Where to start with Cosmic books?

[Dtm07]

Is there a specific reading order for the Cosmic books? Where is a good place to start?

[XPac]

The first Annihilation event was probably the big launching point for the recent cosmic stuff. Afterwards you can pretty much track the books by events... Annihilation, Conquest, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, Thanos Imperative.

If you want to go back a few decades you can also look for the Infinity Gauntlet. That was pretty fun.

[Wellman]

The first Annihilation event was probably the big launching point for the recent cosmic stuff. Afterwards you can pretty much track the books by events... Annihilation, Conquest, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, Thanos Imperative.

If you want to go back a few decades you can also look for the Infinity Gauntlet. That was pretty fun.

Exactly, jumping into Marvel's cosmic side is probably easier to do then any other portion, mainly because for years it has been streamlined through its events and just two ongoing series.

[Telos]

Annihilation Book One
Annihilation Book Two
Annihilation Book Three
Annihilation: Conquest Book One
Annihilation: Conquest Book Two
(Nova vol 1 includes Nova #1-7, but Annihilation: Conquest also has #4-7. I don't know about you but I hate double-dipping, so I'd skip vol 1. It doesn't really matter if skipped, Nova is introduced in Annihilation anyway)
Nova vol 2: Knowhere
Guardians of the Galaxy: Legacy
Nova vol 3: Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion: Inhumans (prelude to War of Kings)
Nova vol 4: Nova Corps
Emperor Vulcan (prelude to War of Kings)
War of Kings
Guardians of the Galaxy: War of Kings vol 1
Nova vol 5: War of Kings
Guardans of the Galaxy: War of Kings vol 2
Realm of Kings
Nova vol 6: Realm of Kings
Guardians of the Galaxy: Realm of Kings
The Thanos Imperative

[Dr. Balls]

I guess it depends on where you want to start, too. Lots and lots of Bronze Age cosmic stuff is out there. I generally try to limit myself to Thanos/Warlock/Captain Marvel-centric stories when going old school:

Captain Marvel 25-33
Warlock 9-11 and 15
Avengers 125 and Annual 7
Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2
Silver Surfer (vol 2) 34-36
Thanos Quest 1-2
Which all leads into The Infinity Gauntlet series.

I've been re-reading all of these, so I can get up to speed on the new cosmic stuff (I stopped reading in 1996 and started back up about a year ago)

[Mr. Rice]

But yeah, the first Annihilation Event is the perfect starting place.

You should be able to get the trades pretty cheap.

[squashmaster]

Don't forget the Thanos miniseries, specifically issues 7-12. 1-6 kinda suck. Sad, really, since Jim Starlin defined Thanos and all Marvel cosmic up to that point, but man he threw it all away. Keith Giffen for the rescue, though.

Also the Drax miniseries. Both important lead-ups to Annihilation.

[Talisman]

Kinda related, but not, I guess. I have almost every issue of the 70's run on Captain Marvel, but have yet to read it. How was it? I also have the short Guardians of the Galaxy in the Marvel Super Heroes with some art by Al Milgrom, how were these two series?