One of the single most important periods of continuity and storytelling in the Marvel Universe occurs in between the events of House of M and the 2000’s linchpin, Civil War. House of M concludes towards the end of 2005, launching into it’s meaningful impact on the world of mutants in Decimation. This leaves almost half of 2006, though, for ongoing stories involving the non-mutant population in the Marvel U.
This time period covers a number of extremely important and fun runs, including Iron Man: Extremis,
Civil War has taken on additional importance in the wake of Marvel’s announcement that Civil War will form the foundation for Captain America 3’s film plot. These are the comics that work the Marvel Universe to that major event. Without further ado, the comics to read between House of M / Decimation and Civil War. If you have questions or feedback, let me hear it in the comments, or via e-mail or twitter.
Previously: House of M
Comics Getting You From House of M to Civil War
Ares: God of War #1 – #5 (Jan ’06)
Hulk: Destruction (May ’05)
Incredible Hulk #87 – #91 (Oct ’05)
In theory, you could continue reading Incredible Hulk #92 – #105 (the “Planet Hulk” storyline — and don’t forget Giant-Size Hulk #1 after Incredible Hulk #95!) at this point. Planet Hulk is completely awesome, so if you’re itching to get going, I wouldn’t blame you. That said, chronologically I think it works best to read “Peace in our Time” (the story linked above) to explain why the Hulk is absent during Civil War, and to then read Planet Hulk after Civil War and before World War Hulk. I think WWH has greater impact with Planet Hulk as the epic set-up.
Iron Man #1-6 (Jan ’05) – Extremis Storyline
Runaways #7 to #12 (July ’05)
Arana: Heart of the Spider #1-12 (March ’05)
Heart of the Spider is actually only the first volume, but that’s how the series is listed for all 12 issues in Marvel Unlimited.
Daughters of the Dragon #1-6 (March ’06)
Drax the Destroyer #1-4 (Nov ’05)
Toxin #1-6 (June ’05)
New Thunderbolts #13-18 (Nov ’05) (then becomes Thunderbolts)
Thunderbolts #100-102 (May ’06)
Black Widow: The Things They Say about Her #1-6 (Nov ’05)
Sentry #1-8 (Nov ’05)
Young Avengers Special #1
Captain America #9-14 (Dec ’05) (skip #10, that’s a House of M tie-in)
Blade #1-3 (Nov ’06)
She-Hulk #1-7 (Dec ’05)
Fantastic Four #527-535 (Aug ’05)
Spider-Man: The Other Crossover (Dec ’05)
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 1
Marvel Knights Spider-Man 19
Amazing Spider-Man 525
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 2
Marvel Knights Spider-Man 20
Amazing Spider-Man 526
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 3
Marvel Knights Spider-Man 21
Amazing Spider-Man 527
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 4
Marvel Knights Spider-Man 22
Amazing Spider-Man 528
Uncanny X-Men #466-474 (Jan ’06)
Wolverine #36-41 (Jan ’06)
Wolverine: Origins #1-15 (June ’06)
Astonishing X-Men #13-24 (April ’06)
Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1
Do not skip this Giant Size issue as it is actually the conclusion to Astonishing X-Men from Whedon and Cassaday!
Spider-Woman: Origin #1-5 (Feb ’06)
Cable & Deadpool #18-29 (Nov ’05)
Mythos (March ’06)
Sable & Fortune #1-4 (March ’06)
A warning from a loyal reader!
I’m a HUGE comic fan and take pride in relishing each and every issue on Dave’s lists. OK, some are bad, some don’t click personally, but I try to take something away from each one.
But THIS was a car crash. John Burns art isn’t my taste but I appreciate it. However why the need to have it look like a (bad) book from early 80’s? The writing absolutely blew as well incidentally. The 4th issue (of 4) the artist was changed to Laurenn McCubbin. Talk about a nail in the coffin! I could have gotten my 5 year old drunk, put a blindfold on him, shoved a pencil between his toes and got him to sketch out a better issue!
