Which title will reach 1000 next?

[bob.schoonover]

And even at 2 issues per a month, 5 years = 120 issues, so you'd only be up to #990 by then.

And we're still a year and a half away from Batman v3 getting to issue 105.

[MajorHoy]

. . . And DC does some numbering shenanigans as well.

By the way, issue number counts back in the old (last century) days was based on factors other than trying to get to certain issue numbers for anniversaries. There were legal reasons, such as those required for the "Statement of Ownership" that companies had to file (I believe) yearly.
Some of it had to do with permits for mailing magazines through the U.S. Mail.

When DC revived All-Star Comics back in the 1970s, they resumed the numbering of that title from where the JSA feature had left off in the early 1950s.

[Air Wave]

I've always said any book with Golden Age origins should get legacy numbering. And I'd include the Golden Age Green Lantern numbering. But would I count Green Lanterns and The Green Lantern? Probably not, but I bet I'd be in the minority.

[bob.schoonover]

I've always said any book with Golden Age origins should get legacy numbering. And I'd include the Golden Age Green Lantern numbering. But would I count Green Lanterns and The Green Lantern? Probably not, but I bet I'd be in the minority.

Agree about Lanterns, disagree about The Green Lantern. I take a "spiritual successor" line of thought on this - there is a through line of titles that succeed from one to the next, and side-books or ancillary titles are ignored. Since the Kyle Rayner series, you have Rebirth*, then the Johns' series, then the New 52 series, then Hal Jordan and the GL Corps, then The Green Lantern.

*I can go either way on including Rebirth in the numbering

[Jim Kelly]

By the way, issue number counts back in the old (last century) days was based on factors other than trying to get to certain issue numbers for anniversaries. There were legal reasons, such as those required for the "Statement of Ownership" that companies had to file (I believe) yearly.
Some of it had to do with permits for mailing magazines through the U.S. Mail.

When DC revived All-Star Comics back in the 1970s, they resumed the numbering of that title from where the JSA feature had left off in the early 1950s.

Sometimes the trick of switching to a new title but keeping the numbering for the maling permits didn't work and DC had to re-number as with STAR-SPANGLED and ALL-AMERICAN.

With ALL-STAR, after it had been cancelled in 1961, they brought it back with a new number 1 in 1970, as ALL-STAR WESTERN, but that title became WEIRD WESTERN TALES with number 12. And that title was still going strong when the new ALL-STAR COMICS came out on the stands at 58.

If DC wants to honour its entire past, they should think about bringing back ADVENTURE COMICS. That title wouldn't be able to get to 1000 in the near future (except by crooked reasoning); however, it could possibly get there by the 100th anniversary in 2035.

[Adset]

Agree about Lanterns, disagree about The Green Lantern. I take a "spiritual successor" line of thought on this - there is a through line of titles that succeed from one to the next, and side-books or ancillary titles are ignored. Since the Kyle Rayner series, you have Rebirth*, then the Johns' series, then the New 52 series, then Hal Jordan and the GL Corps, then The Green Lantern.

*I can go either way on including Rebirth in the numbering

Exactly this. My example of this is always Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. Brand new title, brand new lead, but it was the Flash book at the time.

The Green Lantern certainly counts. Green Lanterns would not.

[MajorHoy]

. . . If DC wants to honour its entire past, they should think about bringing back ADVENTURE COMICS. That title wouldn't be able to get to 1000 in the near future (except by crooked reasoning); however, it could possibly get there by the 100th anniversary in 2035.

For the record, when they revived that title back in 2009, they used a dual/"legacy" numbering on the cover.



That lasted for twelve issues, after which they just went with the "legacy" number on the cover. The final issue of that run was #529 in 2011 (just as DC switched to the New52 after Flashpoint.)

[CaptCleghorn]

I've always said any book with Golden Age origins should get legacy numbering. And I'd include the Golden Age Green Lantern numbering. But would I count Green Lanterns and The Green Lantern? Probably not, but I bet I'd be in the minority.

I lean against counting the Golden Age Green Lantern in legacy numbering as hal's first solo was numbered one. Barry's book was 105 continuing Jay's numbering. Yeah, it's all opinion, but that's my reasoning.

The two that get some interest from me are Justice League and Legion.

JL has a slew of titles with and without America and/or of. Sometimes including international. With times when Europe ran alongside another title, I wouldn't count Europe. But it's messy and I'm hoping someone else does the legwork on this.

Legion is simpler, I think. Well, not really. The book starts off with Superboy numbering. A second series ("hardcover" - Baxter paper) is started and those stories are reprinted in the newsprint edition a year later. I'd say don't double count the reprinted stories.

# # ser description
325 Initial Run
354 29 v3 reprints
388 34 v3 new stories
513 125 v4
525 12 Legion Lost
531 6 Legion Worlds
569 38 Legion
619 50 v5
635 16 v6
658 23 v7 nu52

So I'd have Legion at 658. Still a ways from 1000. But then, we're still waiting for their next issue, aren't we?

[bob.schoonover]

I think JLA would go
Justice League of America v1 (261), Justice League Internationa/America (113), JLA (125), Justice League of America (60), Justice League New 52(50) Justice League Rebirth (43), Justice League current (21) = 673. It'll be awhile for them - they'll probably be on volume 14 by the time they hit 1000 issues

[CaptCleghorn]

Won't these semi-monthly runs mess up the progression towards the canonical 1,000,000 issues already set up?

(yes, I'm joking. It's seriously roll on the floor laugh your butt off funny)

[bob.schoonover]

Won't these semi-monthly runs mess up the progression towards the canonical 1,000,000 issues already set up?

(yes, I'm joking. It's seriously roll on the floor laugh your butt off funny)

We need a 'like' button just for this post.

