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Annihilation Scourge Reading Order

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Annihilation Scourge Reading Order - Nova

Back in 2006, Marvel relaunched its Cosmic Universe with the Annihilation crossover event. It led to a series of events of the same kind, but also to a new Guardians of the Galaxy series and more. You can find here our reading guide of that era piloted by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.

Since C. B. Cebulski became Marvel’s editor-in-chief in 2017, a lot of names associated with popular events of the past have been reused. It was the case in 2019 with Annihilation. This time though, it was not as ambitious as the first time. In fact, Annihilation Scourge works like a 6-part miniseries.

Here is the official synopsis: The Negative Zone is under siege! Now the Lord of the Negative Zone, Annihilus, makes a call for help to the very heroes he once fought against! It’s an all-out battle as Nova, Silver Surfer and some of your favorite cosmic heroes try to prevent the next annihilation.

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Fourth World Reading Order, Jack Kirby’s DC Comics Epic Saga

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Jack Kirby's Fourth World Reading Order

Jack Kirby’s name is mostly associated with Marvel, but he left to join DC Comics from 1970 to 1973. During that time, he created the Fourth World Saga. Even if, in the end, The King was not treated better by DC than he was at Marvel, his work there was still heavily influential. In fact, DC would not be what it is today without it.

When he joined DC Comics, Jack Kirby took over Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and, with issue #133 (Oct. 1970), he began the Fourth World. The three other original titles in which the saga developed were The Forever People, Mister Miracle, and The New Gods. The story is basically about the battle between good and evil as represented by the worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips.

Here is the story: Raised in exile as a living instrument of peace between Apokolips and New Genesis, Orion swore to uphold the life-affirming values of his adopted world. But the bottomless rage and thirst for combat that course through his veins cannot be extinguished. In the end, will he defeat Darkseid and thwart his quest for the Anti-Life Equation–or will he forsake his vow and seize the ultimate power for himself?

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The Best Vertigo Comics Series: 15 must-read comics books

Best Vertigo Comics

Before there was a DC Black Label, we had Vertigo Comics, an imprint of comic book publisher DC Comics started by editor Karen Berger in 1993 and dedicated to the publication of comics with adult content. Liberated of the restrictions of DC’s main line, those comics benefited from the larger creative freedom offered to artists and writers who gave us memorable series.

During the 1980s, DC launched a mature readers’ line, and, following the success of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, this kind of book started to evolve separately from the main line. But the real origin of the Vertigo Imprint was when DC stopped submitting The Saga of the Swamp Thing for approval by the Comics Code Authority. Alan Moore’s book opened the door for a new generation of writers, most of them coming from the UK (the famous British Invasion).

Launched in January 1993, Vertigo Comics offered a mix of new and old series, limited or ongoing, and even graphic novels. The first comic book published under the “Vertigo” imprint was Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman and Chris Bachalo (see Death Reading Order). A lot of books followed during the 1990s and 2000s and became classics (some are even in our best comics of all-time list), but the imprint started to slowly lose its appeal. Karen Berger left the company in 2012 and was replaced by Shelly Bond. In 2016, new changes at the head of the imprint did nothing to help save it. In fact, even the return of the Sandman Universe (see reading order) didn’t stop the inevitable. DC announced that, as part of a consolidation into a unified branding, the Vertigo imprint would be discontinued in January 2020. 

For a long time, Vertigo was synonymous with quality comics for adults, innovative storytelling, and great art. Here is the list of our favorite Vertigo books. Don’t hesitate to submit yours in the comment section.

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Superior Spider-Man Reading Order

Coming from Dan Slott, with artwork by Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos, and Giuseppe Camuncoli, The Superior Spider-Man series was launched after Amazing Spider-Man #700 in which Peter Parker finally loses his battle against Otto Octavius.

The famous Doctor Octopus swapped consciousnesses with Parker and left him to die in his decaying body to ensure his own survival. Otto became Peter, but arrogant as he is, he also decided to become a better Spider-Man than Parker ever was, and a better man than he was as Otto Octavius. He became the Superior Spider-Man.

