Update 2-17-12 - Final Pre-Flashpoint trades, Batman: Black Mirror, Brightest Day, Superman, Green Lantern, Knightfall

The big news, if you haven't already heard, is that the Collected Editions DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline reading order is now an ebook! The online timeline is great for when you're sitting at your computer, but for those times when you're on an airplane and really wish you could check where a book fits into the timeline (and trust me, this has happened to me!), the ebook is a great mobile, e-reader, or offline alternative to the original timeline. Check it out at Smashwords.

Today, the online DC TPB Timeline has been updated to match the ebook (except for the ebook-exclusive introduction by yours truly). Among the updates are a new, streamlined table of contents that more closely matches the history of the DC Universe (organized largely by events, though the timeline of course includes both crossover-related and "on their own" trades), which will make it easier to find what you're looking for and explore different eras on the timeline.

This new update also adds 40 books to the timeline, including all the final trades of the "old" DC Universe before the DC New 52 reboot (and those books are coming to the timeline, promise!). We have the conclusion of "Batman Reborn," including Batman: Black Mirror, Golden Dawn, Gates of Gotham, and Batman, Inc.; we've got Superman: Reign of Doomsday and all its tie-ins; we've got the conclusion of Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost; War of the Green Lanterns, Flashpoint, and much, much more. The timeline now organizes over 800 DC Comics collections

So go ahead, check out your best source for how to read the DC Universe in order -- the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline. And don't forget, for all your timeline needs on the go, we proudly welcome the DC TPB Timeline ebook to the family. Thanks!

Update 10-21-11 - Superman: Reign of Doomsday, Green Lantern, Resurrection Man, Chase, Warlord

Closing out the week with a reading order update to the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline.

One of my favorite aspects of timeline-ing are the multi-title crossovers that take place around other events in a series. For instance, I've added all the elements of the Superman: Reign of Doomsday crossover; this includes the Return of Doomsday trade that includes Steel #1 (2011) and the Superman/Batman annual, as well as issues of Outsiders, Justice League, and Superboy -- and then the individual Outsiders, Justice League, and Superboy trades that collect the same respective issues plus more. I enjoy being able to read a crossover in this way, both from the crossover perspective and then how the crossover affects other events in the individual series.

Another example of this -- Secret Six: The Reptile Brain and Superman: The Black Ring Vol. 2 both make the timeline this time and each contain the others' crossover issue; some duplication, yes, but it also allows you to read the crossover as if from each characters' perspective.

I'm also excited to add both the Resurrection Man (pre-Flashpoint) and Chase collections to the timeline. Chase is one of just a handful of collections to include a DC One Million issue, plus a bunch of Secret Files stories (which made placement a little difficult). Resurrection Man includes, even more rare, a Genesis crossover, and ends just before the series's One Million issue (which tied rather prominently to DC One Million). Hopefully the next Resurrection Man collection will also include the crossover with Peter David's Supergirl.

Finally, here's an overlooked gem: Mike Grell wrote a very short-lived Warlord revival series just in the past year or so. It didn't make much of a splash, but it did get a collection -- and later on, Gail Simone's Secret Six: Reptile Brain builds on the continuity of the Warlord trade, earning it a certain place on the timeline. I'd have overlooked this if not for Reptile Brain, so good on you Gail Simone.

Thanks as always for your comments and suggestions! Remember, we're constantly thinking out loud about trade collections on Facebook and Twitter, plus the ongoing conversations at our comment feed. Get a glimpse of what doesn't quite make the Collected Editions cut, too, at Collected Editions After Party on Tumblr.  And while you're 'round the 'net, be sure to spread the word about the Timeline.  Until next time!

Update 4-9-11 - Brightest Day, Swamp Thing, Flash, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne

Today, it's all about Brightest Day.

Well ... not all about Brightest Day, but pretty close. I have added a new "Brightest Day/Flashpoint" section to the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline, and placed a whopping fourteen books in the inaugural round. There's more to come, but this will get you started with how Brightest Day connects to Green Lantern and REBELS, and how Flash leads in to Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and Wonder Woman, among others.

Other additions to the timeline include some entries from the Vertigo side of things: Saga of the Swamp Thing joins our "Pre-Crisis" reading list, as volume four contains a Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover; later on a volume of Swamp Thing will tie in to the Invasion crossover. I have also added the Kid Eternity miniseries since that character appears in Teen Titans and elsewhere.

A Blackest Night tie-in volume of Secret Six, War of the Supermen, Outsiders, Justice Society, Magog, and Question all round out today's update.

Keep those notes and letters coming -- we appreciate every one. Don't forget you can subscribe to the Collected Editions comments feed for all the latest chatter on the blog; friends of the Collected Editions Facebook page even heard about this timeline update early (though we love our Twitter followers, too). Thanks!

