Marvel invented the event comic as we know them with books like Marvel Super Heroes Contest of Champions and Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars in the early to mid ’80s. Since then, event comics have changed many times and have become a very important part of the House of Ideas. In the ’00s, the Marvel event cycle became the dominant paradigm of the publisher, with event comics selling like hotcakes and becoming an important part of the story of the Marvel Universe. It’s gotten to the point where multiple events come out every year; some times, fans like them and other times, they wish they never happened. Events are both the most popular thing in comics and one of the most hated.
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Marvel has given readers some fantastic events and the best of them all have something in common: amazing build-ups. The build-up to an event can make or break the story, with the well-built events giving readers better stories in the long run. These five Marvel events had flawless build-ups, which made a huge difference for them.
5) Avengers vs. X-Men
Avengers vs. X-Men has aged rather well, and definitely benefited from its build-up. That started with X-Men Schism, a five-issue series that saw the X-Men split down the middle, as Wolverine and Cyclops violently fall out over their differing views of how mutant should deal with threats. This broke the mutant race into two factions, each one angry at the other. The grudge between Cyclops and Wolverine is what made AvX so great; without their distrust and anger at each other built up in X-Men Schism, Uncanny X-Men, and Wolverine and the X-Men, the Avengers never would have reacted the way they did to the coming of the Phoenix. As far as Hope Summers, who plays a huge role in the book’s story, the Messiah Trilogy of X-Men stories (Messiah Complex, Messiah War, and Second Coming) is integral to getting the character, as is Generation Hope. The Avengers don’t have too much build up to this event, but the X-Men side has so much that it works.
4) A.X.E. Judgment Day
A.X.E. Judgment Day was built up over 2021, with two of the best books of that year laying out the events of the book. Immortal X-Men was the beginning of a new era for the X-Men and the mutant nation of Krakoa, and shows off the main mutant characters of the story. Meanwhile, Eternals (Vol. 5) #1-12 re-introduced the characters to the Marvel Universe and set them on the road to war with Krakoa. These two books were written by Judgment Day writer Kieron Gillen, with artists Lucas Warneck on Immortal and Esad Ribic on Eternals. There’s also some Eternals one-shots from the period that are integral to the story — Eternals: Thanos Rising, Eternals: Celestia, and Eternals: The Heretic, with artists Dustin Weaver, Kei Zama, Ryan Bodenheim, and Edgar Salazar. These comics are all amazing, and helped make the event into something special.
3) Infinity Gauntlet
Infinity Gauntlet is a legendary Marvel event, and we’ve forgotten how important its build-up was to the story. Jim Starlin returned to Marvel in the early ’90s, writing Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #34-38, #40-48, and #50. He brought Thanos back in that book and the amazing Thanos Quest #1-2 which saw the Mad Titan get his hands on the Infinity Gems, leading directly into Infinity Gauntlet. These comics really flesh out the classic story; they help expand on the ideas presented in Infinity Gauntlet and give readers some titanic cosmic tussles. On top of that, Starlin works with artist Ron Lim on both books, building their working relationship that would pay dividends for the Infinity Trilogy of event books over the next several years. These aren’t just great build-up comics, they’re peak cosmic Marvel.
2) Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion is a story that was built over the span of about four years. Some of the seeds were planted by 2004’s Secret War and New Avengers (Vol. 1) #1-37, but especially #1-6 and #25-37, play a role building it up as well. Civil War and World War Hulk play into it, as does New Avengers: The Illuminati #1-6 and Thunderbolts #110-121. Honestly, a whole lot of comics from Marvel that came out between 2005 and 2008 introduce different aspects of the story, and really helped sell the event to readers. By the time the book itself started, years of comics had built it up and fans were rabid to see how it all shook out.
1) Civil War
Civil War is a story that a lot of fans don’t like for a variety of reasons. However, Marvel went out of their way to sell the story to fans, both through the comics they published and an amazing ad campaign. Starting with 2004’s Secret War, the creators of the Marvel Universe laid down the groundwork for the event. New Avengers (Vol. 1) #1-19 are part of that build-up, as is House of M. The Amazing Spider-Man #529-532 do a lot of awesome heavy lifting for the story, showing Tony Stark befriending Spider-Man after he joined the New Avengers. As far as Iron Man and Captain America, Captain America (Vol. 5) #1-21 will give you an idea of who the character was at the time (and includes the amazing “Winter Soldier” story), meanwhile Iron Man (Vol. 4) #1-6 will set up Tony Stark for a new role in the hierarchy of the Marvel Universe. All of these books are some of the most important Marvel comics ever and are pretty fun to read at that. They built Civil War perfectly, allowing it to become a legendary event.
What are your favorite Marvel event build-ups? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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