After spending eighteen years at Marvel, Brian Michael Bendis left the House of Ideas to work exclusively for DC Comics. The American comic book publisher has made a lot of noise about his arrival, with Bendis taking the reins of Superman and making his debut with Action Comics #1000 – taking place after the The Superman Rebirth Saga from Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Dan Jurgens.
What follows was not what DC hoped for, given that Bendis’s run on Superman/Action Comics (as he writes BOTH series) became divisive quite quickly. Even worse for readers is Bendis’ disregard for basic continuity. Having the same person write the two main Superman titles should make things simpler, but it did not.
Spanning from the miniseries The Man of Steel to Action Comics #1028, this run deals with a new alien villain named Rogol Zaar, the spy/mystery event ‘Event Leviathan’, Superman revealing his identity and the controversial ‘Aging Up Jon Kent’.
You can now explore our Bendis Superman reading order, which not only guides you through the different collected editions of all the Superman and Supes-adjacent titles written by Bendis at the time, but also provides an issue-by-issue reading order featuring Supergirl!
Superman by Brian Michael Bendis Reading Order
A note about the collection: DC Comics has not yet reprinted any of Bendis’s Superman comics in the Omnibus Collection. Instead, they are available in hardcover or softcover editions.
Superman: The Man of Steel. Brian Michael Bendis began his work on the Superman franchise with this miniseries, whose title is a callback to John Byrne’s The Man of Steel. Bendis also revisits and retcons aspects of Krypton’s history, a change that proved controversial among readers.
- The Man of Steel
Collects The Man of Steel #1-6 and stories from DC Nation #0 and Action Comics #1000 - Superman Vol. 1: The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth
Collects Superman #1-6. - Superman: Action Comics Vol. 1: Invisible Mafia
Collects Action Comics #1001-1006
Complementary reading. Alongside his run on Superman, Bendis curated Wonder Comics, a pop-up imprint focusing on the young heroes of the DC Universe. It was under this imprint that he revived Young Justice, featuring Conner Kent, and introduced Naomi. These characters would later appear in Action Comics.
- Naomi: Season One
Collects Naomi#1-6. Naomi’s story continues in Action Comics #1015. - Young Justice Vol. 1: Gemworld
Collects Young Justice #1-6.
After Dark Nights: Metal, the universe has been transformed. All life is in jeopardy, and the only chance the superheroes of Earth have to stop the unthinkable lies in new alliances… Justice League: No Justice launches the famous team in a new direction, with Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV at the helm. The Justice League series runs parallel to Bendis’s run on Superman and tells a continuous story. You can read most of it alongside Bendis’s run, except for the final trade, Justice League Vol. 5: The Doom War, which we recommend reading after concluding Bendis’s run. [The trades: The Totality, Graveyard of Gods and Hawkworld, The Sixth Dimension]
Event Leviathan. The terrorist organisation known as Leviathan has transformed from being a menace to Batman to becoming a threat to the entire DC Universe, wiping out all its competition in the process. But who has taken Talia al Ghul’s place and is now hiding behind the cloak of Leviathan? In Event Leviathan, a team of detectives assembles to solve this mystery before it’s too late.
- Superman: Action Comics Vol. 2: Leviathan Rising
Collects Action Comics issues #1007-1011 and the Leviathan special. - Superman Vol. 2: The Unity Saga: The House of El
Collects Superman #7-15 - Event Leviathan
Collects Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1, Event Leviathan #1-6, DC’s Year of the Villain #1 - Superman: Action Comics Vol. 3: Leviathan Hunt
Collects Action Comics #1012-1016. Naomi appears in #1015-1016. - Superman: Action Comics Vol. 4: Metropolis Burning
Collects Action Comics #1017-1022.
About Supergirl: Superman’s cousin was headlining her own series during that time, with her first story collected in The Killers of Krypton, dealing with the revelations of the Man of Steel miniseries. There is also a mini-crossover between Superman and Supergirl during the Unity Saga: House of El, with Supergirl #31–32 taking place at the same time as Superman #12–13. Having said all that, I don’t think the title adds much to Bendis’s work, so I haven’t included the trades here. However, if you would like to read about this period in Supergirl’s history alongside Superman’s, you can check out our Complete DC Rebirth Reading Order or the Issue-by-Issue Reading Order below!
Complementary reading. The adventures of Young Justice continue as the group finds itself scattered across the multiverse! They reappeared in the middle of the Leviathan situation before featuring in Action Comics #1017–1021, which is set afterwards. Conner’s story continues in Action Comics #1022 while the last two issues are set after Superman #18 (see below!)
- Young Justice Vol. 2: Lost in the Multiverse
Collects Young Justice Vol. 3 #7-12. Naomi joins the team at the end of issue #10. - Young Justice Vol. 3: Warriors and Warlords
Collects Young Justice Vol. 3 #13-20. Between YJ #16 & #17, the Young Justice appears in the Superman Metropolis Doom storyline with
The Truth Revealed. Thanks to imaginary tales, alternate continuities and multiple resets, Superman has revealed his secret identity on more than one occasion throughout the history of DC Comics. He’s doing it again as Bendis’s run comes to a close and he must faces the consequences.
