DC Hardcover Collected Editions Part 3

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

I've been reading all the praise for Green Arrow by Lemire and Sorrentino in the earlier posts, and I've been considering purchasing the deluxe.

Aside from the art, what is it that grabs you all with regards to the story?

[Balakin]

I've been reading all the praise for Green Arrow by Lemire and Sorrentino in the earlier posts, and I've been considering purchasing the deluxe.

Aside from the art, what is it that grabs you all with regards to the story?

it creates a completely new mytology for Ollie and it's overall an engaging read. Didn't blow my mind but had fun with it.
Also, the art is not just pretty it works really well with the action scenes. It's not just Bang POW and someone is dead, it's sequential and easy to follow but uses the language of comics well instead of "just" being cinematic (and I like cinematic action sequences).

[Mix_Masta_Micah]

Ok so I've been flirting with opening a whole can of worms for several DC items/events. I missed out on a lot of the "good" DC stuff in the 00's because I was a Marvel guy growing up but now I have wanted to go back and read some of this stuff. Therefore, I have 4 different events that I feel I need to read up on: Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, and Flashpoint. But man, some of it is very confusing in regards to reading order. Furthermore, I was hoping to read most of the Johns and Morrison work during this time period. So, here are my questions for each of these events:
*note I have the Green Lantern by Johns omnibus so Blackest Night might be covered unless you all have recs.


1. Are there any imperative lead in titles that I should check out before reading the event?
2. Are there any tie-ins I should read?
3. Or, should I read the entire event by itself?
4. What is the reading order?
5. Unlike Marvel, I've found it difficult to ascertain important titles that I should follow after the event until I get to the next one. Any recommendations?

I feel reading orders are the hardest to pin down, especially for Final Crisis. I also don't want to read EVERY title for the events, just the ones you all felt mandatory or quality.

A side question: should I hunt down the Green Lantern Corps run to read alongside Johns' run?

I know this is a lot, but if people contribute I would be eternally grateful!!

[Nateallen30]

Ok so I've been flirting with opening a whole can of worms for several DC items/events. I missed out on a lot of the "good" DC stuff in the 00's because I was a Marvel guy growing up but now I have wanted to go back and read some of this stuff. Therefore, I have 4 different events that I feel I need to read up on: Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, and Flashpoint. But man, some of it is very confusing in regards to reading order. Furthermore, I was hoping to read most of the Johns and Morrison work during this time period. So, here are my questions for each of these events:
*note I have the Green Lantern by Johns omnibus so Blackest Night might be covered unless you all have recs.


1. Are there any imperative lead in titles that I should check out before reading the event?
2. Are there any tie-ins I should read?
3. Or, should I read the entire event by itself?
4. What is the reading order?
5. Unlike Marvel, I've found it difficult to ascertain important titles that I should follow after the event until I get to the next one. Any recommendations?

I feel reading orders are the hardest to pin down, especially for Final Crisis. I also don't want to read EVERY title for the events, just the ones you all felt mandatory or quality.

A side question: should I hunt down the Green Lantern Corps run to read alongside Johns' run?

I know this is a lot, but if people contribute I would be eternally grateful!!

Well, the order of events is Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, Flashpoint. Flashpoint brings an end to the old DCU.
Johns' Flash and JSA, which are available in omnibus form were solid runs on interesting characters that planted a lot of seeds for all of the events that you mentioned.
I would recommend reading the trade of Identity Crisis and all of the material collected in the Infinite Crisis Omnibus. They are available in separate paperbacks.
In between Infinite and Final Crisis, you should get the 52 Omnibus or the new edition chunky trades. It is by Morrison, Johns, Waid, and Rucka and covers a year chronologically in real time for the DCU.

For Final Crisis, don't bother with anything out side of the Final Crisis Absolute/new edition paperback. Most of it has nothing to do with the story Morrison is telling. As prelude to that, you should read his JLA run, which you should read anyways because it is amazing, and his Seven Soldiers of Victory. Reading those should help you with all of the other events as well.
For Blackest Night, everything you need should be covered in the first two Geoff Johns Green Lantern omnibus that you already have.
For Flashpoint, the main miniseries is all you need. Although, the paperback with the Flashpoint: Batman miniseries is highly recommended as Azzarello and Risso of 100 Bullets fame do a solid elseworld. DC in the period between Blackest Night and Flashpoint is well....not great, hence the reboot. One series that would be very enjoyable from that time would be Gail Simone's Secret Six, which spun out of Infinite Crisis and produced some very well-told stories.

