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Supergirl Reading Order (Kara Zor-El, Matrix, Cir-El)

It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Supergirl! One of Superman’s happiest moments in life was discovering he had a long-lost living relative when Supergirl made her first appearance in Action Comics #252 (May 1959). This was also one of the most important events in the development of the Superman Universe. Sent to Earth in a rocket by her father, Zor-El, Supergirl is Superman’s cousin from Krypton and she was chosen to star in the backup story of Action Comics even before making her debut.

The first adventures of the Girl of Steel were conceived with the idea of appealing to female readers who “were thought to be more interested in seeing a girl use super powers closer to home.” (American Comic Book Chronicles, The 1950s). While her earlier stories were clearly not as thrilling as the adventures of her more famous cousin, this was only the start for Supergirl, as the character would grow in popularity and complexity.

Since her creation, Supergirl has been killed off, replaced, rebooted, retconned and much much more. The Last Daughter of Krypton has used several names and been part of various teams, including the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Justice League, the Red Lantern Corps, and the DEO. Her history is not simple, complicated by the fact that Kara-Zor-El isn’t the only person to have taken on the mantle of Supergirl!

There’s also no doubt that the Girl of Steel gained popularity thanks to the several iterations of the character on the big and small screen. She first appeared in the film Supergirl (1984), played by Helen Slater. On TV, She has been played by Laura Vandervoort in Smallville and Melissa Benoist in the Arrowverse. Sasha Calle recently portrayed the character in The Flash (2023) while a new version of the character has been announced with Milly Alcock playing the character in Superman: Legacy (2025) and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2026). Naturally, she has also appeared in several animated movies and television series!

Let’s now explore the comic book history of Supergirl, from her first appearance in Action Comics as the Supergirl from Krypton to her recent adventures in space and beyond! Check out our Supergirl Comics Order for a guide to the many stories featuring the Maid of Might!

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The Joker’s Last Laugh Reading Order

The Joker was disrupting the DC Universe at the beginning of the noughties. He was  first accidentally given nigh-unlimited reality-shaping powers by Mr. Mxyzptlk and reshaped the universe in his image in Superman: Emperor Joker. Not long after that, the Joker was at it again, spreading chaos in the way less received event The Joker’s Last Laugh (also known as The Joker: Last Laugh), written by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty with art by Pete Woods.

What The Joker’s Last Laugh is about? The Joker is a prisoner at the Slabside Penitentiary when a prison doctor informs them that they have found a malignant tumor after a brain scan. The Joker is going to die. Facing this news, The Clown Prince of Crime decides he wants to go out with a bang. He concocts a scheme to carry on his legacy by transforming his fellow villains into “jokerized” versions of themselves.

Published in 2001, this storyline comprises a six-issue miniseries and 25 tie-ins, covering almost everything that was published at the time, from the Batman titles to the Superman family, and more.

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Young Justice Reading Order

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They are the next generation of superheroes and want to live on their own adventures, far from their mentor. They are the Young Justice! The team was founded by Robin (Tim Drake), Superboy (Kon-El), and Impulse (Bart Allen), but will soon become a beacon for the young superheroes in the DC Universe.

Created by Todd Dezago and artist Todd Nauck, the Young Justice made its first appearance in 1998, in Young Justice: Secret #1, at a time when the Teen Titans had become the Titans and there was no current superheroes’ teen team.

The team’s base was established in the empty JLA headquarters in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, where they met Red Tornado. The sentient android stayed with the team as an adult supervisor and adviser. Soon enough, some new members were added to the team: Wonder Girl (Cassandra “Cassie” Sandsmark), Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones), and Secret (Greta Hayes). Other heroes would come and go from the team: Empress, Li’l Lobo/Slobo, The Ray, but also Teen Lantern, Jinny Hex, and Amethyst. Red Tornado was also eventually replaced with civilian Snapper Carr.

If Young Justice was created on paper, the team also made a name for itself on television, thanks to the Young Justice animated television series, launched in 2010 on Cartoon Network. It is not an adaptation of the comic book series (and not in continuity), but the adventures of another version of the team from another Earth. And there are tie-ins to the television adventures!

