-Factor #60-62
Uncanny X-Men #270-272

Subterranean Wars (Marvel Comics)
#01 - Avengers Annual #20
#02 - Incredible Hulk Annual #17
#03 - Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #1
#04 - Iron Man Annual #12
#05 - Avengers West Coast Annual #6


Terminus Factor (Marvel Comics)
#01 - Captain America Annual #9
#02 - Iron Man Annual #11
#03 - Thor Annual #15
#04 - Avengers West Coast Annual #5
#05 - Avengers Annual #19

Secret Wars II (Marvel Comics)
Alpha Flight #28
Amazing Spiderman #268, 273, 274
Avengers #260, 261, 265, 266
Captain America #308
Cloak and Dagger #4
Daredevil #223
Dazzler #40
Defenders #152
Dr. Strange #74
Fantastic Four #282, 285, 288
Incredible Hulk #312, 313
Iron Man #197
Micronauts #16
New Mutants #30, 36, 37
Power Man and Iron Fist #121
Power Pack #18
Rom #72
Secret Wars II #1-9
Spectacular Spiderman #111
Thing #30
Thor #363, 383
Web of Spiderman #6
Uncanny X-Men #196, 202, 203

Phalanx Covenant (Marvel Comics)
Excalibur #82
Wolverine #85
X-Factor #106
X-Force #38
Uncanny X-Men #343, 344
X-Men #36, 37

Operation Galactic Storm (Marvel Comics)
#01 - Captain America #398
#02 - Avengers West Coast #80
#03 - Quasar #32
#04 - Wonder Man #7 #05 - Avengers #345
#06 - Iron Man #278
#07 - Thor #445
#08 - Captain America #399
#09 - Avengers West Coast #81
#10 - Quasar #33
#11 - Wonder Man #8
#12 - Avengers #346
#13 - Iron Man #279
#14 - Thor #446
#15 - Captain America #400
#16 - Avengers West Coast #82
#17 - Quasar #34
#18 - Wonder Man #9
#19 - Avengers #347
Wrap-Up: Captain America #401
Conclusion: Quasar #35, 36

Onslaught (Marvel Comics)
Amazing Spiderman #415
Avengers #400, 401, 402
Cable #31- 35
Captain America #454
Excalibur #99-101
Fantastic Four #414 - 416
Generation X #15-19
Green Goblin #12, 13
Incredible Hulk #444, 445
Iron Man #331, 332
Onslaught: Epilogue #1
Onslaught: Marvel #1
Onslaught: X-Men #1
Punisher #11 (2nd series)
Sensational Spiderman #8
Spectacular Spiderman #237
Spiderman #72
Thor #502
Wolverine #93, 104, 105
X-Factor #124-126
Uncanny X-Men #331, 333-336
X-Men #46, 49, 50, 53-56
X-Men: Onslaught #1
X-Men Unlimited #11, 12

Mutant Massacre (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil #238
New Mutants #46
Power Pack #27
Thor #373, 374
X-Factor #9-11
Uncanny X-Men #210-214

Maximum Carnage (Marvel Comics)
#01- Spiderman Unlimited #1
#02 - Web of Spiderman #101
#03 - Amazing Spiderman #378
#04 - Spiderman #35
#05 - Spectacular Spiderman #201
#06 - Web of Spiderman #102
#07 - Amazing Spiderman #379
#08 - Spiderman #36
#09 - Spectacular Spiderman #202

Maximum Clonage (Marvel Comics)
#01 - Spiderman: Maximum Clonage Alpha
#02 - Web of Spiderman #127
#04 - Spiderman #61
#05 - Spectacular Spiderman #227

Korvac Quest (Marvel Comics)
#01 - Fantastic Four Annual #24
#02 - Thor Annual #16
#03 - Silver Surfer Annual #4
#04 - Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1

Inferno (Marvel Comics)
Amazing Spider-Man #311, 312, 313
Avengers #298, 299, 300Cloak and Dagger #4
Damage Control (Vol. 1) #4
Daredevil #262, 263, 265
Excalibur #6, 7
Fantastic Four #322, 323
New Mutants #71, 72, 73
Power Pack #42, 43, 44
Spectacular Spider-Man #146, 147, 148
X-Factor #36, 37, 38, 39
X-Terminators #1, 2, 3, 4
Uncanny X-Men #239, 240, 241, 242, 243
Web of Spider-Man #47, 48

