If you want to read the
Justice League International comics in the order they are collected in the three
Justice League International Omnibus volumes, you should knock yourself out. It's basically fine, though I'm not a big fan of volume two's strict publication order approach.
But here I've worked up an order that attempts to balance chronology with publication to make a smooth reading experience. When there are multiple ongoings, I've tried to bounce back and forth between them not in terms of strict chronology, but in a way that preserves references between stories, trying to put multiple issues in a row as much as possible. I have avoided splitting issues containing multiple stories up into different entries, except when the omnibus itself has done so. If you've read my posts reviewing JLI, the order here has been slightly tweaked from that one, based on things I noticed after writing up my posts.
I've also extended this order beyond what's in the omnibus volumes, up to the events of Zero Hour. The JLA and JLTF material of this era is collected in a series of trades, but the JLE, JLI, and JLQ issues are largely uncollected. I have only included installments of non-JL series when they are part of crossovers that include JL issues (e.g., Suicide Squad #13, Guy Gardner #15), except I did include Elongated Man because it's by the same writer as JLE and there is a JLE storyline that is a direct sequel to it.
I've labelled issues by what collected editions they appear in (when they do). I've folded in stories published after the original order chronologically; certainly you can skip most of these and/or read them when they were released. Thanks a lot to Cosmic Teams, whose own chronology was a useful starting point. If you want to see the much more detailed notes I made, they are accessible in a Google Sheet here.
Key: JLIO# = Justice League International Omnibus volumes, S&JLA# = Superman and Justice League America trades, WW&JLA# = Wonder Woman and Justice League America trades, JLTF = Justice League Task Force, Volume 1: The Purification Plague
Part I: The Original Giffen/DeMatteis Run
 |
| from Justice League vol. 1 #2 |
Justice League vol. 1 #1-4 [JLIO1]- Justice League Annual vol. 1 #1 [JLIO1]
- Justice League vol. 1 #5-6 [JLIO1]
- Justice League International vol. 1 #7 [JLIO1]
- JLA 80-Page Giant #1*† [JLIO3]
- Justice League International vol. 1 #8-12 [JLIO1]
- Justice League America Annual #9*†
- Suicide Squad vs. Justice League [JLIO1]
- Justice League International vol. 1 #13
- Suicide Squad vol. 1 #13
- Justice League International vol. 1 #14-15 [JLIO1]
- JLA: Incarnations #6*‡
- Justice League International Annual #2‡ [JLIO1]
- Justice League International vol. 1 #16-21 [JLIO1]
- Secret Origins vol. 2 #33-35§ [JLIO3]
- Justice League International vol. 1 #22-25 [JLIO1]
- Justice League Europe #1-3 [JLIO1]
 |
| from Justice League America #30 |
Justice League America #26-30† [JLIO1]- Justice League Europe #4-6 [JLIO1]
- Justice League International Annual #3 [JLIO1]
- The Teasdale Imperative [JLIO2]
- Justice League America #31
- Justice League Europe #7
- Justice League America #32
- Justice League Europe #8
- Justice League America #33-36 [JLIO2]
- Justice League Europe #9-10 [JLIO2]
- Justice League International Special #1 [JLIO2]
- Justice League Europe #11-12 [JLIO2]
- Furballs [JLIO2]
- Justice League America #37
- Justice League Europe #13
- Justice League Europe Annual #1 [JLIO2]
 |
| from Justice League Europe #21 |
Justice League Europe #14-19 [JLIO2]- Justice League America #38-42† [JLIO2]
- DC Retroactive: Justice League America 1990s #1*‡ [JLIO3]
- Justice League America Annual #4 [JLIO2]
- JLA Showcase 80-Page Giant #1*
- Justice League Europe #20-21 [JLIO2]
- Justice League America #43-44 [JLIO2]
- Justice League Quarterly #1 [JLIO2]
- Justice League Europe #22 [JLIO2]
- Justice League Quarterly #2 [JLIO3]
- Justice League America #45-50 [JLIO2]
- Justice League International Special #2 [JLIO3]
- Justice League Quarterly #3-4 [JLIO3]
- Justice League America #51 [JLIO3]
- Justice League Europe #23-25 [JLIO2]
- Justice League Europe #26-28 [JLIO3]
- Justice League America #52† [JLIO3]
 |
| from Justice League America Annual #5 |
Justice League America Annual #5 [JLIO3]- Breakdowns [JLIO3]
- Justice League America #53
- Justice League Europe #29
- Justice League America #54
- Justice League Europe #30
- Justice League America #55
- Justice League Europe Annual #2
- Justice League Europe #31
- Justice League America #56
- Green Lantern vol. 3 #18†
- Justice League Europe #32
- Justice League America #57
- Justice League Europe #33
- Justice League America #58
- Justice League Europe #34
- Justice League America #59
- Justice League Europe #35
- Justice League America #60
- Justice League Europe #36
 |
| from Justice League Quarterly #5 |
Justice League Quarterly #5¶ [JLIO3]
Part II: The Pre–Zero Hour Run
- Justice League Quarterly #6¶
- Elongated Man #1-4
- Justice League Spectacular #1 [S&JLA1]
- Justice League America #61-62 [S&JLA1]
- Justice League Quarterly #7
- Justice League America #63-65 [S&JLA1]
- Justice League Europe #37-44
- Eclipso: The Darkness Within
- Justice League America Annual #6 [S&JLA2]
- Justice League Europe Annual #3
- Justice League Quarterly #8¶
- Justice League America #66 [S&JLA1]
- Justice League Quarterly #9
- Justice League America #67-68 [S&JLA1]
 |
| from Justice League Quarterly #10 |
Justice League Quarterly #10- Justice League America #69-71 [S&JLA2]
- Justice League Europe #45-50
- Justice League America #72-77 [S&JLA2]
- Justice League Quarterly #11‡
- Justice League Task Force #1-8 [JLTF]
- Justice League International vol. 2 #51-52
- Justice League America #78-82 [WW&JLA1]
- The Trouble with Guys [WW&JLA1]
- Justice League America #83
- Guy Gardner #15
- Justice League America #84-85 [WW&JLA1]
- Justice League Quarterly #12-15¶
- Bloodlines
- Justice League International Annual vol. 2 #4
- Justice League America Annual #7 [WW&JLA1]
 |
from Justice League
International vol. 2 #54 |
Justice League International vol. 2 #53-57- Justice League Task Force #9 [JLTF]
- Elseworlds**
- Justice League America Annual #8
- Justice League International Annual #5
- Justice League International vol. 2 #58-62
- Justice League Task Force #10-12† [JLTF]
- Justice League America #86-88† [WW&JLA2]
- Justice League International vol. 2 #63-64†
- Judgment Day [WW&JLA2]
- Justice League America #89
- Justice League Task Force #13
- Justice League International vol. 2 #65
- Justice League America #90
- Justice League Task Force #14
- Justice League International vol. 2 #66
- Justice League America #91 [WW&JLA2]
 |
| from Justice League Quarterly #16 |
Justice League Quarterly #16-17¶- Justice League Task Force #15
- Justice League International vol. 2 #67
- Return of the Hero!
- Justice League America #92
- Justice League Task Force #16
- Justice League International vol. 2 #68
* Published later.
† Takes place during / simultaneously with the events of the previous item on the list.
‡ There is no possible place for this story to fit, but it probably reads best here.
§ As origin stories, these mostly take place much earlier, but reading them here gives useful background on the current line-up.
¶ The stories in this JLQ issue take place at various points, but as a whole, it reads best here.
** Out of continuity, so can be read pretty much whenever, but I tried to put them close to when they were published without disrupting narrative flow.
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