To find out more about Young Justice, take a look at this complete reading order!

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From Crisis to Crisis: A DC Comics Reading Order

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For decades now, every DC Comics reader has been dealing with continuity issues. Some see that as a problem and, in order to fix it, multiple reboots/relaunches were introduced, installing a new status-quos, and launching new “eras.” All that with the use of what are called “Crisis” events.

The original “Crisis” took place in Justice League of America #21, titled “Crisis On Earth-One!” The story introduced the idea of two different realities, explaining how the heroes of the Justice League teamed up with their predecessors from the Justice Society of America. This led to multiple crossovers between Earth-One and Earth-Two.

But what cemented “Crisis” as a synonym for “universe-altering event” was the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths, the famous crossover storyline from Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. This 12-issue limited series is now credited with popularizing the idea of a large-scale crossover in comics. At the time, the goal was to create a single and unified DC Universe.

Crisis on Infinite Earths was used to launch what is now called the Modern-Age era. It became–and still is for a lot of readers–a good entry point into the DCU. The event didn’t fix everything and other Crisis events try to do more. The DCU was just destined to become a confusing affair once more.

Nevertheless, reading from Crisis to Crisis is not a simple task as the series are numerous, as well as the crossovers. If you want to explore this rich story, the task is overwhelming. There are a lot of roads to follow, but you may only want the short version–or at least, the essential reading recommendation.

This reading guide is here to offer one possible road to follow. It’s not definitive, feel free to submit more books to read in the comment section (and tell us why they are a must-read!).

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Green Lantern Rebirth Reading Order

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After almost five years, the New 52 era came to an end to make way for a new era, a new beginning: Rebirth! It had, from a continuity point of view, minimal impact on the Green Lanterns, as their story simply continues from the previous era.

From a more behind-the-scene angle, new creative teams worked on the title. Or titles should I write, as the main Green Lantern series was replaced by two books. Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz headlined Green Lanterns, written by Sam Humphries for its first 32 issues and for the most part penciled by Robson Rocha. Humphries was followed by Tim Seeley (#33-47), Aaron Gillespie (#48-49), and Dan Jurgens (#50-57) with art from Ronan Cliquet, Carlo Barberi, V. Ken Marion, Mike Perkins and Marco Santucci. Our two Green Lanterns were also members of the Justice League during this period. At the same time, Hal Jordan was still flying with writer Robert Venditti and artist Rafa Sandoval in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. 

Things changed not long after Dark Nights: Metal. Grant Morrison took over and teamed up with British comic book artist Liam Sharp for a run on Green Lantern. There was also some shake-up in the Justice League, following the No Justice arc, with the creation of different teams. Simon Baz stayed with the classic Justice League, but Jessica Crews joined the Justice League Odyssey, a team formed to bring order to the newly created space sector known as the Ghost Sector. And a little bit later, a new Green Lantern was introduced…

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Superman Reading Order, The Modern Age (Post-Crisis)

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It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman! Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in Action Comics #1 (1938), Superman is an alien from the planet Krypton who fights crime in Metropolis and the rest of the world. Under the costume is Kal-El, who was sent to Earth as a baby and adopted by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, who named him Clark Kent and raised him in the small town of Smallville. As Clark developed superhuman abilities, his parents taught him to use his talents to help humanity.

Clark relocated to Metropolis to pursue a career in journalism. He landed a job at the Daily Planet, where he met the love of his life and journalist Lois Lane, photographer Jimmy Olsen, and editor-in-chief Perry White. In parallel, he put on a colorful costume and used the codename Superman to fight powerful enemies, including General Zod, Brainiac, and the most emblematic of them all, the narcissistic-genius Lex Luthor.

The superhero genre wouldn’t be the same without Superman. Although there were others before him who could be said to fit the bill, he established the conventions and popularized the entire genre, being the best-selling superhero in American comic books until the 1980s.

As the DC Universe was becoming more complicated and sales were declining, a new page of history was written following a Crisis like no one else: Crisis on Infinite Earths. This was the beginning of the Modern Age and the creation of new instant-classic stories. The event was used to retcon the history of most characters. The idea was to clean up the timeline (something DC is still trying to do, in vain) and to update the superheroes to appeal to a contemporary audience. 

