The World of X Gets Decimated
As if life wasn’t hard enough being a mutant, the events of House of M change what it means to be unique forever (or at least until later in the decade). The Decimation series of trades focuses on the House of M fallout in the mutant community.
With the exception of Son of M, which features slightly broader Marvel universe horizons, the collection of trade comics below is very X-Men/Kids/Women/Pets heavy. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, and you couldn’t wait to get through House of M, jump on ahead towards Civil War.
Otherwise, enjoy the uphill battle facing Marvel’s mutants below!
Previously: House of M & Tie-Ins
Related: X-Men Reading Order
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Decimation Trade Reading Timeline
- Decimation: X-Men – The Day After (Decimation: House of M – Day After one shot & X-Men 177-181)
- As mentioned in the House of M guide, the Decimation: Day After one shot is included in the Mutant-focused trade that concludes the trade reading order. If you’ve already purchased it among the House of M tie-ins, I’d be cautious purchasing this trade. But as always, it’s your world, do what you wanna do.
- New X-Men (20-23)
- Decimation: X-Men – Generation M (1-5)
- Decimation: Sentinel Squad O*N*E (1-5)
- X-Men: The 198 (1-5 + oneshot)
- Decimation: X-Men – Son of M (1-5)
- Uncanny X-Men #466 to #474
- New Excalibur(1-5)
- You might want to check out this trade if only for the Amazon reviews. Brutal!
- X-Men: Deadly Genesis (1-6)
- Uncanny X-men: Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire (475 – 486)
- Not a direct decimation tie-in, but appropriate follow-up to Deadly Genesis and fills in some important X-Men gaps.
- X-Factor, Vol. 1 (1-6)
- X-Men: Endangered Species
- The Endangered Species arc can be a challenge to read in order as it largely ran as bonus pages in the back of various X-lines. The Trade collects the entire arc (focusing on Beast’s efforts to solve the Mutant problem – it involves The High Evolutionary, Dr. Strange, and The Scarlet Witch) which makes everything much easier. If you want to start reading in Marvel Unlimited, you can do that here.
Issue by Issue Decimation Reading Order
Decimation: House of M: The Day After #1
Sentinel Squad #1-5
New X-Men #20
Mutopia X #5
X-Men #177-179
New X-Men #21-23
X-Men #180-181
Son of M #1-6
X-Men: The 198 #1-5
Generation M #1-5
X-Factor #1-6
X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6
Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire (#475 – #486)
X-Men: Endangered Species (One-shot, back-up issues)
Next: Comics Getting You From House of M to Civil War + Civil War & Tie-Ins
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glassneedles says
Finished this one as well and just had a few comments on mis-titled for (unlimited) or things that are missing:
Sentinel Squad is in under Sentinel Squad O*N*E*.
Uncanny X-Men’s decimation tie in is skipped out from the unlimited section. Should have issues 466–474.
X-Men 182-187 is on the next page however these issues explain how Polaris got her powers back and I think should be moved from there and put here.
Wolverine’s decimation pages are on the next page as well. Not really anything major here but I think they should be here.
X-Men Unlimited is also completely missing. Also nothing major here I just liked that how the stories tended to be lighter than the main series.
Mike says
Looks like the immediate aftermath/Decimation run of Uncanny X-Men is in your trade order but not your issue by issue order. People might be confused if they skip the trade listings.
Keep up the awesome work! I’ve only read through as many comics as I have because of following this site. The 1999-2004 was a big slug to get through, but I’m so glad I did! Daredevil Vol. 3, 1-8 might be my favorite run.
Thanks for all you do.
Lee says
I LOVE YOU, I’m not sure if i would have ever brought myself to get back into comics in a heavy way if it wasn’t for your extremely accessible website.
Dave says
Hey thanks! That’s awesome, and I’m glad you like the site.
Enjoy the comics!
Rotzlucky says
Hi Dave,
Could you clear up a little confusion for me.
The Backup issues for Endangered Species skip 14 issues of X-factor and 17 issues of New x-Men. Are they irrelevant for continuity?
And how first X-Men vol2 in your guides. Can’t remember to have read an issue of that.
Rotzlucky says
Edit: should be fits not first
Javier Gutiérrez says
Where is Wolverine 37-40 , Uncanny X-Men 466-468, X-Men Unlimited #13 ?
MGHG says
Maybe there should be a link to “Marvel Comics Between House of M & Civil War” instead of the link to the Civil War reading order?
Sarah says
Hi!
So recently I have read Avengers Disassembled & House of M and I enjoy them very much, thanks to your guide. Right now I am really curious to continue reading on Decimation and a friend of mine suggested a few websites that provide reading order for Decimation. I checked on those websites to look for the best and the most accurate one. The thing is I’ve noticed that each of them, including the reading order that you have provided here, are different from each other. What do you think about it? Is it okay to just read them with any reading order?
