The mapping never stops! From now until May 19, I’ll be loosely mapping missing and most-wanted DC omnibus volumes every day! Then, on the 19th, I’ll be joining with Near Mint Condition to launch the first annual Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus Annual Poll! This post covers omnibuses missing from the Superman Family – including Superboy, Supergirl, Jon Kent, Power Girl, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, & more!
This post explains potential Superman Family Omnibus Mapping for votes on the Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 1st Annual Secret Ballot. I’m posting all of these maps before the poll begins to give people the time to consider their favorites, correct our mapping mistakes, and catch books I might have missed.
This post is the first of many that will delve into uncharted territory for me, because I don’t have guides for any of these characters… although, at least one of them should be arriving within the next month or two
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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Powergirl Omnibus Mapping
Power Girl is a Super-Family character with a curious history. The shortest possible version is that she has always been Golden Age Earth-2 Supergirl, imported to mainline DC continuity. Power Girl fans would explain it in a lot more detail than that, but now you’ve got the basics! That means Power Girl has some of her own Bronze Age material as part of the Earth Two Justice Society, but her true solo material is entirely from the mid-00s.
Power Girl by Palmiotti, Gray, Winnick, et al (1988 – 2015)
This would be a “Complete Power Girl” collection including all of her significant Post-Crisis, Pre-Flashpoint material (and, maybe one Post-Flashpoint book, as well). That would include all of her material by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, & Amanda Conner.
It would collect Showcase (1956) #97-99, Secret Origins (1986) #11, Power Girl (1988) #1-4, JSA: Classified (2005) #1-4 (which is routinely collected with her solo series), material from 52 (2006) #1, 3, 11, 23, 35-36, 39, & 48-52, Power Girl (2009) #1-27, and maybe also Harley Quinn and Power Girl (2015) #1-16 for the Gray / Palmiotti / Conner fans.
(I think there’s an argument that the 1988 series would have been better placed in the Justice League omnibus line since Power Girl was a member of Justice League Europe for so long, but that mapping ship has already sailed!)
Superboy Omnibus Mapping
The name “Superboy” refers to several distinct DC characters. Originally, the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age Superboy was literally the canonical kid version of Superman. Then, in the Post-Crisis world, Superboy was Conner Kent – a clone introduced during “Death and Return of Superman.” Later, in New 52, that character was reimagined as “Kon-El.” Later still, Superman’s son Jon Kent was briefly Superboy before being upgraded to Superman when Brian Bendis aged him up to be a teenager.
This list covers the first three of those Superboys; Jon Kent is addressed below in his own section.
Superboy, The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (1949 & on)
This title is going to get us in trouble with major DC continuity nerds and I already know it! That’s because, technically all Superboy stories that feature elements implying he is a young Superman are part of Silver Age Superman continuity – which begins as early as Superboy (1949) #10! Yet, from a release standpoint, this is all Golden Age material.
This would begin to collect More Fun Comics (1936) #101-107 (7-8pg stories plus cover), Adventure Comics (1938) #103 and on (10-12pg stories plus cover), and Superboy (1949) #1 and on (starting the month after Adventure Comics (1938) #138; 30-40 pages of Superboy content plus cover). Superboy was bi-monthly until December 1953, and still would occasionally release bi-monthly after that.
DC tends to stick to a 650-850 page range for their Golden Age line with a max of 20 front/back matter pages. That means this first volume would likely collect More Fun Comics (1936) #101-107 (63pgs), Adventure Comics (1938) #103-146 (484-572 pages), Superboy (1949) #1-5 (~200pgs).
Superboy, The Silver Age Omnibus, Vol. 1 (1965 & on)
It’s tricky to say when Silver Age starts for Superboy, since technically Superboy had been Silver Age Superman ever since 1949!
However, to align Superboy with the other Superman titles, his Silver Age likely begins with Mort Weisinger and his editorial efforts to streamline Superman into his “Earth-1” version. That would place the divide in 1958, somewhere around Adventure Comics (1938) #249 and Superboy (1949) #66.