[DetectiveStrange]

Agree about Lanterns, disagree about The Green Lantern. I take a "spiritual successor" line of thought on this - there is a through line of titles that succeed from one to the next, and side-books or ancillary titles are ignored. Since the Kyle Rayner series, you have Rebirth*, then the Johns' series, then the New 52 series, then Hal Jordan and the GL Corps, then The Green Lantern.

*I can go either way on including Rebirth in the numbering

Exactly this. My example of this is always Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. Brand new title, brand new lead, but it was the Flash book at the time.

The Green Lantern certainly counts. Green Lanterns would not.

Yep, exactly. I'd argue that even more than Marvel, DC is built on multiple mythos-concepts-franchises which each contain multiple main characters, instead of being built around a set group of characters.

As such, I'd count the various relaunches of a main GL title, for example, as a series of books that are the spiritual torch bearers of the concept of a green clad superhero with a ring that allows him/her to make anything he/she wishes.

Two weeks ago I added up the various series of each main DC book and came up with these legacy numberings -

As of May 2019 (cover date), the top 100 longest running DC titles are...

Action Comics at 1009
Detective Comics at 1001
Batman 832
Superman 830
Justice League 746
Wonder Woman 733
Flash 728
Green Lantern 617
Adventure Comics 529
Superboy 504
World's Finest 455
Sgt. Rock 444 (wow!!)
Teen Titans 430
House of Mystery 378
All-Star 369 (Squadron, Western, etc)
Green Arrow 365
Hellblazer 347
Legion of Super-Heroes 334
Swamp Thing 313
The Unknown Soldier 309
Aquaman 297
Robin 296 (including the B&R series)
G. I. Combat 296
Blackhawks 293
Doom Patrol 287
Nightwing 272
Strange Adventures 269 (including Time Warp)
Captain Ma- er, Shazam 258
Supergirl 256
The Brave and the Bold 254
Catwoman 246
All-American 246
Legends of the Dark Knight 230
Tales of the Unexpected 222
Hawkman 214 (plus Hawkworld)
StormWatch 200 (plus The Authority)
Birds of Prey 199
Jonah Hex 193
Batgirl 191
House of Secrets 181
Jimmy Olsen 178
Showcase 174
Suicide Squad 169
Captain Atom 169
Girls' Love Stories 180
Warlord 165
Outsiders 165
JSA 164
Firestorm 160
Girls' Romance 160
Whiz Comics 155
Secret Hearts 153
Gen 13 147
Heart Throbs 146
Falling in Love 143
Batman Adventures 143
Tomahawk 140
Lois Lane 139
Fox and Crow 138
Sensation Comics 134
Master Comics 133
Harley Quinn 130
The New (Teen) Titans 130
Challengers of the Unknown 129
Green Lantern Corps 127
Police Comics 127
More Fun 127
Young Love 126
Mystery in Space 125
Animal Man 125
Feature Comics 124
Azrael 122
L.E.G.I.O.N. 121
Fox and Crow/Stanley and His Monster 116
Plastic Man 114
Ghosts 112
Western Hero 112
DC Comics Presents 109
Lobo 107
Mutt and Jeff 103
Military Comics 102
Sugar and Spike 99
The Atom 98
Shade the Changing Man/Woman/Girl 96
Lucifer 95
Shadow of the Bat 94
New Gods 92
Dodo and the Frog 92
Crack Comics 92
Impulse 90
Marvel Family 89
Witching Hour 88
Sandman (Dream) 86
Smash Comics 85
Funny Animals 83
Binky 82
Wildcats 82
Legionnaires 81
Starman 81
Kamandi 78

Did I miss any big ones?

It's not science - a lot of it depends upon your own opinion as to what should or should not be included as part of a legacy of titles, but it's fun to think about.

[Jim Kelly]

Good job on the totals DetectiveStrange, but I think you meant 363 for HOUSE OF MYSTERY--and actually I count more than that if you include everything.

321--HOUSE OF MYSTERY (original)
11--ELVIRA'S HOUSE OF MYSTERY
1--ELVIRA'S HOUSE OF MYSTERY SPECIAL
42--HOUSE OF MYSTERY (Vertigo)
2--HOUSE OF MYSTERY HALLOWEEN ANNUAL
1--WELCOME BACK TO THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY

Which comes to 378 if my arithmetic is correct.

[married guy]

Flash Vol 1 #1 - 104
Flash Vol 2 #105 - 350
Flash Vol 3 #1 - 247 + #0 and #1000000
Flash Vol 4 #1 - 12
Flash FMA #1 - 13
Flash Vol 5 #1 - 52
Flash Vol 6 #1 - 68 (current)

Not including Annuals you're up to 744 issues. (I'm missing #105 and #112 to complete my collection)
That leaves 256 issues to reach #1000 - another 10.6 years if it continues to ship twice a month!

[CaptCleghorn]

Flash Vol 1 #1 - 104
Flash Vol 2 #105 - 350
Flash Vol 3 #1 - 247 + #0 and #1000000
Flash Vol 4 #1 - 12
Flash FMA #1 - 13
Flash Vol 5 #1 - 52
Flash Vol 6 #1 - 68 (current)

Not including Annuals you're up to 744 issues. (I'm missing #105 and #112 to complete my collection)
That leaves 256 issues to reach #1000 - another 10.6 years if it continues to ship twice a month!

Marvel has combined more legacy numbers than DC, but I don't recall annuals, zero issues or 1,000,000s as being counted. Flash is my choice for a fourth legacy renumbering from the Golden Age start (after the Trinity's self titles books). The exhaustive list done by Detective Strange gives a great idea of where many books are.