WAR of the REALMS to EMPYRE

[Siabod]

FF:PSUN 1, SS:PSUN 1, GOTG:PSUN 1 (before SS:BLK)
GOTG5 1-6 (after UX5 22) (CGR is sent to A7 22)
SS:BLK 1-5 (cont'd from GOTG5 6)

At start of GOTG5 1 it's just Quill and Groot. Joined by Bill, Cosmic Ghost Rider et al. But by GOTG5 2 Cosmic Ghost rider has left. It's this reduced group that is seen in GOTG:PSUN. Thus (at least) GOTG5 1-2 come before GOTG:PSUN?

[StrayLamb]

FF:PSUN 1, SS:PSUN 1, GOTG:PSUN 1 (before SS:BLK)
GOTG5 1-6 (after UX5 22) (CGR is sent to A7 22)
SS:BLK 1-5 (cont'd from GOTG5 6)

At start of GOTG5 1 it's just Quill and Groot. Joined by Bill, Cosmic Ghost Rider et al. But by GOTG5 2 Cosmic Ghost rider has left. It's this reduced group that is seen in GOTG:PSUN. Thus (at least) GOTG5 1-2 come before GOTG:PSUN?

The whole of GOTG6 1-6 seems to take place during EMPYRE, elsewhere in the galaxy. It's definitely after Hulking becomes Emperor, which is immediately before EMPYRE. The Feb 16 date shown in issue 2 is pictured inside Moondragon's Mindscape, and i believe should be put down to artistic license. It represents the actual week in which issue 2 was released (Weds 19th Feb).

[Midnighter]

FF:PSUN 1, SS:PSUN 1, GOTG:PSUN 1 (before SS:BLK)
GOTG5 1-6 (after UX5 22) (CGR is sent to A7 22)
SS:BLK 1-5 (cont'd from GOTG5 6)

At start of GOTG5 1 it's just Quill and Groot. Joined by Bill, Cosmic Ghost Rider et al. But by GOTG5 2 Cosmic Ghost rider has left. It's this reduced group that is seen in GOTG:PSUN. Thus (at least) GOTG5 1-2 come before GOTG:PSUN?

The whole of GOTG6 1-6 seems to take place during EMPYRE, elsewhere in the galaxy. It's definitely after Hulking becomes Emperor, which is immediately before EMPYRE. The Feb 16 date shown in issue 2 is pictured inside Moondragon's Mindscape, and i believe should be put down to artistic license. It represents the actual week in which issue 2 was released (Weds 19th Feb).

GOTG5 vs GOTG6

[StrayLamb]

GOTG5 vs GOTG6

I'm so dumb.

[StrayLamb]

Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together for the Absolute Carnage mini crossover. There are some tricky bits that don’t quite click together, so if anyone spots something I got wrong (or if there’s an order that works better) please point it out.

ABCRNG:WPLUS 1
ABCRNG:SYSM 1
ABCRNG:SYOV 1
ABCRNG 1 (1-22)
---
ABCRNG 5 (1-8)
ASM5 30-31
ABCRNG 5 (9-23)
V4 20

Also, the whole thing lasts like, a day and a half.

Some bits to remember for the future:

ABCRNGV.DP 1 (1-8) is “weeks ago,” and ABCRNGV.DP 3 (18-20) is “weeks later.”
ASM5 30-31-FBs are “weeks ago,” and involve Norman Osborn inside Ravencroft.

Web of Venom: Wraith 1 takes place very within minutes of Knull's waking in ABCRNG 5. I would place it at the end of this list, immediately after V4 20, since that follows without a break from ABCRNG 5, and all takes place within minutes anyway.

[StrayLamb]

The 2019 Venom Annual (V4@ 2?) must take place between V4 20 & 21, probably just before V4 21. Eddie has recently been reunited with Venom, and is sporting short hair and a beard, which he shaves off in V4 21. Story 2 probably takes place straight after story 1, while Lady Hellbender is still on Earth.

WOV:GSON 1 happens after V4 21 while Eddie is on his island, lasts a few days. Harry & Liz Osborn appear and should happen before RRVNCRFT:CRNG, RRVNCRFT:SABRE and RRVNCRFT:D.

Specifically, WOV:GSON 1 interacts with V4 21-23 in this manner..