This was a controversial move, but the Superior Spider-Man quickly became a fan favorite anyway. Of course, Peter Parker had to come back at some point, but Otto wore the costume for enough time to change things a little. And this was not the end of the Superior Spider-Man, as you’ll see in this reading order.

To know what came before The Superior Spider-Man series, take a look at our Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man Reading Order.

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Amazing Spider-Man Beyond Reading Order

More than a decade ago, when J.M. Straczynski stopped writing The Amazing Spider-Man (see JMS’ Spidey reading order), Marvel decided to launch “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”, a storyline written by multiple writers used to reshape the series—after that, Dan Slott became the main writer (see Slott’s Spidey reading order).

Nick Spencer took over after Dan Slott, but he made a deal with Substack and announced that he decided to leave Marvel altogether (see Spencer’s Spidey reading order). That’s when it was announced that, once again, not one team, but a whole group of artists—Kelly Thompson, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar, Patrick Gleason, and Zeb Wells—would take over to give us a huge storyline before a new solo writer can take over.

Titled “Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond,” the story brings Ben Reilly back! Here is the official synopsis: Ben Reilly has been through hell, but now with the support of a major corporation, Ben is thwipping once again and being the best Spider-Man he can be. And what does Peter think? Well, he’s just been through the Sinister War and he’s exhausted! But even if Peter is against Ben’s return to the limelight, does he have a choice? The webs that are about to be woven will take you to places you’ve never been … pit our spectacular heroes against classic villains reloaded, as well as brand-new foes … and make you rethink the whole concept of Spider-Man! But what will all this change and upheaval mean for Mary Jane, the Black Cat, Aunt May—and all of New York City?!

What to read before Amazing Spider-Man Beyond?

This is the first time Ben Reilly has been the official Spider-Man since the 1990s, with the Clone Saga event. If you are not familiar with Ben, Spider-Man’s Clone (or…is it??) you can take a look at our Ben Reilly Reading Order–and you can check out our Spider-Man Reading Order that covers the adventures of Spidey from the start to today.

Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond is being treated as a possible entry point for new readers. But if you want to know what came just before, you can take a look at our Nick Spencer’s Spider-Man reading order–and at the Sinister War reading order, the last event of that era.

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X-Men Reading Order, Part. 7: Destiny of X and Fall of X, The Second Age of the X-Men of Krakoa

 

Welcome to Part 7 of our ongoing effort to compile a comprehensive X-Men Reading Order through the lens of collected editions. If you’re just joining us, you can start from the beginning with Part 1: The Silver Age & Chris Claremont (1963–1991), then follow through Part 2: Age of Apocalypse & Onslaught (1991–2001), Part 3: From the Grant Morrison Era to Civil War, Part 4: The Road to Avengers vs. X-Men, Part 5: Marvel NOW to ResurrXion, and Part 6: The Jonathan Hickman Era.

This chapter picks up where Hickman left off—literally. After wrapping his ambitious reimagining of the X-Men with the Inferno (2021) miniseries, Hickman stepped away, and a new creative collective carried the torch. What followed is not a reboot, but a continuation: The Second Age of the X-Men of Krakoa, informally known as the Destiny of X era.

This era builds directly on the foundation laid during Reign of X. Much like Dawn of X before it, Destiny of X launches with a prelude and then branches out into a wave of new titles—Immortal X-Men, X-Men Red, Legion of X, Knights of X, and more. The promise is clear: Krakoa’s future is still being written, with its greatest victories and most harrowing trials yet to come.

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Infinity Saga Reading Order, Jim Starlin’s epic

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Jim Starlin’s epic saga is a trilogy of Marvel Cosmic events published at the beginning of the 1990s – that’s why The Infinity Saga is also known as The Infinity Trilogy.

