Big Barda Reading Order

This reading order is designed to give an outline of major storylines featuring Big Barda throughout DC Comics. It may not encompass every one of her appearances but is an outline of the major ones and the stories that affect them.

The continuity details relating to each specific storyline are explained in the “Review” of each storyline. Every “Review” link will provide a detailed continuity breakdown of that story and will explain any reference the story makes to other aspects of the DC Universe. All of this can be found under the “Continuity” section of each link.

Jump to: New 52 – Rebirth – Universe

New 52

At the beginning of the New 52, the DC Universe was reset. In this new continuity, Big Barda’s history seems to have been almost entirely wiped clean. This specifically removes her past interactions with Earth’s heroes, making it so she has never met them before.

In the first half of this era, Big Barda has a moderate role in the progression of the Earth 2 (Reading Order) comics. However, these appearances contradict previous depictions of her, her later appearances within this era, and even themselves in a few places. In addition, Big Barda’s role in the Earth 2 saga is almost never mentioned after it ends. For these reasons, we’ve listed her entire involvement in this saga as “Extra” rather than “Essential”.

Near the end of this era, Big Barda makes a more significant appearance. She plays a supporting role across the second half of the Darkseid War (Reading Order) event. Here, she meets the Justice League (Reading Order) for the first time and readers even have a chance to see her together with Mister Miracle (Reading Order) once more.

Justice League issues are from the Vol. 2 series

Rebirth

The transition from the New 52 to the Rebirth era does not create any specific continuity changes for Big Barda. However, her storyline in the Rebirth era stands pretty independently from her storyline in the New 52 era and generally seems to ignore her position from the conclusion of the Darkseid War (Reading Order) event. Instead, her appearances mostly reference the relationship between her and Mister Miracle that was established across Jack Kirby's run on the New Gods.

In this era, Big Barda stars alongside Mister Miracle (Reading Order) in the Mister Miracle series. Though this series has somewhat unclear ties to the main DC Comics continuity, it still forms an essential part of both characters' lives at this point in time.

Mister Miracle issues are from the Vol. 4 series

Universe

The Universe era is essentially an extension of the Rebirth era, as it maintains the same continuity. Despite this Big Barda's storyline does not reference anything specific from the last two eras.

In this era, Big Barda only makes a few very brief appearances. She appears alongside several other New Gods in an issue from Scott Snyder's Justice League series (Reading Order). She also appears in the climax of that series, the Dark Nights: Death Metal event. However, both of these appearances are extremely brief and do not have much of an impact on her overall character progression.

Justice League issues are from the Vol. 4 series

Notes

• Barda's appearances in these issues are extremely brief. They can be easily skipped without missing anything relating to her character's narrative.

Other Appearances

• Female Furies
  • Barda is a central character in the entire Female Furies series. This comic explores her connections to the other Female Furies and the rest of Apokolips in general. However, the entire series appears to be set in an alternate version of the past. All of Barda's appearances in this series are collected in Female Furies.

All DC Comics Reading Orders