V4 21 (1 - 15) [Eddie shaves his beard; leaves a note for Dylan; calls Cap]
WOV:GSON 1 (1 - 6) [Dylan tells Normie that Eddie disappeared during the night, leaving a note; Normie & Dylan exchange secrets; Sleeper watches them from the shadows; Dylan is 13yo & Normie is 10yo, meaning at least 15 years to have passed since ASM 1]
WOV:GSON 1 (7 - 13) [Dylan and Normie's escapade]
V4 21 (16 - 20) [Eddie flies to the Island of Bones]
V4 22 (1 - 5) [Eddie enters the hidden arsenal]
WOV:GSON 1 (14 - 24) [A few days later, but this must still be before the rest of Eddie's adventure on the Island of Bones; Dylan and Normie get into a fight, when Sleeper intervenes, revealing he knows about the symbiote]
V4 22 (6 - 20) [Eddie emerges from the arsenal; Eddie loses his hand]
V4 23-24 [Sleeper warns Dylan against keeping the symbiote]
V4 25-FB [Eddie is stranded on the island]

V4 25 [Sometime later, after Eddie's beard has regrown, he returns to the Avengers, explaining what has happened, and warning them that Knull is coming. As Eddie sum's up the year's events, i assume this to be towards the end of the year, some time during December, but before T6 1 (1 - 7)]

In Free Comic Book Day 2020 (Spider-Man/Venom) 1/2, Eddie explains what he knows about Knull to the Avengers. This is obviously supposed to follow on immediately from V4 25, but now Thor has been replaced by Blade. There are two ways to go on this. We could say that this is simply another meeting, where Eddie expands on what he already told the Avengers in V4 25, or we can put Thor's appearance in V4 25 down to an art error, and that it should have been Blade, which seems to be what the FCBD 2020:SM/V 1/2 is indicating.

The first scenario allows us to keep Thor's appearance intact as shown.

The second scenario has the advantage of letting us place the whole of V4@ 2, V4 21-25, the FCBD 2020:SM/V 1/2, and V4 26-30 after Venom's appearance in Empyre: Savage Avengers 1, effectively in Empyre to King in Black.

I could go either way on this one..

*****

Looking at this again, i don't think the second scenario will work because of Thor's reaction in V4 25, so this has to be a follow-up meeting, unless Thor's off-panel making coffee. V4 26 does seem to follow on directly from the FCBD, and Venom can't be anywhere else between this and King in Black, but i suppose a gap could be placed between the FCBD and V4 26 to allow Venom to appear in Empyre: Savage Avengers in the meantime.

I'm now leaning towards the meeting in the FCBD being a separate follow-up meeting, perhaps to reacquaint the Avengers with the threat posed by Knull after Empyre.

*****

I've slept on it and read the issues again. I'm going with placing the 2020 FCBD immediately after V4 25, with a gap between this and V4 26 for Venom to appear in Empyre: Savage Avengers. Some time does seem to have passed when V4 26 begins.

In V4 25, Blade must have been making coffee, then in the FCBD, Thor is off making more coffee, or Blade came in late, and Thor had to leave.

Also in V4 25, Thor is apparently wearing a bionic eye that Tony had made for him, but which he couldn't get calibrated due to Thor's Asgardian physiology. Thor should have taken it to Dr Doom.

[StrayLamb]

In Empyre 2, Tony Stark mentions that the Avengers were searching for Raksor in Incoming around New Year's. I've taken the opportunity to revise and fine tune my calendar above between Daredevil 8 & Excalibur 6, making the most of opportunities to compress as much as possible into January by utilizing gaps of several days to more than a week within certain issues. I think it all works. Hopefully.

[StrayLamb]

In regard of page count/placement, what do New Mutants 3-6 [start] and New Mutants 3-6 [end] mean?

New Mutants 3-6 takes place over some time. I haven't broken it down to specific pages and panels, and i don't think Col_Fury has either. That could be a job for you if you'd like it.

Also you listed twice the X-Force 4, how is it split?

One of those listings should have been X-Men 4 - i've fixed that in my list above.

[StrayLamb]

Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda 7-8 (May-June 2020) appears to take place before Atlantis Attacks. I'm placing it between Ghost Rider 7 (June 20) & Agents of Atlas 4 (Jan 20) to line it up with the May-June issues of Ghost Rider. Edited into my list on page 12.

