The Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 1st Annual Poll is now live, but I still have two more categories of prospective omnibuses to map for you! This post explains potential DC Elseworlds omnibus mapping for votes on the poll – including Milestone!
If you don’t know DC well enough to know what to vote for, stick around for my explanations! Learn why the team behind the poll decided on these books and titles – including giving us feedback if we missed the mark.
If voting is now open, you can use this as your crib sheet! Or… just find some great comics to read!
Remember: These mappings are just my suggestion of how DC could assemble these books. They are meant to help you decide on your votes and build your personal reading list, but your vote on the poll is NOT an endorsement of my specific map. It’s a vote in favor of DC creating a book with that title or covering that period.
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Batman Elseworlds Omnibus Mapping
Batman by Frank Miller (1986 – 2019)
Even though Frank Miller wrote the definitive origin for Batman in his “Year One” early in the Post-Crisis era, the rest of Miller’s famous and influential Batman works are all set in their own future continuity.
This would collect Batman (1940) #404-406 (Year One), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) #1-4, The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001) #1-3, Dark Knight III: The Master Race (2015) #1-9, Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (2016) #1, and Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child (2019) #1.
Then, it would add the Dark Knight Universe One-Shots (Dark Knight Universe Presents: Green Lantern (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Action Comics (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Atom (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Batgirl (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Detective Comics (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Lara (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Strange Adventures (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: Wonder Woman (2016) #1, Dark Knight Universe Presents: World’s Finest (2016) #1, and various other Dark Knight Universe material by Miller.
Batman, Elseworlds Vol. 1 (1989 & on)
The mapping machine BrandXK created a list of the initial Elseworlds material this volume could collect.
This would begin to collect Batman: Gotham By Gaslight (1989), Batman: Holy Terror (1991), Robin 3000 (1992), Batman & Dracula: Red Rain (1991), Batman: Bloodstorm (1994), Batman: Crimson Mist (1998), Batman: The Blue, the Grey, and the Bat (1992), Batman/Dark Joker: The Wild (1993), Batman/Houdini: The Devil’s Workshop (1993), Batman: Castle of the Bat (1994), Batman: In Darkest Knight (1994) Batman: Brotherhood of the Bat (1995), Batman: Manbat (1995), and on.
Batman The Animated Series: Gotham Adventures Vol. 1 (of 2) (1998 – 2000)
Batman The Animated Series: Gotham Adventures Vol. 2 (of 2) (2000 – 2003)
This pair of volumes would collect Batman: Gotham Adventures (1998) #1-60. While we have seen DC stretch some omnibuses to the 60-issue mark, that tends to be for complete modern series. When it comes to Batman, they seem happy to issue smaller books of which they can sell more copies.
Batman The Animated Series: The Adventures Continue (2020 – 2023)
After “Gotham Adventures,” the Batman Animated Series comics were revived in 2020 for three brief additional series, each previously collected into a ~200-page paperback.
This would collect Batman: The Adventures Continue (2020) #1-17 [digital] / #1-8 [physical], Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two (2021) #1-7, and Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Three (2023) #1-8.
Earth One: Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman by Johns, JMS, & Morrison (2010 – 2021)
After much internal debate on the mapping team about how the Earth One OGN books could be recollected, we finally settled on giving the Trinity their own omnibus of their trio of trios of OGNs.
This would collect Earth One: Batman Vol. 1-3, Earth One: Superman Vol. 1-3, and Earth One: Wonder Woman #1-3.
Batman: The White Knight (2017 – 2023)
This would collect the entirety of the White Knight saga by Sean Murphy, sometimes known as the “Murphyverse.”
This would include Batman: White Knight (2017) #1-8, Batman: Curse of the White Knight (2019) #1-8, Batman: White Knight Presents – Von Freeze (2019) #1, Batman: White Knight Presents – Harley Quinn (2020) #1-6, Batman: Beyond the White Knight (2022) #1-8, Batman: White Knight Presents – Red Hood (2022) #1-2, Batman: White Knight Presents – Generation Joker (2023) #1-6, and a story from Harley Quinn Black + White + Red Digital Chapter #6.