Everything started when Starlin began writing Silver Surfer in 1990 (with art by Ron Lim) and started a story with Thanos that culminated in the first spin-off limited series of the trilogy. Here is the beginning of the story:

For the Mad Titan, Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet was the Holy Grail — the ultimate prize to be coveted above all else. With it came omnipotence: the absolute control of all aspects of time, space, power, reality, mind, and soul. But his gaining of supreme might mean the beginning of a black nightmare for the entire universe. Now, on the edge of Armageddon and led by the mysterious Adam Warlock, Earth’s superheroes join in a desperate attempt to thwart this nihilistic god’s insane plunge into galactic self-destruction. Should the heroes fail, the astral gods of the universe wait to step into the fray.

What to read before the Infinity Saga?

If you want some background, Jim Starlin introduced a number of important characters and relationship elements related to the Marvel Cosmic Universe in Warlock:

The quest that led to Infinity Gauntlet began in Silver Surfer! Back from the dead, Thanos is after the power to bring the rest of the universe with him on a return trip! Can the Silver Surfer, Drax the Destroyer, and others stop the cosmic iconoclast before he uses reality as a token of his affection for Death?

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Dead Boy Detectives Reading Order, From the Sandman Universe

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Neil Gaiman’s Sandman (reading order here) led to the creation of multiple spin-offs, not all became as successful as Lucifer (reading order here). It was the case with The Dead Boy Detectives, two young sleuths that are also ghosts.

Created by Gaiman and artist Matt Wagner in Sandman #25, The Dead Boy Detectives are Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine. Edwin was murdered at his boarding school in 1916 and he went to Hell. But when Hell was emptied of its residents, Edwin and the souls of past teachers and pupils came back to the boarding school when Charles and a few teachers stayed for the holidays.

They didn’t survive and Charles became a ghost, like Edwin. The two boys decided to forego going to the afterlife with Death and became detectives investigating crimes involving the supernatural.

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Spider-Island Reading Order

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Even if Spider-Man is the most popular Marvel superhero, the events centered around him are not as regular as we may think. There are a few though, like 2011’s Spider-Island written by Dan Slott with art by Humberto Ramos.

Here is the official synopsis: Between keeping New York City safe as Spider-Man, being a member of two Avengers teams and the FF, and his day job at Horizon Labs, Peter Parker’s life is as crazy as it’s ever been. And it’s about to get even crazier.

Welcome to Spider-Island, where a million New Yorkers suddenly possess Spider-Man’s powers – but none of the responsibility! Can Spidey play world-saving superhero while the Big Apple gets eaten alive from the inside out when he’s suddenly not quite so special? When he’s surrounded by a million people just as powerful as him? When even his girlfriend is web-swinging through the city? And just wait until you meet J. Jonah Jameson, the Spectacular Spider-Mayor!

What to read before Spider-Island?

Being the first event of the Dan Slott era, there were not a lot of Spider-Man books prior to it. You can take a look at our The Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott Reading Order for a full listing.

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X-Factor Reading Order

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Launched in 1986 by Bob Layton and Jackson Guice as a spin-off from the X-Men franchise, X-Factor was a team formed by the five original X-Men – Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), and Iceman – in response to the outlaw status of the then-current X-Men team.

The five original members X-Men disassociate with the current team because Professor X had placed Magneto as its leader. Quickly, they decide to set up a business advertised as mutant-hunters for hire in New York City, pretending to be “normal” (non-superpowered) humans to their clients. Eventually, the X-Factor team decides that the “mutant hunter” angle was bad for everybody and stops. Louise Simonson took over the title (with art by Walt Simonson) and quickly introduced Apocalypse and other major elements of the X-Mythos.

At that time, the series was massively connected to the other X-Titles and events. In 1991, the original members of X-Factor rejoined the main X-Men team. Marvel didn’t kill the title though. Peter David became the main writer (with art by Larry Stroman) and began by reintroducing X-Factor with new members (with Havok, Multiple Man, Polaris, Quicksilver, Strong Guy, Valerie Cooper, and Wolfsbane).

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