Alternate Cover: Comics to read after playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Last week, I looked at some of the comics that would complement the experience of playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. This week, I have a look at this Autumn's other big comics-game release, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.

Rather than being a straight sequel to its predecessor, Ultimate Alliance 2 instead draws heavily on elements of several Marvel comics for its first two acts - admittedly with a fairly unconvincing third act tacked on, but let's not let that spoil things! Once you've finished the game, these are the comics you might want to read to find out how things originally went down in the Marvel Universe.

Secret War

The opening mission of MUA2 sees Nick Fury taking a group of costumed heroes into Latveria to destroy the country's power structure - without authorisation from his superiors. As in the game, this decision comes back to haunt those who go along with Fury's plan, but with arguably more personal consequences than in the game. The series features many tech-themed villains and appearances by many Marvel Heroes, all lovingly rendered with painted artwork by Gabrielle Dell'otto. The series itself is written by Brian Bendis, one of Marvel's most popular writers and nothing less than one of the architects of the current Marvel Universe - all of which started, more or less, with Secret War and the consequences it had for Nick Fury.

Not to be confused with Secret Wars (the action-figure tie-in series where Spidey originally got the black costume that would eventually become Venom) or Silent War (a more recent series where the Inhumans declare war on Earth), or, indeed, Secret Warriors, which features the most recent adventures of Nick Fury and his team of superhuman operatives.

Civil War

Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Hero Vs. Hero mega-event took over the Marvel Universe for months and months, making headlines across the globe and dramatically changing the landscape in ways that are still visible today, years after the series concluded. Many of the set pieces from MUA2 come directly from this series, starting with the destruction of Stamford and continuing through the creation of the Negative Zone prison, 42, and the chemical plant fight, all of which are major elements of the game. The main Civil War series delivers the story beats, but many of the spin-offs and tie-ins pad out the story with extra meat, explaining how specific characters were affected by the plot -the New Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man Civil War tie-ins make particularly good reading.

Thunderbolts by Warren Ellis

In MUA2, the nanite-controlled villains go on to form a major part of the game's eventual conclusion. Although the comics followed a different path, the villains - familiar faces Venom, Bullseye and the Green Goblin - were similarly controlled by nanite technology into fighting alongside MUA2 characters like Songbird, Moonstone and Penance as part of the Thunderbolts. If you want to find out what happened to the team next, Ellis' run picks up immediately after the end of Civil War and the Thunderbolts - nanite leashes still intact - deal with their new status as semi-legitimate villains against a background of considerable internal schism. Ellis' dark humour and psychological tone are considerable elements of the book, but it's worth noting that Norman "Green Goblin" Osborn's profile was raised to the point where he became a rather large part of the crossover events that followed Civil War - Secret Invasion and Dark Reign. Read Ellis' Thunderbolts before those, and you'll understand exactly where that came from.

James writes Alternate Cover every Monday at Den Of Geek. His previous column can be found here.