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Conner Kent Reading Order (Superboy, Kon-El)

For a long time, Superboy designated simply the adventures of Kal-El primarily set in Smallville when he was a boy, teenager or young adult. This changed in 1993 when a second Superboy was introduced.

Created by writer Karl Kesel and artist Tom Grummett, our new Superboy was introduced in The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993). For the first ten years, he was portrayed as a genetically-engineered metahuman clone created by Project Cadmus as a copy and closest genetic counterpart to Superman. His origins were retconned in 2003 in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #1 (September 2003) where he was established as a human/Kryptonian binary clone derived from Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA.

Also, Superboy didn’t have a real name for more than five years (in real-time). He had to wait until Superboy (vol. 4) #59 (February 1999) where Superman invited him to the Fortress of Solitude and offered him the Kryptonian name of Kon-El. He will later take the civilian identity of Conner Kent (see Teen Titans Vol.3).

Blending Superman’s moral attributes with a young and rebellious personality, Kon-El is known for having to grapple with conflicting influences of his genetic heritage. He had to face many challenges, by himself or with his best friends, Tim Drake and Bart Allen, and the rest of the Young Justice/Teen Titans team.

To know more about Kon-El, let’s read some comics with this Superboy/Kon-El reading order!

Conner Kent/Kon-El Reading Order

Superboy arrived in Metropolis

Kon-El made his debut during the classic Death of Superman event. To be more specific, he was introduced in the third part called “Reign of Superman” in Adventures of Superman #500. You can choose to read only from this point, though we advise you to read the whole event to better understand the situation.

  • Death and Return of Superman Omnibus
    Collects Superman: The Man Of Steel #17-26, Superman #73-83, Adventures Of Superman #496-505, Action Comics #683-692, Justice League America #69, Superman: The Legacy Of Superman #1 And Green Lantern #46.
  • Adventures Of Superman #506
    Only available on Kindle & comiXology for the moment. This issue sets up Kon-El solo series.

Superboy, The Hero of Hawaii

After a short participation in the two first issues of Bloodbath (part of the Bloodlines event), it’s already time for Kon-El to headline his own series. He stars in Superboy (Vol. 4), the first Superboy title to feature someone else other than Clark Kent as a title character. The series lasted eight years and overlapped with many other series, as Superboy lived several adventures with other heroes during that long period. It’s also a title that is not well collected, as DC has only released the first ten issues in a collected edition (out of a total of 102 issues!). Thankfully, you can find them on digital!

  • Superboy Book One: Trouble in Paradise
    Collects Superboy (vol. 4) #0-10

    • The Ray (Vol. 2) #1-2 takes place between Superboy #3 & #4
    • After issue #5, Superboy goes to Metropolis and arrived in Man of Steel #34 for The Battle of Metropolis event (not collected)
    • Superboy (vol. 4) #6-7 are part of Worlds Collide, the crossover with Milestone.
    • Superboy (vol. 4) #8 & #0 are part of Zero Hour.
    • After issue #9, Superboy appears in Aquaman (Volume 5) #3, collected in Aquaman by Peter David Book One
  • Superboy (Vol.4) #11-30
    Available on Kindle & comiXology

    • Superboy #21 is the first part of a 3-part storyline with the Legion of Super-Heroes. The story continues in Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 4) #74 and Legionnaires #31
    • Superboy is present during The Trial of Superman arc, collected in Superman: The Trial of Superman. Part of this trade takes place during Underworld Unleashed.
    • Superboy #30 is the last issue by Karl Kesel as lead writer. Ron Marz took over as main writer with #32.

Superboy and The Ravers! After being invited to the Event Horizon, an intergalactic rave party, Superboy became the leader of the Ravers, a group of young superheroes. They had their own adventures for 18 issues (uncollected and not available in any digital format).

  • Superboy and The Ravers #1-19
    • Going full speed! Kon-El and Bart Allen first met at… a Flash Festival in Superboy and the Ravers #7 (around Superboy #37)
    • Superboy and the Ravers #14 is part of Genesis.
    • After issue #32, Superboy appears in Detention Comics #1 and WF3: World’s Finest Three (Superboy/Robin) #1-2 (the first team-up between Robin and Superboy)
    • Superboy #33 is part of The Final Night event.
    • Clark Kent and Lois Lane get married and you bet Connor Kent is present! The whole event is collected in Superman & Lois Lane: The 25th Wedding Anniversary Deluxe Edition
    • Roughly between #44 & #45 takes place the Genesis event, with Superboy and the Ravers #14 as a tie-in.
    • Superboy teams up with Green Lantern (aka Kyle Rayner) in Green Lantern (Vol. 3) #94. The story continues in Superboy #47.
    • If you haven’t yet finished reading Superboy and The Ravers, you can do it after issue #47.

Young Justice Logo (Reading Order)

Founder of the Young Justice

This is roughly where Young Justice (1998-2003) is launched. As the Teen Titans are now adults and have changed their name to the Titans, Young Justice became the teenage superhero team, featuring our Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl, Impulse, and Red Tornado. You can start to read Young Justice at that point to follow Kon-El and his friends in fun adventures. Written by Peter David and penciled by Todd Nauck. See the Young Justice reading order for more information.

