You know, I didn't start reading TPB until Avengers Disassembled about 6 yrs ago. Any comics I read prior to that were maybe a single issue hear and there of X-Men or Spiderman at a friends house and that was pretty much it.

I've read pretty much everything Tiberius has listed and even went back to all the single stories and unrelated stuff in between thanks to Marvel Digital. I agree that some events are hit and miss. I loved Civil War, and CW Frontline was the best read out of that event IMO, but Secret Invasion was definitely lacking the shock and awe I was expecting and didn't live up to the hype. SI just served to lead into Dark Reign, and DR into Siege, etc.

Events are NOTHING new. I went back and read Infinity Gauntlet and Secret Wars, Onslaught story was terrible to me and the more I go back in time the more bored I get with the way these stories are written and I yearn for the more modern approach to the artwork. I do enjoy reading individual character stories outside of the event sagas. Captain America after Civil War has been amazing for me. Planet Hulk is one of my favorite reads of all time (I refuse to touch the recent Jeff Loeb run, from what I hear it has made me angry...you won't like Greenskar when angry). Deadpool has it's moments, but Way needs to make him slightly less of clown and put some depth back into the character.

X-Men has yet to disappoint me since Astonishing X-Men all the way to the lead up to Schism.

For those who hate events and want more focus on the characters...well, Shattered Heroes era is coming. No, no, not another event. Shattered Heroes is supposed to finally take the opportunity to delve into the individual lives of the characters through their solo books and allow the stories to reflect on how all these recent events have impacted the individual character with respect to their worlds and where they will go from here.

We will finally get to see the whole Bucky death from Fear Itself addressed in Captain America. I'm stoked.

Well, it's true events are nothing new. I don't think anyone's under that impression.
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Secret Wars, Infinity Gauntlet (As you pointed out), and dozens of others.
(Though, I think Crisis and Secret Wars are the first ones that were on the same monumental playing field that we get annually now).

The main beef against them (If you've been through it all for a few decades as opposed to having just started really reading within the last few years) seems to be that they're just so frequent now, and both companies are cranking out one to two a year, each. One massive event now serves only as a catalyst for the next.

It wasn't that long ago where each family of books had one big (for them) event a year that tied all the spinoffs together, while the Crisis level company wide events were still somewhat rare.
While those events had effects on the larger universe as a whole, you didn't have to read books you don't care about in order to keep following. If you were a Batman fan, you didn't have to read three different Superman titles in order to keep up with Knightfall. If you were X-Men, you didn't need to read Ironman, and Captain America in order to follow the Phallanx Covenent.
But now, we barily had any time to catch our breaths after Infinite Crisis, before we went into Final Crisis. And from that, immidiately into Blackest Night. Which immidiately began Brightest Day, with Flashpoint somewhere in the mix. And then we're rewarded for sitting through all of that so the entire universe can be restarted, almost from scratch.

What seems to me the primary complaint isn't that the big company wide events exist, or that they should stop altogether, just that they need to ramp down a bit.
I know I used to get really excited for them. I would like to feel that again, instead of thinking to myself "Another one?"
And the rate that Marvel cranks them out is one of two things that really keeps me from trying to get back into Marvel.

Agreed. That's the whole reason I love Uncanny X-Force. Sure he has to share the spotlight but when he shines through it's classic fucking Deadpool.

I can sympathize with this perspective. That is definitely happening. It's obviously business driven rather than story driven, and while it's unfortunate, it's the way the world works. As long as the stories are good and I can get the gist of it without needing to get everyone else's event tie in just to get the main story, than I'm happy. I was able to do that with Civil War and House of M, but not with the more recent ones.

