Ok So where do I go from here? Batman-Superman question?

[RD155]

So I have pretty much no experience in the world of Dc comics. Decided to pick up Batman/Superman on a whim and fell in love with the story instantly and everything going on there with the infected and Batman who laughs. That being said, just finished the last issue and now I’m a bit confused as to where to go next ? Can I just stick with this title for the story or do I need to pick up Hell Arisen for the full story?

[Korath]

So I have pretty much no experience in the world of Dc comics. Decided to pick up Batman/Superman on a whim and fell in love with the story instantly and everything going on there with the infected and Batman who laughs. That being said, just finished the last issue and now I’m a bit confused as to where to go next ? Can I just stick with this title for the story or do I need to pick up Hell Arisen for the full story?

I think Hell Arisen will be a must have to read the end of the story. You could also track down the Infected mini-arcs in the Hawkman and Supergirl series.

[poroto678]

Well, first I'd ask you if you're interested in continuity, cuz there's like 10.000 classics you could read and enjoy first.

Hell Arisen is the next step, but I kinda feel you gotta read Snyder and Tynion's JL to fully understand it. Thing is, I personally hate than run LOL.

I actually recommend to pick some characters and read a few TPB to see if you're interested. That's how I started. Awesome part is that you can find some very good TPB at your local library if you're american (Im not, but i lived there a few years back).
If you like Batman and Superman, there are a few stories I would definitely recommend, like:

- Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman.
- Geoff Johns' Action Comics.
- Peter J Tomasi's Batman and Robin.
- Geoff Johns' Superman: Secret Origin
- American Alien (God, I love that one)

None of those are continuity heavy, so I'd say they're great for you

If you want In-continuity stuff:

- Brian Bendis' Superman and Action Comics (plus Event Leviathan)
- Tom King's Batman. (THIS ONE IS SO GOOD)
- James Tynion's Detective Comics (this one is the finest Bat-family book I've ever read)
- The Current Detective Comics run by Peter Tomasi. Detective Comics is usually more grounded and less continuity-oriented than the Batman title, so I'd go with that too.

Good luck!

[jb681131]

So I have pretty much no experience in the world of Dc comics. Decided to pick up Batman/Superman on a whim and fell in love with the story instantly and everything going on there with the infected and Batman who laughs. That being said, just finished the last issue and now I’m a bit confused as to where to go next ? Can I just stick with this title for the story or do I need to pick up Hell Arisen for the full story?

Well let me introduce you to the world of DC Comics:

Like all major comics houses, DC is devided into big eras:

1. 1938-1956 - Golden Age - Superman appears in Action Comics, Batman appears in Detective Comics
2. 1956-70's - Silver Age - Introduction of the Comics Code
3. 70's-1985 - Bronze Age - Lightening of the Comics Code, and the comming of darker comics
4. 1985-now - The Moderne Age - Abolition of the Comics Code and reboot of the DC Univers
5. - 1985-2011 - The Crisis Age - Starts of with Crisis on Infinit Earths
6. - 2011-2016 - The New 52 - Starts of with Flashpoint event
7. - 2016-2019 - DC Rebirth - Starts of with the DC Univers Rebirth event to finish up with the Doomsday Clock event
8. - 2019-ongoing - The New Age - Starts with Dark Knights: Metal and Justice League: No Justice.

Those eras are regrouped and reffered by the following names:

• The Gold/Silver/Bronze age is reffered as Pre-Crisis.
• The Crisis Age si reffered as Pos-Crisis or Pre-Flashpoint.
• The Flashpoint/Rebirth/New Age ages are reffered as Post-Flashpoint or Flashpoint Age

Here would be the Mains Sagas and Events to read:

1. 1959-85 - Flash: The Silver Age - The Flash by Carmine Infantino - 4 volumes followed by 2 omnibus (ongoing)
2. 1970-73 - The Fourth World by Jack Kirby - Massive Saga with The New Gods, Mister Miracle, The Forever People and Jimmy Olsen - Introduces Darkseid, Big Barda and Orion as well - 4 omnibus
3. 1970-72 - Green Lantern/Green Arrow - A very funny duo that commes back regularly in the comics - 1 omnibus
4. 1972-76 - Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Omnibus - The original Swamp Thing saga by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (and then others) - 1 omnibus
5. 1980-96 - The New Teen Titans - The Saga by Marv Wolfman and George Perez - 11 volumes (ongoing) or 3 omnibus
6. 1984-86 - Saga of the Swamp Thing - When Alan Moore takes over Swamp Thing (1st American Comics from Alan Moore) - 6 volumes or 1 omnibus
7. 1986 - The Watchmen by Alan Moore - The Launching story of the Modern Age - 1 omnibus
8. 1985-86 - Crisis On Infinit Earths (aka COIE) - Regroups all heroes into one univers - 1 omnibus
9. 1987 - DC: Legend - Follow-up to COIE, story in which the modern age Justice League and Suicide Squad are put in place
10. 1987-89 - Justice League International - Direct follow-up to DC: Legend - 5 volumes or 1 omnibus
11. 1987-89 - Suicide Squad by John Ostrander - Direct follow-up to DC: Legend - 8 volumes
12. 1987-92 - Wonder Woman by George Perez - 4 volumes (ongoing) or 3 omnibus
13. 1986 - Batman: Year One - Origin Story by Frank Miller - 1 volume
14. 1988 - Batman: The Killing Joke - The popular Joker story by Alan Moore - 1 volume
15. 1987-97 - The Flash by Mark Waid - Start of the Epic 1987 reboot - 6 volumes
16. 1986-00 - Batman: The Long Halloween + Batman: Dark Victory - Great saga of the early days of Batman by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale - 2 omnibus
17. 2000-06 - The Flash by Geoff Johns - End of the Epic saga started by Mark Waid - 5 volumes or 3 omnibus
18. 1994 - Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight/New Dawn - The downfall of Hal Jordan, the rising of Kyle Reyner - 1 volume
19. 1993-94 - The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus - The Death of Superman + The Return of Superman - 2 volumes or 1 omnibus
20. 1993-95 - Batman: Knightfall - The great Bane/Azrael saga - 9 volumes or 3 new omnibus
21. 1999 - Batman: No Man's Land - When Gotham becomes a war zone - 4 new omnibus
22. 1996-06 - JLA - The great saga started by Grant Morrison - 9 volumes or 4 omnibus
23. 2003-04 - Superman: Birthright - Retelling of Superman's origins by Mark Waid - 1 omnibus
24. 2003-06 - Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka - The main modern age saga - 3 omnibus
25. 2006-12 - Green Lantern by Geoff Johns - The Saga of GL including: Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Knight, Brightest Day, War of the Green Lanterns, GL New 52 - 20 volumes or 3 massive omnibus
26. 2004-05 - Superman: For Tomorrow - Aclaimed story by Brian Azzarello - 2 volumes or 1 omnibus
27. 2004 - Identity Crisis - Follows the COIE storyline - 1 volume
28. 2005 - Infinite Crisis - Follows the COIE storyline - 7 volumes or 1 omnibus
29. 2006-08 - Seven Solders of Victory + Final Crisis - Concludes the COIE storyline - 2 volumes or 1 omnibus + 1 volume
30. 2008 - Superman: Brainiac - The Major story by Geoff Johns - 1 volume
31. 2006-11 - Batman by Grant Morrison + Batman Incorporated - The saga by Morrsion - 2 omnibus + 4 volumes or 1 omnibus
32. 2011 - Flashpoint - The Event by Geoff Johns - 1 volume
33. 2011-16 - Batman & Robin New 52 - Story Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason (Should have read Batman by Grant Morrison vol.1 and Batman Inc.) - 7 volumes or 1 omnibus
34. 2011 - Batman: Court of Owls + Batman: Night of Owls - The Owls Saga by Scott Snyder - 2 volumes or 1 omnibus
35. 2011-14 - Wonder Woman New 52 - Saga by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang - 6 first volumes or 2 Omnibus
36. 2011-14 - Aquaman New 52 - Story by Geoff Johns - 4 first volumes or 1 omnibus
37. 2012-13 - Shazam! New 52 - New origins by Geoff Johns - 1 volume
38. 2011-14 - Flash New 52 - Flash by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato - 4 first volumes or 1 omnibus
39. 2011-14 - Green Arrow New 52 - Story by Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino - first 6 volumes or 1 omnibus
40. 2012-2016 - Justice League: Trinity War + Forever Evil + Forever Heroes + The Darkseid War Saga - The Main New 52 JL stories - 1 omnibus + 1 volumes + 1 volume + 2 volumes or 1 omnibus
41. 2016 - Titan Hunt + DC Univers Rebirth + The Return of Wally West - The Main story for the Rebirth event (must know Flashpoint and The Watchmen) - 3 volumes
42. 2016-ongoing - Aquaman Rebirth - By Dan Abnett - 9 volumes (ongoing)
43. 2016-19 - Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps - By Robert Venditti - 7 volumes
44. 2018-19 - Doomsday Clock - Concludes the Flash/Rebirth storyline - 1 omnibus
45. 2019 - Dark Knight: Metal + Justice League: No Justice - The Discovery of a Dark Multivers written by Scott Snyder - 2 volumes
46. 2019 - Heroes in Crisis - Yet another Crisis - 1 volume

