| Includes Issues: | Identity Crisis 1-7 | |
| Original Publication Dates: | August 2004 - February 2005 | |
| TPB Publisher: | DC Comics | |
| TPB Publication Dates: | August 16, 2006 | |
| ISBN-10: | 1401204589 | |
| ISBN-13: | 978-1401204587 | |
| Pages: | 288 | [More Info] |
For most books, this information is collected from the book itself and double checked against several other resources. If this particular book hasn't yet been released, the information probably comes from the publisher's press releases and
Amazon.com.
Sometimes a book is listed here based upon a past solicitation, but never actually comes out. I like to keep these in the database, but I try to make a note of the situation.
I try to list the earliest publication date. For books with a hardcover and softcover or multiple editions this will be for whichever came first. Same for the ISBN numbers.
If there have been similar releases that have significant differences, eventually both will be listed. This means that Showcase and Archives that collect similar material are listed as separate books. Likewise, Omnibus, Deluxe, or Absolute editions will have a separate page, though they will probably be close in the timeline.
If you think
any of the information on this page is off, feel free to leave a comment with a suggestion! You may also leave links to relevant information, alternative publications, reviews, or anything you think would be helpful to site visitors.
| Lists: | Comics, DC Modern Age, DC Universe, Post-Crisis | |
| Series/Event: | Crisis, Identity Crisis | |
| Creators: | Alex Sinclair, Brad Meltzer, Ken Lopez, Michael Bair, Michael Turner, Mike Carlin, Ralph Morales, Valerie D'Orazio | |
| Characters: | Adam Strange, Alfred Pennyworth, Animal Man, Aquaman, Arsenal, Atom, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Batman, Beast Boy, Big Barda, Birds of Prey, Black Canary, Black Condor, Black Lightning, Blue Beetle, Bolt, Booster Gold, Calculator, Captain Atom, Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Captain Marvel, Chronos, Commissioner Jim Gordon, Cyborg, Deadshot, Deathstroke the Terminator, Doctor Fate, Doctor Light, Doctor Mid-Nite, Doctor Moon, Doctor Phosphorus, Elongated Man, Felix Faust, Firehawk, Firestorm, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Green Lantern (John Stewart), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Gypsy, Hawk, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Jack Drake, Jade, Jimmy Olsen, Katana, Kid Flash, Kobra, Lois Lane, Lucas 'Snapper' Carr, Martian Manhunter, Mary Marvel, Maxwell Lord, Merlyn, Metal Men, Metamorpho, Mirror Master, Mr. Miracle, Mr. Terrific, Nightwing, Oberon, Oracle, Perry White, Phobia, Power Girl, Red Tornado, Robin, Robin (Dick Grayson), Robin (Tim Drake), Rocket Red #4, Shadow-Thief, Shining Knight, Slipknot, Spectre, Starfire, Stargirl, Starman, Superman, Tasmanian Devil, Tempest, The Demon/Etrigan, The Kents, The Monocle, The Ray, Vixen, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Zatanna | |
| Edition: | | [More Info] |
Each book is tagged and sorted by the terms above. Every link in this section (in orange) can be used to generate a dynamic reading list based on the term.
The
Lists are large reading orders including every book that falls under them. For example, the
DC Universe list includes every book in that shared universe. This taxonomy is
hierarchical, which means that there can be sub-lists under the main lists. The DC Universe
Pre-Crisis list is an example, allowing you to narrow the selection of DC books. The distinction is important, because eventually there will be Silver Age book lists for Marvel
and DC, and the lists will
not be intermingled because of that hierarchy. Look to the list information in the sidebar to see all the lists currently active. Check the header of each listing for specific information about each one.
The
Series/Event taxonomy, like the rest, is not hierarchical. Not every book is part of a particular publication series, nor necessarily included in the reading order for an event. Events often include specific crossovers and tie-ins, but many event reading orders also include books purely because they are recommended for appreciation and understanding of that event.
The
Creators will be tagged in every book in the database. These include all the writers, artists, and editors that worked on the collected material, as well as anyone who significantly contributed to the collected edition.
The
Characters are very important to this database, since most users enjoy seeing a reading list generated by their favorite heroes and villains. Since each book is tagged with any reoccurring character inside, the amount of orders that can be generated through these tags is staggering.
Since there is so much information to be found in each book, it's relatively common for a couple tags to be missed. If you think this book needs attention - should be given any additional tags or moved off a particular list, for example - just leave me a comment and I'll get right back to you!
These links take you to the previous or next book in the database. It's worth a mention that, at this point, this is specifically
in the database.
That means that if you came to this book page via a specific character reading order, for example, the links may point to books that were
not listed on the previous page's reading order. This is because they are taking into account the entire database.
At this time, they go by the
Recommended Reading Order (or equivalents for non-DCU lists) for determining which books to link.
I am currently looking into getting them to give direction based on what page you came from, but it's possible that there is no solution to that issue.
| Unique Reading Order ID: | 200905020000 | |
| Chronological List Value: | 2005.02 | |
| TRO Database Book ID: | 763 |
[More Info] |
The
Unique Reading Order ID determines this book's placement in all lists generated from the
Recommended Reading Order (or equivalents for non-DCU lists). It's not actually unique site-wide, but is unique for each major list. This value is actually based on a date system, but has no relation to any real dates.