This is when this Superman reading order begins. From his new origin story by John Byrne to his iconic death, The Triangle Era, and much more, this guide covers the Superman comics released over 25 years, before DC Comics relaunched their universe with New 52.

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Hawkman Reading Order

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There is more than one DC Comics superhero named Hawkman. Created by writer Gardner Fox–who was apparently inspired by the sight of a bird while trying to come up with new superheroes–and Dennis Neville in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) during the Golden Age of comic books, the first of the several incarnations of Hawkman was Carter Hall, a reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian prince Khufu.

Hall had discovered the “ninth metal” (aka “Nth metal”) that allows him to fly by negating the effects of gravity. He put on a costume and started to fight crime. He soon became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, and even became the chairman of the team. Also at that time, he started romancing Shiera Saunders, the reincarnated bride of Khufu, who became known as Hawkgirl.

Like most of the superheroes of the Golden Age, Hawkman disappeared for a while during the 1950s and was reinvented for the Silver Age under the guidance of famed DC editor Julius Schwartz. Revived in The Brave and the Bold # 34 (Feb–Mar 1961), his powers were quite similar, but Hawkman was this time a police officer from the planet Thanagar (not a human anymore!). Named Katar Hol, he came to Earth with his wife, Shayera, searching for a criminal and stayed. The couple adopted secret identities, becoming Carter and Shiera Hall, who worked at a museum in Midway City.

This time again, he joined the main DC Team, the Justice League of America, and met the original Hawkman during crossovers with the JSA from Earth-Two.

Like the rest of the DC Universe, the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths changed a lot for Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Everything became quite confusing until the 1989 Hawkworld series rebooted the Hawkman story. This time, Katar Hol and his partner, Shayera, were sent to Earth after rebelling against the Thanagarian government, whose policy was predatory against other worlds.

Their arrival on Earth forced a retcon of the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl, as they were still alive and well. It was then revealed that the Nth metal was in reality from Thanagar. Also, we learned that it was really Fel Andar, a Thanagarian agent, who was the 1980s Hawkman who previously joined the JLA in order to spy on the heroes. All these corrections didn’t simplify the Hawk mythology, as new events added complications to the point that DC decided to put the Hawks aside for a while.

It was in the 1990s, in the JSA series, that the continuity was revised. We then learned that Carter Hall and Shiera, who got their powers from Thanagarian Nth metal, had been reincarnated multiple times since ancient Egypt. Katar Hol came to Earth during the 1990s, and Fel Andar returned to Thanagar. The reincarnation angle was used to launch a new Hawkman series in 2002.

All of this is the simple version, things were even more complicated in the books…

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Legion of Super-Heroes Reading Order, the team from the future

When Superboy met three teenagers and members of the Legion of Super-Heroes for the first time in the comic book Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), he couldn’t predict how popular this young team would become. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino for a one-off story, the Legion is a team of young superheroes from the 30th and 31st centuries.

They proved so popular that they returned again and again, eventually becoming a regular feature in Adventure Comics #300. Sharing the spotlight with Superboy for years, the Legion finally earned its own comic title in the 1970s.

By the 1980s, the Legion of Super-Heroes was among DC’s best-selling series, alongside Uncanny X-Men and New Teen Titans. During this time, Paul Levitz wrote some of the most iconic stories in Legion history, including The Great Darkness Saga. Later, Keith Giffen took the series in a darker, more experimental direction, but not without its share of continuity challenges.

To reconnect with a lighter and simpler Legion, the Legion of Super-Heroes title was rebooted by Mark Waid, Tom McCraw, and Stuart Immonen In 1994. Ten years later, sales were failing, and despite good reviews, Waid and Barry Kitson rebooted the series again, creating a third incarnation of the Legion.

