War of Kings must read comics?

[Green Man]

I've been away from the x-titles (except Astonishing) for a while and it seems they are becoming involved with the comics I do, read namely Nova, with War of Kings.

Now I know the basics of Vulcan and his involvment with the Shi'ar, but I was wondering if some one could tell me which x-comics are must reads to get some of the important background before reading War of Kings.

Thanks in advance for any help.

GM.:smile:

[Mitteloss]

I recommend:


Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire (UXM #475- 486)
X-Men: Emperor Vulcan (#1- 5)
X-Men: Kingbreaker (#1- 4)- #1 and #2 out now and WoK lead-in

All are relevant to WoK and the story of Vulcan, the Shi'Ar and the Starjammers, particularly the last two.

If you really want to go to the origins of Vulcan, you may want to pick up X-Men: Deadly Genesis, but that's unnecessary imo.

[$5 Milkshake]

Ed Brubaker's initial 12 part? arc is called "Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire", and that's extremely relevant to War of Kings. I believe its been released in trade. There's been at least one mini about Havok and the Starjammers that would probably be important, but I didn't read them and I forget the names, so I'll let somebody else fill in on that one.

EDIT: Yeah, Mitteloss has you covered there.

[gorthon616]

Kingbreaker is the only thing that really relevant so far. The Nova/Guardians stuff looks to be independent of War of Kings at the moment, though that could change.

To be honest, the X-Men stuff hasn't been that great. And if you know "Vulcan is evil and in charge of the Shiar," the rest is fairly self-explanatory or in the alternative isn't really all that important to have a deeper understanding of.

Much of the Rise/Fall storyline is irrelevant since over half the cast from that storyline isn't here anymore. The immediate plot to Emperor Vulcan is also looking to be not-relevant to War of Kings, aside from "how did Raza, Chod, Polaris, and Havok end-up where they are at the start of Kingbreaker." Which isn't exactly complex in itself, nor do they stay there for long anyways.

I would infinitely recommend Secret Invasions: Inhumans over the X-Men stuff. I thought that series has been the best of the lead-in/tie-ins so far.

There is also War of Kings SAGA that gives a summary of everything if that would be something you'd be interested in.

[Green Man]

Thanks for those suggestions everyone, I'd forgotten about the Saga book, that might be the easiest to get a hold off for a summary.

Also I've moved more into getting trades now (except for a few) so I may consider getting the Vulcan stuff in trade.

Thanks again for all the advice.

GM:smile:

[$5 Milkshake]

Much of the Rise/Fall storyline is irrelevant since over half the cast from that storyline isn't here anymore.

While I thought the story was mediocre, it's certainly NOT irrelevant. I mean, it contains Vulcan's entire coup of the Shi'ar Empire. AND Havok and the Starjammer's motivation, the entire reason they're involved at all in War of Kings. It's definitely relevant to the event.

[Assemble]

X-Men KingBreaker is worth every penny... I suggest it 100 percent.

As far as X-titles go, I put it right behind X-Force... and X-Force is one of my favorite titles of all time... if not my favorite.