Marvel may not have created the superhero or superteam, but they did bring some very important ideas to superhero comics. The first was the shared universe concept, creating an interconnected universe of characters, the events in the lives of each affecting the whole. The shared universe was a huge step forward, and eventually it led to a story type that is both a favorite of superhero fans and also the one thing that they hate the most about comics — the event comic. Crossovers had been going on since the beginning of superhero comics, but the event comic took this idea to its ultimate conclusion. These stories would become extremely important over the years, and eventually Marvel’s event cycle was created, which each prior event informing the ideas that would lead to the next.
Marvel has been one of the biggest abusers of the event comic as a concept, their publishing line becoming more and more dependent on them as the years have gone by. However, while there are lots of bad Marvel event comics, there are also amazing ones. Look, as much as people complain about event comics, they’re a reason they’ve stayed so popular over the years — there are some legitimately great ones. These ten are Marvel’s best events, creating stories that fans still talk about to this day.
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10) Civil War
So, a lot of people hate Civil War, and that’s completely valid. There are plenty of complaints about the book — the mischaracterization, the negative effect it had on Marvel’s publishing line, the intended message of writer of Mark Millar (that the Bush Administration and the Patriot Act were actually justified) — but it’s also a great event book. In the end, event books are about spectacle, and Civil War had spectacle in spades. Artist Steve McNiven understood the assignment, giving readers some of the best fights ever, and imagery that still stirs the soul. The question of Civil War‘s quality has always chased it, and I’m here to say that it never should have been. Civil War is a great event comic. It has its problems, but it did exactly what it was supposed to in the most entertaining manner it could. On top of that, the Civil War tie-ins are some of the best tie-in comics ever, with New Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Wolverine (yes, the Wolverine chapters are actually really good despite what you’ve heard), the Young Avengers/Runaway crossover, She-Hulk, and especially Civil War: Frontline doing a better job with the characters and concepts than the main book. Taking Civil War as a whole, it’s definitely much better than it gets credit for.
9) Siege
This will be the only Brian Michael Bendis-written event on this list. Bendis was the most important Marvel writer of the first decade of the 21st century, but his event books were usually long boring slogs. However, there was one Bendis event that was actually very good, and that’s Siege, with artist Olivier Coipel. Honestly, a big part of this is the fact that it’s only four issues long. Bendis couldn’t draw everything out, and had to tell an action-packed story that closed down his best Marvel work, “Dark Reign”, without having entire issues of overwrought drama. Of course, since this was Bendis, there was definitely still a lot of wheel spinning — he never met a comic he couldn’t inject his talking heads into — but it works for this story. Coipel’s art is sensational — the battle between Aries and the Sentry is amazing, and Coipel’s Sentry/Void is one of the best conceptions of the character, capturing the power and fear of the Sentry — and it really helps keep the book from dragging. On top of that, there’s some great tie-in comics, especially the Bendis written Dark Avengers and New Avengers. It’s a great Marvel event that doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
8) Infinity
Jonathan Hickman is a name you will see several more times on the list, because he writes the best event comics (and honestly, the best comics) ever. Hickman’s run on Avengers and New Avengers is perfect, and they spawned two amazing events. The first of these is Infinity, with artists Jerome Opena, Dustin Weaver, and Jim Cheung. Infinity tells the story of the war against the Builders, an ancient race of aliens who are systemically destroying the 616 universe because of the Incursions. The six issue miniseries is pretty great, but there is a slight problem with the series: if you don’t read the Avengers/New Avengers tie-ins, you’re missing a lot of the story. Luckily, they’re all collected together nowadays. Taken as a whole Infinity/Avengers/New Avengers is a sensational story, the best interstellar war in the history of the comic book medium.
7) A.X.E. Judgment Day
A.X.E. Judgment Day, by Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti, completely transcended expectations to become one of the best events comics of the last decade (not that that’s a high bar to clear; Marvel events have been straight up bad for a while now). The story was advertised as a war between the Eternals and the mutant nation of Krakoa, with the Avengers caught in the middle. This gave readers the mistaken impression that this was going to be one of Marvel’s very mediocre hero vs. hero books. Instead, readers got an exciting, smart story that changed directions midway through, as the war becomes something else entirely. The book expertly subverts expectations, giving readers a much better story than they thought they were going to get. Gillen and Schiti do an outstanding job with this book, and this event is definitely something of an underrated gem.