Fall of the Mutants (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil #252
New Mutants #59-61
X-Factor #24-26
Uncanny X-Men #225-227

Fatal Attractions (Marvel Comics)
Excalibur #71
Wolverine #75
X-Factor #92
X-Force #25
Uncanny X-Men #304
X-Men #25


Evolutionary War (Marvel Comics)
#01 - X-Factor Annual #3
#02 - Punisher Annual #1
#03 - Silver Surfer Annual #1
#04 - New Mutants Annual #4
#05 - Fantastic Four Annual #21
#06 - Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22
#07 - Uncanny X-Men Annual #12
#08 - Web of Spider-Man Annual #4
#09 - West Coast Avengers Annual #3
#10 - Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8
#11 - Avengers Annual #17


Citizen Kang (Marvel Comics)
#01 - Captain America Annual #11
#02 - Thor Annual #17
#03 - Fantastic Four #25
#04 - Avengers Annual #21

Atlantis Attacks (Marvel Comics)
#01 - Silver Surfer Annual #2
#02 - Iron Man Annual #10
#03 - X-Men Annual #13
#04 - Amazing Spider Man Annual #23
#05 - Punisher Annual #2
#06 - Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9
#07 - Daredevil Annual #4 (Mislabeled; really Annual #5)
#08 - Avengers Annual #18
#09 - New Mutants Annual #5
#10 - X-Factor Annual #4
#11 - Web of Spider-Man Annual #5
#12 - Avengers West Coast Annual #4
#13 - Thor Annual #14
#14 - Fantastic Four Annual #22

Acts of Vengeance (Marvel Comics)
Alpha Flight #79, 80
Amazing Spiderman #326- 329
Avengers #311, 312, 313
Avengers Spotlight #26, 27, 28, 29 (Epilogue)
Avengers West Coast #53, 54, 55
Captain America #365- 367
Cloak and Dagger #8- 10
Damage Control V2 #1-4
Daredevil #275, 276
Doctor Strange #11-13 (3rd series)
Fantastic Four #334, 335, 336
Incredible Hulk #363
Iron Man #250-252
Moon Knight #8, 9, 10
New Mutants #84, 85, 86
Power Pack #53
Punisher #28, 29
Punisher War Journal #12, 13
Quasar #5, 6
Spectacular Spider-Man # 158, 159, 160
Thor #411, 412, 413 (413 unofficial)
Web of Spiderman #59-61, 64, 65
Wolverine #19, 20
X-Factor #50
X-Men #256, 257, 258

[firstmode]

What are the major Kree and Skrull events in the Marvel universe?

I know Operation Galactic storm is about the Krees Vs the Earth, but what about all the Kree Skrull war stuff?

[Nightstar1441]

What are the major Kree and Skrull events in the Marvel universe?

I know Operation Galactic storm is about the Krees Vs the Earth, but what about all the Kree Skrull war stuff?

I forget what issues they were specifically but if I remember correctly this war was covered in volume 1 of the Avengers and Fantastic Four and crossed into and ended in their annuals.

[agrich]

Just curious, are you trying to get your wife interested in comics, or is she already a fan and wants to get caught up on all this stuff?

Because if I were getting my wife into comics, I'd probably try to give her something better than a lot of the "event" stuff. I mean, some of that stuff is really bad.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

I totally agree with agrich. If your wife isn't already familiar with these characters, these "events" may be a bad idea.

From your point of view, they're awesome because you know everyone from everyone else. From her perspective (assuming she's not as knowledgeable), she will probably be really lost and not get the same enjoyment out of it.

If she's a Marvel newbie, try introducing her to some books that are primarily character-driven and secondarily, tied into the MU in small ways. Good starts would be Inhumans vol. III (Jenkins/Lee) or Sentinel (McKeever/Udon).

If I'm wrong and she's totally familiar with all these characters, here are some big crossovers from the late 80s/early 90s:

Secret War
Secret War II
Inferno
Acts of Vengeance
Atlantis Attacks
Evolutionary War

[firstmode]

She is familiar, but not with their long histories. But she loves crossovers, read avengers dissasembled, lots of the new avengers stuff, halfway through civil war, most of Annihilation, and also read infinity guantlet. She loves the stuff when all the heroes come together to solve a problem, etc.

