Marvel and its event cycle are well-known. Events have been a part of Marvel since the ’80s, but the unending cycle didn’t start until 2005 when House of M kicked off a cycle that would define the publisher in the years going forward. Event comics sell well, but their reception by fans is pretty mixed. They range from beloved to hated, with the worst making readers wonder who exactly wanted the story.
These event stories don’t really serve anyone. Either they’re so abysmal that no one wants them right off the bat, or fans are just mystified as to why they happened. For as much good as the event cycle has done, it’s also been damaging.
10/10 X Of Swords Killed The X-Men Book’s Momentum
The Krakoa era is unique in X-Men history. Kicked off by the blockbuster House of X/Powers of X, X-Men and its related titles had momentum like they hadn’t had in years. The pandemic slowed things down, but the most significant blow would come with X of Swords. A 22-part crossover that included every book on the line and three one-shots, it ground things to a halt.
X of Swords didn’t do any favors for most of the line. Every book but X-Men and Excalibur had to put its story on hold for two issues to tell a mediocre story that only affected X-Men, Excalibur, and SWORD, which spun out of it. Fans were happy with the direction of the line before XoS; no one wanted to pause that for this story.
9/10 Fear Itself Only Exists Because Of The Event Cycle
The event cycle sometimes led to amazing stories, but other times it gave readers duds. Fear Itself was the latter. Written by Matt Fraction with art by Stuart Immonen, the book chronicled the battle against the Asgardian God of Fear the Serpent. It was the first event of the Heroic Age, the post-Dark Reign status quo. It came completely out of left field and was a mostly meaningless story in the long run.
Previous events in the cycle had been built up since the end of the previous one, but Fear Itself had a one-shot, and that was it. It was dropped on readers out of nowhere, with little to no hype, and the only things that came from it were the end of Bucky as Cap, in a fake-out death no less, and Nick Fury Jr. joining SHIELD.
8/10 Infinity Wars Was Endemic Of Late-10s Corporate Synergy
Late-10s Marvel was categorized as a desire for synergy with the more popular movies, trying to boost sales by courting the non-existent crossover fans. Infinity Wars, by writer Gerry Duggan and artist Mike Deodato, was the 2018 example. It was meant to lure in fans of Avengers: Infinity War, but it just produced an event no one wanted, and a bunch of Infinity Warps Funko Pops that no one bought.
Duggan was able to do what no writer before him had done. He made a story about the Infinity Gems, now called the Infinity Stones, because that’s what the MCU called them, and no one cared. It was an impressive failure in that regard, but otherwise just a failure.
7/10 Age Of X-Man Was A Placeholder Event That Came Out Of Nowhere
X-Men history contains many alternate universe stories. The most beloved of these is The Age of Apocalypse, a mid-90s gem that has aged like fine wine. Not all alternate universe stories work, though. Marvel has tried to go back to the Age Of… well, twice. Age of X was lackluster but inoffensive. Age of X-Man was legitimately terrible and came out of nowhere.
Spinning out of 2018’s Uncanny X-Men reboot, it was basically a placeholder event before Hickman took over. However, it had no impact at all on fans. No one really wanted it; it’s rarely discussed and will be completely forgotten in a few years.
6/10 Civil War II Felt Like A Synergy Ouroboros
Many ’10s Marvel comics haven’t aged well. The comic side of the company was chasing the success of the film side, and the myth of the crossover fan was born. Captain America: Civil War hit theaters in 2016, and Civil War II, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Marquez, hit comic stores. There was no build-up to the event other than the Free Comic Book Day zero issue, and it had nearly zero impact other than the death of Hulk and Iron Man’s coma.
It was the perfect example of an ouroboros event, a perfectlycyclical event that set itself up and ended its plot lines within itself. It was such an obvious cash-in comic. It has been rightfully lampooned ever since.
5/10 Inhumans Vs X-Men Didn’t Do Anyone Any Favors
Inhumans Vs. X-Men, by writers Charles Soule and Jeff Lemire and artist Leinil Yu, was a mistake from the start. The entire Inhumans push at the expense of the X-Men was foolish, but ending it with a cliché versus event was even worse, especially since the Inhumans’ lack of popularity meant they were definitely losing.
Even with all that, Marvel still managed to mess up the ending by having a late-game Emma Frost heel-turn. In fact, the whole book felt like sour grapes made to make the X-Men look bad, a fit of pique over their sales victory over the Inhumans line.
4/10 Ultimatum Destroyed The Ultimate Universe
Marvel has put out hated books, but few did the damage that Ultimatum, by writer Jeph Loeb and artist David Finch, did. The Ultimate Universe was Marvel’s cash cow in the early ’00s. But, as the decade went on, it had started to run out of sales steam, and Ultimatum was meant to be a shot in the arm for the line.
Unfortunately, it was a shot full of poison. The Ultimate books were still selling respectably and didn’t need the senselessly violent reboot Ultimatum gave them. The Ultimate books shambled on for a few more years after Ultimatum, but it basically killed them.
3/10 Secret Empire Was Doomed From The Start
From the moment Steve Rogers said, “Hail Hydra,” at the end of Steve Rogers: Captain America #2, fans were dreading the blow-off event. Secret Empire was set up well by writer Nick Spencer and artists Steve McNiven, Andrea Sorrentino, and Leinil Yu, but many fans were ready to hate it sight unseen. The resulting book didn’t help matters any.
An overly long and often boring event book, it did all the things that fans didn’t want it to do. It was DOA, and the added issues and the predictable ending didn’t really do it any favors. The book found a way to fail spectacularly.
2/10 Secret Wars II Was Marvel’s First Soulless Cash-In
The original Secret Wars from 1985 is a classic, numbering among Marvel’s best events. Secret Wars II, by writer Jim Shooter and artist Al Milgrom, was the cash-in sequel. It also introduced the concept of crossover issues that readers needed to buy to get the whole story.
Secret Wars II focused on the Beyonder in human form as he tried to make sense of having a physical body. The story has a cool premise, but readers just weren’t into it. Secret Wars didn’t need a sequel, and fans let Marvel know by hating this book.
1/10 House Of M Didn’t Do Anything Good For Anyone
House of M, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Olivier Coipel, kicked off the event cycle. Some fans love HoM, but it’s hard to argue that it was what fans at the time wanted. It was sold as a crossover between the New Avengers and Astonishing X-Men, but that’s not what fans got.
The book radically altered the X-Men’s status quo. In fact, it felt like it was just designed to sweep away the radical changes to the X-Men status quo that departing writer Grant Morrison set up. It’s very important to Marvel’s history, but it didn’t do any favors for any set of fans.
