Where to start?

[N7Kenny]

Hey guys. So I'm brand new to this forum as you can tell by my profile. So, I'm a huge A/P/AVP fan, but I've only seen all the movies. I've never read any of the books or the comics, but I would love to start!

My question is, where the hell do I start? Cause I have no idea what order I should read them in (if there even is an order). And how often new ones come out! Thanks! 

[Xenomrph]

If you want the latest comics, buy the Complete Fire and Stone for the latest series all collected in one (seriously colossal) hardcover.
If you want the older comics, pick up the Omnibus collections. There's a stickied thread at the top of the forum listing what's collected in each one.

If you're looking for novels, the currently ongoing Rage War trilogy is the latest stuff (book 2 comes out on the 26th), other than that there's the 3 Alien novels that came out fairly recently (Out of the Shadows, Sea of Sorrow, River of Pain).
For stuff older than that, the Bantam novels from the 90s are getting reprinted as Omnibus collections, and the DH Press books are out-of-print as far as I know but you might be able to rustle up a copy on Amazon or eBay.

As for a reading order, the older stuff tended to be kinda standalone and didn't necessarily have a hard and fast reading order other than the first Aliens comics/novels.

[Russ840]

Hey guys. So I'm brand new to this forum as you can tell by my profile. So, I'm a huge A/P/AVP fan, but I've only seen all the movies. I've never read any of the books or the comics, but I would love to start!

My question is, where the hell do I start? Cause I have no idea what order I should read them in (if there even is an order). And how often new ones come out! Thanks! 

Depends dude.

If you are interested with continuity the just start with the new Defiance series that starts next week. That takes place after Alien Isolation and before Aliens.

Then hit up Fire and Stone and Life and Death. 

If you are not bothered by continuity. Start with Aliens book One and the original Aliens Verses predator comic. ( two of my favourites ). Then just go from there.

[Randomizer]

Just to clear up a little on the "continuity" part: Fox has "restarted" the AVP EU, meaning that the older comics (before Fire and Stone) are no longer considered canon/part of the universe. Perhaps they have different plans for the future, who knows?

Like the others said, if you don't mind and want to make up your own headcanon start wherever you want. Otherwise, read up on Fire and Stone and everything else after it. 

What I'm going to show you won't help much in terms of order, but will allow you to take a look at the bigger picture:

http://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=53801.0

Still confused? 

[predxeno]

Just to clear up a little on the "continuity" part: Fox has "restarted" the AVP EU, meaning that the older comics (before Fire and Stone) are no longer considered canon/part of the universe. Perhaps they have different plans for the future, who knows?

Actually, that's not true; Fox is rumored to be restarting the AVP EU soon, but it hasn't done so yet.  Much like how Alien: Covenant and Alien 5 are reported to be in development, there are stories are not canon until their releases are made official.

[Xenomrph]

Just to clear up a little on the "continuity" part: Fox has "restarted" the AVP EU, meaning that the older comics (before Fire and Stone) are no longer considered canon/part of the universe. Perhaps they have different plans for the future, who knows?

Actually, that's not true; Fox is rumored to be restarting the AVP EU soon, but it hasn't done so yet.  Much like how Alien: Covenant and Alien 5 are reported to be in development, there are stories are not canon until their releases are made official.

Do you have a source on this?

[RakaiThwei]

Just to clear up a little on the "continuity" part: Fox has "restarted" the AVP EU, meaning that the older comics (before Fire and Stone) are no longer considered canon/part of the universe. Perhaps they have different plans for the future, who knows?

Actually... some of the Predator, Alien and AVP stories which are set in the past to 1990s and early 2000s... may still survive this so called reboot in some external franchises. Remember, Predator vs Judge Dredd sort of references the old Predator EU in a way when Dredd references previous encounters that mankind has had with Predators. And the AVP/Dredd crossovers are canon in the Dredd universe... so... those stories are STILL canon, but... no longer AVP canon but... Dredd canon.

Yeah baby... Loopholes for the win!

[tyrannosaurusjones]

Having seen and working from the official continuity list, I can promise you the original AVP book and both films are still technically continuity, but I think it might a somewhat "soft" continuity if that makes sense -- certain elements might be ignored or altered retroactively. I could be wrong, but they're on the list.

