What's the Best Marvel Crossover Event?

shaneb

I am new to the Marvel universe and have been looking around to find a great crossover that ties a number of titles and writers together.

What is the masterpiece of Marvel events? Which one stands out the most in terms of writing and story? A lot of people have mentioned Civil War. Is there an undisputed leader?

I would love to hear people's thoughts and favorites.

DoctorDoom

Civil War is ....divisive. But I'm at a loss to offer up another palatable alternative.

SolitaireRose

Infinity Gauntlet is the one I have heard the most positive stuff about. Civil War was damn good, though.

TheOriginalGMan

Annihilation.

Mr_Cosmic

Annihilation or Infinity Gauntlet

Matt

To offer up 2 different ones; I'm always partial to Secret Wars, and enjoyed Acts of Vengeance.

M

bralinator

I'd try out:
Infinity Gauntlet
Civil War
X-Men Fall of the Mutants
Secret Wars

I would avoid:
Secret Wars II
Infinity Crusade
The Clone Saga...

jaydee74

Acts of Vengeance was really quite awesome. I forgot who came up with the idea, but basically super villains began attacking heroes they had never fought before. I remember really liking it because we got match-ups we had never seen before which I thought was kind of cool.

One that I liked a lot was Atlantis Attacks. It took place in all of the Summer Annuals of 1989 and I just remember enjoying it a lot.

Matt

jaydee74 said:

Acts of Vengeance was really quite awesome. I forgot who came up with the idea, but basically super villains began attacking heroes they had never fought before. I remember really liking it because we got match-ups we had never seen before which I thought was kind of cool.

One that I liked a lot was Atlantis Attacks. It took place in all of the Summer Annuals of 1989 and I just remember enjoying it a lot.

Plus, there was a great Magneto victory over Red Skull.

M

jaydee74

I have to go back and re-read those.

Evening639

Was Acts Of Vengeance the crossover that gave us Cosmic Spidey for a few months? I remember really enjoying that while it lasted.

Matt

Evening639 said:

Was Acts Of Vengeance the event that gave us Cosmic Spidey for a few months? I remember really enjoying that while it lasted.

It occurred during that time period, yes.

M

jaydee74

I loved Cosmic Spidey. That was some fun times.

mwhitt80

My top 3 events:

Infinity Guantlet
Annihilation
Civil War

shaneb

What crossover event would be best for folks that are somewhat new to the Marvel Universe?

mwhitt80

shaneb said:

What crossover event would be best for folks that are somewhat new to the Marvel Universe?

I would say Civil War and Annihilation.
Civil War - Everyone under 40 grew up with some form of the Marvel U in thier lives (spiderman/xmen/avengers/hulk cartoons or Marvel movies) so the characters are really familiar, and the story is easy to follow. Plus it is great.

Annihilation - this is the restart of Marvel Cosmic so it is the best jumping on point for the "Guardians of the Galaxy" fanbase.

Hex

So many events over the years, it is hard to pick;
I would echo praise for "Annihilation". It sort of came out of nowhere and was surprisingly good.
I also enjoyed "War of Kings" that followed.

pfinnegan

I agree with Civil War and Annihilation as perhaps the best "first" event books.

I don't want to spoil anything, but one of the best parts of Civil War will ultimately be retconned out after some time. Regardless, it's good.

If the infighting of Civil War doesn't seem like a good starting point, I would also suggest Secret Invasion. Some folks aren't big fans, but I loved it. Super heroes vs shape shifting aliens. It's classic.

DoctorDoom

Infinity Gauntlet is amazing.

I'd also suggest reading Thanos Quest before it :)

playdohsrepublic

DoctorDoom said:

Infinity Gauntlet is amazing.

I'd also suggest reading Thanos Quest before it :)

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Infinity Gauntlet (I like it, but it never bowled me over. And it reads a little dated now) but Thanos Quest is awesome

jaydee74

Infinity Gauntlet. I loved it.

