The Greatest Marvel Universe Event (X-Edition)!

the mutant massacre was right at the heart of the few years i was madd crazy reading comics, and i remember the anxiety over whether my favourites would survive, and all the bloodshed. so that, though days of future past should and will probably win.

Days of Future Past > God Loves, Man Kills > E Is for Extinction > AoA > Dark Phoenix Saga > idk House of M

others i either don't rank or haven't read

Days of future present is all the more impressive for being an event that was only 2 issues long yet is still referenced all the time.

"...Future Past", I assume you mean. "...Future Present" was the annual event that crossed over with Fantastic Four but which took place in the alternate future from "Days of Future Past". And then Excalibur at one point dipped into that same well with "Days of Future Yet To Come". Yeah, it's confusing.

The really good ones on this list are simply stories that happened during the course of the monthly comics and weren't hyped (any more than usual upcoming stories), which like a good cult movie, developed their own following over time. Hell, the best ones happened BEFORE event comics even were conceived of.

That's fairly OTM. I've (sadly?) read probably 95% of Marvel's X-output, but I'm actually having a bit of difficulty remembering many of these events from recent years (although the bigger crossovers like Messiah Complex and Second Coming really are some of the best they've done, and Curse of the Mutants was notable for being pretty decent and not fulfilling my prediction that it would wind up being the worst post-'90s thing to happen to the X-titles).

It's one of the first four. Going with God Loves, Man Kills, but the quality level of the pre-event events (as Matt correctly pointed out) were higher because they weren't trying to change the world outside of that title.

I have to admit I've never read any of these:

X-Tinction Agenda
Muir Island Saga
X-Cutioner's Song
Fatal Attractions
Phalanx Covenant
Age of Apocalypse
Onslaught
Operation: Zero Tolerance
The Twelve
Eve of Destruction
E Is for Extinction
Planet X
Here Comes Tomorrow

But I'm open to it if someone thinks any of those are worth the effort.

Well, the last three (Grant Morrison era) are definitely worth it. Most of the rest are fairly continuity-heavy, so if you have no real desire to delve into those particular X-eras, I'd say there probably isn't any point. The X-Cutioner's Song (ugh, that fucking title) and Operation: Zero Tolerance are probably the best of the rest of that lot, though.

So those three are just chunks of Morrison's run? Then I have read them. Just didn't recognize the titles.

Thanks for the tips. Might try The X-Cutioner's Song one of these days (I think it's on that Marvel Unlimited thing).

Phalanx Covenant was actually terrible but it introduced some of my favorite 4th gen characters (Blink, M, Synch) so I always look upon it more fondly than it deserves.

X-Cutioner's Song happened about a year after Claremont's initial departure and the subsequent line-wide overhaul, so there isn't too much essential preamble to read through, if you were inclined to do so.

Phalynx Covenant could've been decent if not for the fact that it took place towards the beginning of (and fit pretty seamlessly into) the most perfunctory of all X-eras. It really only existed as a too-big introduction to Generation X, iirc, but it paved the road for Annihilation: Conquest, so it gets a pass.

voted inferno for the lulz

Write-in vote for Riot at Xavier's!

Age of Apocalypse started really, really well; it's just a shame how it (originally) ended

you know, i know for a fact that i read fall of the mutants and age of apocalypse back when they were published but i couldn't tell you the plots if you stuck a gun to my head. whereas i can remember whole chunks of the mutant massacre.

no, hang on, it was inferno, not age of apocalypse, that i read and forgot

I tried to read Age Of Apocalypse recently (thanks Marvel Unlimited!), but I couldn't understand what was going on from panel to panel. I could read the words and get that part of the story, but the illustrated storytelling was an absolute mess.

The weird build-up to Onslaught was better than the event. I think it was probably the last I read before I ditched comics for quite a while.

ot but is marvel unlimited worth a punt? it looks intriguing

They must have added more to it. I used that for a year and, assuming it still requires you view the Flash version on the web, it's a little limiting but decent for the price.

limited, definitely. Good if you want to read stuff from the 60s or 00s, crap for 70s, crap for most 80s, has x-titles from 90s fairly covered. Problem is, they seem to only be adding stuff as they rescan it for new trade editions. Not a great hue and cry for the Gruenwald/Neary Captain America run, for example, so it's not there. But most of the Kirby stuff is up, including the 70s return.

They had a deal where it was about $40 for a year and I've already gotten that much from it with 3/4 of a year left to go.

AoA suffers out of the context in which it was conceived IMO; the background clears up some of the ambiguity (except of course for Bachalo's at times bewildering layouts):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Apocalypse#Storyline (the first two paragraphs set the context)

wasn't there a crossover called "Legion Quest" that led into it?

yup, that's basically what the paragraphs I call out summarizes

Speaking of X-Men crossovers, is it just me or does the idea of having a title just for Avengers and X-Men fights suck? I know lol superheroes but having non-stop action is kind of bullshit

In AoA, the story part is fine; I actually liked finding out bits of background as the characters did. It's just visually an incomprehensible mess more often than not so I gave up about halfway through.

dammit - 70s/80s marvel would be exactly what i'd want to read on marvel unlimited - thanks for the heads up, dudes

I think you can browse what is actually available before you sign up.

It's not completely devoid of 70s and 80s (I'm getting ready to absorb some Gerber Omega shortly), but they're pretty slow making it available. Complete lack of Power Man & Iron Fist is my biggest disappointment.

was hoping to find west coast avengers on there, but its not an impressive haul

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