Yo, it’s the Justice League.
Updates by: Nathan Payson
Index:
I) JLA by Grant Morrison to Tower of Babel
II) After Tower of Babel, Before Identity Crisis
III) From Identity Crisis to Infinite Crisis
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IV) Relaunched Justice League of America (Pre New 52)
VI) Bonus Round: Batman Reading Order
VII) Bonus Round: Wonder Woman Reading Order
VIII) Bonus Round: Superman Reading Order
Where to Start With DC Comics’ Justice League
While this guide will mostly focus on more modern Justice League comics (from 1997 to present day), if you want to get some good older origins going, Justice League: Year One is as good a place as any to start.
Silver Age and Bronze Age Justice League
The silver age Justice League does a lot of world building and has a lot of very famous moments. From the first Crisis to meeting the JSA, and the first appearance of Earth 3, the Silver Age Justice League is surprisingly a lot of fun.
Justice League of America Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1
Collects: The Brave and the Bold #28-30 and Justice League of America (1960) #1-30 and Mystery in Space #75
Justice League of America Silver Age Vol. 1
Collects: The Brave and the Bold #28-30 and Justice League of America #1-8
Starro the Conqueror’s first appearance is The Brave and the Bold #28
Justice League of America Silver Age Vol. 2
Collects: Justice League of America #9-19
The Origin of the Justice League is in #9
Justice League of America Silver Age Vol. 3
Collects: Justice League of America #20-30
Contains Crisis on Earth One, Crisis on Earth Two, and Crisis on Earth Three.
Justice League of America Silver Age Vol. 4
Collects: Justice League of America #31-41
Justice League of America Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2
Collects: Justice League of America #31-76 and Mystery in Space #75
Justice League of America Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1
Collects: Justice League of America (1960) #77-113
Justice League of America Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 2
Collects: Justice League of America #114-146
Justice League of America Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 3
Collects: Justice League of America #147-182
If you want to read the Annual Crises of the Silver Age specifically, check out
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 1
Collects: Justice League of America (1960) #21-22, #29-30, #37-38, and #46-47
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 2
Collects: Justice League of America #55-56, #64-65, #73-74, and #82-83
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 3
Collects: Justice League of America #91-92, #100-102, #107-108, and #113
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 4
Collects: Justice League of America #123-124, #135-137, and #147-148
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 5
Collects: Justice League of America #159-160, #171-172, #183-185
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 6
Collects: Justice League of America #195-196, #197, #207, All-Star Squadron #14, Justice League of America #208, All-Star Squadron #15, Justice League of America #209
Following all of these Crises and crossovers, it’s time for the most famous one! You can read the Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover here!
Justice League: The Detroit Era Omnibus
Collects: Justice League of America Annual #2, Justice League of America (1960) #233-244, Justice League of America Annual #3, Justice League of America #245-261, Justice Leagye Classified #22-25, and JSA Classified #14-16
The final couple issues take place during the DC Legends event which set up many of the post-crisis titles including the Post-Crisis Justice League Series.
Collects: Legends #1-6
The entire collection with the crossover tie-ins has never been collected, but you can read the main 6 issue series.
Post-Crisis Justice League
This new Justice League series is very different. It’s cast is more lighthearted and full of b and c tier characters including Mister Miracle, Captain Marvel (Shazam!), Doctor Fate, Oberon, and Blue Beetle. The title renames itself a bunch, so it gets confusing, but all issues are part of Justice League of America (1987) or Justice League Europe
Justice League International Omnibus Vol. 1
Collects: Justice League #1-6, Justice League International #7-12, Justice League International Annual #1, Justice League International #13-24, Justice League International Annual #2, Justice League International #25, Justice League #26-30, Justice League Europe #1-6.
Justice League International Omnibus Vol. 2
Collects: Justice League of America #31-50, Justice League Europe #7-25, Justice League of America Annual #4, Justice League Europe Annual #1, Justice League International Special #1
Unfortunately, large portions of the era past this point, aren’t digitized or collected. A couple more issues are available on DC Universe Infinite or available on Amazon here.
Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s JLA
The majority of modern comic book readers will want to start with Grant Morrison’s run on JLA. Starting around 1997, Morrison took a post-Death of Superman, post-Knightfall, post-Parallax DC Universe, and returned the world’s finest heroes to the Justice League.
