You're in luck, because I just recently sorted all this stuff out for my timeline so it's pretty fresh in my mind!

First of all, I definitely wouldn't mix in the old trades with the new. That's just too confusing. Everything in the old trades is in the new ones. So you won't miss a thing by not getting any of the old ones.

Second, the Complete Epics put everything in its proper reading order (i.e., by publication date). So, for example, you might have an issue of Amazing X-Men, then an issue of X-Calibre, then Gen-Next, etc. The old trades collect the crossover by title, so not really in a workable reading order. You had to go back and forth between those trades to get the story in a way that made sense, so with the Complete Epics out today, the old trades are purely collector's items at this point.

Third, about the Prelude. You may (or may not!) remember that when I originally posted that part of my timeline (and up until I recently updated the Age of Apocalypse section), the Prelude hadn't been listed on Amazon yet. Because of that, I listed Legionquest (collecting two issues each of X-Men and Uncanny X-Men) in its place, because it's the story that causes the creation of the AoA universe. I included a note saying that for some inexplicable reason, Marvel hadn't collected that story in the Complete Epic trades.

When I saw the Prelude listed on Amazon, I figured it must be collecting the issues from Legionquest. I waited until they added in a description, and based on the description I'm now positive that it contains Legionquest. If the page count is accurate it probably contains other issues too, but the Legionquest issues are by far the most "important" ones.

Fourth, I would just go ahead and list the Complete Epic Vol. 1 first. Yes, the issues were published later, but it's going to seem really counter-intuitive if you list it that way, I think. Plus, it's really only a couple issues that are confusing for new readers; the rest take place before the main action and really wouldn't be very fun to read after AoA has ended. They're just things like how the X-Men in the AoA universe were formed, and things like that.

The most confusing issue is one involving X-Man (Nate Grey). In case you aren't familiar with him, he's basically the AoA version of Cable. When the AoA universe is destroyed at the end of the crossover, he's one of a small handful of characters to be transported into the main Marvel universe. Well, the confusing issue from Complete Epic Vol. 1 is one where Nate starts in the 616 (that is, after AoA), then travels back in time to the beginning of AoA. At this point, the reader has not even been introduced to the character yet…hence, confusion.

But that alone isn't enough to read the books in a different order than Marvel recommends. Worst case scenario is you're confused by that one issue, then you go back and re-read it after you've read everything else.

And yeah, I didn't even bother mentioning the prestige crap on my timeline. As you've already discovered, this shit is confusing enough already. (And just wait until you get to Onslaught!)

Well, as "enjoyable" as the AoA can ever really be I guess…it's not exactly the best-written story to grace the pages of a comic book, lol. Honestly, just read the first CE if you get a chance, or skim through it even…once you see what's in there I think you'll be more comfortable with it at the beginning. The stories in that volume are probably the least enjoyable of any of them to begin with, and reading them after everything else would probablymake them just plain unbearable (they're not poorly written, necessarily, just really boring). Basically, they're not really essential to the story and you could easily go without reading them; but if you ARE going to read them, it's best to do so before the other stuff.

The only thing I think is even worthwhile in CE Vol. 1 is the Blink miniseries, which is well-written, well-drawn, and leads directly into Exiles. In fact, if there's any reason to have the book later than everything else, it's that miniseries — the moment it ends is the same moment that Exiles #1 begins.

I don't think it's too much of a problem, because I think it's pretty easy to rationalize what with the whole concept of Exiles being that the characters are displaced from time. So why not have Blink fall into an other-dimensional portal here and then emerge on the other side a few years later in the first Exiles collection?

Of course, you might feel differently about that and I can understand that perspective just as well. But I guess what I'm saying is that if you're going to have CE Vol. 1 later than the others for any reason, that would be the reason for doing it.

Anyway, I think that reading order looks pretty good. I definitely wasn't advocating skipping the older trades altogether, just keeping them separate from the new ones. I think it's pretty readable and easy to figure out when it's laid out this way.

I actually didn't read all the CEs in their entirety, so I need to finish it as well. I read the first two, and then stopped because I was bored. But I bought and read the final issue collected in the last trade back when I was collecting single issues, so I know how it all ends up.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the New Age of Apocalypse trade. That was a miniseries that came out to celebrate the crossover's 10-year anniversary. I'm not sure where it fits into continuity, to be honest. I think it might be a story that suggests the AoA wasn't really destroyed at the end of the crossover, which continues the character's adventures; not sure, though. It might just be a "previously untold" story taking place sometime before the crossover ended.

It wasn't supposed to be very good either way, so I doubt it'll be at the top of my buying list anytime soon, lol.