Evening639

How about Contest Of Champions II? It tried to make the Slingers still relevant and I support any event that does that.

shroud68

I always liked the events that ended up seeded throughout the entire(mostly) universe. I liked Inferno alot. Much like @Matt, I really got a kick out of Acts of Vengeance. There were alot of interesting pair ups and while I never thought the Masterplan was a particularly good one, the individual pairings were great; Iron Man v Gray Gargoyle, Punisher v Doctor Doom, Avengers v Brotherhood, Spiderman v Dragon Man, etc.... I did think the Fantastic Four stuff was bad but I believe Simonson's FF stuff was not his best. I am waiting to find both omnibuses at a good price but the further out I wait, I know the harder it will be.

On the other side and answering a question not asked, DC's Invasion was well executed and even better promoted. It was the last great thing DC did before I got out.

Mr_Cosmic

Atlantis Attacks! No, no, stay away from it.

jaydee74

I remember liking Atlantis Attacks.

shroud68

Mr_Cosmic said:

Atlantis Attacks! No, no, stay away from it.

Atlantis Attacks has not aged well. It feels like the worst of the Bronze Age with the worst of the 90's rolled into one. It failed in execution despite the strong Bryne entry in the WCA and X-Factor annuals. The Silver Surfer annual is the way to start an event, very foreboding with great Lim art. The X-Men annual with the Serpent Society versus the X-Men has awful Mike Vosburg art and the conclusion is so weak and standard it was a "smh" moment before "smh" was a thing.

BTW I do have that omnibus but not Inferno or Acts of Vengeance! SMH.

SolitaireRose

shroud68 said:

Mr_Cosmic said:

Atlantis Attacks! No, no, stay away from it.

Atlantis Attacks has not aged well. It feels like the worst of the Bronze Age with the worst of the 90's rolled into one. It failed in execution despite the strong Bryne entry in the WCA and X-Factor annuals. The Silver Surfer annual is the way to start an event, very foreboding with great Lim art. The X-Men annual with the Serpent Society versus the X-Men has awful Mike Vosburg art and the conclusion is so weak and standard it was a "smh" moment before "smh" was a thing.

BTW I do have that omnibus but not Inferno or Acts of Vengeance! SMH.

I have it because it was $20 at the local con, as was Evolutionary War. They are nostalgia wallows for me, and while I wouldn't pay $20 for a trade of them, cheap omnibuses are a perpetual weakness of mine.

bats00

I have fond memories of both Atlantis Attacks and Evolutionary War, but a big part of that was because of the Mark Gruenwald written back-ups in all of the annuals giving the history of the High Evolutionary and the Serpent Crown and via that a history of the whole Marvel U.

Greg

I'm with @shroud68‌, I really liked Inferno, and not just the X books the story was running through. The tie-in books had some decent stories.

In regards to Atlantis Attacks and Evolutionary War, I wish Marvel would go back to the annuals housing big crossover stories. I haven't been interested in buying annuals since then.

shroud68

SolitaireRose said:

shroud68 said:

Mr_Cosmic said:

Atlantis Attacks! No, no, stay away from it.

Atlantis Attacks has not aged well. It feels like the worst of the Bronze Age with the worst of the 90's rolled into one. It failed in execution despite the strong Bryne entry in the WCA and X-Factor annuals. The Silver Surfer annual is the way to start an event, very foreboding with great Lim art. The X-Men annual with the Serpent Society versus the X-Men has awful Mike Vosburg art and the conclusion is so weak and standard it was a "smh" moment before "smh" was a thing.

BTW I do have that omnibus but not Inferno or Acts of Vengeance! SMH.

I have it because it was $20 at the local con, as was Evolutionary War. They are nostalgia wallows for me, and while I wouldn't pay $20 for a trade of them, cheap omnibuses are a perpetual weakness of mine.

I agree. I love the omnibus format but have never been fortunate to get one that cheap. I picked up Bryne's first Fantastic Four at the last Supershow via Wild Pig for dirt cheap and circle around tables all the time for things like Evolutionary War. These are my weakness as well and perfect for collecting cross over events like these.

Mr_Cosmic

Greg said:

In regards to Atlantis Attacks and Evolutionary War, I wish Marvel would go back to the annuals housing big crossover stories. I haven't been interested in buying annuals since then.

They've been doing it but on a much smaller scale.