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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.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Update on Marvel NOW titles, new and cancelled

Cancelled series (Prior to NOW Launch)
1st Issue
Age of Apocalypse #14 (April 2013)
The Amazing Spider-Man #700 (December 2012)
Avengers #34 (November 2012)
Avengers Academy #39 (November 2012)
Captain America #19 (October 2012)
Captain America & #640 (December 2012)
Deadpool #63 (October 2012)
Defenders #12 (November 2012)
Fantastic Four #611 (October 2012)
FF #23 (October 2012)
Incredible Hulk #15 (October 2012)
Invincible Iron Man #527 (October 2012)
New Avengers #34 (November 2012)
New Mutants #50 (October 2012)
Secret Avengers #37 (January 2013)
The Mighty Thor #22 (October 2012)
Uncanny X-Force #35 (December 2012)
Uncanny X-Men #20 (October 2012)
Wolverine #317 (December 2012)
X-Men #41 (February 2013)
X-Men Legacy #275 (October 2012)
Phase 0 (initial Marvel Now)
1st Issue Last Issue
A+X #1 (October 2012)
All-New X-Men #1 (November 2012)
Avengers #1 (December 2012)
Avengers Arena #1 (December 2012)
Cable and X-Force #1 (December 2012)
Captain America #1 (November 2012)
Deadpool #1 (November 2012)
FF #1 (November 2012)
End #16 (January 2014)
Fantastic Four #1 (November 2012)
End #16 (January 2014)
Fearless Defenders #1 (February 2012)
Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1 (February 2013)
Indestructible Hulk #1 (November 2012)
Iron Man #1 (November 2012)
Morbius: The Living Vampire #1 (January 2013) End - #9 (Sept 2013)
New Avengers #1 (January 2013)
Nova #1 (February 2013)
Savage Wolverine #1 (January 2013)
Secret Avengers #1 (February 2013)
The Superior Spider-Man #1 (January 2013)
Thor: God of Thunder #1 (November 2012)
Thunderbolts #1 (December 2012)
Uncanny Avengers #1 (October 2012)
Uncanny X-Force #1 (January 2013)
Uncanny X-Men #1 (February 2013)
Wolverine #1 (March 2013)
X-Men Legacy #1 (November 2012)
Young Avengers #1 (January 2013)
Phase One (2013)
1st Issue Last Issue
Avengers A.I.
The Superior Foes of Spider-Man
Superior Spider-Man Team-Up
Mighty Avengers
Amazing X-Men
Phase Two (2013-14)
1st Issue Last Issue
Inhuman
All-New Invaders
One-shots/Minis
1st Issue
Thanos Rising #1 (April 2013)
Ultron AU #1 (April 2013)
Avengers - The Enemy Within #1 (May 2013)
X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1 (Sept 2013)
Hunger #1
Infinity #1 (August 2013)
Infinity: The Heist #1 (Sept 2013)
Superior Carnage #1 (July 2013)
What If? AVX
Other Series - Migrated to Now
1st Issue Last Issue
Avengers Assemble #9 (November 2012)
Avenging Spider-Man #15.1 (December 2012) End - #22 (June 2013)
Captain Marvel #9 (January 2013)
Daredevil #23 (February 2012)
Dark Avengers #184 (December 2012) End - #190 (May 2013)
Gambit #8 (January 2013) End - #17 (Sept 2013)
Hawkeye #6 (December 2012)
Journey into Mystery #646 (November 2012) End - #655 (August 2013)
Red She-Hulk #58 (October 2012) End - #67 (July 2013)
Scarlet Spider #13 (January 2013)
Venom #31 (February 2013) End - #42 (October 2013)
Winter Soldier End - #19 (June 2013)
Wolverine and the X-Men #19 (October 2012)
X-Factor #250 (January 2013) End - #262 (Sept 2013)

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