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Introduction

Introduction to "Comic Book Numbering"

Comic book numbering used to be a very simple issue - each issue was incremented one number from the preceding issue in a simple natural number sequence starting at issue #1 until infinity.

Occasionally there would be some complications when a series was re-named (often when a key character in an ongoing anthology becomes popular enough for their own title), such as "The Incredible Hulk (1968)" taking over the numbering from "Tales to Astonish (1959)" or "Captain America (1968)" taking over the numbering of "Tales of Suspense (1959)".

However, DC Comics started an inadvertent trend when John Byrne re-structured the Man of Steel in the mid-1980's. All Superman comics (Action Comics and Superman) were taken offline for a few months, and a re-launch re-started Superman (1987) with a new #1, and continued the pre-existing Superman (1939) numbering with "Adventures of Superman (1987)". Superman (2006) re-merged Superman (1987) and Adventures of Superman (1987) to a single title.

Both DC and Marvel comics insisted on the occassional oddly numbered comic (0, -1 for Marvel, 1,000,000 for DC) which made continuity of numbering strange.

Marvel had a mathematical psychotic break and sold off key characters (e.g. Hulk, Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and the Fantastic Four) to a group of artist/writers in the ill-fated "Heroes Reborn" period of about a year in the mid-1990's, each series being re-started as a new #1. This experiment lasted about a year from 1996 to 1997, where the characters were re-introduced into the "real" (616) universe of Marvel in "Heroes Return".

Marvel's marketing department, realizing that "#1" issues had extra purchase value, began randomly re-starting series to generate new #1's. Later, someone woke up and realized that they were missing the chance to capitalize on significant milestone issues (500, 600 etc.) and began to re-number the ongoing series, with mixed success. Some re-numbering was simply the inclusion of series X and series Y of the same character, with the new numbering being the sum. However, with other series, the effect was somewhat confusing (see Hulk).

This site is an attempt to make sense of the numbering issues.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

DC Digital First - List of titles

DC Digital First are comics initially designed for online (digital) reading.  Some are collected and re-published in "paper" form.  Here is a list of the Digital First comics:

Title
Year
Issues
Adventures of Superman
2013
51
Ame-Comi Batgirl
2012
3
Ame-Comi Duela Dent
2012
3
Ame-Comi Girls
2012
24
Ame-Comi Power Girl
2012
3
Ame-Comi Supergirl
2012
3
Ame-Comi Wonder Woman
2012
3
Arrow
2012
36
Batman - Arkham City - End Game
2012
6
Batman - Arkham City Digital Exclusive
2011
7
Batman - Arkham Knight
2015
Ongoing
Batman - Arkham Unhinged
2011
58
Batman '66
2013
62
Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet
2013
12
Batman Beyond
2012
29
Batman Beyond 2.0
2013
40
Batman: Li'l Gotham
2012
24
Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga
2014
Ongoing
Beware the Batman
2013
12
Fables: The Wolf Among Us
2014
Ongoing
Fringe - Beyond the Fringe
2011
6
Infinite Crisis - Fight for the Multiverse
2014
36
Injustice - Gods Among Us
2013
36 (plus annual)
Injustice - Gods Among Us - Year 2
2014
24 (plus annual)
Injustice - Gods Among Us - Year 3
2013
22
Justice League Beyond
2011
25
Justice League Beyond 2.0
2014
24
Legends of the Dark Knight
2012
Ongoing
Line of Defense
2012
6
Masters of the Universe
2012
8
Scribblenauts Unmasked: A Crisis of Imagination 
2013
18
Sensation Comics: Wonder Woman
2014
Ongoing
Smallville
2012
69
Smallville - Alien
2014
12
Smallville - Chaos
2014
12
Smallville - Continuity
2014
12
Smallville - Harbinger
2014
4
Smallville - Lantern
2014
12
Smallville - Titans
2013
4
Superman - Beyond
2011
20 (plus 0)
Teen Titans - Go
2014
20
The Flash - Season Zero
2014
Ongoing
Vampire Diaries
2013
39
Wonder Woman '77
2015
6


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