The
Chronological List Value is determined by the most recent publication date of collected contents. This value determines book placement on all lists generated chronologically.
The
TRO Database Book ID is a value indicative of when this book was added. It is used primarily for reference within the TRO database and not for sorting. It used to help with interpage linking, but has been replaced with a more user friendly "slug" (web url title) system.
These values are provided for the purposes of sorting your own collections. You could keep an excel spreadsheet or google document with the titles of the books in your collection. In columns next to the books, place each of these numbers. Then when you display the list sorted numerically by either of these columns, your books will fall into order.
Of course, now that TRO's
built in collection sorting feature is active, it's much easier to sort your books. But these numbers still display just in case you'd like to use them or are curious about the inner operation of the website.
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Hey Ian — hope your holiday weekend is off to a lovely start. It sounds like congratulations are in order for your friend. A close friend of mine always wanted to go to that school in Savannah…
So I’ve got some fixes for you. I did some reading this afternoon and got through JSA: Lost, The Flash: Secret of Barry Allen and Identity Crisis, and would strongly suggest that a reordering is called for.
You’ve got them in the right order for the publication chronology, but it gets tricky because of the crossover element. Both “Lost” and “Secret” tell stories that begin prior to “Identity” before ultimately tying into the crossover. “Secret,” in particular, has a second half which touches on every single plot turn of “Identity.”
So I think the ideal reading order for the three would have to be: Identity, Lost, Secret. As for the Challengers of the Unknown book that you have between Secret and Identity, I haven’t read it so I don’t know for sure, but I looked up the covers to the individual issues in that collection online and none of them have Identity Crisis logos on them, which suggests to me that they didn’t tie-in at all. So placement on that one is probably less important.
Hope that all made sense! I’m trying to be somewhat vague because I don’t want to spoil any plot developments for you in books you haven’t read.
Cheers…
[Reply]
haha, awesome. I appreciate your vagueness.
Sounds like good reasoning to me (and I’ve certainly had to do similar switching around with other crossovers).
I’m going to change it to match your suggested order and then make any tweaks to surrounding books after I’ve read through. Might be a bit, but this comment will be here so I’ll be reminded if I need to be :)
[Reply]
PS. a quick flip through of the challengers volume (and my prior knowledge of it) seems to confirm your theory that it doesn’t really have anything to do with the crossover – and possibly not much to do with anything. period. haha. Seems to be entirely doing its own thing. But I’ll know for sure once I get there.
[Reply]
Yeah, I think you’re doing a much more comprehensive read than I am. I started with Crisis on Infinite Earths last year with the goal of getting caught up. Eventually I wanna just pick up and read new trades as they come out. In order to make that a realizable goal I’ve constantly trimmed my list of books that were neither characters/stories I was interested in nor important stories for DCU continuity. Thus books like Challengers of the Unknown have just gotten passed over entirely.
Of course, given that there are still around 250 books in my queue that whole “caught up” thing isn’t happening any time soon. [grin]
[Reply]
yeah, I have to admit that it’s often frustrating seeing really cool books coming out that I know I’m not going to get to for years – but it’s also really rewarding to be spending so much time ‘earlier’ because when developments happen I’ve been acclimatized to that past period and they effect me more the way they would have effected those readers.
For example, I’m reading so much pre-crisis stuff now that when I get back to the modern age it really is going to seem shocking and modern to me!
[Reply]
I think the only pre-crisis stuff I’ve read is “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” and the stories in the “Crisis on Multiple Earths” collections. One day I’ll have to start collecting the Archive Editions or Showcase books.
[Reply]
If you’re playing quick catch up, the Crisis on Multiple Earths stuff is all you really need to get into the modern dc events, I think, but there is a lot of other good stuff there too. I’ve found I’m enjoying it much much much more than I thought I would.
Showcase books you can often find for insanely cheap (around 5 or 6 bucks for 500 pages of comics!) Just look on ebay for lots or on amazon, half.com, etc.
I wouldn’t buy silver age archives unless you really know you like the material, it’s a large investment for stuff available in black and white for so cheap.
The golden age stuff is often at the same time horrible and amazing, sometimes for the same reasons. It’s super interesting stuff, but not really required for following the modern stories.
[Reply]
Yeah, I went back and forth about the archives vs. showcase edition — but price will almost certainly make Showcase the much more appealing option.
And you’re right about the relevance issue — that’s why I haven’t picked any of them up yet while I’m focused on the catching up.
[Reply]
yeah, I think when I have more free time again I might keep going with reading the modern age stuff (before I used to have one pre-crisis and one post crisis book I was reading at all times.) but lately I only have time to read a 10-20 page story a couple times a day so the pre-crisis stuff is great.
I’ve been stuck at “Baptism of Fire” in my modern age reading for about two months now, haha, while I play catch up in the 40s and 60s.
[Reply]