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Dark Nights: Death Metal Reading Order, the sequel to Dark Nights: Metal

After the big success of the Dark Nights Metal event, writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo are back with a massive follow-up with the help of James Tynion IV, Marguerite Bennett, Joshua Williamson, Peter J. Tomasi, Garth Ennis, Daniel Warren Johnson, Frank Tieri, Tony S. Daniel, Jamal Igle, Joëlle Jones, Daniel Warren Johnson, Riley Rossmo, Francesco Francavilla and more.

Here is the official synopsis: When the DC Universe is enveloped by the Dark Multiverse, the Justice League is at the mercy of the Batman Who Laughs (see the reading order dedicated to the character). Humanity struggles to survive in a hellish landscape twisted beyond recognition, while Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman have all been separated and must fight to survive.

Along the way, Wonder Woman roars across the horrifying Dark Multiverse landscape in the world’s most demented monster truck, with Swamp Thing riding shotgun! And when the Justice League launches its assault on New Apokolips, the team’s goal is to free Superman from his solar prison—but it all goes off the rails when they learn that the Man of Steel is gone for good thanks to the Anti-Life Equation.

What to read before Dark Nights: Death Metal?

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Last Updated on November 23, 2023.

Dark Nights: Metal Reading Order, a DC Comics event introducing the dark multiverse

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Published in 2017, Dark Nights: Metal is a Batman Event written by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The two collaborators are back with a new ambitious story about the mysterious Nth metal and the dark multiverse.

Investigating a strange metal, Batman discovers the existence of a dark multiverse and eventually releases seven evil versions of himself into his own universe. That event is led by Barbatos, the dark god who plans to unleash darkness across every Earth. Stopping him will change the DC Universe forever.

What to read before Dark Nights: Metal?

Like any big comic book event, you don’t really need to read anything as all the information necessary should be provide in the story! The event kicked off with a two-issue prelude titled Dark Days, collected in Dark Days: The Road to Metal as well as in the Dark Nights Metal Omnibus – which are the issues you shouldn’t miss before diving into the main event.

For those interested in exploring for more backstories, Dark Nights: Metal event builds on elements introduced during Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s run on Batman during the New 52 era. This run is collected in two omnibuses, but the most important issues for Metal are the last part of the run, collected in the second omnibus.

If you want to familiarize yourself a little with the myths of Barbatos, you can check out The Return of Bruce Wayne by Grant Morrison.

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Last Updated on April 17, 2024.

Hellblazer: John Constantine Reading Order, from the Swamp Thing to the Justice League Dark

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Hellblazer: John Constantine Reading Order DC Comics

Created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben in 1984 in The Saga of Swamp Thing series, John Constantine is a working-class occult detective and con man from London. He is the antihero of the DC universe. Not loved by many, he still joined teams and help save the world, the universe, and reality.

Known for his cynicism, his deadpan snarking, his ruthless cunning, and his constant chain-smoking, John Constantine wants to help save lives, but his technic can be deadly if it’s for the greater good. Being his friend can be as dangerous as being his enemy. Read More »Hellblazer: John Constantine Reading Order, from the Swamp Thing to the Justice League Dark

Last Updated on February 2, 2024.

Umbrella Academy Reading Order: How to Start reading Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s comic book series ?

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You may know Umbrella Academy thanks to its television adaptation by Netflix. Written by Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance) and illustrated by Gabriel Ba, Umbrella Academy is described as a “dysfunctional family of superheroes” — and part of our 15 Dark Horse Must-Read Comic Books.

All began with an inexplicable worldwide event, where forty-three extraordinary children were spontaneously born by women who’d previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopts seven of the children and prepares them to save the world from an unspecified threat as the Umbrella Academy.

The members are Spaceboy (Luther Hargreeves), The Kraken (Diego Hargreeves), The Rumor (Allison Hargreeves), The Séance (Klaus Hargreeves), The Boy (Number Five), The Horror (Ben Hargreeves), and The White Violin (Vanya Hargreeves).

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Last Updated on September 28, 2023.

Daredevil Reading Order: How to read Matt Murdock’s Epic comic book story?

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Daredevil/Matt Murdock Reading Order

Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with character design input from Jack Kirby, Daredevil is a Marvel classic case of a superhero burdened by his superpowers. Matt Murdock was blinded by a radioactive substance that fell from an out-of-control truck after he pushed a man out of the path of the oncoming vehicle. While he no longer could see, his exposure to the radioactive material heightened his remaining senses beyond normal human ability, and gave him a “radar sense.”

A lawyer by day, Matt took up a dual life of fighting against the criminal underworld in New York City, as the masked vigilante Daredevil – also known as The Man Without Fear and The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Matt uses his physical abilities and superhuman senses to help people and protect his communities against villains like the Kingpin or Bullseye.

Where to start reading Daredevil aka Matt Murdock? The Recommended Reading List

Daredevil made his first appearance in April 1964. There are more than 50 years of history to discover. For newcomers, here is essential reading for Daredevil:

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Last Updated on March 23, 2024.

Batman: Zero Year Reading Order (Batman New 52)

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Zero Year is a yearlong crossover event published between June 2013 and July 2014 and written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV.

This story takes us back six years in the past and redefines the origin of Batman in The New 52 version of the DC Universe (go to The Batman New 52 Reading Order for more details).