Journalist Lois Lane also stars in her own series written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Mike Perkins. This series serves as a complementary read to Bendis’s work, as the stories are interconnected and take place alongside the events in Action Comics. Her story begins before the Leviathan event and continues through to The Truth Revealed.
- Superman Vol. 3: The Truth Revealed
Collects Superman issues #16-21. Superman #16 is a prelude to The Legion of Super-Heroes with Jon Kent. - Lois Lane: Enemy of the People
Collects Lois Lane #1-12. - Superman Vol. 4: Mythological
Collects Superman #20-28.
♜The event Leviathan was followed by Checkmate, which was published during the Infinite Frontier era. As everyone knows, Bendis doesn’t care much about continuity, so you can read it here.
More complementary reading. Welcome to the 31st century! Also written by Brian Michael Bendis is the return of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team that unites to prevent the galaxy from repeating its past mistakes—this time with Jon Kent, a.k.a. Superboy, as part of the group.
- Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1: Millennium
Collects Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #1-2, Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 8 #1-6 - Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 2: The Trial of the Legion
Collects Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 8 #7-12
- Superman: Action Comics Volume 5: The House of Kent
Collects Action Comics #1022-1028.
Shortly after Superman revealed his identity to the world, the situation with the Legion of Doom came to a head, leading us towards the end of the Year of the Villain. During this time, Superman also teamed up with Batman for a series written by Joshua Williamson, titled Batman/Superman. This era and Snyder’s epic tale conclude in Dark Nights: Death Metal (following a few filler Justice League stories by Robert Venditti, Simon Spurrier, and Jeff Loveness). You can read all of this after the conclusion of Bendis’s run. [The trades: Justice League Vol. 5: The Doom War, Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who are the Secret Six?, Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, Justice League Vol. 6: Vengeance Is Thine, Justice League Vol. 7: Galaxy of Terrors, Batman / Superman Vol. 2: World’s Deadliest, Dark Nights: Death Metal, Justice League: Death Metal]
Superman by Brian Michael Bendis: An Issue-by-Issue Reading Order
As mentioned earlier, despite writing the two main series, Bendis failed to deliver a coherent and straightforward story. Particularly during the Leviathan event, making sense of the continuity became somewhat hazardous. If you would like to follow the different beats of the story more chronologically during this era, we have created this issue-by-issue reading order covering Bendis’s work on Superman and all his interconnected titles featuring different members of the Superman family.
For this occasion, the list also includes Supergirl and the Jimmy Olsen miniseries. Neither of these titles was handled by Bendis, nor are they included in our paperback reading order, but they have been added here for completion’s sake. We are open to any suggestions that could help improve this reading guide!
The Man of Steel – Where it All Starts.
- Action Comics #1000
- DC Nation #0
- The Man of Steel #1-6
- Supergirl 21-25 – Marc Andreyko was Supergirl’s main writer during most of this period.
The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth.
- Superman #1-6 – Stop before the conclusion of #6! The last two pages are taking place a little bit later.
- Action Comics #1001-1006
- Supergirl 26- 30
- Naomi#1-6
- Young Justice #1-6
- Action Comics #1007-1011
- Superman #6 – You can now read the last two pages.
The Unity Saga: The House of El and Leviathan Rising.
- Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1
- Superman #7-12
- Supergirl #31
- Superman #13
- Supergirl #32
- Superman #14-15
- Supergirl #33
- Lois Lane #1-5 – By Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins.
- Superman #16
- Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #1-2
Event Leviathan.
- Year of the Villain #1 – Contains a story focused on Leviathan and the growing threat it poses.
- Event Leviathan #1
- Action Comics #1012
- Event Leviathan #2
- Action Comics #1013
- Event Leviathan #3
- Action Comics #1014
- Event Leviathan #4
- Supergirl #34-36
- Event Leviathan #5-6
- Lois Lane #6
- Action Comics #1015-1016
- Leviathan Dawn – This is an epilogue to Event Leviathan.
- Supergirl Annual #2
- Supergirl #37-42 – Jody Houser became the main writer for the last story of this era.
- Superman 17
- Lois Lane 7-12
- Young Justice Vol. 3 #7-1
- Action Comics #1017-1021 – The Young Justice appears in this story.
- Young Justice #17
The Truth Revealed
- Superman #18-19
- Superman: Heroes #1
- Superman: Villains #1
- Superman #20-22
- Legion of Super-Heroes #1-7
- Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen #1-12 – By Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber. Spanning out from the Leviathan Rising Special #1.
- Superman #23–28
- Action Comics #1022-1028
- Young Justice #18-20
- Legion of Super-Heroes #8-12
- Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1-2 – Future State was a 2021 event showcasing a possible future for the DC Universe after Dark Nights: Death Metal and before Infinite Frontier. Those are the two issues written by Bendis during this event.
The Story continues in Superman Infinite Frontier/Dawn of DC Reading Order.
Bendis became the Justice League main writer in the Infinite Frontier era, featuring Superman and Naomi.
But what order do the scenes happen in? These are the questions that keep me up at night. Man of Steel #6’s ending is a cliffhanger about the fires and AC #1001 continues with that, but Superman #1 continues on the immedeate aftermath. The fires aren’t even mentioned in Superman #1. Also in Superman #6 Superman’s son is back, and where is the recap in AC if it takes place Afterwards. Comic writers need more consistency when they’re dealing with the same character.