  • Young Justice Book One
    Collects Young Justice #1–7, #1,000,000, JLA: World Without Grown-ups #1–2, Secret Origins 80-Page Giant #1, Young Justice: The Secret #1, Young Justice: Secret Files #1.
  • Young Justice Book Two
    Collects Young Justice #8–17, Young Justice 80-Page Giant #1, Young Justice in No Man’s Land #1, Supergirl #36–37; bonus material from Young Justice Secret Files #1.
    • Superboy (Vol.4) #1000000 was released between issues #46 and #47 and is part of DC One Million.
    • Superboy (Vol.4) #50 marks Karl Kesel’s return as the main writer for the next 29 issues.
    • Superboy (Vol.4) #60 is a follow-up to The Kingdom.
    • Superboy (Vol.4) #73 leads into Young Justice: Sins of Youth, which means…

Young Justice continues! The machinations of the covert organization known as the Agenda affect the team’s respective ages–leaving some heroes grown to adulthood and others reverted to adolescence!

  • Young Justice Book Three
    Collects Young Justice #18-19, Young Justice: Sins of Youth #1-2, Young Justice: Sins of Youth Secret Files #1, Superboy Vol. 4 #74, Sins of Youth: JLA Jr. #1, Sins of Youth: Aquaboy/Lagoon Man #1, Sins of Youth: Batboy and Robin #1, Sins of Youth: Kid Flash/Impulse #1, Sins of Youth: Starwoman and the JSA Jr. #1, Sins of Youth: Superman Jr./Superboy Sr. #1, Sins of Youth: Wonder Girls #1, Sins of Youth: The Secret/Deadboy #1.
  • Young Justice Book Four
    Collects Young Justice #20-32
  • Superboy (Vol.4) #75 follows after the Young Justice: Sins of Youth storyline.
  • Superboy (Vol. 4) #83 sees Joe Kelly becoming the new main writer on the title.
  • Superboy (Vol. 4) #88 takes place just before Young Justice: Our Worlds At War #1 (see below!) and is also followed by Kon-El summoned by Lois Lane to come to Metropolis in Action Comics #779.
  • Superboy (Vol. 4) #93 is part of Joker’s Last Laugh and is Joe Kelly’s last issue. He is succeeded by Jimmy Palmiotti & Dan DiDio.
  • Superboy (Vol. 4) #100 is the last issue of the series written by Karl Kesel. Kon-El appears next in Young Justice #46. See below!

Young Justice continues and ends! The team takes a terrifying trip to Apokolips as part of “Our Worlds at War,” and find themselves in the crossfire of “Joker’s Last Laugh”! Plus, the Ray joins the team, Wonder Girl takes the lead, and the secret behind Secret’s past is revealed! 

Teen Titans Vol.3 (2003-2011) - Reading Order

Superboy, member of Teen Titans

Spinning out of the Graduation Day storyline, Impulse, Robin, Superboy and Wonder Girl receive invitations to join the new Teen Titans. The Teen Titans (vol. 3) (2003–2011) was written by Geoff Johns through issue “46. He was succeeded by Sean McKeever (#51-71), Bryan Q. Miller (#72-74), Felicia D. Henderson (#75-76, #79-87), and J.T. Krul (#77-78, #88-100). With art from Mike McKone, Al Barrionuevo, Eddy Barrows, Ed Benes, Joe Bennett, José Luis, Nicola Scott. For more Titans/Teen Titans Reading guide.

Infinite Crisis Logo Reading Order

Infinite Crisis! As the event was written by Geoff Johns, it is no surprise that the Teen Titans were front and center during the build-up and events of the Infinite Crisis crossover. And once again, the event will lead to a tragedy… For more information about the whole story, check out our Infinite Crisis reading order.

Final Crisis and The Return of Superboy

Coming from Grant Morrison, 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. It’s also at this time, in the pages of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds that Conner Kent is brought back to life. He chose to put his luggage at Smallville as he rebuilt his life before rejoining the Teen Titans.

New 52, New Superboy

We enter the New 52 era, a darker and grittier time for DC where several characters have been rewritten. We are then introduced to a new version of Superboy (and not a popular one). In this new timeline, Superboy has an entirely different origin story, making sure you actually are reading about another version of the character. Here he is the half-human half-Kryptonian clone creation of the mysterious organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E., which seeks to control the new generation of metahumans.

This version of Superboy headlined his own solo series, made several appearances in the Teen Titans and was present for some Superman crossover stories.

This version of Conner Kent disappeared and was never seen again.

Conner Kent in the DC Rebirth era

Our favorite Kon-El makes his return in the Rebirth era with the reformation of Young Justice! During an invasion of Metropolis, several young heroes were transported to the Gemworld dimension where they found Superboy. He goes to live new adventures in the Multiverse before going home and reconnecting with the Superman family for a few stories.

This DC era came to a conclusion with Dark Nights: Death Metal (see reading order), during which Conner Kent fights against Perpetua and the Darkest Knight. After that, Conner’s place in the timeline seems to have been completely restored.

Kon-El, member of Suicide Squad in the Infinite Frontier era

Kon-El, a member of the Suicide Squad? Not so fast! You can count on Amanda Waller to have done something morally wrong and Conner Kent will soon learn about it.

Last Updated on February 18, 2024.

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