6) “Inferno”
After the failure of Secret Wars II, Marvel decided to put the event book driven summer crossover on the backburner. However, they weren’t going to get rid of it entirely, and that led to readers getting more X-Men-centric crossovers in the mid to late ’80s. Each of them are great stories, but “Inferno” is definitely the best and one of Marvel’s best events ever. The story is the culmination of the Madelyne Pryor story, as she finally completely breaks bad and becomes the Goblin Queen, joining the demons of Limbo to destroy the Earth. “Inferno” ran through Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, X-Terminators, Avengers, Daredevil, Power Pack, Cloak and Dagger, Damage Control, Fantastic Four, The Spectacular Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Web of Spider-Man (with an issue of What If…? based on the story), and gave readers an amazing epic. Late ’80s Marvel was stacked with brilliant talent, and this story shows off just how great they are. It’s one for the ages, and every Marvel fans owes it to themselves to check it out.
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5) World War Hulk
World War Hulk is the best Marvel crossover of the ’00s, and it’s not even close. World War Hulk played out of the blockbuster story “Planet Hulk”, as well as tying into the Illuminati and the post-Civil War Marvel Universe, as the Hulk and his Warbound attack the Earth for revenge for the destruction of Sakaar. World War Hulk, by Greg Pak and John Romita Jr., is an action epic of the highest caliber. The five issue series is basically just the Hulk beating on everyone, and it’s always very entertaining. In order to get the full gist of the series, you need to read “Planet Hulk”, but seeing as how that story is amazing that isn’t really a problem. World War Hulk was basically a placeholder event, killing time between Civil War and Secret Invasion. However, it transcended that label by a wide margin because it’s a bombastic and simple story that never fails to disappoint. Watching the Hulk just destroy Iron Man was also therapeutic at the time, as post-Civil War Iron Man was Marvel’s most hated character.
4) House of X/Powers of X
House of X/Powers of X, by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, and R.B. Silva, isn’t a linewide Marvel event. It’s an X-Men event, and it’s one of the best X-Men events of all time, which is definitely saying something. The premise of the two books that are one is that mutants have moved to the living island of Krakoa and made it into a mutant utopia, trying to form their owm mutant nation. This brings them into conflict with the Orchis Initiative, an anti-mutant group consisting of ever spy group on Earth with one goal — to destroy mutants before they can destroy humanity. House of X takes place in the present, as the X-Men deal with the problems of nation-building and the war against Orchis. Powers of X takes readers through time and space, showing the possible outcomes of the war between mutants and humans, as well as giving readers background for House of X‘s story. These are phenomenal stories, and changed the way X-Men comics worked for five years. The Krakoa Era may have stumbled at the end, but its beginning is one of the greatest Marvel events of all time.
3) Infinity Gauntlet
I know what your’re thinking, “How is Infinity Gauntlet ranked number three?” I’ll explain. Infinity Gauntlet, by Jim Starlin, George Perez, and Ron Lim, tells the story of Thanos’s rampage with the Infinity Gauntlet, with readers getting six issues of amazing spectacle combined with a great story. Infinity Gauntlet is amazing, however it’s not perfect. The pacing of the first three issues is a bit slow compared to the last three, and while those three issues are completely necessary for the story to work, they can drag a bit. This is basically the only problem with the book; the pacing is just a little wonky. Other than that, Infinity Gauntlet is basically flawless. Everything about it is epic, and there’s a reason why it’s gone down as one of the best events ever.
2) Infinity War
Infinity Gauntlet was actually the beginning of a trilogy of stories, and its direct sequel is better than that hallowed event comic. Infinity War, by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, takes everything that Infinity Gauntlet did well and pushed it to eleven. The Magus, the evil side of Adam Warlock expelled after Warlock got the Infinity Gauntlet, makes a plan to gain godhood, one that will test superhero and cosmic being alike. It’s an amazing event book. The pacing is better, as even the info dump issues have massive action setpieces in them. It keeps upping the ante on readers the entire time, presenting the Magus’s plan beautifully. Infinity War is a perfect event, and if you haven’t read it yet, you need to hunt it down.
1) Secret Wars (2015)
Secret Wars (2015) was the culmination of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers and his earlier Fantastic Four run. The Incursions end with Earth-616 against Earth-1610, and what is birthed from the aftermath is Battleworld, created by Doctor Doom. What follows is something that can only be described as epic, as readers are given the history of Battleworld and how it works as a society, as well as the return of the greatest heroes and villains of Earth-616 and Earth-1610 in a last ditch effort to stop Doctor Doom. This is an amazing event series, as Hickman and artist Esad Ribic give readers the kind of big concept, widescreen action that Marvel events were all about for a long time. This is perfection in comic form.
What do you think are the best Marvel events? Sound off in the comments below.
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