Batman: One Bad Day Complete Saga (2022 – 2023)
This would collect the full series of one-shot OGNs – Batman: One Bad Day – Bane (2023) #1, Batman: One Bad Day – Catwoman (2023) #1, Batman: One Bad Day – Clayface (2023) #1, Batman: One Bad Day – Mr. Freeze (2022) #1, Batman: One Bad Day – Ra’s al Ghul (2023) #1, Batman: One Bad Day – The Penguin (2022) #1, Batman: One Bad Day – The Riddler (2022) #1, and Batman: One Bad Day – Two-Face (2022) #1.
Milestone Omnibus Mapping
Milestone, The Complete Omnibus Vol. 1 (1993 – 1995)
This would exactly mirror the contents of the recent Milestone Compendiums line to collect the entirety of the Milestone Universe in release order.
Milestone: Blood Syndicate (1993 – 1996)
This would collect Blood Syndicate (1993) #1-35 as well as necessary crossovers and guest appearances.
Milestone: Hardware (1993 – 1997)
This would collect Hardware (1993) #1-50 as well as necessary crossovers and guest appearances.
Milestone: Icon (1993 – 1997)
This would collect Icon (1993) #1-42 as well as necessary crossovers and guest appearances.
Milestone: Static, The Original Years Omnibus (1993 – 2001)
This would collect Static (1993) #1-45 & Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool (2001) #1-4, as well as necessary crossovers and guest appearances.
Milestone: Kobalt (1994)
This would collect Kobolt (1994) #1-16 as well as necessary crossovers and guest appearances.
Milestone: Shadow Cabinet (1994 – 1995)
This would collect Shadow Cabinet (1994) #0-17 as well as necessary crossovers and guest appearances.
Milestone: Xombi (1994 – 1996)
This would collect Xombi (1994) #0-21 as well as necessary crossovers and guest appearances.
Superman Elseworlds Omnibus Mapping
Superman Adventures Vol. 1 (of 2) (1996 – 1999)
Superman Adventures Vol. 2 (of 2) (1999 – 2002)
[NOTE: the poll wrongly lists Vol. 2 as “Vol. 1 (of 2)” but with the correct years]
These two volumes would each collect half of Superman Adventures (1996) #1-66
Superman: Elseworlds Omnibus, Vol. 1 (1993 & on)
Another effort from the mapping machine BrandXK, who looked at the 90s and 00s OGNs this omnibus line could include.
This would begin to collect Superman: Speeding Bullets (1993), Superman: Kal (1995),Superman: At Earth’s End (1995), Superman: Distant Fires (1998), Superman: The Dark Side (1998), Superman: A Nation Divided (1998), Superman: War of the Worlds (1998), Superman, Inc (1999), The Superman Monster (1999), Son of Superman (1999), Superman: Last Son of Earth (2000), Superman: Last Stand on Krypton (2003), Superboy’s Legion #1-2 (2001), Supergirl: Wings (2001), Superman: Red Son (2003), Superman: True Brit (2004), and on.
Earth 2 Omnibus Mapping
The New 52 Earth-2 continuity existed largely as a way to use JSA characters that were erased by the condensed history of New 52. That makes it a true Elseworld, compared to the Silver and Bronze Age Earth Two, which had a firm relationship with main DC continuity.
Unfortunately, these three series are too big to collect into one book – and, the second series was concurrent to the first and third! There’s probably a mapping someone could put together to collapse this into two books that make perfect sense – if that’s you, please leave a comment!
Earth 2, Vol. 1 by Robinson, Taylor, & Scott (2012 – 2015)
This would collect Earth 2 (2012) #1-32 & Annuals 1-2
Earth 2, Vol. 2 – World’s End (2014 – 2015)
This would collect Earth 2: World’s End (2014) #1-26
Earth 2, Vol. 3 – Society (2015 – 2017)
This would collect Earth 2: Society (2015) #1-22 & Annual 1.
DC Elseworlds Omnibus Mapping
There’s no way for us to cover every out-of-continuity DC series, especially when it comes to all of their Animated Series. We quickly learned this one the announcement stream yesterday, when folks called out that we were missing such major series like Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titan Go! Plus, we didn’t even include Batman ’66!
Sorry, y’all – our mapping crew are a bunch of continuity heads (and maybe a hair too old to have nostalgia for the 00s cartoons). If you can think of other distinct DC Elseworlds and adaptations that are long enough for an omnibus volume (usually around 17 issues or 400 pages), please comment below.