[RakaiThwei]

Having seen and working from the official continuity list, I can promise you the original AVP book and both films are still technically continuity, but I think it might a somewhat "soft" continuity if that makes sense -- certain elements might be ignored or altered retroactively. I could be wrong, but they're on the list.

Tristan... a friend of mine and I had worked on a continuity map and list... It...utilizes the whole alternate timeline/multiverse angle. I know you worked on TMNT and are familiar with the concepts and everything (LOVE Infestation 2 TMNT by the way) but... well... I think these charts may speak for itself. Well, this is what one chart which I and a friend of mine, Norman Keillor did. We did this to well... ATTEMPT to make sense of the timeline(s).

I'll put this under spoiler so... not to take up space in a post.

Spoiler

[close]

And I think Norm and I... had inspired ANOTHER fan to do their own continuity map... It seems to work and doesn't really use the whole alternate universe idea but rather... alternate timeline paths. I'll also put this under spoiler so... it won't take up space.

Spoiler

[close]

[Randomizer]

Just to clear up a little on the "continuity" part: Fox has "restarted" the AVP EU, meaning that the older comics (before Fire and Stone) are no longer considered canon/part of the universe. Perhaps they have different plans for the future, who knows?

Actually... some of the Predator, Alien and AVP stories which are set in the past to 1990s and early 2000s... may still survive this so called reboot in some external franchises. Remember, Predator vs Judge Dredd sort of references the old Predator EU in a way when Dredd references previous encounters that mankind has had with Predators. And the AVP/Dredd crossovers are canon in the Dredd universe... so... those stories are STILL canon, but... no longer AVP canon but... Dredd canon.

Yeah baby... Loopholes for the win!

It might be, but I'm sure OP is not that big of a Dredd fan, haha. 

[predxeno]

Just to clear up a little on the "continuity" part: Fox has "restarted" the AVP EU, meaning that the older comics (before Fire and Stone) are no longer considered canon/part of the universe. Perhaps they have different plans for the future, who knows?

Actually, that's not true; Fox is rumored to be restarting the AVP EU soon, but it hasn't done so yet.  Much like how Alien: Covenant and Alien 5 are reported to be in development, there are stories are not canon until their releases are made official.

Do you have a source on this?

Do you have a source that the canon has already been rebooted?  I'm such providing the logical viewpoint; something can't be considered canon of it hasn't even been released.

[Corporal Hicks]

He's talking about you saying this: " Fox is rumored to be restarting the AVP EU soon,"

[HuDaFuK]

My question is, where the hell do I start?

I'm not a fan of comics, but I've recently started reading through the old novels from the 1990s (which are in fact adaptations of some of the comics) and I'm quite enjoying them. There are a couple of duds, but a couple have been truly great.

There are also the more recent novels that tie into the films that aren't too bad. Bit hit-and-miss but on the whole decent reads.

Having seen and working from the official continuity list, I can promise you the original AVP book and both films are still technically continuity, but I think it might a somewhat "soft" continuity if that makes sense -- certain elements might be ignored or altered retroactively. I could be wrong, but they're on the list.

That's interesting. I kind of get the impression they've more or less thrown the AVPs out with regards to the Alien films going forwards - The Weyland-Yutani Report acting like they never happened being one big clue - but don't actively want to say they're now non-canon because they're hesitant to totally bin them.

[Xenomrph]

He's talking about you saying this: " Fox is rumored to be restarting the AVP EU soon,"

Yes, this. Is there a source on that rumor?

[RakaiThwei]

That's interesting. I kind of get the impression they've more or less thrown the AVPs out with regards to the Alien films going forwards - The Weyland-Yutani Report acting like they never happened being one big clue - but don't actively want to say they're now non-canon because they're hesitant to totally bin them.

I think that it's great that they're still on that list more or less. I mean it feels like what Xenomrph has been saying was right to a certain extent but at the same time, we have these different paths to choose from as far as continuity goes. This makes me happy as an AVP fan who prefers the old material over what's being put out there now, and the AVP films over Prometheus. I say that it's wonderful that Fox still has them on that list.