How to pick out comic storylines?

[TheDragonKing]

I'm compiling together a very large list of various DC runs from 2000 to 2016 because I would like to read more comics. I've only mainly read Rebirth Runs but I wanted to read previous runs too. However someone told me to focus on storylines rather than specific runs but I dont know how to pick out storylines. Can someone help me please?

I'll give an example of characters I like to see that helps you. I like Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman and Doctor Fate.

[jb681131]

I'm compiling together a very large list of various DC runs from 2000 to 2016 because I would like to read more comics. I've only mainly read Rebirth Runs but I wanted to read previous runs too. However someone told me to focus on storylines rather than specific runs but I dont know how to pick out storylines. Can someone help me please?

I'll give an example of characters I like to see that helps you. I like Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman and Doctor Fate.

Very often, storylines correspondant to a run.
Anyway, over the years I have made a liste of DC's main things to read. They have to be read because they are important to the DC timeline or because they are great quality work (story and/or art).
Here it is:

1. 1938 - Action Comics #1 - 1st appearance of Superman
2. 1939 - Detective Comics #27 - 1st appearance of Batman
3. 1940-52 - The Spirit Archives by Will Eisner - Yes from the one of the awards - 26 vol.
4. 1959-85 - Flash: The Silver Age - The Flash by Carmine Infantino - 4 vol. followed by 2 omnibus (ongoing)
5. 1963-82 - Crisis On Multiple Earths - The JSA and JLA through the ages - 6 vol. + 2 team-ups vol.
6. 1966-82 - The Steve Ditko Omnibus - Charleston Comics by Steve Ditko: Shade, Hawk & Dove, Legion of Superheroes, Starman, The Outsiders, Specter, Desaad, ... - 2 omnibus
7. 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
8. 1970-72 - Green Lantern/Green Arrow - A very funny duo that commes back regularly in the comics - 1 omnibus
9. 1972-76 - Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Omnibus - The original Swamp Thing saga by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (and then others) - 1 omnibus
10. 1982 - The Great Darkness Saga - The return of the great Darkseid - 1 omnibus
11. 1980-96 - The New Teen Titans - The Saga by Marv Wolfman and George Perez - 11 vol. (ongoing) or 3 omnibus
12. 1984-86 - Saga of the Swamp Thing - When Alan Moore takes over Swamp Thing (1st American Comics from Alan Moore) - 6 vol. or 1 omnibus
13. 1986 - The Watchmen by Alan Moore - The Launching story of the Modern Age - 1 omnibus
14. 1985-86 - Crisis On Infinit Earths (aka COIE) - Regroups all heroes into one univers - 1 omnibus
15. 1987 - DC: Legends - Follow-up to COIE, story in which the modern age Justice League and Suicide Squad are put in place - 1 vol.
16. 1987-89 - Justice League International - Direct follow-up to DC: Legends - 5 vol. or 1 omnibus
17. 1987-89 - Suicide Squad by John Ostrander - Direct follow-up to DC: Legends - 8 vol.
18. 1987-92 - Wonder Woman by George Perez - 4 vol. (ongoing) or 3 omnibus
19. 1986 - Batman: Year One - Origin Story by Frank Miller - 1 vol.
20. 1987 - Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunter - Start of a modern age darker Green Arrow - 1 vol.
21. 1987-90 - The Question by Denis O'Neil - The Charlton Comics detective - 6 vol.
22. 1988 - Batman: The Killing Joke - The popular Joker story by Alan Moore - 1 vol.
23. 1988-2013 - Hellblazer - The story of John Constantine - 21 vol.
24. 1988-89 - Animal Man by Alan Grant - A now classic work by the fine Alan Grant - 1 omnibus
25. 1989 - Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth - A strange and twisted take on Arkham and the Joker by Grant Morrison - 1 vol.
26. 1989-96 - Sandman by Neil Gaiman - The great Dark Fantasy saga - 10 vol. or 5 omnibus or 2 massive omnibus
27. 1989-93 - Doom Patrol by Grant Morrsion - Doom Patrol are a group of super-powered misfits - 6 vol. or 3 books or 1 omnibus
28. 1990-92 - Lobo by Keith Giffen & Alan Grant - The most out of the norme character you can find - 1 omnibus
29. 1995-99 - The Power of Shazam! - follows the SHAZAM familly by Jerry Ordway - in various other collections
30. 1987-97 - The Flash by Mark Waid - Start of the Epic 1987 reboot - 6 vol.