I really could go on and on but im sure the people involved have done other good things in their careers. This is not one of them. I was even on the 3rd last page of the 4th issue and (hand on heart) dozing, when I should be waiting on this huge payoff. God awful. ~ stopcloc
New Warriors #1-6 (Aug ’05)
The Pulse #11-14 (Nov ’05)
Captain America #15-21 (April ’06)
Daredevil #82-86 (April ’06)
Sensational Spider-man #23-27 (April ’06) – Formerly Marvel Knights Spider-Man
Iron Man #7-12 (Jun ’06)
Black Panther #10-17 (Jan ’06)
Read Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 in between Black Panther #14 and #15
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man #5-10 (May ’06)
X-Men: Apocalypse v. Dracula #1-4 (April ’06)
Ghost Rider #1-7 (Sept ’06)
New Avengers #16-20 (April ’06)
New Avengers Annual #1 (June ’06)
X-Men #182-187 (April ’06)
Moon Knight #1-6 (April ’06)
X-Factor #7 (July ’06)
X-23: Target X Issues: #1 to #6
Dr. Strange: The Oath (Dec ’06)
Annihilation (May ’06)
Ms. Marvel #1-5 (May ’06)
Next: Civil War
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Can i read annihilation omnibus then annihilation conquest omnibus then civil war how far should i go into the modern marvel cosmic before reading civil war?
Is wolverine origins intended to be 1-15 or 1-5 like the trade you linked?
Captain America 65th Anniversary comes after Captain America #17 and before #18.
Those Sentry comics were amazing. I did not expect that great of a run. Anyways I’m still confused at why the Hulk is in the Sentry comics when I thought he was shot up into space. Should those Hulk comics be moved to after the Sentry in the reading order?
Also what was with the sentry and the void kissing at the end. I didn’t get that.
Hi there! Thanks a lot for those great reading order guides!
Tip for those reading the adventures of young heroes; you might want to read Runaways up to #18 and New X-Men up to #27 before moving on to Civil War!
I think you want the Captain America to start at issue #8, not #9. The trade linked to on Amazon is also for Red Menace not Winter Soldier.
Any reason not to read Daredevil 87? It’s the conclusion for the storyline in the 82-86 that you have listed.
I suggest moving Captain America #9-14 to the reading order “Marvel Comics From Avengers Disassembled to House of M” since the Out of Time and Winter Soldier arcs end with #14 and are not affected by House of M. But keep the comment “skip #10, that’s a House of M tie-in”.
OH MAN THANK YOU for these “in between” guides so much, they are the BIGGEST help with navigating the timeline. So here’s where I’m confused: in this guide you have X-Men 182-187 listed BEFORE Civil War yet in the “Modern” X-Men Reading Order you have in listed AFTER Civil War. Where in tarnation does it belong?
So this is where the Guide Part 6 is hiding. I finished Part 5, clicked next, and it was Part 7. I was very confused. Might want to clean that up on the links at the end of Part 5.
Awesome guides, as always!
Great guides. I have been reading them from the start of the complete list. I just finished Drax’s limited and started Toxin. I got about 2 pages into it and stopped. I hit the wiki on the character and found out his origin was a year prior in Venom vs. Carnage. It is a real (as in first time) origin story of two characters both of which are brand new. Pat Mulligan and The Symbiote Toxin. I think its deserving to be on the list for the reason alone. (Just before Toxin.) The artwork is out there too. It’s a clear look into how the symbiotes differ and more about them in general. Thanks again for the guide! Love it
Hello from Brazil.
I´m a huge fan of your website, mainly because a portuguese version of it, but with some more content of Silver age.
I´ve got a doubt about this list… If it´s chronologically organized, I think it should be better to read “Incredible Hulk 87-91” in the end of this. If you read that in the beggining, it doesn’t fit when you read “Spider-Man: The Other” and “Fantastic Four 527-535” ’cause Hulk appears on these stories.
What do you think?
Thanks for the great tips! Awesome job!
Spider-Woman: Origin is listed 1-6 it should be listed as 1-5.
Also thank you for putting all this together…this website has been a tremendous resource in getting me all caught up with backstories and such.
Updated! Glad you enjoy Comic Book Herald as well.
Hey Dave, quick continuity question.
Secret War spoilers follow!
Nick Fury went away after his Secret War, and (according to New Avengers) should still be in hiding. Iron Man 7-12 here obviously occurs before Civil War, yet Nick Fury is present and calling shots – is this just lazily handled continuity? Or is there some official explanation?