[Balakin]

Well, the order of events is Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, Flashpoint. Flashpoint brings an end to the old DCU.
Johns' Flash and JSA, which are available in omnibus form were solid runs on interesting characters that planted a lot of seeds for all of the events that you mentioned.
I would recommend reading the trade of Identity Crisis and all of the material collected in the Infinite Crisis Omnibus. They are available in separate paperbacks.
In between Infinite and Final Crisis, you should get the 52 Omnibus or the new edition chunky trades. It is by Morrison, Johns, Waid, and Rucka and covers a year chronologically in real time for the DCU.

For Final Crisis, don't bother with anything out side of the Final Crisis Absolute/new edition paperback. Most of it has nothing to do with the story Morrison is telling. As prelude to that, you should read his JLA run, which you should read anyways because it is amazing, and his Seven Soldiers of Victory. Reading those should help you with all of the other events as well.
For Blackest Night, everything you need should be covered in the first two Geoff Johns Green Lantern omnibus that you already have.
For Flashpoint, the main miniseries is all you need. Although, the paperback with the Flashpoint: Batman miniseries is highly recommended as Azzarello and Risso of 100 Bullets fame do a solid elseworld. DC in the period between Blackest Night and Flashpoint is well....not great, hence the reboot. One series that would be very enjoyable from that time would be Gail Simone's Secret Six, which spun out of Infinite Crisis and produced some very well-told stories.

quite agreed.
The thing with Infinite crisis is that it has a very good lead up. Starts with Identity Crisis and then basically the contents of the omni if I'm not mistaken.
I would say: Omac Project, Day of Vengeance, Villains united, Superman Infinite crisis (that's the one with WW doing the controversial thing, right?) and then IC main event.

Then 52. It's awesome and you want it.
Seven soldiers of Victory has something to do with Final Crisis and I would say read it because it's really good but I think the weakest part is Mister Miracle with the FC lead up.
You can read Morrison's JLA as well because it's freakin awesome but not essential to FC.
As for the main event: Absolute or new edition paperback. Nothing else needed. It's quite confusing as it is (but I LOVE it).
The Return of Bruce Wayne is quite a good aftermath for it but it's part of Morrison's Batman run which is another quest on it's own to read.

For Flashpoint: eh...who cares? I think it wasn't really an event and did absolutely nothing for me. The Azarello Batman story was good and that's it.

[Mix_Masta_Micah]

@Nateallen30 @Balakin

Awesome, thank you all for the suggestions. I have the Johns JSA omnis as well as the first thick Flash trades so I'll most likely start there. And don't judge me but I have read the first two trades of Morrison's JLA and while the story is good, the art is tough to stomach. Guess I'll need to suck it up and finish it out.

It sounds like Infinite Crisis has the best material in terms of tie ins so I'll probably jump on that stuff.

And it sounds like Seven Soldiers of Victory is a must read for Final Crisis. I truly want to read that event in the order and way Morrison deemed it to be read; that's the part that's tough to pin down. However, I also hear that Final Crisis Rogues Revenge and Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds are good thought not imperative to the event so I may check those out.

Thanks again guys.

[Balakin]

@Nateallen30 @Balakin

Awesome, thank you all for the suggestions. I have the Johns JSA omnis as well as the first thick Flash trades so I'll most likely start there. And don't judge me but I have read the first two trades of Morrison's JLA and while the story is good, the art is tough to stomach. Guess I'll need to suck it up and finish it out.

It sounds like Infinite Crisis has the best material in terms of tie ins so I'll probably jump on that stuff.

And it sounds like Seven Soldiers of Victory is a must read for Final Crisis. I truly want to read that event in the order and way Morrison deemed it to be read; that's the part that's tough to pin down. However, I also hear that Final Crisis Rogues Revenge and Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds are good thought not imperative to the event so I may check those out.

Thanks again guys.

