tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post5862771817602030433..comments2024-03-27T21:12:28.287-05:00Comments on Collected Editions: Re-reading Blackest Night in single-issue ordercollectededitionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-33222084642831375792011-08-14T17:18:16.452-05:002011-08-14T17:18:16.452-05:00Surprised to hear you felt lost with Final Crisis,...Surprised to hear you felt lost with Final Crisis, Chris. Granted the series itself was a little wonky, but I thought it was the most self-contained of the recent DC event miniseries. Maybe you have to know there's been a major war between the New Gods (in Countdown to Final Crisis, Death of the New Gods, and/or Seven Soldiers of Victory), but once you start everything you need is right there -- Final Crisis: Submit and Superman Beyond as well as the main series. But irrespective I grant Final Crisis was pretty dense.<br /><br />I got your note that you found the <a href="http://collectededitions.blogspot.com/2011/03/brightest-day-trade-reading-order.html" rel="nofollow">Brightest Day reading order</a> list; you'll also see even more Brightest Day updates on the timeline soon. Only thing I would recommend reading between Blackest Night and Brightest Day, with some caveats, is Justice League: Cry for Justice and/or Justice League: Rise and Fall. There's a bit that happens in one of the DC Universe's prominent cities in those books, which is picked up in Brightest Day -- however, those books received mixed reviews and they're pretty dark, and they're not essential. So, there you go.<br /><br />Thanks for commenting!collectededitionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14698269790653953645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-69219797289349631672011-07-26T00:38:13.610-05:002011-07-26T00:38:13.610-05:00What a rookie mistake...my first post and it's...What a rookie mistake...my first post and it's full of iPhone autocorrect errors.<br /><br />I meant to say that I felt GLC was unnecessary to read with the other two...<br /><br />...and that I may just buy THEM digitally then...not ten :-)Chris Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08031853218633943396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-22480477594252507042011-07-26T00:32:44.198-05:002011-07-26T00:32:44.198-05:00Thanks for reassessing this! I actually just fini...Thanks for reassessing this! I actually just finished all three of the main BN paperbacks last night (I'm a "no HC" kinda guy so I usually I've to wait an extra year or so). This was my first time reading issue by issue per your list and I thought it was excellent. I plan on rereading the trades by themselves soon as well. I really felt that the GLC trade was kind of unnecessary to read with the pterosaur two since the overlap wasn't as striking. They were all great though. <br /><br />I read Final Crisis and absolutely hated it. I only read the countdown books and then the solo Final Crisis trade and felt like I was reading every third issue of a collection. Things were so choppy and didn't make sense. Especially the superman issues. I would have liked to know why I missed in the tie ins. <br /><br />Thanks again for the list. Any plans on a Brightest Day or Flashpoint list like your Blackest Night list? I don't even know if it's needed since I know nothing of those two events. I'm very excited to read Brightest Day soon...I might just jump the gun and buy ten digitally. Is there any essentials between BN and BD? Thanks again!Chris Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08031853218633943396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-67193888479027909092011-07-25T12:04:51.513-05:002011-07-25T12:04:51.513-05:00I tend to do the opposite of CE when reading a mas...I tend to do the opposite of CE when reading a massive crossover; as I often don't feel like I "get" (i.e. understand or notice) everything until the second time I read it, I'll do the first read with all the tie-in issues, in whatever recommended order I can find, and then later on I'll go back and read just the core book (or books) and be able to appreciate it more the second time, as I already know the little side-pieces from the first read so I don't feel like I'm missing anything, but I'm also getting the full concise story together. As CE said, this works better with the more recent crossovers than with the 90's stuff; I read Final Night without any of the crossovers, and while there didn't seem to be missing plot points or anything, it felt like there should be so much more to the story. Armageddon 2001 is another one; Zero Hour wasn't quite as bad (if I remember correctly), and I think Underworld Unleashed can stand on its own for the most part.<br /><br />What I'd like to see regarding Blackest Night is a reading order that sort of compromises between the issue-by-issue or book-by-book approach; something that focuses on reading the trades, but will switch between them for major link-ups. Like, read the first chapter or two of Blackest Night, then go read all of the BN: Flash issues, etc. Don't suppose someone wants to take a shot at that and post it here in the comments? :-)D. Mark Simmshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16537028797086907873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-16597947815238456102011-07-25T10:00:44.955-05:002011-07-25T10:00:44.955-05:00Interesting account of your experience. I have on...Interesting account of your experience. I have only read BN in single-issue form - I bought them all (well, except for a few like the Superman-Batman issues that I had just no interest in) and had them hard-bound into two volumes in what seemed like the best reading order based on a lot of debate on some of the Comic Binding message boards (without some of those guys' obsessive splitting up issues to intersperse pages even!). So I don't have the comparative experience that you do, but I will agree that it does make for a sometimes smoother, but often jumpy reading experience in issue order. I don't mind that, though - in something like this I consider the various issues to be chapters in a larger story, and I can remember getting used to reading such chapters that seem to jump back and forth in time even in prose novels. Most distinctly, I remember being confused and having to figure out the narrative jumping back and forth chapter by chapter in Burroughs' The Return of Tarzan and Beasts of Tarzan.Kent G. Harehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05432812900069534679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10945794.post-36931937789945005492011-07-25T09:36:20.624-05:002011-07-25T09:36:20.624-05:00I started reading Green Lantern with Rebirth, but ...I started reading Green Lantern with Rebirth, but started loving it with the Sinestro Corps hardcovers. They were easy to navigate and worked well for me. <br /><br />I read Blackest Night book-by-book and don't regret it. I liked seeing how things folded out - the feeling of putting together the puzzle. <br /><br />Mind you, if this were my first foray into the series, I don't think it would have worked out so well.BNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15481154323847986075noreply@blogger.com