31. 1996-00 - Batman: The Long Halloween + Batman: Dark Victory - Great saga of the early days of Batman by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale - 2 omnibus
32. 2000-06 - The Flash by Geoff Johns - End of the Epic saga started by Mark Waid - 5 vol. or 3 omnibus
33. 1994 - Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight/New Dawn - The downfall of Hal Jordan, the rising of Kyle Reyner - 1 vol.
34. 1994 - Gen13 - Story about "gene active" teens recruted by the governament by Jim Lee - 1 vol.
35. 1993-94 - The Death and Return of Superman - The Death of Superman + The Return of Superman - 2 vol. or 1 omnibus
36. 1993-95 - Batman: Knightfall - The great Bane/Azrael saga - 9 vol. or 3 new omnibus
37. 1994 - Batman: Mad Love - Introduction of Harley Quinn in the comics by the genius Paul Dini - 1 vol.
38. 1995-2000 - Preacher - Story of a posessed preacher by Garth Ennis - 9 vol. or 6 six books or 3 omnibus
39. 1996-2002 - Stormwatch + The Authority - The Warren Ellis era on this United Nation's crisis intervention team - 3 vol. or 1 omnibus + 5 vol. or 1 omnibus
40. 1998-2009 - Planetary by Warren Ellis - follows agents responsible for discovering the secret history of the world - 4 vol. or 1 omnibus
41. 1999 - Batman: No Man's Land - When Gotham becomes a war zone - 4 new omnibus
42. 1996-06 - JLA - The great saga started by Grant Morrison - 9 vol. or 4 omnibus
43. 2000 - Batman/Huntress: Cry for blood - A new take on Huntress by Greg Rucka - 1 vol. f
44. 2003-04 - Superman: Birthright - Retelling of Superman's origins by Mark Waid - 1 omnibus
45. 2003-06 - Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka - The main modern age saga - 3 omnibus
46. 2003-06 - Gotham Central - Crime and Gand Stories by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka - 4 vol. or 1 omnibus
47. 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 vol. or 3 massive omnibus
48. 2004-05 - Superman: For Tomorrow - Aclaimed story by Brian Azzarello - 2 vol. or 1 omnibus
49. 2004 - Identity Crisis - Follows the COIE storyline - 1 vol.
50. 2005 - Infinite Crisis - Follows the COIE storyline - 7 vol. or 1 omnibus
51. 2006-07 - 52 - tells what happens in the missing year after Infinit Crisis. - 4 vol. or 2 omnibus
52. 2006-08 - Seven Solders of Victory + Final Crisis - Concludes the COIE storyline - 2 vol. or 1 omnibus + 1 vol.
53. 2007-09 - Will Eisner's Spirit - The return of the Spirit - 5 vol.
54. 2008 - Superman: Brainiac - The Major story by Geoff Johns - 1 vol.
55. 2006-11 - Batman by Grant Morrison + Batman Incorporated - The saga by Morrsion - 2 omnibus + 4 vol. or 1 omnibus
56. 2011 - Flashpoint - The Event by Geoff Johns - 1 vol.
57. 2011-16 - Batman & Robin New 52 - Story by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason (Should have read Batman by Grant Morrison vol.1 and Batman Inc.) - 7 vol. or 1 omnibus
58. 2011 - Batman: Court of Owls + Batman: Night of Owls - The Owls Saga by Scott Snyder - 2 vol. or 1 omnibus
59. 2011-14 - Wonder Woman New 52 - Saga by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang - 6 first vol. or 2 Omnibus
60. 2011-14 - Aquaman New 52 - Story by Geoff Johns - 4 first vol. or 1 omnibus
61. 2012-13 - Shazam! New 52 - New origins by Geoff Johns - 1 vol.
62. 2011-14 - Flash New 52 - Flash by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato - 4 first vol. or 1 omnibus
63. 2011-14 - Green Arrow New 52 - Story by Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino - first 6 vol. or 1 omnibus
64. 2012-2016 - Justice League: Trinity War + Forever Evil + Forever Heroes + The Darkseid War Saga - The Main New 52 JL stories - 1 omnibus + 1 vol. + 1 vol. + 2 vol. or 1 omnibus
65. 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 vol.
66. 2016-* - Aquaman Rebirth - By Dan Abnett - 9 vol. (ongoing)
67. 2016-19 - Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps - By Robert Venditti - 7 vol.
68. 2018-19 - Doomsday Clock - Concludes the Flash/Rebirth storyline - 1 omnibus
69. 2019 - Mr. Miracle by Tom King - The Eisner Award story - 1 vol.
70. 2019-21 - Dark Knight: Metal + Justice League: No Justice + Justice League by Snyder + Doom War + Batman Who Laughs + Death Metal - The Discovery of a Dark Multivers written by Scott Snyder - various vol.
71. 2019 - Heroes in Crisis - Yet another Crisis - 1 vol.
72. 2019-20 - Event Leviathan - Superman against the Leviathan Organisation - 1 vol.

