Chad Nevett comes up with an order in which to read all of the Avengers vs. X-Men issues:
It may surprise you to learn that it wasn’t too difficult. Parts of the order are strictly judgement calls and some issues could be switched around with no real impact on anything, because they’re so self-contained. An example of this are the intial tie-in arcs of Avengers Academy and X-Men Legacy where they both fall within the same timeframe, but could be read in any order really. I’ll try to explain myself as I go and, maybe, update when necessary (aka when someone points out a factual error that makes my order impossible… though, in some cases, those are unavoidable). My biggest criteria for order is that events show in Avengers vs. X-Men trump all tie-ins with AVX: VS trumping all other tie-ins. So, events seen in Avengers vs. X-Men and tie-ins will always have Avengers vs. X-Men as the first comic to show those events with the others following. I think that makes sense.
I didn’t read every issue of the event, so I’ll just assume that he’s correct in his ordering. What strikes me as I read through the order and summary of each issue is how exhausting the whole thing is, when taken as a whole. You start looking at the shape of the entire event and thinking, “What was the point of the dual outer-space arcs in Avengers and Secret Avengers again…?” and wondering whether all of the “And then the Phoenix Five hunted the Avengers” issues are maybe a little too much. It’s a strange thing, looking at the entire event from a distance like this; things that didn’t necessarily seem so obvious in the midst of things start to become clear…
November 13th, 2012 at 10:37 am
…like the fact that the lack of direction in the writing makes the whole thing an unappealing clusterf**k and not even really a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
November 13th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Would be great if the link to Chad Nevett’s post worked.
–J.
November 13th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
here’s the link:
http://graphicontent.blogspot.com/2012/11/avengers-vs-x-men-reading-order.html
And on the subject at hand, AvX is a fun and not at all “exhausting” read if you simply read AvX #1-12 and that’s it.
November 13th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I hear ya, G-unit. It’s just EXHAUSTING. It’s like when i read Batman. MONTH AFTER MONTH he fights criminals! It’s just never ending! Like, hello, where’s the break?!?! Sure, maybe I should just be a reasonable consumer and buy what I want to read and ignore the rest, but I’m too exhausted from all the comic books to even think about that!!!
Seriously, Graeme, do you even like comics, or did you just pick a random hobby that you thought might be fun to complain about?
November 13th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
I’m with Ziggy. It was just dumb fun, as advertised. These reading lists always feel like either an exercise in masochism or smugness run amok. This guy hated this series — why is he putting all this work into figuring it out? I’m sure the pay’s not great.
On the other ham, I agree that the space chapter tie-ins were pretty confusing! Lucky for me, I hadn’t thought about it for months until just now.
November 13th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
are you trying to be an idiot with your posts graemecracker
????????
try again you moron
November 13th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
Are comics readers losing their stamina? We used to hear about “event fatigue” after a series of events without enough time to “rest” in between but this is the first time I’ve heard anyone complain about being “exhausted” just from one single event. Maybe we need an intermission for a couple of months in the middle of events now so that all the exhausted bloggers can catch their breath.
November 13th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
I didn’t read a single issue, and instead ordered the hardcover. According to Amazon, it’s Avengers vs. X-Men 0-12, Point One (AVX story), AVX: VS 1-6, Avengers vs. X-Men: Infinite 1, 6, 10.
Should that be enough?
November 13th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Vince,
That’s the core story. I found the tie-ins to be the better part of the event (although, sometimes the worst part, too). But, to get the story of Avengers vs. X-Men, the main series alone is enough. AVX: VS doesn’t really add much and I didn’t check out the Infinite stories (which I guess points to how ‘essential’ they are). So, you’re good.
November 13th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
I object to the premise of this post because it’s never been definitely proven Chad Nevett can read.