I absolutely agree with this, particularly because I was so excited to finally pick up Blackest Night HC after reading everything before it from Rebirth (in the GL and GL Corps) only to find out...everything was out of sequence :(

How the hell am I supposed to know the chronological order of this damn event that everyone talked about for a few years?! They have like 5 other HC/TPB's associated, but they all seem to jump back and forth. Like you have to read 25% of Blackest Night GL Corps, then jump to Blackest Night BL Corps just to fill in the blanks and then go to the main Blackest Night book to get to the next part of the story...UUUUUGGGGGGHHHH.

That has pissed me off to no end. Maybe it wasn't that difficult to follow for single issue collectors, but I only read the HC and TPB because I tend to like to read it all at once rather than incrementally. lol, ok end rant.

I don't think Bucky is really dead.

It was too important for Black Widow to squash that news story about him still being alive in that issue of Secret Avengers.

I think Bucky is still alive and returning to his role as the Winter Soldier.

I know his incarceration in a Russian prison turned out to be a set up, but I don't think they were ever able to find the evidence to clear him, and what better way to get the Russians off his back than "die"?

Like any Marvel Comic, no one stays dead for to long. I think he is dead till some one rescues his soul from god knows what, god know when, but we all know why ;)

I absolutely agree, and definately sympathize. I understand their desire to make everything in nice, neat volumes (Because once you know the story, continuity progression isn't as important when you want to read one section). But it would have been nicer if everything was sequenced in chronological order (Save for the Tales of the Corps, which stand beautifully on their own, and some of the tie in side stories, which don't effect the main plot, like Teen Titans).
DC trades are usually pretty good about making sure everything is in order, too.

yup, still waiting on Janet Van Dyne. At least they brought back Scott Lang(Childrens Cruisade) and Jack of Hearts(Marvel Zombies:Supreme) . Theyre slowly but surely undoing Avengers Disassembled.

I've just recently gotten into trades. (Is that what this thread is even about?)

I'm reading the trade where Aqua Baby dies (because I'm an Aquaman and Jim Aparo fan), Irredeemable vol. 2 (because vol. 1 was so good), Classic Joe vol. 10 (I'm reading the series all the way through because I didn't when I was a kid), and Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus vol.1 just came in the mail.

Good Man. Irredeemable is such as good book. Has its ups and downs but still entertaining. Ive always wanted to read fourth world though.

95 percent of my monthly pull list is marvel tho. I can recommend some titles for you to get into if you like.

This is exactly why Blackest Night threw such a curve at me. I agree, most DC trades have been really good about the order. One of the clerks at the Comic Store I frequent said he just read Flash Point...and has no clue what the heck is going on. Have you read it and is it really that confusing?

My friend, who is basically my source for DC Comics since I've been his for Marvel, said he had to tag up the Blackest night series with sticky notes for his fiancee or she wouldn't read it. I thought that was funny as hell, mostly because it's true.

While I would like that to be the truth, because Bucky Cap was quickly becoming my favorite Marvel Character, I'd have to say I doubt it. Brubaker was lucky enough to do what no other writer was able to do prior, even though they all wanted to; Bring Bucky back. The Marvel events that were taking place just happened to be perfect timing for Brubaker when he came aboard as the new Cap writer about 6 yrs ago.

Marvel's Shattered Heroes - Comics Feature at IGN


lol, I know right? This thread is about understanding the order of events that will bring someone up to speed on the Marvel Universe in terms of story importance, or at least that's what I got from the OP. Trades just seemed to be recommended because they tend to capture the relevant stories inherent in these events in one collective book.

However, as Crazy Jetty and myself have been discussing, that hasn't been the case as of late for DC or Marvel. It is becoming quite frustrating to keep track of all the books that are now required to follow a given story. So I think this thread should exist to help everyone out IMO. I know it will help me.

I actually got a Marvel Backlist Reading Chronology magazine from SDCC this year. It has the suggested reading chronology for the following:

Avengers
Captain America
Thor
Iron Man
War Machine
Fantastic Four
Punisher
Spider-Man
Hulk
X-Men Universe
Ultimate Universe

if anyone is interested to know the reading chronology for any of the above according to Marvel, let me know.