The core lineup of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter has become the Justice League standard since this time, particularly solidified in DC’s Animated Justice League: Unlimited.
JLA: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 1
Collects: JLA #1-9 (1997) and JLA Secret Files and Origins #1
JLA: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 2
Collects: JLA #10-17, Prometheus #1, and JLA/WILDCATS #1
JLA: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 3
Collects: JLA #22-26, JLA #28-31, and JLA #1000000
For more of the One Million event make sure to check out DC One Million
or JLA One Million.
JLA: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 4
Collects: JLA #34, 36-41
JLA: The Tower of Babel: Deluxe Edition
Collects: JLA #18-21, #32-33, and #43-46 and JLA Annual #3
All the comics that were skipped from JLA are included in the Justice League: Tower of Babel The Deluxe Edition. Tower of Babel is one of the defining Batman stories of the early 2000’s, and was turned into a DC Animated movie.
This time period will also take you through the Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely JLA: Earth 2
graphic novel.
You’ll also note that I included DC One Million above. This takes place after JLA #23, and is another recommended Grant Morrison event from this era. The JLA: One Million collection is a more affordable approach to get the basics of the event.
Justice League After the Tower of Babel
JLA Vol. 5
JLA Vol. 6
JLA Vol. 7
JLA: The Tenth Circle
JLA: Pain of the Gods
JLA: Syndicate Rules
Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis Takeover
If you’ve looked into essential DC Universe stories from the 2000’s, you’re likely at least a little familiar with Identity Crisis. The controversial mystery from Brad Meltzer has major ramifications on both the DCU and the Justice League. For all intents and purposes, it’s a Justice League story.
Collects: Identity Crisis #1-7
Collects: JLA (1997) #115 to #119
JLA: World Without a Justice League
Collects: Issues #120 to #125
Collects: Infinite Crisis #1-7
You can also read the rest of Infinite Crisis with the help of CBH’s Infinite Crisis Reading Order
A New Justice League of America (Pre New 52)
Following the events of Infinite Crisis and 52, DC relaunched Justice League of America with a new number one issue, and Identity Crisis money-maker Bred Meltzer.
Justice League of America Vol. 1: Tornado’s Path
Collects: Justice League of America (2006) #1-7
Justice League of America Vol. 2: Lightning Saga
Collects: Justice League of America #8, Justice Society of America #5, Justice League of America #9, Justice Society of America #6, Justice League of America #10-12
Justice League of America Vol. 3: The Injustice League
Collects: JLA Wedding Special #1 and Justice League of America #13-16
Justice League of America Vol 4: Sanctuary
Collects: Justice League of America #17-21
Justice League of America: The Second Coming
Collects: Justice League of America #22-26
Justice League of America: Worlds Collide
Collects: Justice League of America #27-28, #30-34
Justice League of America: Team History
Collects: Justice League of America #38-43
Justice League of America: The Dark Things
Collects: Justice League of America 44-46, Justice Society of America #41, Justice League of America #47, Justice Society of America #42, Justice League of America 48, Justice Society of America #43
This Volume is part of the Brightest Day Event. Check out CBH’s Brightest Day reading order if you want to read more.
Justice League of America: Omega
Collects: Justice League of America (2006) #49-53
Justice League of America: Rise of Eclipso
Collects: Justice League of America #54-60
This era of comics ends with Flashpoint. You can check out the rest of CBH’s Flashpoint Reading Order for more.
The New 52 Justice League Reading Order
In 2011 DC Comics rebooted their entire comic book line into the New 52. This means a relaunch and brand new origin for the Justice League, with Geoff Johns and Jim Lee on creative duties.
If you want to see every DC Comic from this era, you can check out the full Comic Book Herald New 52 reading order!
Collects: Justice League (2011) #1-6
Justice League: The Villain’s Journey
Collects: Justice League #7-12
Throne of Atlantis Reading Order
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
Hey we made it 12 issues without a crossover! Throne of Atlantis crosses over with another Johns written title, Aquaman.
Issues:
Justice League #13
Justice League #14
Aquaman #14
Justice League #15
Aquaman #15
Justice League #16
Aquaman #16
Justice League #17
Aquaman #17
Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous
Collects: JLA #1 to #5
Following Throne of Atlantis, Justice League of America launches a fresh series in the New 52. Note that although the above collection includes six issues, the sixth issue of Justice League of America will work best as a Trinity War tie-in.