Around "No Justice", all the series are now baring the "DC Univers" stamp.
I invite you to start the new series of 2018/2019:

• The Green Lantern
• Justice League Dark
• Metal Men
• Shazam!
• The Terrifics
• Doom Patrol
• Wonder Twins
• Flash Forward
• Dial H for Hero

There are also some must read elseworld stories:

• The Dark Knight Returns - The Famous story by Frank Miller - 1 omnibus
• Superman: Red Son - by Mark Millar, what if Kal-El landed in Russia ? - 1 volume
• DC: New Frontier - Big saga by Darwyn Cooke - 1 omnibus
• Kingdom Come - The aclaimed story by Mark Waid and Alex Ross - 1 volume
• All-star Superman - The aclaimed serie by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely - 1 omnibus
• Superman: Secret Identity - Unusual take on Superman - 1 volume

Other fun stories to read (I am missing a lot)

• 52 - tells what happens in the missing year after Infinit Crisis.
• Lobo: Portrait of a Batisch
• Arkham Asylum: A serious house on a serious earth - by Grant Morrison
• Batman: White Knight
• Mr. Miracle by Tom King
• Super Sons (2016) - Damian Wayne and John Kent
• Justice League Dark (2019) - ongoing
• Hellblazer - Story of John Constantine - many volumes and omnibus
• Animal Man by Alan Grant
• Grayson New52 - Dick Grayson as a secret agent
• Batman: Under the Red Hood + Red Hood and the Outlaws Rebirth + Red Hood: Outlaw - The Story of Jason Todd - ongoing

I hope you have a vision a little clearer of the DC timeline.
If you want more details on Batman and the Batfamily or on lesser known hereos, don't hesitate to ask.

[jb681131]

Well, first I'd ask you if you're interested in continuity, cuz there's like 10.000 classics you could read and enjoy first.

Hell Arisen is the next step, but I kinda feel you gotta read Snyder and Tynion's JL to fully understand it. Thing is, I personally hate than run LOL.

I actually recommend to pick some characters and read a few TPB to see if you're interested. That's how I started. Awesome part is that you can find some very good TPB at your local library if you're american (Im not, but i lived there a few years back).
If you like Batman and Superman, there are a few stories I would definitely recommend, like:

- Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman.
- Geoff Johns' Action Comics.
- Peter J Tomasi's Batman and Robin.
- Geoff Johns' Superman: Secret Origin
- American Alien (God, I love that one)

None of those are continuity heavy, so I'd say they're great for you

If you want In-continuity stuff:

- Brian Bendis' Superman and Action Comics (plus Event Leviathan)
- Tom King's Batman. (THIS ONE IS SO GOOD)
- James Tynion's Detective Comics (this one is the finest Bat-family book I've ever read)
- The Current Detective Comics run by Peter Tomasi. Detective Comics is usually more grounded and less continuity-oriented than the Batman title, so I'd go with that too.

Good luck!