---
Strikeforce 1-6
Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling 1 (4 - 11:2) [Wiccan is with Strikeforce]
Sword Master 1/2-6/2 [Brought down from its current position to have Shang-Chi and Sword Master in Madripoor for Incoming]
Incoming 1 (1 - 28) [Carol is still waiting for official word from the military on her reinstatement, but after what happened in Times Square with Star, public opinion is turning in her favor, but she’s trying to avoid Alpha Flight until her military status is cleared up; Cap says if they can’t talk some sense into Namor, they’re heading for a war with Atlantis; already dealing with Dracula and his vampire minions, a possible new Starbrand, and the government-controlled Squadron Supreme of America, plus whatever machinations Mephisto seems to be involved in; Carol wishes she knew where Tony was; a lot of AI in the news lately; Nova is in the middle of a space battle]
Agents of Atlas 3 (16 - 20)
Incoming 1 (29 - 40) [Shang-Chi, Sword Master & Ares in Madripoor’s Lowtown, investigating Atlantis; Aero and Wave in Pan, something is coming for Pan from the sea; Doc Samson talks to Joe Fixit] [Specifically before AoA 5]
Ghost Rider 1 [Sunday, January 19?]
Immortal Hulk 28-FB
Immortal Hulk 28 [Sunday, January 19?]
Ghost Rider 2 [Monday, January 20?]
Ghost Rider 3 (4 - 20) [Tuesday January 21?]
Incoming 1 (41 - 44)
Ghost Rider 4
Spirits of Ghost Rider: Mother of Demons 1 (21 - 30)
Ghost Rider 5-7 [Strange has been spending his days working as a doctor]
Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda 7-8
Agents of Atlas 4
Agents of Atlas 5 (1 - 19)
Atlantis Attacks 1 (5 - 12)
Agents of Atlas 5 (20)
Atlantis Attacks 1 (13 - 20)
Atlantis Attacks 2 (1 - 10) [Namor's ultimatum to Pan]
Atlantis Attacks 2 (11 - 14:2) [Twenty-Four Hours Later; no Atlas characters can appear elsewhere during this period]
Atlantis Attacks 1 (1 - 4) ~ Atlantis Attacks 2 (14:3 - 16)
Atlantis Attacks 2 (17 - 20)
Atlantis Attacks 3-4
Atlantis Attacks 5 (1 - 17)
Incoming 1 (45 - 52) [Knull begins his march across the stars of this universe, beginning with the planet Fallo]
Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling 1 (11:3 - 12)
Incoming 1 (53 - 54:4) ~ Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling 1 (13)
Incoming 1 (54:5 - 55)
---

[StrayLamb]

Thor 7-8 happens before Empyre, and needs to be placed pretty well straight after the "now" portions of Thor 6. Strikeforce 7-9 needs to be placed after this due to a clean-shaven and confident-looking Thor appearing with the Avengers..

---
Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula 1 [Supposedly a few days later, but this must actually be a few weeks later, as per the Ravencroft 2 flashback to a few weeks ago, as the Ravencroft Institute has now been completely rebuilt]
Ravencroft 1 [Appears to be Spring]
Ravencroft 2 [Weeks after Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth; days after Ravencroft 1, but during the same week, as Mr Hyde is still in solitary; the video footage from the Carnage incident is dated 05-15-2019, but the dates on the cameras must have been incorrect]
Ravencroft 3-4
Ravencroft 5 (1 - 14)
Falcon & Winter Soldier 1-5
Ravencroft 5 (15 - 20) [A week later]
Thor 6 [Thor’s been in isolation for months]
Thor 7-8 [Before Empyre]
Strikeforce 7-9 [Clean-shaven and confident-looking Thor]
Incoming 1 (81 - 84) [Teddy Altman becomes Emperor Dorrek VIII, and names the united Kree & Skrull Empires the Alliance]
X-Men 10 (5 - 12) [The narrative states that the Kree and Skrull empires have already united under Emperor Hulkling]
X-Men 10 (14)-FB
X-Men 10 (13:1 - 13:2)
X-Men 10 (16)-FB
X-Men 10 (13:3 - 13:4)
X-Men 10 (17 - 22) [Scott, Jean, Rachel, Cable and Logan enjoy a day at Chandilor]
EMPYRE

[StrayLamb]

DD6 13 says last issue was the other day. Elektra trains Daredevil. Det. Cole is put on leave for “a couple of weeks.” DD6 13-FB is Kingpin dealing with the murder he’s committed.

DD6 14 (1-5) is the same day as last issue.

