New to comics, looking for some advice

[Kebooo]

I've just recently started getting into comics (although I had a few when I was a kid, my interest has only been serious now), and I've got some Spawn comics - I generally like the dark setting.

But there was one X-men comic I had a kid that I always loved, and I never really knew what expanded upon it, or what series were the best "backstory" to it. It too seemed to have a darker setting than I usually attribute to x-men (although I don't know about the comics, I only watched the cartoon and the movies and read this one comic). There's just so much out there and I have a strong aversion to spoiling any major plot lines for myself (which seemingly all wikipedia articles are full of) that it's hard to find out which ones would best fit me. I went through a lot of the "new readers click here" topic and still was uncertain which ones would suit me.

This was the comic in question: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Xmenalpha.jpg

X-Men: Alpha, in the age of apocalypse setting.

I love the artwork of this particular comic and its setting, but I feel like I know very little about any of the characters, and from what I've read, this particular comic branches into multiple series? I'm not sure why it has to be all so confusing, but any help in which comics I should 1) buy to fill in the most backstory to this setting, and 2) buy to continue this same setting would be greatly appreciated.

[Samy]

Go to Amazon

Search for "Age of Apocalypse"

Buy the TPBs in volume numbered order. First 1, then 2, then 3 and so on.

You're done.

[The Lucky One]

Depending on Kebooo's interest level, he might actually want to start with volume 2. Kebooo- the Age of Apocalypse storyline was recently collected in a series of 5 trade paperbacks, told in chronological order. Volume 1 contains flashback stories, tales that occur prior to X-Men Alpha, the "official" start of the AoA. If I'm not mistaken, X-Men Alpha is the beginning of volume 2, and it proceeds from there.

-D

[Kebooo]

Shouldn't I read some of the characters' backstory before those? That's the setting I'm mostly interested in, but I'd like to know more about what happened before it unless it's entirely a separate series. I know there's hundreds or thousands of x-men comics so I can't read them all, but in the context of JUST the age of apocalypse series, what would be the best backstory to read?

[xgeek52]

if you're interested in th age of apocalyse, the back story of the characters is not in those books but in the actual x books...

memory is a little fuzzy right now but check wikipedi should give you the titles to the lead in...

read those first and you'll understand aoa and the characters a lot better...

[Samy]

There is no backstory before X-Men Alpha. It begins there. That's why it's called "Alpha". :D

There's "X-Men Chronicles", which is as close to backstory as you're going to get, but those were published after Alpha, and are after Alpha in the TPBs.

[xgeek52]

see this is the reason why marvel pisses me off sometime...

there is backstory -- it's just not in aoa...

and i'm talking the first one...

[Kebooo]

Well what I meant by backstory is any characters that have prominent roles in age of apocalypse that also appear in previous x-men comics. For example there are a lot of x-men regulars in x-men alpha, but I really don't know the storyline before age of apocalypse or who is going to play a big role in it. All I know about a character like Magneto is what I got from the cartoon and the movies. I would normally read the wikipedias, but I always end up spoiling important plot surprises. It's hard to find any comprehensive non-spoiler list of what I should get or what each series covers, without the details of what it covers being a spoiler.

[Samy]

You have a choice in front of you.

I know there's hundreds or thousands of x-men comics so I can't read them all, but in the context of JUST the age of apocalypse series, what would be the best backstory to read?

In the context of just AoA, there is no further backstory.

If you want to get to know the characters beyond AoA, there's about 500 issues of backstory.

You'll have to decide whether to plunge into just the AoA, or into the X-Men altogether. One has no backstory, one has tons.

[Maestro]

Read the issues of Uncanny and X-Men right before AOA started. Legion Quest would be good I think

[xgeek52]

thank you...couldn't remember the story arc title...

[The Lucky One]

There is no backstory before X-Men Alpha. It begins there. That's why it's called "Alpha". :D

There's "X-Men Chronicles", which is as close to backstory as you're going to get, but those were published after Alpha, and are after Alpha in the TPBs.

You might be thinking of the old, out-of-print TPB collections, Samy. In the recent "Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic" collections (don't look at me, I didn't call it an epic), X-Men Alpha is the beginning of volume 2.

Kebooo, it's entirely up to you. I certainly wouldn't tell you not to start with volume 1, it just depends on your interest level. The "main" story begins in volume 2. Volume 1 consists of miniseries' and one-shots, most of them published years later, that were meant to further flesh out the early years of the AoA for big fans. It's got things like the Blink miniseries that preceded Exiles, the X-Man annual that saw him returning to the AoA temporarily (but, like, 20 years before the events of X-Men Alpha), the X-Men Chronicles issues that show the X-Men's first mission, a Factor-X one-shot that showed Cyclops meeting Corsair. I haven't read most of those stories so I can't vouch for their quality, I'm just telling you that the "main" story begins in volume 2; volume 1 is the ancillary backstory.

http://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Complete-Apocalypse-Epic-Book/dp/0785117148

-D

[ComiXFanBoy]

Read the issues of Uncanny and X-Men right before AOA started. Legion Quest would be good I think
those were part of legion quest.

[Samy]

Thanks for correcting me, Lucky!

[Alex A Sanchez]

Well what I meant by backstory is any characters that have prominent roles in age of apocalypse that also appear in previous x-men comics. For example there are a lot of x-men regulars in x-men alpha, but I really don't know the storyline before age of apocalypse or who is going to play a big role in it. All I know about a character like Magneto is what I got from the cartoon and the movies. I would normally read the wikipedias, but I always end up spoiling important plot surprises. It's hard to find any comprehensive non-spoiler list of what I should get or what each series covers, without the details of what it covers being a spoiler.

I think what everyone here has failed to do so far is to explain to you that X-Men: Alpha is the opening book of a huge storyline called the Age of Apocalypse (or AoA). AoA is an alternate time-line.

This means that when Wolverine shows up with his hand cut off in X-Men: Alpha, none of the readers knew how he got that way. These were the same characters that we all knew and loved, but their back-stories all changed. Part of the fun of the AoA storyline was that as you read it, it backtracks and tells you how all of these character got to be the way that they are

So, in a nutshell (in the regular X-Men timeline):
1. Someone goes back into time and kills Xavier before he forms the X-Men.
2. As a result, Apocalypse takes over the world. AoA is about a different world in which Xavier never formed the X-Men.
3. Someone fixes everything. And everything went back to normal (almost :wink: ).


*When AoA first came out, it was a huge hit. Since then, many other stories have been written that took place in that alternate timeline to flesh the world out. I admit I haven't read any of these- but when those people above talk about the collected trades, those trades collect these extra stories which were told. The chronology is all messed up.

[ANewHope]

Age of Apocalypse was probably the best X-men stories that Marvel has ever published. It's definitely one of my favorites, if not the most favorite.

I remember the Xmen Chronicles featured in book 1, feature stories regarding how Magneto formed the Xmen in place of Xavier, and how rogue and him came to be. Much more than that and I can't remember anymore.

Can't go wrong with the Age of Apocalypse. 9 out of 10

But don't read what comes after the Age of Apocalypse ends. I think it's called AoA Omega, then there's X-men Prime. Do not read what comes after Prime, stop at that point!!

[Kebooo]

Alex, thanks for the clarification. I know old X-men characters were in X-men Alpha, so I figured all of their pasts were the same as whatever happened in the pre-AoA stories. I knew it was in the future, but didn't know the past was warped. So I guess I'll start with AoA and then go back to older comics someday when I'm finished with those.