Guide to Infinite Crisis

This isn’t the first fan-made reading list for Infinite Crisis out there, and I sincerely doubt it will be the last. I’m also under the impression that DC will be bring out their own list in the near-future.

However, I believe that the differences between this guide and the other guides are enough that it warrents it’s creation. At the very least you can treat this as complimentary to whichever guide you are using.
The most apparent difference is the inclusion of every story-arc from every in-continuity book set between Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis, many lists I’ve seen

include things like Superman/Shazam: First Thunder, which while both relevant and published recently, isn’t set during the targeted time frame. The other obvious difference is that

in this guide, there is a single central reading list, from start to finish.

Every other guide I’ve seen, divides the tie-in books into their own mini-lists, and doesn’t really provide any guideline as to which order they should be read.

This results in a breakdown in story flow, with big revelations or other events being spoiled or mentioned in other books before they’ve actually taken place. When compiling this list, I’ve tried to maintain a consistent flow to the books, only interrupting stories where absolutely necessary, and inserting as few mid-issue gaps as possible.

I’m a strong believer in that you should only read what you want to, and that you shouldn’t have to read the 5,000 tie-ins to every event, I’ve tried to structure this guide, so that you can pick and choose which arcs you want to read, from which titles.

Identity Crisis, usually where the book has a jump-on point that explains who everyone is, and what the current situation is in their own little part of the DC Universe.

Examples of this are in Adventures of Superman, where Ruin is introduced, and Birds of Prey. This is also why the annotations in this guide have as few spoilers as possible.
Unfortunately, despite DC’s editors working overtime, some inconsistencies and contradictions have managed to slip through the cracks. I’ve tried my best to work

around these inconsistencies, however some of them are just unworkable. Where necessary I’ve included continuity notes that explain the problem, and how much you need to

suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy a single, consistent story that spans the entire DC Universe. In addition to this, there are a couple of occurrences where entire dialogue

panels have to be ignored, these panels typically contradict what we see happen in several other books, and until DC release their master reading list, we won’t know if I

was wrong to omit them.
My final reason reason for making this guide is that in the other guides I’ve seen, they only feel the need to include the individual tie-in issues, to each of the Infinite Crisis mini-series. This results in a set of

near-random events, with no sense of context given to the tie-in. This was my motivation for including every story arc from War Games onwards.

That said, I hope this list doesn’t appear too daunting, and that you enjoy reading the last two years of DCU comics leading up to, and including, Infinite Crisis.

- Mart
All original material in this document refers to copyrighted works of

DC Comics; no infringement of copyright is intended
Notes on using the Guide

The guide goes from top to bottom, the timeline is from roughly one month before Identity Crisis, to the very end of Infinite Crisis. I’ve divided the books by story arc so that you, the reader, can cherry-pick just how much, or how little you want to read. To help with that I’ve included a short synopsis of each story, and it’s relevance to the greater Infinite Crisis story. I’ve also included any continuity errors or editorial mistakes that you’ll want to know about before reading this issue.

Each story arc is also categorised into one of six Infinite Crisis arcs: Identity Crisis, The OMAC Project, Villains United, Rann/Thanagar War, Day of Vengence, and Infinite Crisis. Accompanied by the strength of it’s relevance.
A HUGE thanks go to Ollietheox, who not only has his own continuity guide floating around (Infinite Crisis Guide (ollietheox).txt), but has spent many hours in discussion with me, pounding out problems in the DC Universes’ continuity.
This list also couldn’t, and wouldn’t, have been compiled without additional help from:

Naktekh, The Alliance, Janus, Baldrick, GuitarDude, Vigilante-407, John Williams, kinbote, Antibush, Stevelabny (Go Go Milestone.), MasterGrazzt,

Wonder Woman 196 While promoting her new book, Wonder Woman is threatened by her new nemesis, Dr. Cale, and several villains from her

Wonder Woman 197 past. During all of this, Ares begins his meddling against the rest of the Gods.

Wonder Woman 198 Characters: Ares, Circe, Dr. Cale, Dr. Psycho, Eros, Hera, The Flash, Jonah, Lois Lane, Martian Manhunter, Silver Swan Superman and Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman 199 Relevance: The OMAC Project – Minor.

Wonder Woman 200 Continuity: No Problems.

Wonder Woman 201
WORK IN PROGRESS: 30th March 2006

I still have a few more titles to add, and then a lot of cleaning up to do to with various storylines and book changes. I ask that you don’t distribute this until it’s completed. Thank you.