Generally, when a new version of the Legion was introduced, the previous team was usually erased from continuity, as they all occupied the same place in history. Each team was meant to represent a different possible future for DC. In 2008, writer Geoff Johns changed this concept with Final Crisis, revealing that the different versions of the Legion come from separate worlds but still interact with the main Earth’s history. This allowed all the Legion teams to coexist, and the pre-Crisis team was restored to continuity for the occasion. In 2019, a new version of the team was introduced by Brian Michael Bendis.
 
The Legion became a beloved team, with a history that’s anything but simple. Full of stories ranging from lighthearted to dark and serious, from soap opera to high sci-fi, and everything in between, you can now explore their rich past with our Legion of Super-Heroes Comics reading order!

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Who is Black Adam? The origin story of Shazam’s villain

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Like several DC characters created in the 1940s, the history of Black Adam is a complicated one. His origin story has been told multiple times and changes have been made throughout the years.

Soon played by Dwayne Johnson on the big screen, Black Adam was created by Otto Binder, Bill Parker, and C.C. Beck. He made his first appearance in The Marvel Family #1 (1945) published by Fawcett Comics where he served as a powerful one-time enemy of the superhero Shazam (see reading order) and the Shazam Family. 

However, Black Adam was resurrected nearly 30 years later as a recurring character following DC’s acquisition of the Fawcett characters. The character was redefined with time by writers Jerry Ordway, Geoff Johns, and David S. Goyer and the character has evolved from outright villain to sometimes anti-hero.

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Blue Beetle Reading Order (Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes)

Officially created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski in 1939 (working for the Eisner and Iger shop), Blue Beetle is a superhero who started his career at Fox Comics. Charlton Comics acquired FOX Comics and, ultimately, was itself bought by DC Comics. That’s how Blue Beetle joined the Justice League. In truth, the original Blue Beetle was not the same as the one that became friends with Booster Gold.

Everything began with Dan Garret, the original Golden Age Blue Beetle. Introduced in Mystery Men Comics #1 (August 1939), Dan was a Rookie patrolman and the son of a police officer killed by a criminal. He simply became a vigilante, without powers, who wore a bulletproof blue costume–looking a lot like The Phantom. At some point, he temporarily gained power with the help of a special vitamin. He even got a sidekick named Sparky. Also, during World War II, Garret became a government agent–he got his cop uniform back after the war ended. As time went by, he gained even more powers, but that didn’t save him from Fox Comics going out of business.

Charlton Comics reprinted some Blue Beetle comics for a time and, during the Silver Age of comics, launched a new series–in 1964, written by Joe Gill. This time, Dan Garrett (with two “t”) was an archaeologist who discovered a mystical scarab during a dig in Egypt. This artifact gave him superpowers. Like Shazam, he only needed to say the word (“Kaji Dha!” in his case) to transform into the Blue Beetle. This Dan Garrett only got two years on the newsstands before getting replaced.

Introduced by Gary Friedrich and Steve Ditko in a backup story in Captain Atom #83 (November 1966), Ted Kord was a genius-level inventor and a gifted athlete without superpowers who operated out of his airship, “the Bug”. When he died, Garrett passed the torch to Ted–years later, DC Comics retconned his origins by adding that Ted was a former student of Dan Garrett. The series was canceled shortly after its launch.

When Charlton Comics went out of business in the early ’80s, AC Comics bought the right to the character, among others, did some stories, then the rights reverted back to Charlton, and DC Comics purchased them.

Using the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, DC Comics introduced Charlton’s characters into its newly revised universe. After the Crisis ended, Len Wein wrote a new Blue Beetle series after penning Secret Origins Vol. 2 #2 in which he rewrote Ted Knight’s origins. After 24 issues, the series was canceled, but Blue Beetle joined the Justice League International not too long after and found a new life. Ted became Booster Gold’s best friend, a relationship that defined the hero as a proper character in the DC Universe.

In 2006, DC Comics decided to retcon and expand upon the Blue Beetle mythos with the help of Jaime Reyes. Introduced in Infinite Crisis #3 (February 2006), he really became the new Blue Beetle in Infinite Crisis #5. Created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner, Jaime bonds with the scarab, and it is revealed that it is an artifact alien in origin. Soon, Jaime became friends with Booster, and joined the Teen Titans and even the Justice League.

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