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Introduction

Introduction to "Comic Book Numbering"

Comic book numbering used to be a very simple issue - each issue was incremented one number from the preceding issue in a simple natural number sequence starting at issue #1 until infinity.

Occasionally there would be some complications when a series was re-named (often when a key character in an ongoing anthology becomes popular enough for their own title), such as "The Incredible Hulk (1968)" taking over the numbering from "Tales to Astonish (1959)" or "Captain America (1968)" taking over the numbering of "Tales of Suspense (1959)".

However, DC Comics started an inadvertent trend when John Byrne re-structured the Man of Steel in the mid-1980's. All Superman comics (Action Comics and Superman) were taken offline for a few months, and a re-launch re-started Superman (1987) with a new #1, and continued the pre-existing Superman (1939) numbering with "Adventures of Superman (1987)". Superman (2006) re-merged Superman (1987) and Adventures of Superman (1987) to a single title.

Both DC and Marvel comics insisted on the occassional oddly numbered comic (0, -1 for Marvel, 1,000,000 for DC) which made continuity of numbering strange.

Marvel had a mathematical psychotic break and sold off key characters (e.g. Hulk, Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and the Fantastic Four) to a group of artist/writers in the ill-fated "Heroes Reborn" period of about a year in the mid-1990's, each series being re-started as a new #1. This experiment lasted about a year from 1996 to 1997, where the characters were re-introduced into the "real" (616) universe of Marvel in "Heroes Return".

Marvel's marketing department, realizing that "#1" issues had extra purchase value, began randomly re-starting series to generate new #1's. Later, someone woke up and realized that they were missing the chance to capitalize on significant milestone issues (500, 600 etc.) and began to re-number the ongoing series, with mixed success. Some re-numbering was simply the inclusion of series X and series Y of the same character, with the new numbering being the sum. However, with other series, the effect was somewhat confusing (see Hulk).

This site is an attempt to make sense of the numbering issues.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Marvel Comics - "Shattered Heroes" Reading Order

Reading order for "Shattered Heroes", Marvel Comics - October 2011 to Feb 2012.

Please go to: Awesome "Shattered Heroes" Explanation/Links/Ordering where the list was drawn from as there is an issue by issue review and explanation for the storyline.  My list is "off" one unit, as I started counting at "1" in stead of "0", and I've added the year of first issue to the comic titles.

Link to Marvel site for "Shattered Heroes" - Marvel.com Website for "Shattered Heroes"


Order Title Issue #
1 Fear Itself (2011) 7
2 Fear Itself (2011) 7.1
3 Fear Itself (2011) 7.2
4 Fear Itself (2011) 7.3
5 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 1
6 Avengers Academy (2010) 21
7 Invincible Iron Man (2008) 510
8 Invincible Iron Man (2008) 511
9 Invincible Iron Man (2008) 512
10 Invincible Iron Man (2008) 513
11 Invincible Iron Man (2008) 514
12 Invincible Iron Man (2008) 515
13 Journey Into Mystery (2011) 631
14 Journey Into Mystery (2011) 632
15 Journey Into Mystery (2011) 633
16 Journey Into Mystery (2011) 634
17 Journey Into Mystery (2011) 635
18 Journey Into Mystery (2011) 636
19 Mighty Thor (2011) 8
20 Mighty Thor (2011) 9
21 Mighty Thor (2011) 10
22 Mighty Thor (2011) 11
23 Mighty Thor (2011) 12
24 Captain America (2011) 6
25 Captain America (2011) 7
26 Captain America (2011) 8
27 Captain America (2011) 9
28 Captain America (2011) 10
29 Avengers Academy (2010) 22
30 New Avengers (2010) 16.1
31 Avengers (2010)  18
32 New Avengers (2010) 17
33 New Avengers (2010) 18
34 New Avengers (2010) 19
35 New Avengers (2010) 20
36 Avengers (2010) 19
37 Avengers (2010) 20
38 Avengers (2010) 21
39 Avengers (2010) 22
40 Avengers (2010) 23
41 New Avengers (2010) 21
42 New Avengers (2010) 22
43 New Avengers (2010) 23
44 Avengers (2010) 24
45 Avengers Academy (2010) 23
46 Avengers Academy (2010) 24
47 Avengers Academy (2010) 25
48 Avengers Academy (2010) 26
49 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 2
50 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 3
51 Battle Scars (2012) 1
52 Battle Scars (2012) 2
53 Battle Scars (2012) 3
54 Battle Scars (2012) 4
55 Battle Scars (2012) 5
56 Battle Scars (2012) 6
57 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 4
58 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 5
59 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 6
60 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 7
61 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 8
62 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 9
63 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 10
64 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 11
65 Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) 12
66 Defenders (2012) 1
67 Defenders (2012) 2
68 Defenders (2012) 3
69 The Incredible Hulk (2011) 1
70 The Incredible Hulk (2011) 2
71 The Incredible Hulk (2011) 3
72 The Incredible Hulk (2011) 4
73 The Incredible Hulk (2011) 5
74 Defenders: Starnge Heroes (2011) 1
75 Defenders: The Coming of The Defenders (2011) 1
76 Defenders: Tournament of Heroes (2012) 1


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