I would say she would be more interested in Avengers based crossovers, stuff like Kree Skrull War, Operation Galactic Storm, stuff like that.

So is Evolutionary War Good? What about onslaught?

[Flâneur]

What about onslaught?

Do not get Onslaught. I repeat, DO NOT GET ONSLAUGHT. It is foulness of the highest order.

[Nova3333]

Although I'm not married I'd like to see how you guys place all of that list in Chronlogical and Continuity order! Make it a Christmas Project! And make First Mode a happy guy! Cause Christmas is a time of giving...I think.

[firstmode]

Well, I only asked here because I know a lot of people like to put their knowlege of comics to use and would like to tackle a continuity/timeline project. I know I do not mind figuring out reading orders on many things I know about.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

Although I haven't re-read it since it was first released, I thought the Onslaught saga was a pretty cool read.

[firstmode]

Never read Onslought myself

[jimmyboy]

I was going to start a thread on this topic, so I'm glad I found this one. :)

I'm pretty Marvel-illiterate when it comes to the last fifteen years or so. I quit reading comics back in the late 80's, and in recent years have spent the majority of my time catching up mostly with DC, and earlier Marvel. Now I'm wanting to focus more on Marvel again (my first love). Over the last four or five years I've read a lot of the Essentials, which are as the name says, essential in understanding the Marvel Universe.

I'm going to pick up storyline collections, and am looking at Secret War, Disassembled, House of M, Decimation, and Civil War. Is that the order in which they should be read?

I'm also needing help with Marvel storylines since the early 90's, especially in the order they should be read. So let's get on that project, people! :cool:

[Slyfer]

Onslaught Saga was pretty rad, try to read onl the X-men main books and the Fantastic Four Books and then the Onslaught MArvel Universe book.


The Kree Skrull war occured in Avenger I think from Issue # 87

[Expletive Deleted]

The order of the events themselves? Chronological and consecutive.

Seriously, detailed "reading order" lists only have relevance when you're talking about things that are being published concurrently (give or take). If BIG CROSSOVER #4 and TIE-IN MAN #27 come out the same week, it can be helpful to know if one would inadvertently spoil the other. But when you're talking about the order in which BIG CROSSOVER (from 1997) and BIG EVENT (from 1998) should be read . . . well, come on.

[jimmyboy]

The order of the events themselves? Chronological and consecutive.

Seriously, detailed "reading order" lists only have relevance when you're talking about things that are being published concurrently (give or take). If BIG CROSSOVER #4 and TIE-IN MAN #27 come out the same week, it can be helpful to know if one would inadvertently spoil the other. But when you're talking about the order in which BIG CROSSOVER (from 1997) and BIG EVENT (from 1998) should be read . . . well, come on.
LOL, "TIE-IN MAN"... :)

As for me, I'm not really looking at order in which they should be read. I shouldn't have said it that way. I meant "order in which they came out". I have found collections of various story lines but simply don't know which ones came out when. Even that's not so important because Google is our friend, and I can find out when a known story line came out. People have mentioned Onlsaught, Age of Apocalypse, and some others. So...what else? (Sorry for extreme ignorance here...)

I guess what I really need is a comprehensive list of the major story lines of the last 15 years-ish. If I know what they are then I can find out when they were published, and I can begin to start catching up.

The last major Marvel storyline I remember following was the Mutant Massacre, and the first three years or so of X-Factor. After that, I've only read random issues here and there.

[matthewaos]

15 years before there was the age of apocalypse, and the clone saga. Then Onslaught. Then Heroes reborn/return. Are there any other major storylines during the 90s?

[Expletive Deleted]

The last major Marvel storyline I remember following was the Mutant Massacre, and the first three years or so of X-Factor. After that, I've only read random issues here and there.The X-Men have had a lot of events over the years. Between the late '80s and the late '90s, there was roughly one per year. After the Mutant Massacre (1986), there was Fall of the Mutants (1987). Then Inferno (1989). Then X-Tinction Agenda (1990). Then the Muir Island Saga (1991). Then X-Cutioner's Song (1992). Then Fatal Attractions (1993). Then Phalanx Covenant (1994). Then Age of Apocalypse (1995). Then Onslaught (1996). Then Operation: Zero Tolerance (1997).

