The Full Bleed

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Dead Universes (part III): Reading order

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Originally published October 18, 2013 | Updated April 2026
Originally published in 2013, this post explores how to approach reading three major Dead Universes: Defiant, Valiant, and the Ultraverse. The reading strategy you choose affects how you collect. Do you read series-by-series as they were originally published? In chronological order? Or by release date? Knowing this decision upfront will help you invest in Dead Universes strategically.

This post has become even more relevant in 2026. ShooterWorks.com‘s notes on Schism, Defiant’s never-published universe-wide crossover event, now pair with an active Schism Kickstarter that successfully funded in 2025. All 160 pages of Schism were penciled and inked in 1994 before Defiant’s closure halted completion. Backers will receive at minimum digital issues 1 through 4, with print editions and hardcover collections available at higher tiers. This makes the reading order question more urgent for collectors interested in completing Jim Shooter’s vision for this universe.

Deciding how to read a Dead Universe informs the best way to collect a Dead Universe. Do you read it series-by-series, as it was originally published? In chronological order? Or by release date? Knowing this will help determine how to invest in Dead Universes.

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Dead Universes (part II): Best Practices

Marvel's ad after they bought out Ultraverse.
Marvel’s ad after they bought out Ultraverse.

Originally published October 8, 2013 | Updated April 2026

The best practices for collecting Dead Universes differ from modern comics. Whether you’re starting with Defiant, Valiant, or the Ultraverse, these principles will help you build a complete collection affordably and strategically. Originally published in 2013, this advice remains relevant in 2026 because the fundamentals of smart collecting haven’t changed.

In the previous post, we explored how accessible Dead Universe collecting can be. The barrier isn’t cost, it’s strategy. Unlike hunting for mint condition variants, collecting Dead Universes is about completing stories affordably. Here are the principles that will guide your approach.

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Dead Universes (prologue): A time traveler finds holes in the multiverse

Originally published October 8, 2013 | Updated April 2026
In 2013, we began exploring the death of shared comic universes from the 1990s boom. Over a decade later, we’re revisiting this series. Jim Shooter passed away in June 2025, and the successful Schism Kickstarter, completing his unfinished Defiant Comics story, reminded us that these dead universes still matter to creators and collectors. The time felt right to explore them more deeply: not just what they were, but why they disappeared, and what their legacy tells us about comics history.

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RetChronicles: Revisiting “Titans Hunt”

New_Teen_Titans_Vol_2_71For a few of years I’ve been haunted by a story arc from The New Titans dubbed “The Titans Hunt.” Since my original reading of the storyline in 1990, it’s lived in my mind as one of the greatest Teen Titan stories ever told. For a couple of years now I’ve wanted to revisit the story, but haven’t been willing to invest in the floppies knowing I already had them sitting in a long box 3,000 miles away. On a recent trip to my childhood home, I decided to crack open that box, pull out a big chunk of nostalgia, and pack it all in my luggage (I had to steal a second suitcase from my parents because I ended up taking 15 pounds of comics back with me).

What Was “Titans Hunt”?

The “Titans Hunt” story arc runs from issue 71 through 84, but the fallout from the events in “Titans Hunt” ripple well beyond issue 100. In the letter section of issue 71 editor Jonathan Peterson promised to “shake things up” as the title had fallen into a rut. Working with longtime Titans writer Marv Wolfman and penciler Tom Grummett little time is wasted turning the Titans inside out like a baboon through a Brundle telepod. By the end of the first five issues in the arc most of the Titans are captured by the Wildebeest Society for a mysterious experiment, Aqualad’s in a coma, Titans Tower has been demolished, Jericho is revealed to be a traitor, and some b-list Titans are “dead” (I run the tally at the end of this post).

Wolfman doesn’t hold back when it comes to putting these beloved characters (many of whom he created) through the grinder. Peterson definitely got his wish by the end of the storyline with most of the core members who’d been on the roster for more than a decade out of commission.

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The strange case of Michael Moorcock and Grant Morrison

Gideon Stargrave michael moorcock and grant morrisonThis link is to an epic response from Grant Morrison to Alan Moore, but I’m mostly interested in the part regarding Michael Moorcock.

I don’t dabble much in creator drama (and I find the Moore vs. Everyone drama especially droll), so I didn’t actually know Moorcock had such disdain for Morrison. It shocks me because if it wasn’t for Morrison I likely never would have picked up a book featuring Moorcock’s character Jerry Cornelius. Since Morrison led me to discover Cornelius I’ve read every single Moorcock story (as far as I know) that features the character. The devouring of those stories led me to Dancers at the End of Time which in turn resulted in digging deeper into Moorcock’s work including Elric, Corum, and more (even works like Fireclown and Gloriana). Likewise, I came to Jorge Luis Borges due to that author’s influence on Morrison’s Doom Patrol.

Reading Moorcock’s 2004 thread, where he continues to hold a grudge 25 years after 17-year-old Morrison first used Gideon Stargrave, it sounds like Morrison had spent the last two decades trying to hide the tribute he was paying to the author in his work. I don’t personally think that was the case as Morrison wasn’t shy in mid-90s interviews or the letters section of The Invisibles to mention how he was inspired by both Moorcock and J.G. Ballard in his youth (the latter he’s cited as being the larger influence on both Gideon Stargrave and King Mob). Moorcock seems to be fixated on the character of Gideon Stargrave while missing the more relevant influence of Cornelius on aspects of the character of King Mob.

Reading works by creators like Morrison is enhanced by figuring out how different pieces of the larger puzzle were informed. In many ways, it’s like dismantling the samples in a Beastie Boys album and visiting the source material. Kurtis Blow has often joked about how he could have sued the Beastie Boys for clipping his song “Party Time” in “Hey Ladies,” but instead accepts the sample with pride, because it’s led new listeners to his work.

I’m a fan of Moorcock because Morrison shared his exuberance for the character of Jerry Cornelius with Gideon Stargrave. Instead of being petty and spiteful Moorcock should instead be thanking creators like Morrison for keeping his legacy alive instead of collecting dust in the poorly organized sci-fi section of a used bookstore.

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DC’s editorial department back in spotlight as Batwoman’s creators step down

Batwoman proposal from issue 17.
Batwoman proposal from issue 17.

Last night J. H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman announced that they’re leaving Batwoman after 26 issues due to editorial interference that included being “prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married.” Williams followed up the posting of his letter on Twitter with the comment “But must clarify- was never put to us as being anti-gay marriage.”

No one except those who were in the editorial board room knows if this decision was based on a company policy against DC’s LGBT characters getting hitched. It would seem odd in light of the company’s increasing comfort with prominent LGBT characters including Batwoman, Midnighter, Apollo, Sarah Rainmaker, Alysia Yeoh, and Alan Scott. What we do know is that DC erased every major character marriage — most notably the marriage between Superman and Lois Lane — when they relaunched the DC Universe in 2011. That suggests DC may have a policy to limit the marriage of title characters — no matter their sexual orientation. DC has never declared that limiting marriages is a policy.

No matter the justification for denying the marriage, the departure of Blackman and Williams once again brings negative attention to DC’s editorial department, who seem to have an increasing problem of not trusting some creators while putting too much faith in others.

The story Williams and Blackman have been telling is unique in the DC Universe, as they’ve had the freedom to tell it in a bubble without needing to shape their arcs around pesky multiple-title event storylines. Batwoman and Batman, Inc. were the only Bat-books given the luxury to sit out both “The Court of Owls” and “Death of the Family.” The result, free of crossover interruptions, is a complete story that can be read straight through from the first issue. Its lead character is also one of the best developed characters in the new 52. (more…)

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