[jb681131]

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 vol.
• DC: New Frontier - Big saga by Darwyn Cooke - 1 omnibus
• Kingdom Come - The aclaimed story by Mark Waid and Alex Ross - 1 vol.
• All-star Superman - The aclaimed serie by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely - 1 omnibus
• Superman: Secret Identity - Unusual take on Superman - 1 vol.

For some good ongoing series you can follow:

• The Green Lantern by Grant Morrison
• All-new Aquaman by Kelly Sue DeConnick
• Justice League Dark by James Tynion IV
• Wonder Twins by Mark Russell
• The Terrifics by Jeff Lemir
• Red Hood & the Outlaws by Scott Lobdell - continues in Red Hood: Outlaw
• Shazam! by Geoff Johns

[Gaius]

I'm compiling together a very large list of various DC runs from 2000 to 2016 because I would like to read more comics. I've only mainly read Rebirth Runs but I wanted to read previous runs too. However someone told me to focus on storylines rather than specific runs but I dont know how to pick out storylines. Can someone help me please?

I'll give an example of characters I like to see that helps you. I like Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman and Doctor Fate.

Hmm, not sure what the focus on storylines not runs means but for some of those characters from the time period you listed.


Green Lantern
Rebirth by Geoff Johns
Sinestro Corps War by Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons
Secret Origin by Geoff Johns

Wonder Woman
Gods of Gotham by Phil Jimenez
JLA: League of One by Christopher Moeller
Eyes of the Gorgon by Greg Rucka
Land of the Dead by Greg Rucka

Not from 2000-2016 but Justice League Dark so far has been a good book for both Wonder Woman and Dr. Fate. And also GL: Earth One for an alternate universe take on the GL mythos.

[jb681131]

For more details on superman:

1971 - Kryptonite Nevermore! - Superman #233-238, 240-242
1986 - Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? - Superman Annual #11 + DC Comics Presents #85 + Superman #423 + Action Comics #583
1986 - Superman: Man of Steel - Man of Steel #1-6 + Superman #1-4 + Action Comics #584-587 + Adventures of Superman #424-428
1992 - Superman: The Death and Return of Superman - Superman: The Man of Steel #17-26 + Superman #73-83 + Adventures of Superman #496-505 + Action Comics #683-692 + Justice League America #69 + Superman: The Legacy of Superman + Green Lantern #46.
2000 - Superman: New Metropolis - Superman: No Limits + Superman: Endgame + Superman #155-158 + Adventures of Superman #577-580 + Action Comics #764-767 + Superman : The Man of Steel #99-102 + Superman : Metropolis Secret Files #1
2000 - Emperor Joker - Superman #160-161 + Adventures of Superman #582-583 + Superman: The Man of Steel #104-105 + Action Comics #769-770 + Superman: Emperor Joker.
2003 - Superman/Batman by Ed Brubaker - Superman/Batman #1-26
2003 - Superman Superfiction - Adventures of Superman #610,612-623
2004-2005 - Superman: For Tomorrow - Superman #204-215
2006-2010 - Superman by Geoff Johns vol.1: Last Son - Le dernier fils - Action Comics #844-846, 851 & Annual #10-11
2006-2010 - Superman by Geoff Johns vol.2: Escape from Bizarro World - Action Comics #855-857 + Superman Man of Steel #5 + Action Comics #850
2006-2010 - Superman by Geoff Johns vol.3: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes - Action Comics #858-864
2006-2010 - Superman by Geoff Johns vol.4: Legion of Three Worlds - ????
2006-2010 - Superman by Geoff Johns vol.5: Brainiac - Action Comics #865-870 + Superman:New Krypton Special #1
2006-2010 - Superman by Geoff Johns vol.6: Secret Origins - Superman Secret Origin #1-6
2009-2011 - Power Girl - Power Girl #1-27
2011-2013 - Superman New52 by George Perez & Keith Giffen - Action Comics New52 # 1-9
2011-2013 - Superman New52 by Dan Jurgens - Action Comics New52 #10-12, 0 + Annual #1
2011-2013 - Superman New52 by Scott Lobdell - Action Comics New52 #13-18
2011-2013 - Supergirl New52 - Supergirl New52 #0-19
2013 - Superman/Wonder Woman New52 - Superman/Wonder Woman New52 #1-25 + Annual #2
2014 - Superman: Doomed - Superman: Doomed + Action Comics New52 #30-35 + Superman/Wonder Woman #7-12 + Superman New52 #30 + Action Comics New52 Annual #3 + Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 + Supergirl New52 #34-35 + Batman/Superman New52 #11
2014 - Superman: The Men of Tomorrow - Superman New52 #32-47
2015 - Superman: Action Comics by Greg Pak - Action Comics New52 #25-47 + Secret Origins #1 + Action Comics: Future End #1
2015 - Superman lois & clark - lois & clark #1-8 + Convergence Superman #1-2
2015 - Superman: Savage Dawn - Superman New52 annual #3 + Action Comics New52 #48-50 + Superman New52 #48-50 + Superman/Wonder Woman #25-27
2016 - The Final Days of Superman - Superman New52 #51-52 + Action Comics New52 #51-52 + Superman/Wonder Woman #28-29 + Batman/Superman #31-32
2016-2018 - Superman: Rebirth part.1 - Superman Rebirth #1 + Superman #1-17
2017 - Superman: Reborn - Superman #18-19 + Action Comics #975-978
2016-2018 - Superman: Rebirth part.2 - Aube noire - Superman #20-33-36, 39-45 + Action Comics 1000
2017 - Super Sons - Super Sons #1-16 + annual #1 + Superman #10-11 & 37-38 + Teen Titans #15 + Super Sons/Dynomutt Special + DC Rebirth Holiday Special
2018 - Man of Steel - Superman: Man of Steel #1-6 + Action Comics #1000 + DC Nation #0
2018-2019 - Superman: The Unity Saga - Superman #1-15 + Action Comics #1001-1006
2020 - Event Leviathan - Event Leviathan #1-6 + Superman: Leviathan Rising + Action Comics #1007-1016

--- DC Kids ---
Superman aventures - Superman adventures #1-45

--- Elsworld ---
1996 - Kingdom Come - Kingdom Come #1-4
2003 - Superman: Red Son - elsworld
2004 - Superman: Screte Identity - one-shot
2004-2006 - All-Star Superman - All-Star Superman #1-12
2006 - Luthor - one-shot
2010 - Superman: Earth-one vol.1-2
2013 - Superman: Unchained - Superman Unchained #1-9
2015 - Superman: American Alien - one-shot

[LordMikel]

I'm compiling together a very large list of various DC runs from 2000 to 2016 because I would like to read more comics. I've only mainly read Rebirth Runs but I wanted to read previous runs too. However someone told me to focus on storylines rather than specific runs but I dont know how to pick out storylines. Can someone help me please?

I'll give an example of characters I like to see that helps you. I like Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman and Doctor Fate.

So runs vs storylines.