DD6 14 (6-20) could be later if need be. The Kingpin scene says “ever since” last issue’s -FB. He sets up a meeting for “Wednesday”. Oh! Det. Cole is back on duty, so DD6 14 (6-20) is “a couple of weeks” since DD6 14 (1-5). DD and Elektra team up to take on the NY state governor.

DD6 15 Kingpin arrives for his “Wednesday” meeting. One day into night. Kingpin is thrown out of a building.

DD6 16 is the morning after DD6 15. Two days. Apparently, Elektra is no longer training Matt. Kingpin’s fine.

So… it looks like INCOMING! 1, where Elektra is training Matt, goes after DD6 12 & DD6 13-FB and before DD6 13, separated by “the other day.”

I'm not convinced that the Kingpin scenes in DD6 13 should be considered a flashback, or that the scenes with Matt & Elektra take place later. Although Matt tells Mindy he's sorry about the other day, i think that's a slip of the tongue, or an expression, or lack of sleep, etc. Chip Zdarsky's writing contains a few such passage of time inconsistencies throughout this series. The art and coloring in the issue (which is really top notch) very specifically changes from late afternoon, to night, to pre-dawn, to the next morning, and remains consistent as the Matt/Elektra scenes interweave with the Kingpin scenes. Also, Elektra begins by saying "First Lesson," so it can't be after Matt & Elektra's scenes in Incoming.

I would place the entirety of DD6 13 immediately after issue 12, and place Matt & Elektra's Incoming scenes during the break petween pages 5 & 6 of DD6 14.

[StrayLamb]

C4 1 specifically takes place just a "couple of days" after Arakko merges with Krakoa, which happens in X5 2. Even though it was published three months later, i would place C4 1 immediately after X5 4.

GSX:JG&EFROST 1 follows on from X5 5, and is followed directly by GSX:STORM 1.

XCAL4 7 (1 - 10) follows on directly from XCAL4 6.

In XCAL4 7 (11 - 20) & XCAL4 8, it's rumored there's going to be a Tiki Bar on Krakoa, so this should be before XFOR6 9 & W7 1, where the Green Lagoon Tiki Bar is already up and running.

XCAL4 9-12 lead into X of Swords, so after EMPYRE, which also means that the whole of Doctor Doom 1-10 takes place after EMPYRE because of Morgan Le Fay.

FCBD 2020 (X-Men/Dark Ages) 1 fits nicely between XCAL4 8 & 9, which is nice, since all three issues were published 05/20. It should take place prior to X5 11, so i'm placing it straight after XCAL4 8.

XFOR6 7-10 seem to follow nicely here, as the Green Lagoon is first seen in XFOR6 9.

W7 1/2, W7 1-2, & W7 3 (1 - 16) follow nicely here. The Green Lagoon is seen in W7 3.

Edited into my list on page 12.

[Clive_Reston]

GSX:JG&EFROST 1 follows on from X5 5, and is followed directly by GSX:STORM 1.

GSX:STORM 1 isn't directly after GSX:JG&EFROST 1, I think--on the first two pages Jean is recapping the plot and indicating that some time has passed since the GJ&EFROST one-shot. (And the last four pages of GSX:FANTOMEX, the "present-day" section, take place during the Storm one-shot.)

GSX:MAGNETO can really go just about anywhere before X of Swords, as long as Emma, Magneto, Namor and the Marauder are all available.

MARAUDERS 12 is immediately after 11 (Storm is doing her "how do we know it's you" routine).

Lockheed is present in GSX:NC, so after MARAUDERS 12 is a good place for it. Or, if we want all five Giant-Size specials to be together, it can be between the Jean/Emma and Storm one-shots (along with the Magneto one), since that's before MARAUDERS 5!

It's the credits page of X5 10, rather than part of the story itself, that explains that the Kree and Skrull empires have been united--I think there's room for it to happen earlier than Teddy becoming emperor (and it definitely seems to be happening while the Cotati are setting up on the Moon, well before the main action of Empyre gets underway). I actually suspect that the whole issue is a flashback to before X5 8, since they're planning the Chandilore trip in "a few days" in X5 7...

[StrayLamb]

Thanks Agent Reston! I've gone with placing the five GSX issues together as per your suggestion, and moved X5 10 to just before X5 8. Edited into my list on page 12.

[StrayLamb]

GOTG6 1-5, 6-FB is probably the very last series to be placed prior to Empyre. The main action takes place over a few days, and the epilogue in GOTG6 6, which is immediately after the main action of Empyre, is a few days later again. Edited into my list on page 12.