Brightest Day trade paperback reading order

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The following is a guide to the trade paperback reading order for the Brightest Day miniseries and its related crossover titles.

This list was completed 4/3/12. It was initially based on DC Comics's checklist for reading Brightest Day in individual issues, translated to trade reading (link no longer valid after DC's 2012 website update).

After about Brightest Day #10, however, DC ceased to release an issue-by-issue reading order for Brightest Day, in part we speculate because Brightest Day does become more self-contained toward the end of its run, and also because the advent of the DC New 52 made some pieces of Brightest Day irrelevant.

This first list suggests how to read Brightest Day in order, completely in trade format. Bold items are essential reading. Italic items are very relevant tie-ins (I would not go so far as to say any Brightest Day tie-in is "essential"); plain type items are bannered as Brightest Day tie-ins or otherwise related, but not considered relevant. This list is similar to that on the DC Trade Paperback Timeline, but modified slightly in the absence of the greater DCU. The original issue-by-issue list follows after.


The original issue-by-issue list for reading the first "act" of Brightest Day:
April
Brightest Day #0Brightest Day Vol. 1
Green Lantern #53Green Lantern: Brightest Day
Green Lantern Corps #47Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps
Flash #1Flash: The Dasterdly Death of the Rogues
Justice League of America #44Justice League of America: The Dark Things


May
Brightest Day #1Brightest Day Vol. 1
Brightest Day #2Brightest Day Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #1Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #2Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Green Lantern #54Green Lantern: Brightest Day
Green Lantern Corps #48Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns
Flash #2Flash: The Dasterdly Death of the Rogues
Justice League of America #45Justice League of America: The Dark Things
Titans: Villains for Hire Special #1Titans: Villains for Hire
Birds of Prey #1Birds of Prey: Endrun


June
Brightest Day #3Brightest Day Vol. 1
Brightest Day #4Brightest Day Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #3Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #4Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Green Lantern #55Green Lantern: Brightest Day
Green Lantern Corps #49Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns
Flash #3Flash: The Dasterdly Death of the Rogues
Justice League of America #46Justice League of America: The Dark Things
Titans #24Titans: Villains for Hire
Birds of Prey #2Birds of Prey: Endrun
Green Arrow #1Green Arrow: Into the Woods


July
Brightest Day #5Brightest Day Vol. 1
Brightest Day #6Brightest Day Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #5Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #6Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Green Lantern #56Green Lantern: Brightest Day
Green Lantern Corps #50Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns
Flash #4Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues
Justice Society of America #41Justice League of America: The Dark Things
Justice League of America #47Justice League of America: The Dark Things
Titans #25Titans: Villains for Hire
Birds of Prey #3Birds of Prey: Endrun
Green Arrow #2Green Arrow: Into the Woods
Brightest Day: The Atom Special #1


August
Brightest Day #7Brightest Day Vol. 1
Brightest Day #8Brightest Day Vol. 2
Justice League: Generation Lost #7Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #8Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Green Lantern #57Green Lantern: Brightest Day
Green Lantern Corps #51Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors
Flash #5Flash: The Dasterdly Death of the Rogues
Justice Society of America #42Justice League of America: The Dark Things
Justice League of America #48Justice League of America: The Dark Things
Titans #26Titans: Villains for Hire
Birds of Prey #4Birds of Prey: Endrun
Green Arrow #3Green Arrow: Into the Woods


September
Brightest Day #9Brightest Day Vol. 2
Brightest Day #10Brightest Day Vol. 2
Justice League: Generation Lost #9Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Justice League: Generation Lost #10Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1
Green Lantern #58Green Lantern: Brightest Day
Green Lantern Corps #52Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #2Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors
Flash #6Flash: The Dasterdly Death of the Rogues
Justice Society of America #43
Titans #27Titans: Villains for Hire
Birds of Prey #5Birds of Prey: Endrun
Green Arrow #4Green Arrow: Into the Woods

If you are not the kind who likes flipping back and forth between trades, we recommend starting with Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost, and then picking up the related trades in the order listed. Unlike Blackest Night, the Brightest Day crossover issues don't necessarily follow one right after another, so you can allow yourself some leeway in how you proceed.

Comments ( 17 )

  1. Speaking of Brightest Day, do you plan on reviewing the Birds of Prey: Endrun trade at some point? If so, I'm looking forward to it, and if not, I'd be glad to do another guest review! (Tomato here, by the way. I did the Astonishing X-Men review a while back.)

    Thanks,
    Tomato

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, Tomato! Personally my wallet can't take Birds of Prey switching over to hardcover, but I think I've got a copy lined up to borrow soon after it comes out; if that falls through I'll let you know. If there's another book you might want to cover, send me an email and we'll talk. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. > If you are not the kind who likes flipping back and forth between trades, we recommend starting with Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost, and then picking up the related trades in the order listed.

    This sentence confuses me. "Order listed"? What order would you read, say, the following in:
    - Brightest Day, Vol. 1-3
    - Generation Lost, Vol. 1-2
    - Green Lantern: Brightest Day
    - GLC: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns
    - Emerald Warriors

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd definitely love to do another review, as I think I've improved ages since then. I'll think about what to review, and get in touch. Are you planning on reviewing any more Secret Six, or is that fair game? Don't want to step on toes.

    Tomato

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was actually thinking of trying BoP with the relaunch, but I'm so wary about it now. Birds of Prey is quickly becoming a troubled series. Benes is gone after the first arc and the most recent arc - which DC has hyped to hell - consisted of four issues. Each issue of the arc had a different artist. That's... yeah.

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  6. Sorry to hear Birds of Prey is having troubles. I would otherwise trust Gail Simone's writing implicitly -- curious to see how this is.

    Good question, Steve. Yes, I would start with the Brightest Day and JL: Generation Lost books, and then go down the list starting with the first book you come to -- that is, Green Lantern, GLC, Flash, Justice League of America, etc. Emerald Warriors didn't start until later on.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cheers, thanks for the help!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Is there any news on where Brightest Day: The Atom Special #1 will be collected?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I haven't heard anything. Maybe the special would have been collected with Jeff Lemire's Atom Adventure Comics co-feature, but now that the co-features have been discontinued and a couple of Lemire's remaining stories were collected in a periodical issue, I don't foresee DC bringing the whole thing all together (nor Nick Spencer's Jimmy Olsen, for that matter). More's the pity; maybe we'll luck out.

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  10. Great to see this on here! I talked about it on your Blackest Night post and was able to find this great list via Google. I look forward to reading this event :-)

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  11. can you please finish and update this!! i love the site and wanna read brightest day but can't!!

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  12. Thanks for going back and finishing this off. I'm just about to start reading Brightest Day (got my last GL-related book from Amazon the other day - was waiting for the TPB, but broke down and got the HC so I wouldn't have to keep waiting), and will definitely be using this as my guide. Well, mostly, as I already went ahead and read JL: Generation Lost and JL: Dark Things. :-)

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  13. Sure thing. You won't have to wait so long for the Flashpoint one ...

    ReplyDelete
  14. I know this is a super late comment, but is Brightest Day Aftermath collected anywhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Swamp Thing book? No. Basically killed by the advent of Flashpoint and the New 52.

      Delete
    2. Well that's disappointing.

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    3. For completest purposes, sure, though the events were so quickly swept under the rug that you're not missing much necessarily.

      Delete

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