Thank you so much!
scooter says
He has two reading orders. One based on time line the other based on publication. I stumbled upon disassembled , house of m, and other comic events based on the direction marvel unlimited has guided me…with a small glance at Wikipedia as my guide. I still prefer to follow the way I discovered….the publication order. However, I like that he has taken the time to post the time line reading order for reference. But it makes me feel like I am forgetting to read stuff and get side tracked. I just stick with reading as I discover it while staying within the cosmic event.
Sarah says
Hi! So recently I have read Avengers Disassembled and House of M, and right now I am really curious to continue reading Decimation. The thing is,
Skarcosjr says
Is there a follow up trade to Son of M? It seems like it ends with a lot of unresolved issues. The Inhumans have given given the impression they intend on fighting to see their crystals returned. We’re not quite sure what is to become of Pietro. The story seems far from over.
Dave says
Check out Silent War
Kenn says
Your blog is awesome! I have to say that if I had not found your guides when I first tried out Marvel Unlimited last summer, I might not have stuck with MU. Having quit collecting comics in the late 90’s, going back and reading these series that you highlight has been a lot of fun so far.
One note on this one, In your house of M guide we stop Uncanny X-Men at 465, and then in this one it starts with 475. So you would jump from Polaris having no powers to her having them in 475. Considering the Apocalypse story fits neatly in between these to Tie-In series, it might be worth noting them as optional connecting issues here in this guide.
Tomodachi says
Man, just finished Rise and fall of the shi’ar empire and it was SO good, I really REALLY liked it, just my cup of tea I guess. Where do I find the rest of that story?
Also, I’m going to start Endangered Species on Unlimited but there’s both the one-shot and the 17 back-up stories. Which comes first?
As usual, thanks for the amazing guide, I would be lost without it.
Josh D says
I was also wondering this on whether or not we need to read the back up stories and if so do we read those prior to the main endangered species one shot? Thanks for the amazing guides and awesome work 🙂
Tomodachi says
I ended up following the trade order (the one shot first, then the back up stories) and it turned out it was the right one. The one shot is some sort of introduction while the back up stories are the meatiest part of the series, so no sense in skipping them. It’s a good story, especially if you like Beast and villains I guess. If you’re antsy to go forward with the reading guide you can also skip it however, it’s not strictly fundamental canon-wise imho.
Josh D says
Thanks for the good response! This helps a ton!
Hugo says
Dave,
Fantastic website! Would like to know if I can go straight to Messiah complex after decimation, or should I pick up the civil war storyline and other books before reading it?
Thanks!
Dave says
I kind of think you could, yeah. The X-Men dont play a very big role in Civil War.
Matt says
I know its not completely a decimation tie in, but you should add the optional reading order of uncanny x-men #475-486. Just to explain Xavier regaining his powers. It’s confusing to jump straight to endangered species from deadly genesis #5 where xavier is human and then using telepathy in endangered. Just a thought thanks
Dave says
Good call – guide has been updated!
Joe says
And actually, while we’re on that path, following the guide as you’ve set it up we’ve missed a lot of what goes on with Apocalypse. There’s another X-Man “event” (“Blood of Apocalypse”) that I imagine fills in a lot of missing links like why Xavier is still in the mansion after Scott told him to leave, and why Lorna/Polaris seems to have some powers even though she was with some weird alien Ghostbusters mutant wannabe thing last time we saw her. And I feel like Havok was with her, too, but he was somehow around for the other decimation stuff…X-Men timelines are weird. Too many comics running at the same time.
Zach says
I noticed that the issues of Uncanny X-Men that are between House of M and the Shi’ar Empire story (466-474) are in the trade reading order, but not the issue-by-issue one. Is there any reason for this? The first few of these are directly tied to Decimation, it seems odd not to include them.
Alex says
Hi,
been looking at the guide, and it’s pretty straight forward to follow, except this one: am I supposed to be reading these right after your House of M reading guide? Or do I go through “Between House of M and CIvil War” first? Is one included in the other?
Thanks!
Dave says
Good question. Go with Decimation first. It’s more directly tied to the fallout of House of M.
Nick says
i haven’t gone page by page yet but can anyone tell me where joss whedons xmen run fits into all this loveliness?
Amor Arnautovic says
If you’re thinking Astonishing X-Men, then it’s at the beginning of the guide more or less. So way before this.
Nathan says
Agreed! A reading order for Marvel U would be awesome. Thank you for all of your hard work!
Dave says
Issue by Issue reading order for Marvel Unlimited has been added. Enjoy the comics!
Nathan says
You’re the best! Thanks!
Mark says
Dave you’ve left X- Men: Deadly Genesis #6 off the list, I take it, it should be #1-6 and not five?
Joe says
The trade order above says to read 1-6, I imagine it’s just a typo in the Marvel Unlimited order.
Alex says
Are you going to include an reading order for this one, similar to the other ones? I am going through these right now and really want them. Thanks for reading.