Updates for 09-30-07

Added a bunch more One Year Later titles. Superman: Back in Action has turned out to be a good place to confirm timeline parts -- Firestorm, the Nuclear Man: Reborn, for instance, takes place before and after Back in Action, whereas Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis: Once and Future takes place before Back in Action, as does Flash: The Fastest Man Alive: Lightning in a Bottle. I also began to place the new Justice League of America series, as there's crossover with the new Martian Manhunter trade. The timeline is now complete with the Gotham Central trades, too.

Update 06-11-07

Been adding a bunch of One Year Later trades, which fortunately are fitting together better than I expected. There's a Checkmate thread running through a couple of these, while the Batman, Robin, Nightwing, and Outsiders trades all intersect and cross-reference one another. Check it all out toward the bottom of the timeline.

DC Countdown and the TPB Timeline ...

No updates lately, mainly because I've finished reading the Infinite Crisis crossover trades and placed them on the timeline, but I haven't yet started reading the One Year Later trades. But I did briefly scan over the DC Comics MySpace Countdown preview issues, and I see that Countdown #50 apparently crosses over with Justice League of America #8 or #9. Not to mention the upcoming three-way Teen Titans, Amazons Attack, and Countdown crossovers--which is to say, when we finally get to the Countdown trades, there's going to be much fun to be had in timeline-land.

Stay patient--more timeline updates soon.

UPDATE: A little bit more on this over at The Roar of Comics.

Update 04-07-07

All right ... did some major reorganizing of the Infinite Crisis trades on the trade paperback timeline into what I think is a pretty coherent order. The major benchmarks are essentially Infinite Crisis #1 (the destruction of the JLA Watchtower and aftermath), Infinite Crisis #4 (the destruction of Bludhaven and the first Superboy/Superboy-Prime fight), Infinite Crisis #5 (heroes appearing in multi-dimensional forms), and Infinite Crisis #6 (the death of Superboy), and I think I have everything pretty well ordered. (As mentioned before, the Superman trades, placed after Wonder Woman: Mission's End, get a little sticky, but otherwise it all looks OK.) I know there's still one or two I haven't put in order--Manhunter: Origins, for one, and then some of the trades that contain half-Infinite Crisis and half-One Year Later, like Birds of Prey: Perfect Pitch--which'll come later.

Can anyone tell me the exact issue of Starman where Jack Knight reflects on having been involved in Young Justice: Sins of Youth?

Update 03-24-07

Added Batman: Under the Hood, Volume 2, and included more details about Donna Troy's appearances through the various Infinite Crisis crossover trades. Originally, my idea was to arrange the Infinite Crisis crossover trades in order of how they cross-over with Infinite Crisis--so, for instance, all the trades that deal with Bludhaven would be together, and all the trades that deal with issue #5's infinite Earths would be together ... unfortunately, it's just not working out that way--for instance, Batman: Under the Hood, Volume 2 crosses over with Infinite Crisis #4 and Superman: Infinite Crisis crosses over with Infinite Crisis #5, but the Superman trade has to be listed before the Batman trade because of revelations therein ... so it, too, is a puzzle. I'm still reading through the Infinite Crisis crossover trades, and then when I'm done, I may go back through and give the whole thing another look-over.

Update 03-19-07

Placed Wonder Woman: Mission's End and Superman: Strange Attractors. Mission's End is just as tough to place around Superman: Sacrifice as many of the Superman trades are at this time, but there's a surprise involving a Wonder Woman character that Sacrifice and Superman: Ruin Revealed spoil, so Mission's End comes first. Superman: Strange Attractors has so little continuity in it that it could be placed even before Infinite Crisis begins, except for Superman's appearance in the Amazon (the jungle, that is) that's found in Superman: The Journey. Tough timelining all around.

Update 02-22-07

Re-placed Superman: The Journey, Superman: Ruin Revealed, and Superman: Sacrifice to after Infinite Crisis. No easy shakes there. Superman: The Journey follows immediately on the heels of Superman: For Tomorrow, but essentially takes place at the same time as Ruin Revealed, and both are interrupted halfway through by Superman: Sacrifice. Even though The Journey starts before Sacrifice, a new villain is introduced in Sacrifice that shows up later in The Journey; and, Sacrifice could nearly be read before Ruin Revealed, except for one throwaway line in Sacrifice that spoils a big surprise in Ruin Revealed. To top it off, all the trades begin before Infinite Crisis, but end after Infinite Crisis #1. So it's a big mess, and the recommended reading order is far from perfect, but we hope will ultimately make the most sense and spoil the fewest surprises (all of the above should be read, of course, after The OMAC Project).

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