Inferno

It's been very hot lately, much hotter than normal. So it's time to have a look at another of Marvel's epic crossovers.

(Although by the time I get these posts ready it'll probably have cooled down significantly.)

Inferno was the third big crossover originating from the mutant titles but this was the first one that really spread out beyond that family of books to take in some fourteen different Marvel titles throughout 1988 and beyond. It's another crossover that's been released in a way that doesn't give an official order. In fact it's had three sets of releases. In quick summary:

• X-Men: Inferno Prologue is only available in an oversized hardcover and contains X-Factor #27-32 & Annual #3, Uncanny X-Men #228-238 & Annual #4 and New Mutants #62-70. Although many of these issues have been reprinted elsewhere, this is their only collection under the "Inferno" banner.

 

(We'll see as we go how much this collection can legitimately be called "X-Men: Inferno Prologue" as opposed to "X-Men: Collected issues from a period between big storylines that we've slapped the title of a popular crossover onto".)

Now the rest of this is going to be a source of confusion. There have been some trade paperbacks reproducing only the core issues but not agreeing on which those are. Confining this to the various complete collections, forty-five issues have been published in both two oversized hardcovers and three paperbacks, with the combination of issues slightly varying between them. Avoid mixing and matching these if possible.

• X-Men: Inferno Hardcover contains X-Factor #33-40 & a story from Annual #4, X-Terminators #1-4, Uncanny X-Men #239-243 and New Mutants #71-73.

 

• X-Men: Inferno Crossovers Hardcover contains Power Pack #40 & #42-44, Avengers #298-300, Fantastic Four #322-324, Amazing Spider-Man #311-313, Spectacular Spider-Man #146-148, Web of Spider-Man #47-48, Daredevil #262-263 & #265, Excalibur #6-7, and Cloak & Dagger #4.

 

Alternatively:

• X-Men: Inferno volume 1 paperback contains X-Factor #33-36, X-Terminators #1-4, Uncanny X-Men #239-240, New Mutants #71-72 and Power Pack #40 & #42-43.

 

• X-Men: Inferno volume 2 paperback contains X-Factor #37-40 & a story from Annual #4, Uncanny X-Men #241-243, New Mutants #73, Excalibur #6-7, Power Pack #44 and Cloak & Dagger #4.

 

• X-Men: Inferno Crossovers paperback contains Avengers #298-300, Fantastic Four #322-324, Amazing Spider-Man #311-313, Spectacular Spider-Man #146-148, Web of Spider-Man #47-48, and Daredevil #262-263 & #265.

 

Alternatively alternatively:

• X-Men: Inferno Omnibus contains all the issues in the above two sets in a single volume.

 

And there are a handful of follow-on issues or loose tie-ins that aren't contained in any of these collections but which are worth looking at as well including:

• Power Pack #39
  
• Fantastic Four #325
• Power Pack #45
• Damage Control #4
• What If...? #6
• What If...? #37

 

But Inferno didn't crossover in this period on its own. The three annuals in "Inferno Prologue" were part of The Evolutionary War, another big crossover told across twelve annuals in 1988. And one of the What If...? issues is part of its own ongoing storyline entitled Timequake. I'll be looking at both of these in the course of things.

As for the order I'll be following the order in the Inferno Prologue book for those issues (except where additional issues have to be slotted in) but the Inferno Omnibus doesn't order the whole set of issues chronologically. Instead all the core issues in the Inferno Hardcover appear first followed by the Inferno Crossovers Hardcover issues - and the crossover issues are grouped by series (apart from putting the eight Spider-Man issues in their own chronological order). There are multiple orders online and they don't always agree with even the ordering of the core titles. So once again I'll be following the order given by The (Almost) Complete Marvel Crossover Guide (albeit with a small change to handle the Avengers annual). This also handily helps with the placement of The Evolutionary War.

So get the fire extinguishers ready and stand be as we get started...