With a few exceptions, the post-Inferno crossovers didn't venture too far outside of the X-Men books and their spin-offs. It's almost a running gag by now that the X-Men universe and the overall Marvel Universe don't interact all that much. Through the early '90s, the rest of the MU had occasional events of their own with little-to-no X-Men interaction. There was Acts of Vengeance (1989-90), Infinity Gauntlet (1991), Operation: Galactic Storm (1992), Infinity War (1992), Blood Ties (1993), and Infinity Crusade (1993). The "Infinity" events were connected, but the others didn't really have much to do with each other.

It's worth mentioning that Bloodties and Onslaught were the exceptions to the X-Men/MU split, with the latter being the trigger for the Heroes Reborn (1997) and then the Heroes Return (1998) publishing initiatives (I wouldn't really call them "events," but they had event branding).

In the tail end of the '90s and the early '00s, the "crossover event" trend died out for a while. There were some big storylines and occasional crossovers, but nothing that really rose to the level of the mid-'90s extravaganzas. That changed with Avengers: Disassembled (2004), which led into House of M (2005). Then we had Civil War (2006) and Planet Hulk/World War Hulk (2006/2007). Up next, Secret Invasion (2008). Concurrently, we have the off-on-its-own space saga of Annihilation (2006-7) and Annihilation: Conquest (2007-8).

The latest twist is the pre-event/post-event branding in between the big crossovers (Decimation, Road to Civil War, The Initiative, Aftersmash). They're not really crossovers in and of themselves, but there tends to be a degree of thematic overlap.

Oh, and the X-Men books are back on the crossover train with Messiah Complex.

Does that help?

[jimmyboy]

Does that help?
That's exactly what I needed! Thanks much! :)

Maybe soon I'll be able to contribute more to this forum, like you guys do. :cool:

[matthewaos]

The X-Men have had a lot of events over the years. Between the late '80s and the late '90s, there was roughly one per year. After the Mutant Massacre (1986), there was Fall of the Mutants (1987). Then Inferno (1989). Then X-Tinction Agenda (1990). Then the Muir Island Saga (1991). Then X-Cutioner's Song (1992). Then Fatal Attractions (1993). Then Phalanx Covenant (1994). Then Age of Apocalypse (1995). Then Onslaught (1996). Then Operation: Zero Tolerance (1997).

With a few exceptions, the post-Inferno crossovers didn't venture too far outside of the X-Men books and their spin-offs. It's almost a running gag by now that the X-Men universe and the overall Marvel Universe don't interact all that much. Through the early '90s, the rest of the MU had occasional events of their own with little-to-no X-Men interaction. There was Acts of Vengeance (1989-90), Infinity Gauntlet (1991), Operation: Galactic Storm (1992), Infinity War (1992), Blood Ties (1993), and Infinity Crusade (1993). The "Infinity" events were connected, but the others didn't really have much to do with each other.

It's worth mentioning that Bloodties and Onslaught were the exceptions to the X-Men/MU split, with the latter being the trigger for the Heroes Reborn (1997) and then the Heroes Return (1998) publishing initiatives (I wouldn't really call them "events," but they had event branding).

In the tail end of the '90s and the early '00s, the "crossover event" trend died out for a while. There were some big storylines and occasional crossovers, but nothing that really rose to the level of the mid-'90s extravaganzas. That changed with Avengers: Disassembled (2004), which led into House of M (2005). Then we had Civil War (2006) and Planet Hulk/World War Hulk (2006/2007). Up next, Secret Invasion (2008). Concurrently, we have the off-on-its-own space saga of Annihilation (2006-7) and Annihilation: Conquest (2007-8).

The latest twist is the pre-event/post-event branding in between the big crossovers (Decimation, Road to Civil War, The Initiative, Aftersmash). They're not really crossovers in and of themselves, but there tends to be a degree of thematic overlap.

Oh, and the X-Men books are back on the crossover train with Messiah Complex.

Does that help?

Wow, that was good. I have one question, though a little off topic. Has Inferno been collected in TPB?

[Expletive Deleted]

Has Inferno been collected in TPB?Yes. I believe it's out of print, though.