In this period, Superboy was the lead feature in Adventure Comics, usually at 12pgs plus cover, and the primary content of Superboy (1949), usually >24pgs plus cover. Later in the 60s, he also occasionally had backup stories in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane (1958) and Superman (1939).
That would mean this first volume would likely collect something like Adventure Comics (1938) #249-275 (351pgs) and Superboy (1949) #66-82 (425pgs).
Superboy, The Bronze Age Omnibus (1970 – 1973)
After two omnibuses that were a challenge to map and research, this one is quite simple!
This would collect Superboy (1949) #164-196 along with some supporting appearances, after which point he merges into Legion of Super-Heroes and their omnibus line would cover the remainder of this series.
Superboy: The New Adventures of Superboy by Bates & Kupperberg (1980 – 1984)
After the better part of a decade spent in the Legion of Super-Heroes, in 1980 Superboy regained his own title. It ran for five years before it was cancelled in favor of a merged Superboy/Supergirl title that never came to fruition due to the impending Crisis on Infinite Earths that would erase both characters from continuity (as explained by author Paul Kupperberg).
This would collect The New Adventures of Superboy (1980) #1-54. This series was meant to wrap up its arc in issue #55, which got re-purposed as DC Double Comics and was never printed. Perhaps this omnibus could publish the script from The Unpublished Comic Book Scripts of Paul Kupperberg.
Superboy, The 1990s Omnibus Vol. 1 (1994 & on)
This series followed Conner Kent, the cloned Superboy introduced in “Death & Return of Superman.”
This would begin to collect Superboy (1994) #1-100, Annual 1-4, One Million, various crossover issues, and the accompanying title Superboy and the Ravers (1994) #1-18. That means this would take at least three volumes to collect in full!
Superboy, The Boy of Steel by Johns & Lemire (2009 – 2011)
Superboy went through a lot of continuity nonsense due to DC’s mid-00s Crises, but he made a short-lived return just prior to Flashpoint written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Lemire.
This would collect Adventure Comics (2009) #0-6, material from Superman: Secret Files 2009 (2009) #1, Superboy (2011) #1-11, and other supporting appearances from this period.
FYI, this Superboy series has a 2011 volume date but is not the Post-Flashpoint New 52 series, which is technically Superboy (2011B)!
Superboy, The New 52 Omnibus (2011 – 2014)
This would collect the entirely of the New 52 series that reimagined the story of a cloned Superboy. His own series is 36 issues, but there are as many as 21 additional issues worth of crossovers we could add – though not all of them are entirely relevant to Superboy.
This would collect Superboy (2011B) #1-34, 0, & Annual 1, plus some crossover issues from “Rise of the Ravagers” (Legion Lost (2011) #8-9, Legion Lost (2011) #9, Superboy (2011B) #8-9, Teen Titans (2011) #8-9 & Annual 1), “H’el on Earth” (Superboy (2011B) Annual 1 & 14-17, Supergirl (2011) #14-17, Superman (2011) #13-17), and “Krypton Returns” (Action Comics (2011) Annual 2, Superboy (2011B) #0 & 25, Supergirl (2011) #0 & 25, and Superman (2011) #0, 23.3, 25).
Supergirl Omnibus Mapping
Much like Superboy, Supergirl has a confusing continuity which is beyond the scope of this post to explain! There is a big difference between Earth-2 Supergirl (later Power Girl), the Silver Age Earth-1 version (whose famous death created the iconic cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7), the Post-Crisis version (a genetically engineered “matrix” who eventually merged with a human), and the current version of Kara Zor-El – Superman’s cousin who arrived on Earth in a different timeframe than he did.
I’m sure I didn’t explain that well enough. Guess I need to get moving on my Supergirl guide!
Supergirl, The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (1972 – 1984)
Supergirl’s Silver Age back-up stories are already collected comprehensively in a pair of omnibuses, which is pretty wild considering Superman himself only has one Silver Age omnibus!
