Guide Part 4 (House of M)

A White Flash and The Marvel Universe is Changed!

Amazingly, after the success of X-Men arcs like “Days of Future Past” in the 80’s and Age of Apocalypse in the 90’s, Marvel was fairly patient getting to their alternate reality X-drama this decade. The wait is well worth it, as House of M offers arguably the best Marvel event of the 2000’s, piggy-backing off the developments of Avengers Disassembled and catapulting into a brave new world of mutants and M’s.

You can view the Trade Reading Timeline for House of M below, along with an issue-by-issue rundown for Marvel Unlimited to close. As always, if you have questions or concerns with the order, feel free to contact Comic Book Herald. Enjoy!

Previously: Avengers Disassembled and Tie-Ins

House of M Trade Reading Timeline

• Exaclibur (11-14)
  • This trade is considered a House of M prelude. Issue number 14 is good and a worthwhile prelude to the story, but this trade as a whole is for completists and Claremont fanatics only.
• House of M: Civil War (1-5)
  • This series was actually released a few years after House of M, but it develops Magneto’s rise to power in the House of M universe. 
• House of M (1-8)
  • As with any of the major events, technically, reading the entire trade will overlap many of the earlier tie-in issues. You can see the issue by issue breakdown below, but personally I enjoy consuming the entire event trade and then going back and filling in the details with the tie-ins. With the good ones (and House of M is among the good ones), you won’t feel like you’re missing anything.
• House of M: Masters of Evil (1-4)
• House of M: Avengers(1-5)
  • Like House of M: Civil War, both of the previous trades were written a few years after House of M to fill in the history of the universe. As far as the chronology of the House of M universe goes, these two trades technically occur before House of M and you could read them as such. I include them after because I prefer the knowledge of the main event, but the choice is yours. Do ya thing, baby girl, do ya thing.
• House of M: Fantastic Four/Iron Man(1-3/1-3)
  • Several of the House of M tie-ins are packaged together as trades, although this has more to do with convenience and size of the trade than any connection between the arcs. In this case, Fantastic Four should be read before Iron Man.
• House of M: Spider-Man (1-5)
• House of M: The Incredible Hulk (83-87)
• House of M: World of M. featuring Wolverine
  • In addition to the Wolverine collection, this trade collects the Captain America, Black Panther, Cable & Deadpool, and The Pulse tie-ins. 
• Mutopia X, New Mutants, Exiles, Ms. Marvel
  • This trade (only look at the name after you’ve finished House of M!!!) collects the less prominent mutant lines throughout the House of M universe, along with the giant-size Ms. Marvel tie-in and a Decimation lead-in. Decimation comes next in the trade reading order, so definitely save this “Day After” issue for last!

The Official Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited Event Reading Order

• Excalibur #13-14 (prelude)
  • As I mentioned in the Avengers Disassembled guide, I do not recommend the Exaclibur trade. It has a lot of potential as a series featuring Magneto and Professor X, but the execution is abysmal. 
• House of M #1-2
  • Technically Marvel Unlimited orders these issues differently (pretty much by publication date) but the next few issues won’t make nearly as much sense if you haven’t at least covered the first two issues of the main House of M arc.
• Fantastic Four: House of M #1
• Spider-Man: House of M #1
• Iron Man: House of M #1
• House of M #3
• Incredible Hulk #83
• Uncanny X-Men #462
• Mutopia X #1
• Spider-Man: House of M #2
• House of M #4
• Cable & Deadpool #17
• Incredible Hulk #84
• The Pulse #10
• New X-Men #16
• Fantastic Four: House of M #2
• Iron Man: House of M #2
• Uncannly X-Men #463
• House of M #5
• New Thunderbolts #11
• Incredible Hulk #85
• Mutopia X #2
• Spider-Man: House of M #3
• Black Panther #7
• New X-Men #17
• Fantastic Four: House of M #3
• Iron Man: House of M #3
• Exiles #69
• Incredible Hulk #86
• Uncanny X-Men #464
• Mutopia X #3
• Captain America #10
• Exiles #70
• Spider-Man: House of M #4
• New X-Men #18
• Wolverine #33
• Uncanny X-Men #465
• House of M #6
• Mutopia X #4
• House of M #7
• Wolverine #34
• Exiles #71
• New X-Men #19
• Wolverine #35
• Spider-Man: House of M #5
• House of M #8
• Giant Size Ms. Marvel #1

Next: Decimation and Tie-Ins + Comics Between House of M and Civil War

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