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Final Crisis Reading Order, a DC Comics Event by Grant Morrison

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Final Crisis Reading Order

Coming from Grant Morrison, Final Crisis is a crossover event published by DC Comics in 2008, during the post-Crisis era. If you are familiar with most of Grant Morrison’s work in the DC Universe, you know how much he loves to explore the past and, in his own way, to try to make sense of most of it, even if it often ends up hard to follow. That said, Final Crisis is a mostly self-contained story.

Final Crisis deals with alien villain Darkseid’s plot to overthrow reality, and the subsequent death and corruption of various DC characters and their universe. Here is the official synopsis: Using the soul-destroying Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid is remaking the heroes, villains, and everyday people of Earth in his dark image … and destroying the very fabric of reality itself in the process. Now superheroes from around the world—and across the Multiverse—must make a last, desperate stand against the forces of Anti-Life. Will Earth endure? And when the Crisis reaches its climax, who will make the ultimate sacrifice?

What to read before Final Crisis?

A lot of mostly nothing—you can go with DC Universe #0 and then the main event. If you want to be more thorough there’s a lot to read. You can begin with Death of the New Gods, then go to 52 volume #1 (collects 52 #1-26), 52 volume #2 (collects 52 #27-52), Seven Soldiers by Grant Morrison.

To stay in what was published before the event, connecting directly to Final Crisis, here is a list:

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The Culling: Rise of the Ravagers Reading Order, a New 52 crossover story arc

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The Culling: Rise of the Ravagers Reading Order

A crossover storyline coming from writer Scott Lobdell and Tom DeFalco, The Culling: Rise of the Ravagers involved three titles from the DC New 52 line-up: Teen Titans, Legion Lost, and Superboy.

Here is the official synopsis: The Culling is upon us! The Teen Titans finally came together during their assault on Project N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s headquarters, but Superboy, Red Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Solstice, and Skitter’s newfound alliance is met with instant adversity. Finding themselves a mile underneath N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s Antarctic base, the forces behind this nefarious organization surface in the form of the monstrous Harvest.

Now trapped in a deadly arena where young teen metahumans must fight each other to the death for survival, also known as The Culling, the Titans and fellow teen superteam Legion Lost must find a way to escape. Will they be able to coexist long enough to survive? Or to defeat Harvest’s teenage death squad known as The Ravagers?

What to read before The Culling: Rise of the Ravagers?

If you feel like it, you can just read the first issues of each title to have more information, as events taking place leads to this event, especially for Teen Titans and Superboy.

For those you want to explore further:

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Original Sin Reading Order, A Marvel Crossover Event: Who Shot The Watcher?

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Original Sin Reading Order

Written by Jason Aaron with art by Mike Deodato, Original Sin is a Marvel Crossover Event published from April to September 2014. The story began when Uatu, the mysterious space-god who’s been watching mankind from the moon for as long as we can remember … is found dead. But who shot the Watcher?

As the official synopsis reveals, Nick Fury takes the lead of the murder investigation. With the help of the heroes of the Marvel Universe, he must quickly find answers as other forces are marshaling and other questions are arising. Such as why is Black Panther gathering a secret team of his own, including Emma Frost, the Punisher and Dr. Strange? Who is the Unseen? What was stolen from the Watcher’s lair? Fury’s cosmic manhunt leads to the far corners of the universe and beyond, but just when the Avengers think they’ve cornered their murderer … everything explodes, unleashing the Marvel Universe’s greatest secrets and rocking the heroes to their core! What did the Watcher see? What was the Original Sin?

What to read before Original Sin?

The Original Sin event was not one of those long-prepared universe-shattering crossover. In fact, it started quite suddenly. The only thing you’ll need to read is the “Behold the Watcher” story from Point One #1 (collected with the rest of the event).

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Trinity War/Forever Evil Reading Order, a New 52 DC Checklist

Trinity War/Forever Evil Reading Order DC

At the time (2013–2014), DC presented Trinity War as the first big crossover event of the New 52, but it turned out to be the prologue to Forever Evil, the real first line-wide crossover since the reboot of the DC Universe. For this reason, we tackle those two events together.

First, Trinity War: When the three Justice Leagues go to war with one another, who’s side will everyone be on? Allies will be born, friends will become enemies and the DC Universe will never be the same. 

What to read before Trinity War?

You can take a look at our Justice League New 52 Reading Order to know what came before, but especially:

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Batman: Night of the Owls Reading Order, a Batfamily crossover event during New 52

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New 52 was the beginning of a new era for Batman (see reading order), opening with the introduction of the Court of Owls, a mysterious group that run Gotham. Night of the Owls ia a direct following to that storyline.

Written by Scott Snyder, Night of The Owls pits the Batman and his allies against the Court of Owls organization as they attempt to cement their control over Gotham City, which they have been manipulating in secret for centuries.

As evil spreads across Gotham City, Batman’s allies, including Red Robin, Batwing, Robin, Batgirl, the Birds of Prey, Nightwing and even Catwoman find themselves in a battle coming from all sides. The Court of Owls have shown their hand, and it’s up to the collective effort of these heroes, some more unlikely than others, in this sprawling tale of corruption and violence.

What to read before Batman: Night of Owls?