That leaves an interesting conundrum when it comes to collecting Bronze Age Supergirl. She had a series in 1971 that lasted less than a year before being merged into Superman Family (1974) (which began with issue #164, rebranded from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen).
Then, when that series ended, she got her own title for two years in 1982 which was meant to be merged with The New Adventures of Superboy (1980) into “DC Double Comics” – which was cancelled before it could be published.
The conundrum is if this omnibus would simply collect the entirety of those 1971 and 1982 series, or if it would collect all of her Superman Family material as well. Personally, I’d like to see all of Superman Family collected in its own omnibus – but, voting for this title is an endorsement of either mapping.
As a result, this would collect Supergirl (1971) #1-10 (usually 20-22 pages plus cover, for ~220pgs) and Supergirl (1982) #1-23 (usually 24 pages plus cover, for ~575pgs).
That would make one perfectly-sized Bronze Age omnibus. However, there is also the Supergirl material from Superman Family (1974) #164-222. Her stories in Superman Family were usually 12-14 pages plus cover, so that’s another 546 pages of material. DC never goes over 900 pages on a Pre-Crisis character omnibus, so if we go with that expanded mapping this could be two short volumes.
Supergirl by Peter David Vol. 1 (of 2) (1996 – 1999)
Supergirl by Peter David Vol. 2 (of 2) (1999 – 2003)
This would collect all of Peter David’s incredibly beloved Supergirl run in a pair of omnibuses. This is the “matrix” version of Supergirl, who eventually merged with a human being.
This would collect Supergirl (1994) #1-4, Supergirl (1996) #1-80, One Million, Annual 1-2, and crossovers.
Supergirl: The Girl of Steel Vol. 1 (of 2) (2005 – 2008)
This would collect the first half of the 2005 Supergirl series launched by Jeph Loeb out of an arc from his Superman/Batman.
This would collect Superman / Batman (2003) #8-13 & 19 (AKA Supergirl #0) and Supergirl (2005) #1-33, as well as Action Comics (1938) (between #18-19) and material from DCU Infinite Holiday Special #1.
That would make this significantly shorter than the second volume since the second volume has much more supporting material, but this is a good breaking point.
Supergirl: The Girl of Steel Vol. 2 (of 2) (2008 – 2011)
This would pick up the second half of the Supergirl series starting from the beginning of writer Sterling Gates’s run to collect the remainder of the series, including material by Kelly Sue DeConnick.
This would collect Supergirl (2005) #34-67, Superman / Supergirl: Maelstrom (2008) #1-5, plus crossovers and supporting appearances.
In reading order, I think that would be something like Superman / Supergirl: Maelstrom (2008) #1-5, Supergirl (2005) #34-42, Superman / Batman #62, Supergirl #43-44 & Annual 1, Action Comics #881, Supergirl #45, Action Comics #882, Supergirl #46-50, World’s Finest #3, (some relevant material from Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #1-3 & Superman #699), Supergirl #51, Adventure Comics #9, Supergirl #52-57 & Annual 2, Superman / Batman #77, Supergirl #58-67, and material from Superman: Secret Files 2009 #1.
Supergirl, The New 52 Omnibus (2011 – 2015)
This would collect Supergirl (2011) #1-40 & 0, Supergirl: Futures End (2014) #1, Action Comics (2011) #23.1 (Cyborg Superman), Superman (2011) #25, Green Lantern/Red Lanterns (2014) #28, and Red Lanterns (2011) #29.
Supergirl and her title participated in several Superman line crossovers during the New 52, but none of them were significant enough to her narrative that her own trade paperback line included them, other than Superman (2011) #25.
Supergirl, The Rebirth Omnibus by Orlando, Houser, & Andreyko (2016 – 2020)
This would collect Supergirl’s entire Rebirth run, from Supergirl (2016) Rebirth, #1-40, & Annual 1-2, a story from Batgirl (2016) Annual 1, and material from Superman: Leviathan Rising Special (2019) #1
Superman: Jon Kent Omnibus Mapping
Jon Kent is Superman’s son with Lois Lane, introduced as an infant by Dan Jurgens in the non-continuity DC event Convergence but then continued due to rapturous fan response and ultimately merged into main DC continuity during Jurgens run in DC Rebirth! Jon was always a pre-teen until Brian Bendis’s run on Superman in 2018, in which he exiled Jon to space and brought him back as an older teen for reasons that are still hard to understand.
