Age of Apocalypse explanation...PLEASE

Ok, I'm new to comics, but can someone please explain to me the Age of Apocalypse?

How many issues were there in the Age of Apocalypse? I want to purchase and read the issues, but I'm unsure of exactly which issues were in the Age of Apocalypse. And what is this "One Shot" thing? Also, which particular issue did Magneto kill Apocalypse in the "Age of Apocalypse"?

Someone, please, enlighten me.

This should go in the Q & A thread but here is a link for all you want to know............

http://uncannyxmen.net/db/time/showfaq.asp?fldAuto=13

the original age of apocalypse took the various X-related books, and replaced them with four issues apiece of AoA-versions of themselves. there was Amazing X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Gambit and the X-Ternals, X-Man, Weapon X, X-Calibre, Generation NeXt and Factor X. There was also the two-issue X-Universe, which was meant to sum up what happened to the non-mutant superheroes post-Apocalypse. On top of that there were several Tales of the Age of Apocalypse, various one-shots and whatnot. Also, Magneto kills Apocalypse in X-Men: Omega.

So the Age of Apocalypse actually happened in normal continuity?

Or was it an alt. verse?

I have all the AoA books in mint condition. Those were the last ones I ever collected. If you want them let me know.

Originally posted by hotsauce6548
So the Age of Apocalypse actually happened in normal continuity?

Or was it an alt. verse?

Well it was an alternate universe which sprang out from the normal MU. Legion killed Xavier and changed the normal MU future we know........

it also occurred within a closed loop in the timestream, in that though legion killed xavier some twenty years in the past, bishop was able to go back twenty years and some minutes and stop legion. so, until the recent P.O.S. anniversary series came out (with slight indications prior to that in eXiles,) it was believed that the AoA had been written out of existence in all ways. it's considered an alternate reality all around, and virtually no time passed in the main marvel universe during the four months the AoA books were replacing their 616 counterparts.