Everything begins with Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham City. He starts fighting the Red Hood gang. Those events will lead to the birth of the Batman and to a flood in Gotham that will leave him for dead. When he comes back, he has to free the city that has fallen and is now under the control of one of his worst enemies.

What to read before Batman: Zero Year?

Zero Year is a prequel storyline that was published after the Death of the Family storyline (go to Death of the Family Reading Order for more). The story takes place a few years before The Court of Owls.

You can read it here or at another moment before. Some people recommend reading it before The Court of Owls, but I think that being familiar with the style and direction of Snyder’s Batman is better to appreciate this story.

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Last Updated on June 16, 2022.

Batman New 52 Reading Order, from The Court of Owls to the end of the DC You

With New 52, a new era began in the DC Universe (and we have a full reading order of this era). For some heroes, it was a complete reboot. For others, it was not totally the case, like with the famous dark knight. When Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo took over creative duties on Batman’s main series, they didn’t start over from scratch, picking up in a way where the post-crisis era ended. Yet, they offered Bruce Wayne a revised backstory as they built a new mythology around Gotham City.

Snyder and Capullo were not the only authors working on Batman. In fact, there are multiple series: Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Incorporated by Grant Morrison, Batman and Robin by Tomasi and Gleason, Batman Eternal and Batman & Robin Eternal, and Batman: The Dark Knight.

What to read before Batman New 52?

The DC Universe rebooted as the New 52 after the Flashpoint event. Therefore, you could take a look at it before reading anything else. Also, even if New 52 was a new entry point, Batman’s story was not fully rebooted and a few stories began before Flashpoint. You’ll need to take a look at Grant Morrison’s Batman Incorporated volume 1 before jumping into volume 2 and Batman and Robin by Tomasi, but also at Batman: Gates of Gotham written by Scott Snyder that leads into his run. Also, if you want more, take a look at our Batman: The Modern Age reading order.

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Last Updated on September 30, 2023.

Teen Titans Reading Order, The Rebirth Era

Rebirth DC Teen Titans Reading Order

Teen Titans is a team of young heroes, who made its first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964). After the last team disbanded at the conclusion of the New 52 era, a new team is assembled by Damian Wayne aka Robin, which consists of Wallace West as Kid Flash, Jackson Hyde as Aqualad, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven. The title was then written by Benjamin Percy

The Teen Titans teams underwent changes later on, as part of the “New Justice” banner for DC Comics, with a new roster consisting of Robin, Kid Flash, Red Arrow (Emiko Queen), Crush (Lobo’s daughter), Djinn, and Roundhouse. And also a new writer, with Adam Glass taking over the title.

See below our Teen Titans Rebirth Reading Order Guide!

What to read before Teen Titans Rebirth?

The Rebirth era introduces a few continuity changes for the Teen Titans, so there’s no background reading required. You can, for good measure, read DC Universe: Rebirth #1.

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Last Updated on June 7, 2023.

Super Sons Reading Order, Damian Wayne and Jon Kent team-up

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Super Sons Reading Order, Damian Wayne and Jon Kent team-up

In appearance, Jonathan Kent, the son of Superman, and Damian Wayne, the son of Batman don’t have much in common. One grew up on a small town farm, ignoring his father was a superhero, while the other was trained from birth to be an assassin and take over the world as an Al Ghul.

When Robin (Damian Wayne) discovers a connection between a series of mysterious crimes and the aftermath of the bizarre and deadly Amazo Virus, he needs Superboy (Jonathan Kent) to aid in the investigation. This is the start of the Super Sons, the odd couple of young heroes and one of the best friendships in the DC Universe! Facing dangers and many adventures, they will learn to work together and save the world like their fathers in some already classic DC stories.

This specific duo was created during the Rebirth era and has no connection to the imaginary or alternate-dimension versions existing of the team-up before the Rebirth Era.

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Last Updated on June 18, 2024.

The War of the Realms Reading Order, the Marvel Event from Jason Aaron

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The main event of 2019 in the Marvel Universe, The War of the Realms was written by Jason Aaron (with art by Russell Dauterman) who was, at that time, also the writer of the main Thor series. It was the culmination of his run, the conclusion of a story arc he started a long time ago.

For some time now, the Dark Elf known as Malekith the Accursed has been conquering the Ten Realms one by one until there is only one left: Midgard (Earth!). Thor lost his precious Mjolnir, but he’s still fighting to prevent the war. With a lot of Asgardian warriors and Earth’s heroes, they must now fight against a full-on invasion and defeat Malekith.

What to read before The War of the Realms?

Being a Thor Event, The War of the Realms story began in the Thor series. Jason Aaron wrote organically the progression of Malekith the Accursed’s plan into his series from The Goddess of Thunder storyline to the crossover – see the full reading order of his run. That said, you’ll only need to read the last relaunch of the series, Thor #1–11.

It’s optional, but Avengers by Jason Aaron Vol. 2: World Tour is a good introduction to the last iteration of the Avengers team (and the Agents of Wakanda) at the center of The War of the Realms event.

Also, the easiest way to read the essential issues before immersing yourself in The War of the Realms event is a book Marvel published called War of the Realms Prelude.

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Last Updated on February 28, 2024.