What to read before Secret Wars. POSSIBLE UNMARKED SPOILERS (for old stuff)

[Canucked]

Hey collectors. With Secret Wars coming, I'm more interested in where some of the classic series are based on than the actual event(s) themselves and some of it I'm interested in re-reading or diving into. Can people help me fill out this (quick and ugly) list I made? Opinions and supplemental info on the original material is welcome!

But if you want to argue about the current event, or the merits of events in general BEAT IT!


My ugly format is just Battleworld Area - Series/Event it is based on - Where to read the original material and what formats it is in.


Greenland - Planet Hulk - Incredible Hulk 92-105 2006-7 (OHC, Paperback)
Dystopia - Future Imperfect - Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect prestige mini by Peter David and George Perez
Domain of Apocalypse - Age of Apocalypse - Age of Apocalypse and related crossovers 1995 (Paperback, Omnibus, Companion Omnibus) Possibly, but doubtfully Age of Apocalypse 2012 (Paperback)
Egyptia - Forever Yesterday - **Possibly seen in the New Warriors omnibus
Technopolis - Armor Wars - Iron Man ?? (Epic Collection "Stark Wars")
CLASSIFIED
Spider Island - Spider Island - Spiderman 666-673 and related crossovers (OHC, Companion OHC, Paperback)
The Regency - One More Day/Renew Your Vows - ASM #544, ASM#555 Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man#24, and Sensational Spider-Man#41
King James’ England - 1602 - 1602 limited series (Hardcover? Paperback)
Weirdworld - Weirdworld - Marvel Premiere 38 1977 (Collected?) I have no clue what this is about
K’un Lun - Iron Fist - Any Iron Fist or Shang Chi. Will (at lest in part) be covered in a comic called Master of Kung Fu with Shang Chi.
Utopolis - ??
New Mars - Killraven - Amazing Adventures 1973 18-32, Killraven 2001
CLASSIFIED
Higher Avalon - Captain Britain - Any Captain Britain Series, no specific era yet indicated.
Arachnia - Spider-verse - Recent event
Marville - Scottie-verse - AvX Babies 2012
The Eye of Agamotto - Doctor Strange - Any Dr. Strange or Defenders, no Specific era yet
CLASSIFIED
Manhattan
a-Attilan - Inhumans: Atillan Rising is possibly from the current monthly or classic stuff covered in Fantastic Four or the 2010 Jenkins and Lee Inumanhs 1-12. Possibly references Inhumanity 2013.
b-Earth 616 - ??
c-Earth 1610 (Ultimate) - Ultimate End?
d-Monster Metropolis (Earth 616) - Legion of Monsters?
The City - The Korvac Saga -
The Warzone - Civil War - Civil War 2006-2007 and related crossovers. Easily available in Paperback. Harder to find in OHC
New Quack City - Howard the Duck - Recently released Omnibus and new 2014 ongoing series.
The Far East - Where Monsters Dwell - Where Monsters Dwell ongoing series 1971, not sure where collected.
Valley of the Flame - Devil Dinosaur - Devil Dinosaur series (Omnibus and TPB)
The Hydra Empire - Hydra - Who Knows??
2099 - 2099 - Peter David says this is new stuff, not based on an old event from any 2099 series. Probably good to read current Spiderman 2099.
Haha Field - Captain Marvel - Based on Carol Danvers captain marvel, 2012 Ongoing series in TPB.
The Monarchy of M - House of M - 2005 Event and crossovers, easily found in TPB. Rare in OHC.
Sentinel Territories - Days of Future Past/Years of Future past - based on an event that is collected in many many places. Uncanny X-Men 141-142.
The Wastelands - Old Man Logan - Wolverine 66-72 2008-9 (Paperback, hardcover, omnibus)
Mutopia - E is for Extinction - New X-Men 114-116 (TPB, Omnibus)
Westchester - X-Men ’92 - Based on the Animated Series from time.
Killville - ??
Aracdia - A-Next - Not based on an era or event. Secret Wars avengers title.
Bar Sinister - Mister Sinister something-or-other
Limbo - Inferno - X-Men and related series in 1988-89. OHC is out of print as is TPB. Events here take place long after the events of the original inferno.
The Deadlands - Marvel Zombies - Marvel Zombies and Age of Ultron are covered in AoU vs Marvel Zombies. Age of Ultron crossover is alternate titles of many 2013 series. Collected in OHC and TPB. Marvel Zombies maybe first appeared in Ultimate Fantastic #21-24. However, all of those issues and the Zombies/Black Panther and the NFF crossovers are collected in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days TPB (Thanks Mighty Roman). Self-titled mini-series collected in many trades and an Omnibus. There is also an independent Marvel Zombies book that features Elsa Bloodstone. Not sure what to read to prepare for that.
Perfection - Age of Ultron - See above
New Xandar - Infinity Gauntlet - Infinity gauntlet series and related crossovers, TPB and an Omnibus. Cover and world name indicate Nova influence. No specific nova series referenced.
The Wall - Not sure if this will be covered in it’s own comic or if it’s just there.