Taking from jb681131's list
47. 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 vol. or 3 massive omnibus

For Green Lantern the run would be considered the Geoff Johns run on Green Lantern while the storylines would be Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Knight, Brightest Day, War of the Green Lanterns, etc.
If you went into a store and asked for the Geoff John's Green Lantern run, they might not know what you meant. It is a large span of time and multiple series. But if you went in and asked for the Green Lantern Sinestro Corp trade, and boom, they immediately know what you mean.

I forgot to say, the Green Lantern storylines written by Johns is great.

[poroto678]

People always tell you to read the same stuff, it's exhausting lol. In my case, I HATE CoIE, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, regardless of how important it is to DCU history. Also, many very imporant storylines might be written by writers you don't like, so why would you read them? In my case is Mark Waid. I've tried very hard to like him, but I havent been able to. So, I recommend:

What I did when I started reading comics was:

1. Pick writers. For example, I liked Batman Hush, which was written by Jeph Loeb, so I checked some of his stuff. I ended up reading his Superman/Batman run, which I loved.

2. A little google/wikipedia/dc wikia is very important. For example, I wanted to read Green Arrow like 10-15 years ago, so i did some research and found out Oliver Queen had died and that he was gonna be resurrected in Green Arrow Vol 3, so I read that one. It ended up being a great starting point for a new reader. You can do this with any character. The Flash? I started with Mark Waid's run, but you can start with Geoff Johns' run, which is fantastic, or the New 52 one, or Williamsons', etc. Green Lantern? I started with Emerald Twilight, but most people start with GL Rebirth (the old one, not the one done a few years ago).
How did I know? Just by doing some research.
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/DC_Comics_Database

3. Why is point #2 so important? Mainly because I ended up reading (and LOVING) some stuff no one recommended EVER. For example, one of my favorite runs of all time is Cassie Cain's Batgirl. I dont even remember who wrote it (I think it was Kelley Puckett), but god, I loved it so much. If i had followed recommendations, I probably would have ended up reading stuff that is either acclaimed or continuity heavy, but not nearly as important to me (PERSONALLY) as that Batgirl run. Also, in my case I'm not big on Superman and Batman, which is what most people recommend, so said recommendations aren't very useful to me anyway.


What's my point with all this? I always knew I didn't wanna read old stuff (80s and earlier) cuz i didn't like the art (usually taste changes and stufff, but one thing I know is that my reaction to George Perez art has not changed in the 15+ years Ive been reading comics: Not good),the 90s were so awful lol and i wasn't that much into Supes and Bats. Why would I read batman year one or CoIE?
so I found my own reads by: 90% doing a little research, 10% asking for recommendations.

Worked wonders for me and it has been a beautiful journey.

Hope it helps.

EDIT: ALSOO!! don't mind tie-ins! If you're reading, let's say, Infinite Crisis, only read what was written by its writer. Don't worry about reading (or missing) a tie-in. I was so worried about that in my early days and after a few events I stopped reading tie-ins altogether. I wish someone had told me that by the time I was reading IC lol

[jb681131]

So runs vs storylines.

Taking from jb681131's list
47. 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 vol. or 3 massive omnibus

For Green Lantern the run would be considered the Geoff Johns run on Green Lantern while the storylines would be Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Knight, Brightest Day, War of the Green Lanterns, etc.
If you went into a store and asked for the Geoff John's Green Lantern run, they might not know what you meant. It is a large span of time and multiple series. But if you went in and asked for the Green Lantern Sinestro Corp trade, and boom, they immediately know what you mean.

I forgot to say, the Green Lantern storylines written by Johns is great.

I don't fully agree on that. Geoff John's run is more one big storyline, with sub-storylines. Because you can't really read and understand Blackest Night if you havent read the previous stories that are Agent Orange, Rage of the Red Lantern, Sinestro Corps War, ...
And if you go into a store and asked for the Geoff John's Green Lantern run, they will exactly know what you mean ! It might be large, but it's avaible in many format and probably the most sold GL run. Every comic book seller knows it and can guide you.

A bette exemple of Run vs. Storyline would have been Geoff John's Superman run that I described above in the Superman post.