DC Comics Bombshells (2015 – 2018)
This would collect the entirety of Bombshells from DC Comics: Bombshells (2015) #1-33 & Annual 1 and Bombshells: United (2017) #1-19
DC vs Vampires (2021 & on)
This would collect the entirety of the DC vs. Vampires saga from DC vs. Vampires (2021) #1-12, DC vs. Vampires: All Out War (2022) #1-6, DC vs. Vampires: Hunters (2022) #1, DC vs. Vampires: Killers (2022) #1, DC vs. Vampires: World War V (2024) #1
DC vs. Aliens & Predator Omnibus (1991 – 2007)
This would collect Batman vs. Predator (1991) #1-3, Batman vs. Predator II: Bloodmatch (1993) #1-4, Superman vs. Aliens (1995) #1-3, Batman/Aliens (1997) #1-2, Batman vs. Predator III: Blood Ties (1997) #1-4, WildC.A.T.s/Aliens (1998) #1, Superman vs. Predator (2000) #1-3, Green Lantern vs. Aliens (2000) #1-4, JLA Versus Predator (2001) #1, Superman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predator (2007) #1-2.
DCeased by Tom Taylor (2019 – 2023)
This would collect Tom Taylor’s complete DCeased – including DCeased (2019) #1-6, DCeased: A Good Day to Die (2019) #1, DCeased: Dead Planet (2020) #1-7, DCeased: Hope at World’s End (2020) #1-15, DCeased: Unkillables (2020) #1-3, DCeased: War of the Undead Gods (2022) #1-8.
Injustice 2 by Tom Taylor (2017 – 2018)
This would collect the complete Injustice 2 from Injustice 2 (2017) #1-36 & Annual 1-2
Kingdom Come, The Complete Saga (1996 – 2024)
This would collect the original Kingdom Come (1996)# 1-4 and then all of the subsequent material set in the Kingdom Come world or using the Kingdom Come characters. That would include all of “The Kingdom” one-shots (New Year’s Evil: Gog #1, The Kingdom #1-2, The Kingdom: Son of the Bat #1, The Kingdom: Nightstar #1, The Kingdom: Offspring #1, The Kingdom: Kid Flash #1, and The Kingdom: Planet Krypton #1), Justice Society of America (2006) #9-22 & Specials, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest (2022) #20-25, and material from Countdown: The Arena #1-4.
Super Friends, The Original Years (1976 – 1981)
This would collect Super Friends (1976) #1-47, Limited Collectors’ Edition #C41 & C46, Aquateers Meet the Super Friends (1979) #1, plus material from Super Friends Special #1 and Super Friends: Truth, Justice, and Peace (2003).
Tiny Titans by Art Baltazar (2008 – 2014)
This would collect Tiny Titans (2008) #1-50 and Tiny Titans: Return to the Treehouse (2014) #1-6 (but probably not Tiny Titans / Little Archie (2010) #1-3).
Young Animal: The Complete Omnibus Vol. 1 (2016 & on)
This would primarily collect the core of the Young Animal launch line – Cave Carson, Mother Panic, and Shade The Changing Girl. Would it also include Doom Patrol? Would it end before Milk Wars or would Volume 2 begin with Milk Wars? That’s all up to you, but there are 96 total issues, so this either needs to be 2 or 3 omnibuses.
Adam Domżał says
Idea for Earth-2’s mapping:
Earth 2 by Robinson, Taylor and Scott:
Collects Earth 2 0-26, 15.1-2, Annual 1-2, the Mr. Terrific short from DC Universe Presents 0, Earth 2: Futures’ End 1 (basically combine the first 5 tpbs). Optionally, it can also include the crossover with Batman/Superman that takes place before the main series, Batman/Superman 1-4.
Earth 2: World’s End by Wilson:
Collects Earth 2 27-32 (composed with the weekly ongoing alongside this guide: https://www.tumblr.com/comicreadingorder/182032776336/new-52-earth-2-earth-2-society-reading-order) and Earth 2: World’s End 1-26.
Earth 2: Society by King, Wilson and Abnett:
Collects Convergence 0-8 (only the main mini; the tie-ins should be collected with their own ongoings; you don’t need anything else), Earth 2: Society 1-22, Annual 1. Optionally, you can also include here the Telos mini (also by Jeff King), as it will otherwise be abandoned.
BONUS (since you missed it):
World’s Finest New 52 Omnibus
Collects World’s Finest 0-32, Annual 1,Futures’ End 1 Batman/Superman 8-9. A side series to the Earth 2 ongoings, focusing on Power Girl and the Huntress.