Update 12-17-10 - Lobo, Legion of Super-Heroes, Batman Reborn, Superman: New Krypton

To celebrate the 200th fan of the Collected Editions Facebook page, we have a new reading order update to the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline.

I have had for a while a reader request to add some Lobo books to the timeline, but held off because many Lobo books, while enjoyable, aren't really tied in to DC Comics continuity -- Lobo: Highway to Hell, for instance, is just a one-off "imaginary" story, for instance.

But -- there is a great trade paperback out there if you can get your hands on it called Lobo's Greatest Hits, which includes a bunch of otherwise-uncollected issues of L.E.G.I.O.N. and Mister Miracle, so that definitely has a place on the timeline. Also, the Lobo: Portrait of a Bastich collection includes two Lobo miniseries that stemmed from the character's popularity in the early 1990s, so I've includes that as well.

In addition to updating the current Superman: New Krypton and Batman Reborn listings, including triangulating where the series come together in Sterling Gates's World's Finest miniseries, I have also found a place for DC's great new collections of older materials. I'm very excited to see DC collection such stories as the death of Aquaman's son and Trial of the Flash -- both pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths stories that are still in continuity today -- so I've found where those should go on the timeline along with the classic Infinity Inc. and Firestorm collections. I'm also thrilled that the stories of the pre-Crisis Legion of Super-Heroes that are now back in continuity post-Infinite Crisis, so I've begun building those into the timeline as well, starting with the vaunted Great Darkness Saga.

I appreciate corrections and suggestions as always, and thanks again to everyone who gives the DC Comics Trade Paperback Timeline a mention on their own site or on message boards. More updates coming soon!

Update 4-28-10

I'm pleased to release another reading order update to the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline. That makes two updates in April -- getting faster.

Two exciting bits on this update that I'm very happy about:

* This update marks the completion, near as I can tell, of the Superman trades in publication up to this point. Of course there's plenty of Superman collections about to be published (Superman: Codename Patriot, for one), but I believe I have every modern in-continuity Superman trade that's been released now on the timeline. This doesn't include books like Superman vs. Aliens or Superman: Kryptonite (which collects a semi-out-of-continuity Superman Classified story), the likes of which I'll deal with later. And of course, if you think there's a Superman collection I've missed, do be sure to let me know.

* Second, I've added the Hawkworld collection to the timeline, in the Early 1990s space that also saw Adam Strange: Man of Two Worlds and a post-Crisis on Infinite Earths revision of Hal Jordan's origin in Emerald Dawn. For those not in the know, DC published a Hawkworld miniseries that revised Silver Age Hawkman Katar Hol's origin within the bounds of continuity, but then found the miniseries so popular that they decided to launch a new Hawkworld series starring that Katar Hol, but completely unconnected to the Katar Hol who had appeared since Crisis on Infinite Earths. The timeline now places Hawkworld in continuity and references collected appearances of Hawkwman that the Hawkworld title retroactively changed.

Again, don't forget to lend your support to the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline on Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Comic Blips.

Now that Superman's done (and Green Lantern too, I think), what's the next title you'd like to see filled in?

Update 4-13-10

The DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline has a lot new since the last blog update (though eagle-eyed readers will notice changes even when I don't announce them here), including Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Birds of Prey, Gotham Central, and more.

One item of note this time around is Adam Strange: Man of Two Worlds. This 1990s miniseries, collected in 2003, didn't have much to do with anything in the DC Universe at the time of its publication (Strange had been seen some years before in the Invasion crossover), but much later on the events of the miniseries would be referenced in Green Lantern and JLA. To that end, the collection belongs on the timeline; putting it near Green Lantern and JLA would put the miniseries with the rest of its story, but it wouldn't be true to the general timeline overall.

To that end, I've placed the Adam Strange collection in an open spot at about the time when the miniseries was published. One could choose to read it then, or later with its after-effects. Aquaman: Time and Tide has similar issues; the miniseries took place just before the new Aquaman series that crossed over into Zero Hour; it's not required reading and there are no other collections of that era's Aquaman series, but it occurred at that time, was collected, and gives a fuller picture of the DC Universe, so it's included.

Here's a mention of the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline on Reddit and on StumbleUpon.

There's still a bunch of books missing from the DC Universe Trade Paperback Timeline, but we are beginning to narrow the gap a bit. Anything that you're waiting eagerly to see added?

Update 11-15-09

Trying to use this sub-blog again to post when I've made updates to the DC Comics Trade Paperback Timeline. Updates today include additional material post-Final Crisis -- Superman: New Krypton, Nightwing and Robin, and Teen Titans.

I'm also especially proud of an update to some of the early timeline listings -- Superman from Exile to The Death of Superman, and also the Batman trades that encompass the death of second Robin Jason Todd and the introduction of third Robin Tim Drake.

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 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).