Thanks!
Secret War doesn’t really effectively get picked up as continuity until Civil War. I think it’s mostly because it’s publication schedule was so screwed up (it took like 2 years for 5 issues).
Otherwise, it’s always possible we’re dealing with an LMD 🙂
Would it be better to just read Secret War right before Civil War?
It’s definitely best before New Avengers. Bendis references his own work there.
I could genuinely write an article on how bad ‘Sable & Fortune #1-4 (March ’06)’ are.
I’m a HUGE comic fan and take pride in relishing each and every issue on Dave’s lists. OK, some are bad, some don’t click personally, but I try to take something away from each one.
But THIS was a car crash. John Burns art isn’t my taste but I appreciate it. However why the need to have it look like a (bad) book from early 80’s? The writing absolutely blew as well incidentally. The 4th issue (of 4) the artist was changed to Laurenn McCubbin. Talk about a nail in the coffin! I could have gotten my 5 year old drunk, put a blindfold on him, shoved a pencil between his toes and got him to sketch out a better issue!
I really could go on and on but im sure the people involved have done other good things in their careers. This is not one of them. I was even on the 3rd last page of the 4th issue and (hand on heart) dozing, when I should be waiting on this huge payoff. God awful.
Well, the good news is this comic inspired such disgust I added a warning to the guide!
I know this is a very very old comment and I don’t know how often, if ever this website gets updated or checked but this note you added peaked my interest and out of curiousity, went and checked said comics and I have to say I couldn’t disagree more with the post, but partially: #1-3 Have excellent art, very stylized and almost emulating a painting. The use of color is incredible, the amount of detail in most pages is great, the coloring on sable’s costume is amazing and really shows the artist knew color and clearly knew what they were doing. the action scenes have dynamic and exciting poses and action all around. Hell most pages in these 3 issues are just artistically sound all around. The only fault I could say these 3 issues really have is that the lettering can be often very hard to read. The story I found simple yet compelling and the characters were ok.
Where I do agree with the op is with the last issue, which is indeed a complete change due to the switch of artists and a real downgrade in quality, with clearly rushed panels and very limited or non-existant backgrounds. Garish colors and.. yeah, I have to agree, very child-like drawings at times. But 1-3? really surprised me with very artful and skillful work. I hope people don’t get dissuaded from checking those first 3 issues out, I was pleasantly surprised.
I gotta say, I didn’t think it was that bad, tbh. Not my taste, a pretty basic spy story, and the art definitely wasn’t my taste (the 4th was very cartoon, unfortunately), but nowhere near as bad as the warning made it out to be. I almost skipped it, and for only 4 issues…I’ve read worse comics (looking at you, Uncanny X-Men 460-461).
Should I read Ghost Rider #1-5 or #1-7 (#6 being ‘Hell to Pay’, part 1 of 2)?
Is the 2nd Sentry mini-series included here. i believe the publishing time matches up, or is that not in continuity?
Hey. Thanks for the reading order. I had a question regarding Uncanny X-Men: how come you placed 466-474 after The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire?
There’s a little overlap there, but largely it’s due to the connection to Decimation.
One note that might be helpful. If you are following the complete list: https://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/
It lists Iron Man Extremis after this section, but you actually want to read those issues before you read Iron Man 7-12 listed above.
Thanks for the feedback. Those Extremis issues are actually included towards the top of this list as well. I include it again on the guide home page just so nobody misses it.
Enjoy the comics!
Great guide as usual, my only hiccup is that silent war seems to take place post civil war, hence the mighty avengers making an appearance instead of the new avengers.
Good call, thanks for the feedback.
Guide has been updated!
Hi. do I have to read all of these comics? I just finished Decimation and I really wanna get into Civil War already, I’m using Marvel Unlimited right now and all this just seems confusing and a little bit too much to me so if you could just explain it a little bit to me, that would awesome! Thanks for putting all of this together…
My general rule of thumb is read what you find most exciting. Comics shouldn’t be a chore! You can definitely skip ahead to Civil War.
For the super cliff notes: Hulk gets shot into space (isn’t around for Civil War), and Iron Man gets cool new Extremis powers. Enter Civil War 🙂