How to Read House of M through Decimation

[sungila]

What's your essential reading order for House of M through Decimation including the important preludes and postscripts?

Also, how do you feel about this era? What does it mean to you now as a reader and fan?

Are you like me in feeling like this arc increasingly establishes itself as the modern era's appropriate first chapter as the books that follow continue to feed and form from its flesh?

[jb681131]

What's your essential reading order for House of M through Decimation including the important preludes and postscripts?

Also, how do you feel about this era? What does it mean to you now as a reader and fan?

Are you like me in feeling like this arc increasingly establishes itself as the modern era's appropriate first chapter as the books that follow continue to form from its flesh?

I haven't read it, but here is the order I found:

House of M: The Official Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited Event Reading Order

1. Excalibur #13-14 (prelude)
2. As I mentioned in the Avengers Disassembled guide, I do not recommend the Exaclibur trade. It has a lot of potential as a series featuring Magneto and Professor X, but the execution is abysmal.
3. House of M #1-2
4. Technically Marvel Unlimited orders these issues differently (pretty much by publication date) but the next few issues won’t make nearly as much sense if you haven’t at least covered the first two issues of the main House of M arc.
5. Fantastic Four: House of M #1
6. Spider-Man: House of M #1
7. Iron Man: House of M #1
8. House of M #3
9. Incredible Hulk #83
10. Uncanny X-Men #462
11. Mutopia X #1
12. Spider-Man: House of M #2
13. House of M #4
14. Cable & Deadpool #17
15. Incredible Hulk #84
16. The Pulse #10
17. New X-Men #16
18. Fantastic Four: House of M #2
19. Iron Man: House of M #2
20. Uncannly X-Men #463
21. House of M #5
22. New Thunderbolts #11
23. Incredible Hulk #85
24. Mutopia X #2
25. Spider-Man: House of M #3
26. Black Panther #7
27. New X-Men #17
28. Fantastic Four: House of M #3
29. Iron Man: House of M #3
30. Exiles #69
31. Incredible Hulk #86
32. Uncanny X-Men #464
33. Mutopia X #3
34. Captain America #10
35. Exiles #70
36. Spider-Man: House of M #4
37. New X-Men #18
38. Wolverine #33
39. Uncanny X-Men #465
40. House of M #6
41. Mutopia X #4
42. House of M #7
43. Wolverine #34
44. Exiles #71
45. New X-Men #19
46. Wolverine #35
47. Spider-Man: House of M #5
48. House of M #8
49. Giant Size Ms. Marvel #1

House of M: Trade Reading Timeline

1. Exaclibur (11-14) - This trade is considered a House of M prelude. Issue number 14 is good and a worthwhile prelude to the story, but this trade as a whole is for completists and Claremont fanatics only.
2. House of M: Civil War (1-5) - This series was actually released a few years after House of M, but it develops Magneto’s rise to power in the House of M universe.
3. House of M (1-8) - As with any of the major events, technically, reading the entire trade will overlap many of the earlier tie-in issues. You can see the issue by issue breakdown below, but personally I enjoy consuming the entire event trade and then going back and filling in the details with the tie-ins. With the good ones (and House of M is among the good ones), you won’t feel like you’re missing anything.
4. House of M: Masters of Evil (1-4) + House of M: Avengers(1-5) - Like House of M: Civil War, both of the previous trades were written a few years after House of M to fill in the history of the universe. As far as the chronology of the House of M universe goes, these two trades technically occur before House of M and you could read them as such. I include them after because I prefer the knowledge of the main event, but the choice is yours. Do ya thing, baby girl, do ya thing.
5. House of M: Fantastic Four/Iron Man(1-3/1-3) - Several of the House of M tie-ins are packaged together as trades, although this has more to do with convenience and size of the trade than any connection between the arcs. In this case, Fantastic Four should be read before Iron Man.
6. House of M: Spider-Man (1-5)
7. House of M: The Incredible Hulk (83-87)
8. House of M: World of M. featuring Wolverine - In addition to the Wolverine collection, this trade collects the Captain America, Black Panther, Cable & Deadpool, and The Pulse tie-ins.
9. Mutopia X, New Mutants, Exiles, Ms. Marvel - This trade (only look at the name after you’ve finished House of M!!!) collects the less prominent mutant lines throughout the House of M universe, along with the giant-size Ms. Marvel tie-in and a Decimation lead-in. Decimation comes next in the trade reading order, so definitely save this “Day After” issue for last!

Decimation: Issue by Issue Reading Order

1. Decimation: House of M: The Day After #1
2. Sentinel Squad #1-5
3. New X-Men #20
4. Mutopia X #5
5. X-Men #177-179
6. New X-Men #21-23
7. X-Men #180-181
8. Son of M #1-6
9. X-Men: The 198 #1-5
10. Generation M #1-5
11. X-Factor #1-6
12. X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6
13. Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire (#475 – #486)
14. X-Men: Endangered Species (One-shot, back-up issues)

Decimation: Trade Reading Timeline

1. Decimation: X-Men – The Day After (Decimation: House of M – Day After one shot & X-Men 177-181) - As mentioned in the House of M guide, the Decimation: Day After one shot is included in the Mutant-focused trade that concludes the trade reading order. If you’ve already purchased it among the House of M tie-ins, I’d be cautious purchasing this trade. But as always, it’s your world, do what you wanna do.
2. New X-Men (20-23)
3. Decimation: X-Men – Generation M (1-5)
4. Decimation: Sentinel Squad O*N*E (1-5)
5. X-Men: The 198 (1-5 + oneshot)
6. Decimation: X-Men – Son of M (1-5)
7. Uncanny X-Men #466 to #474
8. New Excalibur(1-5) - You might want to check out this trade if only for the Amazon reviews. Brutal!
9. X-Men: Deadly Genesis (1-6)
10. Uncanny X-men: Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire (475 – 486) - Not a direct decimation tie-in, but appropriate follow-up to Deadly Genesis and fills in some important X-Men gaps.
11. X-Factor, Vol. 1 (1-6)
12. X-Men: Endangered Species - The Endangered Species arc can be a challenge to read in order as it largely ran as bonus pages in the back of various X-lines. The Trade collects the entire arc (focusing on Beast’s efforts to solve the Mutant problem – it involves The High Evolutionary, Dr. Strange, and The Scarlet Witch) which makes everything much easier.