Dark Nights: Death Metal Reading Order

DN:DM = Dark Nights: Death Metal

Overview

Dark Nights: Death Metal (Review) is a followup to Dark Nights: Metal (Reading Order) and the climax of plotlines stretching across the entirety of Scott Snyder's run on the Justice League (Reading Order). The event witnesses Perpetua (Reading Order) and the Batman Who Laughs (Reading Order) execute their master plans while the heroes of the DC Universe try to stop them. All of this has massive implications on DC continuity and the stability of its Multiverse.

The main Death Metal storyline is told over the course of the seven-issue event series. However, a number of tie-in issues and storylines were released alongside the main event. Together, these give a greater picture of the cataclysmic forces at work in this conflict.

Before Reading

Dark Nights: Death Metal (Review) continues plotlines that started back in the Dark Nights: Metal (Reading Order) event. It explores the Dark Multiverse, sees the return of the Batman Who Laughs (Reading Order), and elaborates on an action taken at that event's conclusion. Because of this, understanding what happened in Dark Nights: Metal helps a lot in understanding Dark Nights: Death Metal.

However, a lot happened between these two events. Most of this is explored across the Justice League Vol. 4 series. This starts with Justice League: No Justice (Reading Order), which sees a development in the Multiverse, and continues until the Justice/Doom War, which takes place immediately before Death Metal. All of this helps the reader understand the mysteries behind Perpetua, the secrets behind the Multiverse's relationship to the Omniverse, and the current state of the DC Universe. See our "Justice League by Scott Snyder Reading Order" to see exactly what to read between Dark Nights: Metal and Dark Nights: Death Metal.

In addition to all of this, Dark Nights: Death Metal also references several "Crisis" events from DC's past. Understanding what generally happened in these events can help pieces of this event make sense. The "Crisis" events primarily referenced here include: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis.

After Reading

The conclusion of Dark Nights: Death Metal (Review) helps set up two major events. The first is the Future State series of comics, which focus on a possible future for the DC Universe. The second is the Infinite Frontier event, which helps set up the next era for DC Comics.

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