Superman reading list

General Discussion Comic Books
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I don’t know anything about Superman other than the basic stuff you’d known from watching the George Reeves TV series and having vague knowledge of who Lex Luthor is because he showed up in some Batman comics and I’ve read a pretty large amount of Batman.

Having free access to so many comics that I don’t have to spend extra money on has made me expand my horizons . What should I read to get to know Superman’s Rogues gallery and supporting cast. I didn’t grow up with superhero comics and I always found it daunting. I started reading Batman because of the Arkham video games and the animated series was a good intro beyond the video game. Should I start with the Superman animated series? Is it as good as the Batman one?

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2

Superman The Animated Series is better than BTAS, but I’m of a highly biased opinion.

Are there Superman rogues in general you’d like to focus on?

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@Vroom I can only name like 3 Superman rogues, so no…

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STAS is a great start for expanding your knowledge of Superman in general.

Regarding comics, would you be interested in other stories that feature Lex or do you want to completely branch away from him?

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I’m with Vroom on this watch STAS first then go read the John Byrne comics run that it was based on. Don’t worry the stories aren’t identical.

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Oh, the John Byrne run… zones out with a big smile on his face, then composes himself Sorry 'bout that =)

Check out:
-The Man of Steel (1986) #'s 1-6
-Superman (1987) #'s 1-6

Byrne’s run encompasses alot more than that, but that’s a good start.

If you want more Lex Luthor, give The Black Ring a read. Action Comics #'s 890-900 (there’s a small aside in Action Comics Annual #…10 I believe it is, but that’s not available digitally or crucial to the story as I remember).

One of the fun things about TBR is that Lex runs into other baddies in the DCU. Gorilla Grodd, Deathstroke, Vandal Savage etc. It’s quite a fun read.

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When I went to see the Wonder Woman movie, it made me want to read her comics and the George Perez run was pretty much a straight reboot that reintroduces all the characters. It was great. Something like that for Superman would be amazing!

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Then you’ll most likely love the above mentioned books from the John Byrne relaunch. It’s a complete reboot of Superman and his history.

Byrne aside, Reign of the Doomsdays is a fun read. The story begins in the last story of Action Comics #900 and runs through issues 901-904. Doomslayer was a fun villain.

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9

I’ve always wanted to do a deep dive into post-Crisis/pre-Doomsday Superman. Now thanks to the upgraded library here I can do that! I’ve stating at the John Byrne takeover with The Man of Steel (1986). Then rotating between these series with the starting points…

Superman (1987) #1
Action Comics (1938) #584
Adventures of Superman (1987) #424

Having dipped in the beginning of Perez’s Wonder Woman run, this is probably comparable to what you are looking for.

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I’m currently reading through the Byrne run. I’m using this list as a guide: https://www.comicbookherald.com/reading-dc-comics/superman-reading-order/

If you go to the Post Crisis section, this is what I’ve read. I started reading Crisis on Infinite Earths and then started with these. The Man of Steel miniseries is pretty fantastic.

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