DC Comics laid the groundwork for the event comic with their yearly multiversal crossovers in Justice League of America in the Silver Age. However, Marvel put out the first event series as we would recognize them today with Marvel Super Heroes: Content of Champions. Secret Wars was the next one, but then DC struck back with the greatest event ever: Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since then, event excellence has been a huge part of the publisher’s brand. DC’s events do have some rather obvious tropes (so do Marvel’s, for that matter, but no brings it up as much), but when one of their event comics hit, they are the best ones you can imagine.
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Some DC events have naturally rose to the top of the heap, but there are others that don’t get the love they deserve. These lesser-loved events are honestly pretty awesome. These ten DC events are the most underrated of all time, ranked by their quality.
10) Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time
Even after Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC continuity was still pretty wonky and by the mid ’90s, it was decided that a story needed to fix those leftover problems (some of which Crisis actually exacerbated). Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time, by Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway, saw the mysterious new villain Extant attacking as various alternate universe heroes show up out of nowhere. This isn’t some amazing story, but it’s way better than it gets credit for. There’s big moments, a couple of cool twists for DC fans, and some awesome art from Jurgens and Ordway. It didn’t actually fix much, but it established a concrete DC timeline and is more fun than most people realize.
9) Armageddon 2001
Armageddon 2001 is an infamous DC event. The story saw Waverider, a man from the future, going back in time to figure out who the evil Monarch, the ruler of the Earth, was and how he took over. However, the identity of the Monarch was leaked before hand, and creators had to scramble to come up with a new ending. The event took place in various annuals, taking readers to the future to see the heroes’ lives in 2001. These chapters are honestly pretty good, and the Armageddon 2001 two-issue series from Archie Goodwin, Denny O’Neil, Dan Jurgens, and Dick Giordano is a pretty fun superhero battle comic. This story doesn’t have a great reputation, but it’s pretty good, honestly.
8) “House of Brainiac”
Superman has loads of underrated stories, and “House of Brainiac” is one of the coolest Superman events in years. This story by Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval, Fico Ossio, Miguel Mendonca, and Edwin Galmon ran through Superman and Action Comics, with a special one-shot, and tie-ins in Green Lantern and Power Girl. The story sees Brainiac use an army of Czarnians to kidnap members of the Super and Luthor families in order to find a secret that will allow the Coluan cyborg to create his ultimate weapon. This story is fantastic, a key part of DC in 2024, and shows how well DC has been treating the Superman titles lately.
7) Absolute Power
The build-up to Absolute Power, by Mark Waid and Dan Mora, began at the end of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and ran through the various DC titles of the “Dawn of DC” publishing initiative, as Amanda Waller hatched a plan to take control of the superhero community. This four-issue story showed her final attack, as the heroes scrambled to defeat an enemy who had a plan for everything. Waid and Mora are electric together, and the tie-ins to the event are all excellent. This is a prime example of great DC event creation and Absolute Power is a treasure.
6) Flashpoint Beyond
Flashpoint kicked off the New 52, and hasn’t really aged well despite DC trying to push it as one of the greats. We’d eventually return to the Flashpoint Earth with Flashpoint Beyond, by Geoff Johns, Jeremy Adams, Tim Sheridan, Xermanico, Eduardo Risso, and Mikel Janin. This story saw a returned to life Flashpoint Batman trying to figure out what was going on, and played with numerous plots that Johns had set up over the years in various books. It’s way better than it gets credit for being, with the art by Xermanico being especially good. Even if you didn’t like Flashpoint, this story will do it for you.
5) Titans: Beast Wars
Titans: Beast War, by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, and Lucas Meyer, was a Titans-focused event from the “Dawn of DC” publishing initiative. The story saw an attack by the alien kaiju Necrostar, with Beast Boy becoming a Starro the Conqueror to beat it. However, Amanda Waller sends Doctor Hate to alter his mind, causing him to rain mini-Starros that transform humans into beasts, causing chaos around the world with only the heroes to blame. This series showed the Titans leading the heroes in battle, and is way more fun than most people give it credit for. The tie-in City Tour one-shots are fantastic anthology books, fleshing out the stakes of the event. All in all, this one is fantastic.
4) Doomsday Clock
Doomsday Clock, by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, has gotten a lot of flack over the years, and it doesn’t deserve any of it. This twelve-issue story crossed over Watchmen and DC, paying off a plot line started in DC Rebirth #1. Johns does his Alan Moore impression, but it doesn’t derail the book like it did with Three Jokers, and shows off why he was such a beloved writer in the ’00s. Frank’s art is perfect, and that’s really all there is to it. This story has one of the best final issues ever, and while delays kept it from being the big deal it was supposed to be, sitting down and reading it in 2026 reveals a pretty awesome story.
3) Final Night
Final Night, by Karl Kesel and Stuart Immonen, often gets lost in the shuffle, but it’s one of the coolest DC events that you’ve almost certainly never read. This mid ’90s event saw a Sun Eater destroy the sun, with the heroes of the Earth trying to figure out a way to save the day. There’s no big battles in this one, just the heroes doing their best to save the day and failing time after time, with a perfect twist ending that redeemed one of DC’s greatest. Kesel’s script is an emotional, taut thriller, keeping you on the edge of your seat with Immonen’s art bringing it all to life perfectly.
2) DC One Million
DC One Million is an outstanding event comic, one of the best of the ’90s at Marvel or DC, which is saying something. Written by Grant Morrison with art by Val Semeiks, the book spun out of JLA, as the Justice Legion A from the 853rd century came back in time to take the team to the future. However, Vandal Savage and Solaris the Tyrant Sun, the greatest villains of their time, have a plan, using their knowledge of the past to try to destroy their enemies in both times. The four-issue core series is awesome, but the tie-ins are nearly as good, as each issue in DC’s publishing line got a #1,000,00 issue. This book is everything an event comic should be.
1) Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths is underappreciated, and that’s a tragedy. This event series from Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere is yet another continuity altering event that plays with Crisis on Infinite Earths‘ toys, but that’s part of the charm. If you like the various Crisis events, you’ll love this one. It has the kind of big stakes and action that a Crisis needs, and hits all of the right notes. On top of that, the book’s tie-ins are fantastic and flesh out the story wonderfully. This just a big fun superhero event, and if you go in knowing what you’re going to get, it’s a great reading experience.
What’s your favorite underrated DC event? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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