I keep forgetting Legion of 3 worlds because I always think it's an IC tie in. But yeah it was good but not necessary for FC. Neither 7SoV but it's just really good.
The starting point for Final Crisis is probably Morrison's Animal Man but you should have a general knowledge about the DCU to start with. Quoting an amazon review "Pop quiz: what do Green Lanterns do? What's "shazam"? Who is Barry Allen? How are Darkseid and Orion related? If these questions stumped you, Final Crisis is going to be pretty rough going."
otherwise it should be fine reading it just on it's own.

[TomSlick]

@Nateallen30 @Balakin

Awesome, thank you all for the suggestions. I have the Johns JSA omnis as well as the first thick Flash trades so I'll most likely start there. And don't judge me but I have read the first two trades of Morrison's JLA and while the story is good, the art is tough to stomach. Guess I'll need to suck it up and finish it out.

It sounds like Infinite Crisis has the best material in terms of tie ins so I'll probably jump on that stuff.

And it sounds like Seven Soldiers of Victory is a must read for Final Crisis. I truly want to read that event in the order and way Morrison deemed it to be read; that's the part that's tough to pin down. However, I also hear that Final Crisis Rogues Revenge and Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds are good thought not imperative to the event so I may check those out.

Thanks again guys.

Skip Final Crisis. It's pretentious, boring and makes little sense as it chaotically jumps from one panel to the next with Morrison assuming you can read his drug addled mind.

I would recommend his Animal Man and as you make your way through some of the other suggestion know that 52 is somewhat of Morrison's swansong to the character.

The JLA was pretty great but yes the art is pretty bad.

[Balakin]

Skip Final Crisis. It's pretentious, boring and makes little sense as it chaotically jumps from one panel to the next with Morrison assuming you can read his drug addled mind.

I would recommend his Animal Man and as you make your way through some of the other suggestion know that 52 is somewhat of Morrison's swansong to the character.

The JLA was pretty great but yes the art is pretty bad.

Final Crisis is a masterpiece but you are absolutely right except it's not boring. Pretentiousness is subjective.
But at least it's something unique and if you can be bothered with it it's very rewarding (if you can't I can understand it) unlike Flashpoint.
btw: I'm pretty sure Morrison quit drugs in around the late 90's.

[Mix_Masta_Micah]

Haha I always hear Final Crisis is divisive. I am very much down with reading all of this, guess I'm going to have to read through JLA and maybe even Animal Man lol

I AM surprised that Final Crisis doesn't require even more reading; there are some articles that have an INSANE reading order for it.

[Ari Gold]

I AM surprised that Final Crisis doesn't require even more reading; there are some articles that have an INSANE reading order for it.

I agree with above. Not much essential reading outside of FC.

[Ari Gold]

For me, John's run started strong, really lagged in the beginning of the second vol and then became it's best toward the end of the second omnibus and through the third.

This is good to hear. I picked up the first omni. Didn't love it. Picked up the second omni. Still didn't love it. Never bothered to get the 3rd.

[Raffi Ol D'Arcy]

it creates a completely new mytology for Ollie and it's overall an engaging read. Didn't blow my mind but had fun with it.
Also, the art is not just pretty it works really well with the action scenes. It's not just Bang POW and someone is dead, it's sequential and easy to follow but uses the language of comics well instead of "just" being cinematic (and I like cinematic action sequences).

Thanks Balakin for the swift reply. Appreciate it. I'll mull it over and check out some reviews.

I'm planning on putting in an order for the DD Companion Omnibus from IST this week and was thinking of throwing it in the cart in order to make the shipping cost feel "worthwhile".

[ChinBo37]

Make sure u read identity crisis before infinite crisis. I didn't. I basically figured it out but infinite crisis is even better I u read identity

[rtk79]

I'd add a couple of things to the Final Crisis recommendations : Crisis on Infinite Earths to get an idea of what the DC Multiverse is, and Flex Mentallo : though it's not narratively tied to Final Crisis, it'll give you a better idea of what Morrison is going for beyond the capes and thights. Not only that, it's one of the finest things he's ever done.
When you're through with that, give Multiversity a try, it's a sequel of sorts to FC.
And avoid Identity Crisis like the plague, it's beyond bad.