I guess everyone has it's own opinion, but the In-continuity stuff you listed is form me some of the worse titles I've ever read.
I wonder what makes you like them.

Bendis' Superman I haven't read.
King's Batman has some of the worse stories. His "My Name Is" trilogy and the "Wedding" stories are boring and empty.
James Tynion was very fun with interresting ideas but far far far from "the finest". Have you read:

• Batman by Archie Goodwin
• Batman by Steve Englehart
• Batman by Len Wein
• Batman by Matt Wagner
• Batman by Doug Moench
• Batman by Greg Rucka
• Batman by Ed Brubaker
• Batman by Paul Dini
• Batman by Gregg Hurwitz
• Batman by Darwyn Cooke
• ...

The current Detective comics by Tomasi si so so, the 2 filler stories before his run are way better.

[Ascended]

So I have pretty much no experience in the world of Dc comics. Decided to pick up Batman/Superman on a whim and fell in love with the story instantly and everything going on there with the infected and Batman who laughs. That being said, just finished the last issue and now IÂ’m a bit confused as to where to go next ? Can I just stick with this title for the story or do I need to pick up Hell Arisen for the full story?

Depends on how deep you wanna dive, really.

If you want to get in on this whole Batman Who Laughs (BWL) story you've got some reading ahead of you.

You can start with the event Metal. There's two one-shots that serve as a prelude to that story; The Forge and The Casting. Metal itself is six issues. There's also a one-shot for each of the Dark Knights from Metal; Dawnbreaker, Murder Machine, Merciless, Devastator, Drowned, Red Death, and Batman Who Laughs.

There's also a few other tie-ins to Metal, found in random issues of League related books. Teen Titans #12, Nightwing #29, and a few others you can Google.

You could, if you wanted to, also pick up Scott Snyder's run on the New52 era Batman title (2011-2015 or something). It's not necessary at all but some of the threads from Metal start there. But that's something like 50 issues, just so you can say "Hey, this thing from Metal got mentioned in passing way back in Batman issue X."

Then, if you really wanna keep going, you read Snyder's four issue mini called No Justice. That comes straight out of Metal and leads directly into Snyder's Justice League run. If your interest is solely the BWL you can skip all this, but he does have a small role early on in Justice League. There was also a short lived imprint called New Age of Heroes that introduced a number of new characters that were connected in one way or another to the events of Metal. Again, that's not necessary reading and I don't recall the BWL having a role in any of the books, but if you want everything.......

There's also a Batman Who Laughs miniseries, with fantastic art by Jock. Never read it myself but the art looks lovely.

That more or less brings up up to speed and into the opening arc of Batman-Superman, as far as I can remember. And as someone already said the Supergirl and Hawkman books have some tie-in issues too, dealing with their infections.

And from there you have to get Hell Arisen when it comes out, but I'm not sure if the Batman-Superman title will continue the plot in any way or just move on to a new story.

But really, I think you could stick with Forge, Casting, Metal, the BWL one-shot and mini, and Batman-Superman and not really miss anything, if you're just looking for the BWL's story.

[Restingvoice]

So I have pretty much no experience in the world of Dc comics. Decided to pick up Batman/Superman on a whim and fell in love with the story instantly and everything going on there with the infected and Batman who laughs. That being said, just finished the last issue and now I’m a bit confused as to where to go next ? Can I just stick with this title for the story or do I need to pick up Hell Arisen for the full story?

Hell Arisen is where Batman Who Laughs will continue
Single issues with Infected banner in series like Supergirl and Hawkman if you want to see their individual story
This whole thing is part of a bigger event called Year of the Villain that started in Justice League but encompasses the whole DCU
However, if you want the whole thing, get all of Scott Snyder's story from the beginning of his Batman run because his Batman Who Laughs and Justice League are a continuation of the world-building he did.

As for the Superman part, it's... really complicated... he's involved in some continuity altering stuff the last few years, so best stay away from that for now.

[LifeIsILL]

If you like Batman and Superman, there are a few stories I would definitely recommend, like:

- Jeph Loeb's Superman/Batman.


Good luck!

The entire Superman/Batman series is good. It actually gets crazier and crazier as it goes on, so don't stop after they change writers.