Update 2-21-10

Added a couple new books to the timeline today, including Mystery in Space and Rann/Thanagar: Holy War.

The most exciting addition, however, is a new table of contents section: Recommended Reading. While the DC TPB Timeline is mostly a post-Crisis endeavor (no sense organizing Golden Age Superman stories, for instance, which largely had no continuity), there are some books which were published pre-Crisis but are still referenced today and bear reading to understand current events -- the Jack Kirby's Fourth World omnibuses, or the Red Tornado stories from Crisis on Multiple Earths showing up in Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America. The "Recommended Reading" section is the place for these books, and I'll generally try to put them in order, too.

So, two questions:

1) Right now, I've placed "Recommended Reading" at the bottom of the list so as not to be distracting, but really those books are meant to be read before the "1986" books. Keep it at the bottom, or move it to the top?

2) I've wracked my brain for pre-Crisis collected stories that still affect the post-Crisis world, and here's what I've come up with so far. If you have moe suggestions, please leave your comments here. (Just realized I forgot Crisis on Infinite Earths itself. Oops! I'll add it soon.)

Thanks! And don't forget to drop by the Collected Editions blog this Wednesday, February 24, for our fifth anniversary bash!

Update 12-16-09

Added Wonder Woman: Rise of the Olympian to the timeline.

Also, I have completed a major programming update to the timeline. I need beta testers, and it's very easy -- please visit the DC TPB Timeline now, and if you can't see the actual timeline (not the introductory text) or even if you can see it, please send an email to collectededitions at the Y-A-H-O-O account. Thanks!

UPDATE: Apparently my programming efforts on the timeline didn't work. If there's a Javascript expert in the house, please email me at the address above. Thank you!

Update 11-28-09

One unspoken rule of the timeline (now spoken) is that in general, numbered trades are presented on the timeline in order. That is, even though Green Lantern: Secret Origin (now added) technically takes place even prior to Legends, I've placed it after The Sinestro Corps War as it was published. This eliminates confusion caused by retroactive continuity, for one thing, and also for the most part keeps the various series in their linear order.

It's for this reason that Justice League of America: Second Coming now appears on the timeline after Final Crisis, even though the events of that book preceed it. Justice League: Sanctuary lead right in to Final Crisis; I've placed Justice League: Worlds Collide right after Second Coming, and since Worlds Collide does cross over with Final Crisis, events right themselves soon enough.

Also added some various titles in the Countdown to Final Crisis section.

When I paste the rather large timeline text file into the timeline Blogger post, my computer seems to "freeze" for a few minutes as the Blogger interface accepts the paste. Anyone also encounter this with large posts, or have any suggestions? The timeline is only going to get bigger.

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.

Update 9-14-09

The timeline has moved! With GeoCities closing, you can now find the Collected Editions DC Comics Trade Paperback Timeline at its new home on the Collected Editions blog.

Update 12-28-08

Took advantage of a lazy Sunday today to update the Collected Editions DC Comics Trade Paperback Timeline with the DC crossovers Millenium and Invasion, and a couple of their tie-ins. We have more updates coming soon, just as soon as we have time to enter them. Happy New Year!

Update 09-03-08

As I've posted over at the Collected Editions blog, I've just updated the DC Trade Paperback Timeline. This update completes most of our One Year Later work and delves into the first volume of Countdown. Among events referenced here are the creation of the Justice League and Green Arrow's proposal to Black Canary, before Amazons Attack deposits us firmly in Countdown-land.

[Countdown, Volume One spoilers follow.]

One tricky spot in the timeline is placing the Teen Titans: Titans East collection before Countdown, Volume One. Bart Allen appears in Titans East, and I wanted all of his "alive" appearances to come before his death; this necessitates Titans East before Countdown. However, Duela Dent's death, which happens mainly in Countdown, is also shown in Titans East; to place Titans East before Countdown "spoils" Duela's death.

Ultimately I decided that preserving the order of Bart Allen's appearances was more important than doing so for Duela Dent, and Titans East should come first. Titans East does a good job with Duela's death, showing it on-screen rather than just referencing it, and so I didn't think it took anything away from that scene to put Titans East before Countdown, whereas the same couldn't be said for the opposite. So there you go.

I'm also still sorting out Captain Boomerang's appearances between Checkmate, Outsiders, Flash, and Countdown. I'm not sure there's a way around Boomer's appearance in Flash spoiling that he leaves the Outsiders in Five of a Kind, but I'm still looking in to this.

As always, any corrections you may find are much appreciated.