Superman: Jon Kent, Son of Kal-El by Tom Taylor (2021 – 2022)
Despite having a slew of tween material in Supersons, Jon Kents actual solo adventures are largely contained to a pair of series by Tom Taylor that occur after his age-up by Brian Bendis.
This would collect Superman: Son of Kal-El (2021) #1-18 & Annual 1, Nightwing (2016) #89, material from Superman: Kal-El Returns Special (2019) #1, crossover A-stories in Action Comics (1938) #1047-1050, Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent (2023) #1-6, and anthology stories (including from DC Pride).
It could begin with some excerpted material from the Brian Bendis run showing Jon’s return as a teen, though I don’t think that’s required to understand the context of the Taylor series.
Steel Omnibus Mapping
Steel is another of the replacement Superman from “Death and Return of Superman” who became a beloved character in his own right. John Henry Irons was a regular guy and brilliant engineer who put the safety of Metropolis first to become a self-made superhero!
Steel, The 1990s Omnibus by Louise Simonson & Christopher Priest (1994 – 1998)
This would be a straight-forward collection of Steel (1994) #1-52, 0, & Annual 1-2.
Two years later, Steel would transition into being a recurring character in Superman: The Man of Steel (1991) #95-134, but we’ll leave that to the Superman line to collect!
Silver & Bronze Age Superman Family Omnibus Mapping
Starting just prior to the Silver Age, two of Superman’s most-regular supporting characters received their own titles – Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane! These books were something Marvel Comics never had in the Silver Age – comics about regular people experiencing a heroic world. (Marvel had Patsy Walker, but she only rarely intersected with superheroes).
These titles went through an interesting transformation early in the Bronze Age. First, Jimmy Olsen’s title was commandeered by Jack Kirby as an unlikely part of his Fourth World saga. Then, in 1974 all of the supporting Superman characters (including Superboy and Supergirl!) were collapsed into a single “Superman Family” anthology title that continued its numbering from Jimmy Olsen.
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Silver Age Vol. 1 (1954 & on)
This would collect the first several years of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954). Issues were typically 22-26 story pages plus cover, so an omnibus would collect only the first 30 issues (though, I’d encourage DC to push this to 33 issues so we can knock this out in four volumes!)
This would likely collect Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #1-33.
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Bronze Age Omnibus (1970 – 1974)
Jack Kirby’s well-known and transformative run on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) only lasted from #133-148, which means the final year of material has never been reprinted! That’s a great reason to recollect the Kirby material away from the rest of his Fourth World work.
This would collect Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #133-163.
After issue #163 this was re-titled to Superman Family (1954), covered below.
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, Silver Age Vol. 1 (1958 & on)
Similar to Jimmy Olsen’s book, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (1958) typically included 22-26 story pages plus cover (although some back-up stories were reprints). It ran for 99 issues before the Bronze Age, which makes it the perfect size for a trio of 33-issue omnibuses!
This would likely collect Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (1958) #1-33.
Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, The Bronze Age Omnibus (1970 – 1974)
The first 1970s issue of Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (1958) happens to be issue #100! The series continued until 1974 when it was part of the Superman line’s collapse into Superman Family (1974).
That means this would likely collect Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (1958) #100-137.
Superman Family, The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (1974 & on)
The Superman Family (1974) continued the numbering from Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen starting with issue #164. It was an anthology book including stories from Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Supergirl, Krypto the Superdog, Bizarro, and more!
The Superman Family (1974) #164-222 is just 59 issues, but it had wildly fluctuating page counts and story content. It initially launched with massive 100-page issues (80+ pages of story content), but even as it grew shorter over the years it was always marketed as an affordable “bang for the buck” comic. However, issues #164-181 were mostly reprint material, with only 1-2 original stories per issue. An omnibus line would not reproduce that reprint material. Later issues reached over 40 pages of all original story content, plus a cover.
