Marvel Comics From Avengers Disassembled to House of M

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• Having read Daredevil as suggested here I feel like I am constantly bumping into him in other stories, like Spider-Man and New Avengers etc, when SPOILER he is supposed to be in jail at the end of the Bendis run. Maybe he gets out straight away?

  • Bendis' Daredevil run actually stretches out until after House of M (the last issue, DD#81, was released in January 2006 which puts it right between House of M and Civil War in terms of events/Marvel continuity). My guess is the order is presented in the way it is because it does make sense to just read Bendis' DD all at once and not worry too much about continuity, since DD only sometimes overlaps with mainstream continuity stuff.

• Have I missed something? Just read Wolverine Enemy of the State and Nick Fury was there heading up SHIELD.
  Now, I haven’t read absolutely everything on the list, but I have read the titles I imagine would cover the return of Nick Fury after Secret War.
  Can you shed some light?
  Thanks!

• Well after taking a break to read something other than Marvel I'm back! Finished the list and spotted a few things (some of these were also noticed by other people in the comments just thought I would consolidate them all):
  Beta Ray Bill is in MU under Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill .
  Great Lake Avengers is under G.L.a.
  X-Men The New Age of Apocalypse is the title of the TPB. It's in unlimited as X-Men: Age of Apocalypse (2005) & X-Men: Age of Apocalypse One Shot (2005) as far as I can make it out you should read the one shot first. However I'm not sure if this should be on there, as far as I can tell it is entirely set in the reality from age of apocalypse (not having read the original event it didn't really make sense to me) and doesn't look like it crosses over. I think this should be removed from the list or at least a disclaimer saying it doesn't tie in.
  Thunderbolts 11 is a House of M tie in. I think you shoiuld mention this and suggest skipping it until House of M (where it also appears).
  X-Men/Black Panther is a crossover consisting of X-Men 175-176 and Black Panther #8-9 (it goes 175, 8, 176, 9). This should be next to the TPB title for those reading on MU.
  X-Men I think should be included from 165 onwards. 164 was the last Chuck Austen issue (MU lies and says he was a writer on 166 however). The one shot with X-23 in 165 is great and while I'm not the biggest fan of Golgotha (166-170) but Bizarre Love Triangle love triangle (171-174) is great and explains why Mystique is now on the X-Men and how that introduced some tension between Rogue and Gambit.
  Spider-Man Human Torch: I'm with Stupid is in unlimited as Spider-Man/Human Torch.
  New X-Men is missing after issue 6 (and I still think you should have New Mutants on the list) so you miss issues 7-15 before House of M.
  X-Men Unlimited should be on here as well. There isn't anything major but has some nice short stories (especially Emma and Wolverine at a wedding).
  ​

• Could It be possible that Nick Fury's Secret War actually takes place before Avengers Disassembled? I recently found a guide written by comic book editor Tom Breevoort, where Secret War happens earlier in time. Here's the link: http://www.chronologyproject.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=4129

  • Yoo, this is pretty late lol but on the off-chance you still want an answer to that, Yes! Secret Wars does take place before Disassembled and is the first Avengers related thing he wrote. This is usually left out on reading orders but this is canonically the start of Bendis's run on the Avengers as a whole.

• Hi Dave. I have yet to tackle this list but has been updated taken into consideration everyone's input from the comments?

• Hey, I just read the new age of Apocalypse, and it didn't seem to fit within any of the x-men current continuity. Also, a lot of characters I had just read about died in that comic, but aim pretty sure their not actually dead in comics like Astonishing X-men. Some help would be very appreciated.

  • I know the question is a year old and you may have already found this out, but Age of Apocalypse takes place in an alternate timeline from the main continuity. I can't swear to it, but I think Bishop and Cable are the only ones who directly tie in with their original selves.

• While I appreciate this massive reading order I must admit to having a basic problem with it. The way I see the Marvel Universe there are four divisions.

  1. Classic Marvel : Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men...
  2. Marvel Knights: Daredevil, Luke Cage and such. Street level heroes.
  3. Cosmic: Galacticus, Thanos...
  4. R Rated: Punisher, Deadpool, Cable...

  That order is also my order of preference. There is a reason that virtually all event focus on Classic Marvel characters. They are well designed and developed. In competent hands wonderful stories can be created around them.
  The Knights stuff is for a more modern and urban feel. They work OK in that genre, but only exist because of the Marvel label. An indie put out these books would fold in a year. They aren't nearly a clever or interesting as the creators think they are and they don't sell too well.
  Cosmic is overblown Star Wars Wannabee comics with hack writers and hack philosophers trying to write personifications as humanish characters and failing miserably. To be fair some of the artwork is spectacular. It is like Kirby trying to write and draw a comic. F for dialogue, A for art.
  The R-Rated division is the excrement created by Lee / Kirby wannabes who can't tell the difference between quality writing and poo jokes nor the artistic different between Jack Kirby and Rob Liefeld.