  • Batman: Gates of Gotham (optional)
    Collects Batman: Gates of Gotham #1-5. Not necessary for comprehension, this is a sort of prequel to Court of Owls, where Snyder revisits Gotham history.
  • Batman: The Court of Owls
    Collects Batman Vol. 2 #1-7. The first arc in Snyder and Capullo’s run on Batman, and during which the Night of the Owls takes place, making it a necessary reading.

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Empyre Reading Order, an Avengers/Fantastic Four Marvel event

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Marvel Empyre Reading Order

The first big event of the 2020s. It’s an Avengers/Fantastic Four one that takes us on the Moon, beyond, and back on Earth. And here is the official synopsis for the event written by Al Ewing and Dan Slott with art by Valerio Schiti. Old allies make a distress call to the Avengers with news of a terrible enemy that could wipe out humanity. Meanwhile, in the most unlikely of places, the Fantastic Four witness the final conflict of the Kree/Skrull War — and a long-hidden Elder of the Universe stands revealed! With the Kree and Skrulls united under a new emperor, their war fleet charts a course — for Earth!

The Avengers are ready to fight, while the Fantastic Four seek a diplomatic solution. But if they can’t work together, the world may not survive. Either way, both teams will be tested as never before! The new Marvel Space Age begins here!

What to read before Empyre?

The history of the Kree and Skrulls War is quite long, going back to the classic Avengers story “Kree-Skrull War” written by Roy Thomas with art by Sal Buscema and Neal Adams, and the “Celestial Madonna Saga” written by Steve Englehart with art by John and Sal Buscema, Don Heck, Dave Cockrum, and George Tuska.

For the Empyre, it’s probably not necessary to go back this far. All you need to know is in the Empyre Handbook. For more stories, you can also take a look at the Meet The Skrulls miniseries written by Robbie Thompson with art by Niko Henrichon. If you want to know more about the character Huckling, you can read the 2005 Young Avengers series written by Allan Heinberg with art by Jim Cheung.

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Brightest Day Reading Order (the sequel to Blackest Night)

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Following Blackest Night (go to the reading order for details), the massive DC Comics crossover event of 2009-10, Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi gave us the follow-up: Brightest Day, a year-long comic book maxi-series depicting the aftermath of the events of the Blackest Night storyline on the DC Universe.

Once dead, twelve heroes and villains were resurrected by a white light expelled deep within the center of the earth. Now, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Deadman, Jade, Osiris, Hawk, Captain Boomerang, and Zoom must discover the mysterious reason behind their return and uncover the secret that binds them all.

What to read before Brightest Day?

There’s a simple answer to this question: Blackest Night. You can find the reading order here.

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Marvel Civil War Reading Order, the first one

This article is not about the Captain America movie, of course. It’s about the huge Marvel event published between May 2006 and February 2007. Written by Mark Millar and penciled by Steve McNiven, Civil War is one of the most famous events of the 2000s. It changed a lot, for a short period of time.

Everything started during a televised raid of a house by the New Warriors. Their goal was to apprehend villains that had recently escaped from prison. When Nitro let off a massive explosion that killed the majority of the New Warriors and the children at a nearby elementary school, something had to change.

The U.S. Government proposed the Superhuman Registration Act, intending to register all super-powered beings as living weapons of mass destruction and requiring all costumed heroes to unmask themselves before the government and subject themselves to federally mandated standards.

Heroes had to choose between rallying behind either Iron Man’s pro-registration forces or Captain America’s opposition. The Civil War began.

Read More »Marvel Civil War Reading Order, the first one

Blackest Night Reading Order (a DC Comics event)

Coming from the creative team of Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, Blackest Night was the massive DC Comics crossover event of 2009-10. It was the culmination of a lot of ideas developed by Johns during his celebrated run on Green Lantern.

Here is the official synopsis: “The Prophecy of the Blackest Night has come to pass—a mysterious force is raising deceased heroes and villains into an army of undead Black Lanterns!

The combined might of the Green Lantern Corps and an armada of living superbeings must now band together in a fight quite literally for their lives. As the war between the different colored Lantern Corps rages on, the prophecy of the Blackest Night descends and it’s up to Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps to lead DC’s greatest champions in a battle to save the Universe from an army of undead Black Lanterns made up of fallen Green Lanterns and DC’s deceased heroes and villains.”

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DC Future State Reading Order, The DC Comics event that will define the future

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It’s a new year. It’s a new DC continuity. It’s a new future! It was supposed to be a massive reboot named G5, but things changed and it’s now Future State a two-month event spinning out of the finale of Dark Nights: Death Metal (Reading Order) that takes us on a journey from the near future to the end of time to witness the destinies of DC’s heroes.

It’s a future full of surprises for Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League, the Teen Titans, and so many more. A future that will see new and younger heroes taking the place of the ones we know. A future that will lead them to hostile territories. A future that will help define a different present.

DC Future State is a collection of 25 miniseries. Most of them are two-issue tales (but some are four-issue stories).

What to read before DC Future State?

As the Dark Nights: Death Metal event (Reading Order) is ending, a new future take form. At the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal #7, there is not one, but two epilogues that are leading us into a new world, one of them is the DC Future State world.

The DC Future State event is—in theory—self contained (a bit like Age of Apocalypse). You’re not really required to read anything outside of it.

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