Dark Crisis Reading Order

View Comments (23)

• Thank you for the very helpful list. I do wonder, though, whether Dark Crisis: The Dark Army should be listed before Dark Crisis #6 instead of afterward. The battle in the beginning appears to be prior to the [redacted]’s return in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #6. Additionally, Frankenstein is still in one piece in DC:TDA and, well, isn’t in issue #6. Bearing those notes in mind, would DC:TDA be more appropriately placed after, say, Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green?

  Also, since I’m commenting anyway, I’ll be a touch finicky: Justice League Incarnate only have five issues, not six.

  But again, thank you. This list has been extremely helpful in staying organized and reading stories in context. Bless you!

  • I do recognize, though, that the end of The Dark Army itself suggests the reader take on Dark Crisis #7 next. The Dark Army did release after issue #6 after all. But accounting for the in-universe goings-on of the story, perhaps the publication order doesn’t fully represent chronological order, which happens with DC otherwise (such as the Infinite Frontier-era of Justice League comics featuring Barry Allen on the team for the first two arcs, setting those adventures before the events of the Infinite Frontier miniseries even though the second arc that included Barry didn’t finish until after IF’s conclusion).

• Just finished read Dark Crisis with your reading order! Thanks for all your guidance. I wanted to suggest a correction. Deadly Green should probably be read before Dark Crisis 5. Superman and the magic team go into the Great Dark was and find Pariah’s machine in Deadly Green. They return with it and present it to Mr. Terrific at the beginning of Dark Crisis 5.

  • I'm so thrilled that you used it! I always appreciate corrections. Sometimes I get stuff wrong or mis-remember stuff and it helps alot!!! Hope you enjoyed it!

• Does dark crisis and death of the justice leauge happen before batman vol 1 failsafe?

  • LB is right! Failsafe is a bizzarre situation as the answer is *both* which basically means editorial oversight. The idea was that it takes place before, but the recent comics imply it takes place after. My assumption is that we will know the answer once the solicits for Batman #801 comes out in June, but until then I've place it in the Dawn of the DCU order.

  • That’s actually addressed in the “Before the Dawn” section of the Dawn of the DC reading order.

    https://www.comicbookherald.com/reading-dc-comics/dawn-of-the-dcu-reading-order/

• Flash #783-785 should come before Dark Crisis #4

  • Thanks for noting that! I definitely meant for that to go before Dark Crisis #4....Always appreciate when people note the small errors!

    • No problem. I saw the email Dave sent out a few weeks ago about you becoming the new head DC guide writer. Congrats!

• Any idea where "Superman Returns" one shot fits?

  • Owen is right, check out the Infinite Frontier Reading Order for more comics that fall outside of Dark Crisis's timeframe.

  • Directly before justice league 75 as it end with clark being teleported to the start of that story

• Hello, I'm new to the rebirth reboot. I want to start it. I'm what order should I start to be up to speed with dark crisis?

  • Start with our Infinite Frontier Reading Order! https://www.comicbookherald.com/reading-dc-comics/dc-infinite-frontier-reading-order/

    Infinite Frontier is the current (although soon ending) era of DC Comics. If you want a fast track to the event, I'd recommend following the road to Dark Crisis. I did my best to include the important beats so that you'd find it as accessible as possible.

• Looks like you forgot Dark Crisis: The deadly green, somewhere between Dark Crisis #4 and #5

  • All the issues are in now. Sorry for the delay. I tried to wait until I was certain where each of the issues should *actually go* in the order versus DC's Checklist. Those specific issues were announced after the initial checklist, and as such weren't included where they should have been.

  • Also flash 786

• Hello! Just picked up Flash #786. I was wondering about it's placement in this event?

  • Sorry for the delayed response, just read it with the other flash issues.

• Has there yet to be a Dark Crisis collected edition or is this still currently ongoing?

  • There are Dark Crisis Collected editions although on pre-order now (check the link above for it).

  • Still ongoing. They will probably collect this in a couple trades.