Collects: Justice League #18 to #23
Trinity War Reading Order
For the most part, Trinity War is the DC event that had been promised since the end of Flashpoint
. It’s also the first Justice League event that crosses over with Justice League Dark. I haven’t listed JLD to date, but if you want to catch up on the magical Justice League, now’s the perfect time, and you can do so as follows:
Collects: Justice League Dark #1-6
Collects: Justice League Dark #7-12
Collects: Justice League Dark #13-18
Trinity War
Issues:
Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1
Justice League #22
Justice League of America #6
Justice League Dark #22
Constantine #5
Trinity of Sin: Pandora #2
The Phantom Stranger #11
Justice League of America #7
Trinity of Sin: Pandora #3
Justice League Dark #23
Justice League #23
Forever Evil Reading Order (Justice League Style)
Collects: Forever Evil #1-7
Justice League: Forever Heroes
Collects: Justice League #24-29
Justice League of America, Vol. 2: Survivors of Evil
Collects: Justice League of America #8-14
Forever Evil
Issues:
Forever Evil #1
Justice League Dark #24
Justice League Dark #25
Forever Evil #2
Justice League #24
Justice League of America #8
Justice League of America #9
Justice League Dark #26
Justice League #25
Justice League of America #10
Forever Evil #4
Justice League #26
Justice League #27
Justice League of America #11
Justice League Dark #27
Justice League Dark #28
Justice League #28
Forever Evil #5
Justice League of America #12
Justice League Dark #29
Justice League of America #13
Forever Evil #6
Justice League #29
Forever Evil #7
Justice League #30
Justice League of America #14
Justice League: Injustice League
Collects: Justice League #30-39
This takes you through the Amazo Virus story arc as well.
Justice League Darkseid War Reading Order
Justice League: Darkseid War Part 1
Collects: Justice League #40-44
Justice League: Darkseid War – Power of the Gods
Collects: Justice League: Gods and Men Superman #1, Justice League: Gods and Men Batman #1, Justice League: Gods and Men The Flash #1, Justice League: Gods and Men Green Lantern #1, Justice League: Gods and Men: Shazam! #1 and Justice League: Gods and Men: Lex Luthor #1.
Justice League: Darkseid War Part 2
Collects: Justice League #45-50 and Justuce League: Darkseid War Special #1
Issues:
Justice League #40
Free Comic Book Day DC Comics: Divergence #1
Justice League #41
Justice League #42
Justice League #43
Justice League #44
Justice League: Gods and Men Batman #1
Justice League #45
Justice League: Gods and Men The Flash #1
Justice League: Gods and Men Superman #1
Justice League #46
Justice League: Gods and Men Green Lantern #1
Justice League: Gods and Men Shazam! #1
Justice League: Gods and Men Lex Luthor #1
Justice League #47
Justice League #48
Justice League #49
Justice League #50
Epilogue:
Justice League #51
Justice League #52 (Collected in various Rebirth collections)
DC Rebirth Justice League (2016-2018)
You can find the context for Justice League in DC Rebirth as part of Comic Book Herald’s complete DC Rebirth reading order.
Justice League Vol. 1: The Extinction Machine
Collects: Justice League: Rebirth #1, Justice League (2016) #1 to #5
Justice League Vol. 2 (Rebirth)
Collects: Justice League #7 to #12
Justice League vs. Suicide Squad Reading Order
Justice League vs. Suicide Squad spins out into the fun Justice League of America series. I thoroughly enjoyed Steve Orlando’s book, however, the book isn’t super important to DC as a whole.
