Superman (One Year Later to Reboot)
05. Apr, 2010 
7 Comments
By: bluedevil2002
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The goal of this map is to bind Superman from the beginning of One Year Later, up to the DC Reboot of 2011.
There are a lot of fill-ins during this first part of this era, so some of the series get bound in a strange order, and I also use several TPB/HC releases.
Up, Up, and Away
Superman #650
Action Comics #837
Superman #651
Action Comics #838
Superman #652
Action Comics #839
Superman #653
Action Comics #840
Action #841-843
Action Annual #10
Last Son [TPB]
Action Comics #844-846, 851
Action Comics Annual #11
Camelot Falls
Superman #654-658, 662-664, 667
Superman Annual #13 (first story)
Redemption
Superman #659-661
Superman #712
Action Comics #847-850
Superman #666
Superman Annual #13 (backup)
Action Comics #855-857
Superman #668-675
(This is sort of the catch all volume. Even the non-filler stories are short, so putting them together was the best option. And yes, I’m ignoring the continuity goof with Chris Kent. There’s just no way around that one. Superman #712 is Kurt Busiek’s Krypton story that was originally scheduled for #659, then #662, then eventually pulled and held until DC deemed it less offensive than another story 50 issues later.)
Superman: 3-2-1-Action! (TPB)
Action Comics #852-854
Superman #665
Legion of Super-Heroes
Action Comics #858-865
(The trade leaves out 864, which is an epilogue to the arc. It also skips 865, which is a Toyman issue. However, there’s nowhere else to put those issues.)
Atlas [TPB]
Superman #677-680
Brainiac [TPB]
Action Comics #866-870
(Since both of those arcs are short, I opted for individual trades/hardcovers.)
Now, we move into the New Krypton era. To try to help readers, DC brought back a version of the “triangle” or “shield” numbers. However, instead of basing them on year, they just started them with New Krypton #1 – colored in green – and then restarted the numbering using red shields with the Codename Patriot crossover. However, the numbers do not actually indicate the flow of the storyline, instead just showing what order issues were released. I find the best use for those shield numbers is as a checklist.
A list showing the New Krypton comics in shield order is here: http://comicbinding.com/mapping/superman-new-krypton
New Krypton 1
Supergirl #34
Jimmy Olsen #1
New Krypton #1
Superman #681
Guardian Special (Adventure Comics)
Action Comics #871
Supergirl #35
Superman #682
Action Comics #872
Supergirl #36
Superman #683
Action Comics #873
Supergirl #37-41
Superman #684
Action Comics #874
Superman #685
(This run all the way to the time Superman leaves Earth, a great ending point for a book. I would have moved the Origins and Omens back ups completely to the back, but they end up sharing pages with the main story, so I’m leaving them where they are.)
New Krypton 2: World Without Superman
World of New Krypton #1
Superman #686-688
Action Comics #875-879
Supergirl #42
WoNK #2-4
Superman #689-690
Supergirl #43
New Krypton Interlude: Secret Origins
Adventure Comics #0 (backup), #1-3, 5 (backup), 6 [Superboy story]
Adventure Comics #1-4 (backups – Legion)
Superman Annual #14
Action Comics Annual #12
Supergirl Annual #1
Superman SF 2009
(Originally, I was planning on either binding the Superboy arc by itself, or getting the trade. However, the Legion backups weren’t reprinted anywhere at the time I mapped this out. I believe they made their way into one of those DC Comics Presents 100 page specials. One option was to bind them with Legion of Three Worlds, but ultimately, I got that trade. Since Superboy and the Legion plays a role at the end of New Krypton, I figured I could put all of those stories in one book here, so it doesn’t throw off the pacing of the rest of the series. Plus, the annuals didn’t really fit into the main series, so a catchall book here solves the problem. The main stories from Adventure #4-5 are over in Blackest Night.)
New Krypton 3: Codename Patriot
WoNK #5-6
Action Comics #880
Supergirl #44
Superman #691
Jimmy Olsen #2
Action Comics #881
Supergirl #45
Action Comics #882
Supergirl #46
WoNK #7
Supergirl #47
WoNK #8-12
(There is a story break between WoNK #4-5, but none between #5 and #6, the start of Codename Patriot. That’s why WoNK #5 is pushed into this book. Since there is about a week gap in WoNK #7, I placed it after the Action/Supergirl crossover, even though both pick up directly from the end of Superman #691. The story break between WoNK #7 and 8 isn’t perfect, but it works well enough to insert Supergirl #47, which has to go there.)