I Don't know where in Battleworld the following take place, post if you know:
X-Tinction Agenda - Uncanny X-Men #235-238, #270-272; New Mutants (1983) #95-97; X-Factor (1986) #60-62 - OHC is possibly out of print but easy to find.
Runaways - Doesn't feature the cast of the original comics. Is a collection of new kids (and possibly one Runaway) but there are the complete collections out/coming out.
Starlord and Kitty Pride - Ties into the current 2014 Legendary Star Lord ongoing as well as Age of Apocalypse (1995) listed above.

[Mighty Roman]

That pretty much covers it. That said, I'd read all 4 parts of One More Day (ASM #544, ASM#555 Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man#24, and Sensational Spider-Man#41-you only listed part 3). Also, the Marvel Zombies first appeared in Ultimate Fantastic #21-24, and again later in the series. However, all of those issues and the Zombies/Black Panther and the NFF crossovers are collected in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days TPB, if you want to read them. Also, there are 2 Ultimate Collections,of MZ, which collects those crossovers, and the first 6 or so volumes of MZ. Hope this helps.

[Canucked]

Thanks! I'll update those tomorrow, along with bolding where each line begins, because what I wrote is pretty annoying to read.

I'm interested in reading the beginnings of Zombies that you posted, but not really into getting into later volumes. It there one big story or is it all self contained arcs?

[Mighty Roman]

Thanks! I'll update those tomorrow, along with bolding where each line begins, because what I wrote is pretty annoying to read.

I'm interested in reading the beginnings of Zombies that you posted, but not really into getting into later volumes. It there one big story or is it all self contained arcs?

I haven't read many of the Zombie series (I only own a couple of issues and the Black Panther crossover), but I've helped other people with this kind of question, so: there are 2 main Zombie timelines:
1. The Kirkman Zombies( UF4: Crossover,UF4: Frightful, Marvel Zombies,Marvel Zombies Return,Marvel Zombies 2)-This is the 'original' famous series of MZ. Grim, and dark, this follows a parallel world (Earth 2149) where nearly all of Earth's superhumans are infected by the Zombies. The main trilogy is pretty self-contained.

2. The ARMOR Zombies (Marvel Zombies 3,4,5,)-This trilogy is set in the Mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth 616), and features the group ARMOR (Alternate Reality Monitoring & Operational Response agency) recruiting various heroes to stop Zombies from other dimensions ecscaping into 616. The trilogy is quite comedic (in the gory MZ manner), and stars Machine Man, Jocasta, Howard the Duck, and Morbius. Another Self-Contained Trilogy.
The other books are all standalone. These include: Marvel Zombies Supreme (featuring Zombie clones of the titular team), Marvel Zombies Destroy! (featuring Howard the Duck, Dum Dum Dugan, against WWII Zombies), and Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution TPB (which contains a variety of self contained one-shots), and Marvel Zombies vs The Army of Darkness (a crossover with The Evil Dead).
Hope this helps.

[FanboyStranger]

The Dystopia of Future Imperfect is from the Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect prestige mini by Peter David and George Perez. David's revisited it a few times since in his books.

The Weirdworld is from Doug Moench and Mike Ploog's "Weirdworld" fantasy stories, which were not previously related to the Marvel Universe. (But they were pre-Epic, so presumably Marvel owns them outright.)

[Flight]

Inferno is in TPB but it is nearly as rare as the HC and goes for quite a high price.

[GenericUserName12]

Inferno is in TPB but it is nearly as rare as the HC and goes for quite a high price.

The TPB is missing a few issues that the OHC contains.

[Canucked]

Thanks for the heads up on the inferno TPB. I'm fortunate enough to have the OHCs. Also thanks for the Hulk update. It's all added.

I put some of the new stuff in read, as well as added things beyond battleworld.

[Taral-DLOS]

Inferno is in TPB but it is nearly as rare as the HC and goes for quite a high price.

You can get her Inferno OHC digitally on Comixology for $30.

[Mighty Roman]

The Far East may refer to another series by the same author also starring Phantom Eagle, instead of the original Where Monsters Dwell.

[Mighty Roman]

Diamond have Released this flowchart of what to read before Secret Wars (Many thanks to John Lynch for posting this in the Marvel Forum:

[Canucked]

Wow thanks for the chart! I've been reading a lot of the precursor material on unlimited.