Justice League of America: The Road to Rebirth
Collects: Justice League of America: Killer Frost — Rebirth #1, Justice League of America: Atom– Rebirth #1, Justice League of America: Ray– Rebirth #1, Justice League of America: Vixen– Rebirth #1
Justice League of America Vol. 1: Extremist
Collects: Justice League of America: Rebirth #1 and Justice League #1-6
Justice League Vol. 3: Timeless
Collects: Justice League #14-19
Justice League of America Vol. 2: Curse of the Kingbutcher
Collects: Justice League of America #7-11
Justice League Vol. 4: Endless
Collects: Justice League #20-25
Justice League of America Vol. 3: Panic in the Microverse
Collects: Justice League of America #12-17
Collects: Justice League #26-31
Justice League of America Vol. 4: Surgical Strike
Collects: Justice League of America #26-31
Justice League Vol. 6: The People vs. The Justice League
Collects: Justice League #34-38
Justice League of America Vol. 5: Deadly Fable
Justice League of America #22-28
Justice League Vol. 7: Justice Lost
Collects: Justice League #39-43
New Justice Begins! (2018-2020)
The Snyder Era of the Justice League Titles begins with his Dark Nights: Metal Event which you can check out here!
Collects: Justice League: No Justice #1-4 And Stories From Dc Nation #0
Following the events of Dark Nights: Metal, the Justice League lineup of comics rebranded with new core rosters under the “New Justice” umbrella. The “No Justice” mini kicked things off, and leads to three core titles: Justice League, Justice League Dark, and Justice League Odyssey.
Justice League Vol. 1: The Totality
Collects: Justice League (2018) #1-7
The Scott Snyder written era of Justice League begins, with artists including Jim Cheung and Jorge Jimenez.
Justice League Vol. 2: Graveyard of Gods
Collects: Justice League #8-12
Justice League Odyssey Vol. 1: The Ghost Sector
Collects: Justice League Odyssey #1-5
Justice League Dark Vol. 1: The Last Age of Magic
Collects: Justice League Dark #1-3 And 5-7
Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth
Collects: Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth #1, Justice League #10-12, Aquaman #40-41, Titans #28 And Aquaman/Justice League: Drowned Earth #1
You can find a checklist and reading order for this crossover with Comic Book Herald’s Drowned Earth guide.
Wonder Woman & the Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour
Collects: Wonder Woman/Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour#1-2, Wonder Woman #56-57 And Justice League Dark #4
You can find a checklist and reading order for this crossover with Comic Book Herald’s Witching Hour guide.
Justice League Vol. 3: Hawkworld
Collects: Justice League #13-16, Justice League Annual #1, Justice League #17 To #18
Justice League Dark Vol. 2: Lords of Order
Collects: Justice League Dark #8-13 and Justice League Dark Annual #1
Justice League Odyssey Vol. 2: Death of the Dark
Collects: Justice League Odyssey #6-12
Justice League Vol. 4: Sixth Dimension
Collects: Justice League #19-25
Justice League: Vengeance is Thine
Collects: Justice League #40-47
This book chronologically takes place before Year of the Villain. As such you can read it here or after Death Metal and not much changes.
Justice League: Galaxy of Terrors
Collects: Justice League #48-52
Justice League Odyssey Vol. 3: Final Frontier
Collects: Justice League Odyssey #13-18
Justice League Dark Vol. 3: The Witching War
Collects: Justice League Dark #14-19
Justice League Vol. 5: Justice Doom War
Collects: Justice League #26-39
Justice League Odyssey Vol 4: Last Stand
Collects: Justice League Odyssey #19-25
Justice League Dark Vol. 4: A Costly Trick of Magic
Collects: Justice League Dark #20-28
Year of the Villain: Hell’s Arisen
Following Hell’s Arisen, DC begins Death Metal. Make sure to read the Dark Nights Death Metal Reading Order for more info.
To close out this era of the Justice League, DC released a 9 part crossover that gives very small teases to the future of DC including emphasizing Hippolyta ahead of her Infinite Frontier story. This story Justice League: Endless Winter is one of my favorite crossover’s DC has written. You can check out Comic Book Herald’s Endless Winter reading order!!
Infinite Frontier(2021-Present)
Future State: Justice League
Collects: Future State: Justice League #1-2
Justice League: Infinite Frontier Arc 1
Justice League (2018) #59-
Note: This series also includes a back-issue for Justice League Dark by Ram V.
Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes
Collects: #1 to #6
Collects: Justice League Infinity #1 to #7
Collects: Justice League Incarnate #1 to #5
Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis
Dark Crisis
Dark Crisis: Worlds Without a Justice League
Collects: Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League — Superman #1, Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League — Green Lantern #1, Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League — Wonder Woman #1, Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League — Green Arrow #1, Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League — Batman #1
Collects: Justice League #59 to #63
Justice League Vol. 2: United Order
Collects: Justice League #64 to #71
Justice League Vol. 3: Leagues of Chaos
Collects: Justice League #72 to #74, Justice League 2022 Annual #1
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Where does JLA: Power & Glory fit in?
