The Marvel Universe marches towards Infinity! While the Avengers have their hands full in deep space with the enigmatic Builders who are razing worlds the cold war between Wakanda and Atlantis heats up into a full-scale conflict as casualties begin to pile up…and an Illuminati member is forced to make a hard choice. Meanwhile the mad titan Thanos makes his world-shattering return to Earth! As his armies fire the opening shots a slew of the Marvel Universe’s best and brightest heroes face off against Thanos’ invading hordes, including Luke Cage and his new team of Avengers!  Then as Thanos’ secrets are revealed, Blackbolt makes an impossible choice and the Illuminati find themselves on the front line! As every Origin Site on Earth goes active, the Builders take aim at Earth! Can the Avengers return to Earth in time to save it, when betrayal in the Galactic Council has left them prisoners of war? Galactic empires fall as Thanos’ crazed plans come to fruition and our heroes are caught between battle fronts with Thanos and the Builders!

This map is also volume 15 of my Avengers binds.

Prelude to Knightfall
Sword of Azrael #1-4
Vengeance of Bane
Batman #484-487
Detective #654-656
Detective #657 (p. 1-2)
Batman #488
Detective #657 (p. 3-22)
Detective #658
Batman #489-490

This book is where the subplot of Batman starting to get run down begins.  Personally, I didn’t include Sword of Azrael in my book because I had the trade, and did not feel the need to rip it apart for binding. Now, if you’re really anal about your Batman continuity, LOTDK Annual #2 (marriage of Gordon and Essen) probably should go in there somewhere, because the wedding is mentioned as upcoming in the earlier issues, and in the past in later issues.  However, that story itself doesn’t tie into Knightfall, and would slow the pacing of this book down.  So I fudged it, and included in a previous volume.

Knightfall
Batman #491
Batman #492
Detective #659
Batman #493
Detective #660
Batman #494
Detective #661
Batman #495
Detective #662
Batman #496
Detective #663
Batman #497
Detective #664
Showcase ’93 #7-8 (lead stories only)
Batman #498
Batman: Shadow of the Bat #16-18
Detective #665
Batman #499
Detective #666
Batman #500

Contrary to what DC has tried to say since the original TPB publication, this is the correct placement of SOTB #16-18. They try to place it based on the bat signal on the cover, but if you read the comics, you’ll see why it can’t work between Detective #665 and Batman #499.

KnightQuest 1
Turning Points #4 (optional, published in 2000)
Justice League Task Force #5-6 (Search)
Detective #667-668
Robin #1 (pgs 1-5)
Detective #669
SOTB #19-20
Batman #501-502
SOTB #21-23 (Search)
Detective #670
Catwoman #6
Batman #503-504
Catwoman #7
SOTB #24
Detective #671-673

KnightQuest 2
Batman #505
SOTB #25
Batman #506-507
Legends of the Dark Knight #59-61 (Search)
SOTB #26-27
Detective #674
Batman #508
SOTB #28
Detective #675
Robin #7

KnightQuest may or may not fit into one book, depending on your binding preferences. It’s 36 issues, but with the thicker newsprint of the early 1990s. If it was published twenty years later, then it probably would easily fit into one book (but weigh a ton).

The main reason I kept the Search and Crusade issues integrated is because Az-Bats shows up in his latest costume in the LOTDK arc. DC screwed up on the covers to some issues, mistakenly labeling Crusade issues as Search. Only the 8 issues I’ve listed above are actual Search issues.

I chose this uneven breakpoint, because Batman #505 starts the Abbatoir and new costume subplots, which make the stories thereafter much more consistent. Prior to that, the only main theme of KnightQuest was “the adventures of Azrael as Batman”.

Knightsend
Batman #509
SOTB #29
Detective #676
LOTDK #62
Robin #8
Catwoman #12
Batman #510
SOTB #30
Detective #677
LOTDK #63
Robin #9
Showcase ’94 #10 (first story)

The original printing of the Knightsend TPB works fine.  It does not include the Showcase story, and it cuts out a few pages of Robin #9 that are not completely relevant to the Batman plots.  It is not necessary to include any other Catwoman issues (even #13 which was labelled as Aftermath).  The Catwoman series did a good job of intersecting two stories, so if you are just reading Catwoman straight through, you get a coherent story.  Likewise, if you’re just reading Knightsend, you don’t feel like you’re missing anything from Catwoman.

Following Zero Hour, continued in Batman: Prodigal.

The first version is a chronological order, with two volumes.  But it is kind of messy, because it doesn’t really take individual story pacing into account, and just lumps everything together.  It was my original plan, but long since abandoned.

Volume 1
Heroes Reborn #1/2
Captain America #1-5
Avengers #1
Fantastic Four #1-3
Iron Man #1-3
Avengers #2-3
Iron Man #4
Avengers #4-5
Iron Man #5
Captain America #6 (pg 1-19)
Fantastic Four #4-6
Avengers #6
Iron Man #6
Captain America #6 (pg 20-22)

Volume 2
Fantastic Four #7
Iron Man #7-11
Fantastic Four #8-10
Avengers #7-8
Captain America #7
Avengers #9-11
Captain America #8-11
Fantastic Four #11-12
Avengers #12
Iron Man #12
Captain America #12
Fantastic Four #13
Avengers #13
Iron Man #13
Captain America #13

The second version is a revised chronological mapping, but I tried to keep the Lee and Liefeld series separated as much as I could, largely because of the different tones.