DC hires me to work through it issue-by-issue to figure out the exact page counts and omnibus mapping (I’m available, DC!), we’ll simply say this would collect The Superman Family (1974) #164 and on.
Rebirth-Era Superman Family Omnibus Mapping
DC’s Rebirth in 2016 widened the Superman Family with two new heroes (though one was a familiar character), plus it brought back ongoing titles for Jimmy Olsen & Lois Lane!
New Super-Man by Gene Luen Yang (2016 – 2018)
Emerging from New 52 into DC Rebirth, famed graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang created “New Super-Man,” the Superman of China! This series was a rare book to master the art of developing an unlikable protagonist – as Super-Man starts out as a somewhat obnoxious kid who doesn’t know what to make of his newfound powers. I found it to be charming from start to finish.
This would collect New Super-Man (2016) #1-24. Technically, the final arc is titled New Super-Man and the Justice League of China #20-24.
Superwoman by Phil Jimenez & Kate Perkins, The Rebirth Omnibus (2016 – 2018)
Superwoman was a surprising series that started by picking up a major plot thread from the end of New 52 to introduce us to a new Superwoman. Then, it made a shocking pivot – the kind that modern books usually can’t create due to spoilers from solicits. That yielded a compelling, readable series that helped to streamline the transition from New 52 continuity to Rebirth continuity.
This would collect Superwoman (2016) #1-18 and material from Superman Rebirth (2016) #1.
Superman by Bendis Companion: Jimmy, Lois, Leviathan, & Checkmate (2019 – 2022)
This would collect all of the material that accompanied Brian Bendis’s main Superman run.
That includes his mini-event told in mini-series, Event Leviathan (2019) #1-6, Superman: Leviathan Rising (2019 #1, Leviathan Dawn (2019) #1, and Checkmate (2020) #1-6. None of these had enough to do with Superman to really make sense as a part of his potential Superman omnibus mapping.
That’s just 14 issues, to which we could add two books with wildly differing tones. Lois Lane (2019) #1-12 by Greg Rucka & Mike Perkins actually has thematic and story content links to that Leviathan/Checkmate material. Matt Fraction & Steve Lieber’s Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (2019) #1-12 very much did not (to which we’d add. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen’s Boss Perry White (2022) #1).
That makes for a tidy 38 issue companion book that collects all of Bendis’s Superman-adjacent plotlines and supporting titles.
Superman – Villains Omnibus Mapping
Superman has many iconic villains, but a specific trio of them stick out as having enough critical material to make for a readable omnibus of material.
Superman – Villains: Brainiac Omnibus (1958 & on)
Brainiac first appeared in Action Comics #242 in July 1958. He has had several key stories (extending through this month!) and a “vs. Superman” trade, so there is plenty of material from which we can pull.
Superman – Villains: Doomsday Omnibus (1992 & on)
Doomsday is an eternally-popular Superman foe thanks to his role in the Death of Superman. He has been used sparingly in the 30 years since then, which means we could likely assemble a lean, mean omnibus of his material.
A previous paperback “omnibus” collected Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey (1994) #1-3 (a premium-format, OGN-style mini-series), Doomsday Annual (1995) #1 (a Year One annual), Superman: The Doomsday Wars (1998) #1-3, Adventures of Superman (1987) #594 (2001), and Superman (1987) #175 (2001).
That’s already 344 pages, so even 2-3 additional arcs would fill this out to full size – and there’s always all of the New 52 “Doomed” crossover to include, if we need to fill space!
Superman – Villains: Lex Luthor Classic Omnibus (1940 & on)
Lex Luthor first appeared in Action Comics #23 in April 1940. He has enough key Pre-Crisis appearances for a full book, rather than just the anniversary deluxe editions DC has given him the past few years. However, when it comes to Post-Crisis material, he may be too integrated into long-running Superman stories for a coherent collection.
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