Mystery in Space #75…is it collected in JLA silver omnibus vol. 1 & 2 both? That’s what is mentioned in your article.
Personally I would move JLO Vol. 4 until after Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, because it leads directly into Death Metal, but that’s just me. Great list!
where does vol 7 and 8 place in the timeline ( sorry i iust started to read comics )
I now have all the death metal books inc. tie ins. I’m lost tho, after JL DOOM/JUSTICE WAR how do we get to batman as a black lantern, Wonder Woman as the Batman who Laughs prison warden & superman lost & dieing?? I also have Year of the Villain books, Lex loses favour with Perpetua to B.T.L… where do I go from here?
Word. Stupid, nonsensical start to a terrible ending and a mish-mash cluster Fu@k of the last couple of years of non sense. Totally disappointed.
Read dark knight death metal again. That was explained on the whole batman black lantern and wonder woman prison guard. They took the fight to the dark world
justice league dark 23 comes before trinity sin pandora
trinity sin pandora #3
Trying to figure out what to read after Snyder’s run I’ve got Justice League vengeance is mine bookmarked on Amazon and I’m trying to find what to read after so I can bookmark it
is there no option to remove comments on this site?
You can email me dave@comicbookherald.com with whatever you want removed. I need to figure out how to make that an option!
plz plz plz update this post.
I was just wondering if you can update and put in the comics from the JLI days? It is post-crisis and it contains alot of stuff people associate the Justice League with. Thanks for the list tho!
……….luv comics lol……
You do not even have the decency to credit the site where you took the image from after googling it? I mean, you even kept the original dimension (1500X1010 px).
How shameless are you? I mean, it’s not like the site owner has any copyright on it or something but you are so shameless that you couldn’t even buy a digital copy of the book and just crop it yourself?
I posted this comment before, but you deleted. Why are you afraid to even link back? It’s not like you are being asked for money!
What’s your deal with the photo? You are kind of acting an a@@hole here. Chill.
someone is taking his time to so this nice write up to make our lives easier and you complain about him using images that are not even copyrighted by the so called owner you mention? are you stupid or what?? bro you need to chill the fuck off!!
I was wondering what the best Justice League are, where Superman is the featured character (in the sense that Batman is the featured character for Tower of Babel)?
*Justice League comics (obviously!)
I don’t see Forever Evil #3 in the reading order… where does this fit in? PS love this guide.
Fantastic Guide! I’ve been looking for something like this and it’s perfect. Only question.. Wouldn’t the Darkseid War ‘Power of the Gods” go in between Vol.1 and 2? Anyway thanks for this!
Yes, absolutely! I must have only updated on the full New 52 guide. Now updated.
Thanks, and glad you’re enjoying!
I do not have the individual issues. I am reading the tpb reprints of Justice league, JLA, forever evil, trinity war and Justice league dark of the “new 52”, what order should I read those in?
One of the best, most helpful, and simply awesome guides in the Multiverse!
Hey, Comicbook Herald Team! Just wanted to say you guys rock. I’ve been following all of your guides for years and keep up the great work! From Marvel, to DC, to the 90s to the 00s, you’ve got it all covered, and covered well. Looking forward to the Rebirth stuff 🙂
Sohaib
What about the Justice League International books fit in? I believe that they started not too far into the New 52 phase?
Hi this is a fantastic order, however, I was wondering where and how convergence will fit into this Justice league reading over since i believe it is a Justice League “level” event. Also, I was also wondering if you have or will ever make a full New 52 reading order over all the New 52 Graphic novels or at least the main books/stories/characters?
Thank you keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! Would there be anyway for you to create a complete timeline of the entirety of DC’s publication like you have done with Marvel? I know it’s quite a big request but I’d just like to know if that’ll ever happen on here.
The best I can give you right now is this larger set of guides. There’s a fair amount to read there, although I probably won’t be able to get as involved as I am with Marvel until DC decides to make their comics more accessible 🙂
I’d Love it if you could make at least a New 52 order. Love the work you do by the way! You must spend hours going through comics and deciding what goes where.
i second this