New Krypton 4: World Against Superman
Superman #692-693
Supergirl #48-49
Action Comics #883-884
Superman #694-695
Action Comics #885
Superman #696-697
Supergirl #50
Action Comics #886-889
Adventure Comics #8-10 (backups)
Action Comics #879-889 (Captain Atom features)
(Supergirl #49 seems to end in a way where #50 would pick up directly on it. However, in #50, it’s mentioned that a couple of days have passed, hence splitting those issues. Also, there’s really not any good place for the Captain Atom feature, so I put it here, even though the last chapter sort of spoils an element of the ending of the next book. And yes, the Action issues go here, because they are not a part of the Last Stand crossover, regardless of what the cover says.)
New Krypton 5: Last Stand of New Krypton
Adventure Comics #8
Last Stand of New Krypton #1
Supergirl #51
Superman #698
Adventure Comics #9
LSoNK #2
Adventure Comics #10
Supergirl #52
Superman #699
LSoNK #3
Adventure Comics #11
War of the Supermen #0-4
Superman #700 (first story)
Grounded
Superman #700 (last story)
Superman #701-711, 713-714
(The middle story of Superman #700, by Dan Jurgens, will go in a Batman volume about Robin’s early years. Superman #712 was replaced at the last minute by a Kurt Busiek story that was originally pulled during his run, so is listed above.)
Lex Luthor: The Black Ring
Action Comics #890-896
Secret Six #29
Action Comics #897-900
Action Comics Annual #13
Jimmy Olsen #1
(The Jimmy Olsen one-shot isn’t part of the Lex story, but since it contains the backups originally planned for this run, I opted to include it as a backup feature in this book.)
Reign of Doomsday
Steel #1
Outsiders #37
JLA #54
Superman/Batman Annual #5
Superboy #6
Action #900-904
(This is the only easy way I could figure out to deal with these two separate but slightly connected stories. Action #900 will appear in both books. However, I would only put the backups in the Lex book. If you’re not interested in the Doomsday lead up, you could just put #901-904 in the last book following #900. As it is, I could not find the Steel issue, so I got the Return of Doomsday trade and bound that at the front of this volume.)
Next: Action Comics #1…
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Would Adventure Comics fit in anywhere here? (Someone actually asked me about this not too long ago…)
That would be in the map of what comes next. I’m actually planning a separate book for that anyway, with the Superboy story:
#0 (backup)
#1-3 (main stories)
#5 (backup)
#6
(I don’t have #6 yet, so I don’t know what they did with main story and backup). The lead story (reprint) from #0 and backups in #1-4 will go in a Legion volume. The main stories from #4-5 and all of #7 go in Blackest Night.
Somewhere after that, Adventure Comics does start crossing over with the Superman titles.
A minor slip up that was pointed out to me — Action #852-854 are the Countdown issues. I know that #851 isn’t, because it’s listed with Last Son. I just mistyped.
what about Superman’s appearances in the Justice League and other books during this period?
Most of them don’t really tie into the ongoing Superman saga.
And in a lot of cases with JLA, those issues cause some continuity/chronology problems.
I think most of the Final Crisis related material is suppose to go between the first two New Krypton books. I’m not sure where the Blackest Night tie-ins go, because I’m keeping them separate, and those issues didn’t really have much to do with the overall Superman plotlines at the time.
Interesting perspective.
To each their own.
I find you placement of the Adventure Comics Guardian Special three comics after Jimmy Olsen intriguing as it clearly states within the book that it occurs during the Jimmy Olsen book, going so far as to actually provide specific page numbers to put it between.
You’ve addressed various other items here, but no mention of that… It seems a bit odd.
I appreciate your time and efforts on providing such a detailed listing with excellent comments addressing the editorial idiocy of DC regarding the continuity (is that a bad word here?) of the books that they labeled with what one should reasonably think is a numbered reading order. You are quite correct, reading them in the order listed on the covers by DC is just no good.
Being the stubborn fool that I am, I will use your awesome list here as a stucture for my own attempts to shoe-horn JLA appearances, Final Crisis, Death of the New Gods, & Blackest Night in.
If I can figure out how to, I may post my own reading order here.
Again, thanks for your list!
The Adventure Comics was also clearly labeled as part 3 of New Krypton, and had the last page taking place at the same time as the end of part 2, beginning of part 4.