  Our esteemed host seems to have a reverse preference to my own. Daredevil and Punished excrete all over the list. Everywhere we find Thanos written by Starlin making Kirby seem like Dickens. The Marvel Knights are clearly a huge favorite. The classic / mainstream Lee / Kirby / Ditko characters seem to be tolerated because well Marvel keeps making the Big Events about them so they can't be avoided.

  No matter how much sense it makes to read a couple years of the Avengers so you actually know who Jack of Hearts is, get an idea about She-Hulk, witness Red Mist, etc... before Avengers Dissasembled, the guide just can't be bothered to put them in. No matter how much sense it makes to read a year's worth of Spiderman, Hulk, Iron Man and the like to make sense of the first Big Event, you will not find them here. Instead we have every low level and low life character Marvel has ever released in exquisite detail. Do any of them matter in the least? Not a chance, but here they are. Talk about missing the forest for the trees...

  • Wow, quite the summery. I'm extremely new to the Marvel world and I'm loving these lists. And one of the main reasons I'm loving these lists are because (on Dave's recommendation) I'm reading alot of of stories and characters I've never, or barely heard of.

    I would of never read the District X books, instead choosing to go with what I know, Iron Man, Cap ect. I'm.so glad I read them and to be honest since starting at Disassembled and working my way to Civil War most of the low level Hero's are the ones I've enjoyed the most and the ones that have been a little disappointing to me are the big ones, the new avengers and the whedon run on astonishing x men.

  • Somewhat agreeing here but... who doesn't like Thanos?

• Hey does Anyone know if Great Lakes Avengers is on Marvel Unlimited? I can't find it anywhere.

  • Listed as G.L.A. or something similarly unsearchable :)

    • Oh wow found it. Thanks

• Don't know if someone already pointed it out but : New Thunderbolts 11 & 12 are part of House of M reading orders and it makes more sense to read them there !

  Apart from this little glitch, know that these reading orders are very helpful and precise so, thank you very much for all the time it took you to compile them !!! They're real time savers !

• Hi! Im a big fan of the lists but I'm a little confused about why the enemy of the state arc is listed as after the first 2 new avengers TPBs. In new avengers #8 Tony Stark and Logan have a conversation talking about what happened to him during the enemy of the state arc so it must have happened before this point, considering this conversation is a flash back to what happened during the 'break out' saga and that all happened back to back it's clear 'Enemy of the state' must have happened before New Avengers #1. In enemy of the state as well we see Nick Fury in charge and no sight of Maria Hill which makes me feel it's pre-secret wars as well putting it a lot earlier in the reading order than listed doesn't it?

  • You’re correct. I’ve been using this list for a couple weeks and just noticed this while reading. I came on here to mention it and saw your comment.

    P.S. This site is amazing! It’s been helping me for a couple years, I’d be lost reading without you. Thank you very much!

• Hello.
  Another problem in the list above : it's for "Amazing Spider-Man #519-524 (Feb ’05)" (10 lines above the end of the list).
  Issue #519 was released in June 2005. It's the first for "New Avengers".
  In February 2005, Marvel released issue #515, the begining of "Skin Deep".
  So, should I begin with issue 515 or 519 ?

• I recommend adding in X-23: Target X issues 1-6 right after X-23 1-6. And then NYX 1-7. Even though Target X was published a couple years later, it basically continues the story and fits in pretty well there, and NYX picks up a couple years later, basically right before she shows up in Uncanny X-Men. I'd recommend reading all 3 series to between 'X-Men/Fantastic 4' and Claremont's 'Uncanny X-Men'.

• FYI: Beta Ray Bill: Stormbreaker is listed as 'Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill' in Marvel Unlimited.

  Suggestion: NYX should really be added in here somewhere. Is there an X-23 reading order?

• I have found that Punisher Max is not on Marvel Unlimited is it possible to skip it for now and get it later.

  • I skipped it for the same reason. I don't believe there is any important reason to read it.

• Hello.
  There's a problem with "Captain America #1-8 (Jan ’05) Winter Soldier Story Arc".
  According to marvel.wikia.com, the Winter Soldier Story begins with issue 8 and run to issue 14.
  The issues 1 to 7 may be important to understand this story (I did not read yet) but they come with different titles ("Out of Time" and "The Lonesome Death of Jack Monroe"). Am I right to think I should read all these 14 issues ?
  I have to thank you so much for this reading order. I certainly spend to much time on comics because of you but it's so much fun !

  • @oObigOo You are right. Read all the 14 issues from Captain America #1 to #14 (except for #10 if you are not interested in House of M). The Winter Soldier character is introduced in the #1.