Volume 1:  Patriot Games
Heroes Reborn #1/2 (Cap story)
Captain America #1-6 (pg 1-19)
Avengers #1-3
HR #1/2 (Liefeld sketches)

Volume 2:  Renaissance
Fantastic Four #1-3
Heroes Reborn #1/2 (Iron Man story)
Iron Man #1-5
FF #4-6 (1st story)
HR #1/2 (Lee sketches)

Volume 3:  Industrial Revolution
Avengers #4-5
FF #6 (2nd story)
Avengers #6
Iron Man #6
Cap #6 (pg 20-22)
FF #7
Iron Man #7-11

Volume 4:  Shadow Games
Cap #7
Avengers #7-11
Cap #8-11

Volume 5:  Reunion
FF #8-12
Avengers #12
IM #12
Cap #12
FF #13
Avengers #13
IM #13
Cap #13
Heroes Reborn:  The Return #1-4

The final version is a straightforward, title by title binding, which is what I ended up binding. However, it does take into account the “Industrial Revolution” crossover from the #6 issues.  That story had a prelude in the second half of FF #6, and a three page epilogue in Cap #6 (which does not tie into the main part of the issue and can be easily separated), with Avengers #6 and Iron Man #6 being the main story.   This map requires 3 copies of Avengers #6 and Iron Man #6.  I put the Cap #6 pages in the Avengers volume, because that’s the book that was most affected by the story, and the actions of those three pages.

I chose not to keep the #12 issues together, because at the end of each, Doom travels back in time.  As such, each #12 issue feels more like the cap to its respective series rather than part of a larger crossover.

Fantastic Four
FF #1-6 (#417-422)
Avengers #6 (#408)
Iron Man #6 (#338)
FF #7-12 (#423-428)

Avengers
Avengers #1-6 (#403-408)
Iron Man #6 (#338)
Captain America #6 (pg. 20-22)
Avengers #7-12 (#409-414)

Iron Man
Iron Man #1-5 (#333-337)
Avengers #6 (#408)
Iron Man #6-12 (#338-344)

Captain America
Captain America #1-12 (#455-466)

(the last three pages of Cap #6 would not be included in this book, as they are up in the Avengers volume.  But if you wanted to be completely thorough, you could get a second copy of Cap #6 – put the first copy in its entirety in this book, and then split the second copy with the last three pages going in the Avengers volume, and the main story going in a Cable volume.)

World War 3/Heroes Return
FF #13 (#429)
Avengers #13 (#415)
Iron Man #13 (#345)
Captain America #13 (#467)
Heroes Reborn:  The Return #1-4

For this map, the Heroes Reborn #1/2 issue can be separated and included in several volumes:
Page 1-10 – Captain America
Page 11-12, 17-24 – Iron Man
Page 15-16 – FF (sketches)
This issue is completely optional.  Pages 13-14 were both ads which can be tossed.

G.I. Joe ARAH 1 - 18

Volume #2

G.I. Joe ARAH 19 – 36

Volume #3

G.I. Joe ARAH 37 – 54

Volume #4

G.I. Joe ARAH 55 – 57
G.I. Joe Yearbook 3
G.I. Joe Special Missions 1 – 2
G.I. Joe ARAH 58 – 59
G.I. Joe Special Missions 5
G.I. Joe ARAH 60 – 61
G.I. Joe Special Missions 6
G.I. Joe ARAH 62 – 66
G.I. Joe Special Missions 8

Volume #5

G.I. Joe ARAH 67 – 84

Volume #6

G.I. Joe ARAH 85 – 91
G.I. Joe Special Missions 26
G.I. Joe ARAH 92 – 101

Volume #7

G.I. Joe ARAH 102 – 119

Volume #8

G.I. Joe ARAH 120 – 137

Volume #9

G.I. Joe ARAH 138 – 155

Volume #10

G.I. Joe Frontline 1 – 4
G.I. Joe Master & Apprentice 1 – 4
G.I. Joe (DDP) 1 – 10

Volume #11

G.I. Joe (DDP) 11 – 19
G.I. Joe Frontline 11 – 14
G.I. Joe (DDP) 20 – 25

Volume #12

G.I. Joe (DDP) 26 -  43

Volume #13

G.I. Joe Declassified 1 – 3
Scarlett Declassified 1
Snake Eyes Declassified 1 – 6
G.I. Joe America’s Elite 0 – 6

Volume #14

G.I. Joe America’s Elite 7 – 12
G.I. Joe Special Missions Manhattan
G.I. Joe Special Missions Tokyo
G.I. Joe America’s Elite HFCC
G.I. Joe America’s Elite 13 – 18
G.I. Joe Special Missions Antarctica
G.I. Joe America’s Elite 19 – 20

Volume #15

G.I. Joe Special Missions Brazil
G.I. Joe America’s Elite 21 – 24
G.I. Joe Special Missions The Enemy
G.I. Joe America’s Elite 25 – 36

Volume #16

G.I. Joe Special Missions 3 – 4
G.I. Joe Special Missions 7
G.I. Joe Special Missions 9 – 25
G.I. Joe Special Missions 27 – 28

Volume #17

Yearbook 1 – 4
Order of Battle 1 – 4
Battlefiles 1 – 3
Frontline 5 – 8
Frontline 16 – 17
Datadesk Handbook One-shot
Datadesk Handbook v2 A-M
Datadesk Handbook v2 N-Z

Volume #18

Cobra Reborn one-shot
GIJoe Reborn one-shot
GIJoe Reloaded 1 – 14

Volume #19

G.I. Joe European Missions 1 – 15

Volume #20

Action Force Weekly 1 – 21
Action Force Holiday Special 1
Action Force Weekly 22 – 27
Action Force Winter Special 1
Action Force Weekly 28 – 50