For 1-19 and 23-37, you can read each trade on its own, one after the other. (I call out a couple of cases below where I took the lazy route and you might prefer to go issue by issue.) Three big cross-title events — Blackest Night (20-22) and Rise of the Third Army through Wrath of the First Lantern (38-41) — however, need to be read issue by issue, jumping between concurrent trades as you go, in order for them to make sense. 1. Green Lantern: Secret Origin Secret Origin isn’t the start of Johns’ run on Green Lantern, but the chronological first trade — Rebirth — is a bad jumping-on point if, like me when I started reading these books, you don’t know much about Hal Jordan. Secret Origin is a fantastic introduction. 2. DC Universe by Alan Moore: “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize,” “Tygers,” and “In Blackest Night” The first two of these stories from the 1980s are the foundation for a huge part of the lore underlying Geoff Johns’ take on the lanterns. (The third is just a fun read and is in the same book.) This is a totally worthwhile detour, although it won’t be apparent until later on why it’s so worthwhile. 3. Green Lantern: Rebirth 4. Green Lantern: No Fear 5. Green Lantern Corps: Recharge 6. Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns 7. Green Lantern Corps: To Be a Lantern 8. Green Lantern: Wanted: Hal Jordan 9. Ion: The Torchbearer 10. Green Lantern Corps: Dark Side of the Green 11. Ion: The Dying Flame 12. Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Volume 1 13. Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Volume 2 14. Green Lantern: Tales of the Sinestro Corps Tales of the Sinestro Corps should technically be interspersed with the preceding two Sinestro Corps titles, but I read it afterwards and enjoyed it that way. 15. Green Lantern Corps: Ring Quest 16. Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns 17. Green Lantern Corps: Sins of the Star Sapphire 18. Green Lantern: Agent Orange 19. Green Lantern Corps: Emerald Eclipse Grab three bookmarks for this next part. Start with the first issue in Blackest Night: Green Lantern, then jump to the first issue in Blackest Night, and then to the first issue in Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps. Keep alternating issues in that order until you’re done with 20-22. 20. Blackest Night: Green Lantern 21. Blackest Night 22. Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps 23. Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps should be woven in with the three previous titles, but I read it on its own afterwards it was fine. 24. Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns 25. Green Lantern: Brightest Day 26. Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer 27. Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors 28. War of the Green Lanterns 29. War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath Aftermath is the last trade prior to the start of New 52. 30. Green Lantern: Sinestro 31. Green Lantern Corps: Fearsome 32. Green Lantern – New Guardians: The Ring Bearer 33. Red Lanterns: Blood and Rage 34. Green Lantern: The Revenge of Black Hand 35. Green Lantern Corps: Alpha War 36. Green Lantern – New Guardians: Beyond Hope 37. Red Lanterns: Death of the Red Lanterns Pause here and grab four bookmarks. Like Blackest Night, the two final events in Johns’ run are designed to be read issue by issue, switching trades every issue. Unlike Blackest Night, the order isn’t entirely consistent. (There are also two large trades, Rise of the Third Army and Wrath of the First Lantern, which replace 38-41 on this list and presumably collect the issues in the right order. I went with the individual trades instead.) Here’s the issue-by-issue order for the final four trades: 1. Green Lantern – New Guardians #0 2. Green Lantern #0 3. Green Lantern #13 4. Green Lantern – New Guardians #13 5. Red Lanterns #0 6. Red Lanterns #13 7. Green Lantern #14 8. Red Lanterns #14 9. Green Lantern – New Guardians #14 10. Green Lantern Corps #15 11. Green Lantern #15 12. Green Lantern – New Guardians #15 13. Green Lantern – New Guardians #16 14. Red Lanterns #15 15. Green Lantern #16 16. Green Lantern Corps #16 17. Red Lanterns #16 18. Green Lanterns Corps Annual #1 19. Green Lantern #17 20. Green Lantern Corps #17 21. Green Lantern – New Guardians #17 22. Red Lanterns# 17 23. Green Lantern #18 24. Green Lantern Corps #18 25. Green Lantern – New Guardians #18 26. Red Lanterns #18 27. Green Lantern #19 28. Green Lantern Corps #19 29. Green Lantern – New Guardians #19 30. Red Lanterns #19 31. Green Lantern #20 32. Green Lantern Corps #20 33. Red Lanterns #20 34. Green Lantern – New Guardians #20 38. Green Lantern: The End 39. Green Lantern Corps: Willpower 40. Red Lanterns: The Second Prophecy 41. Green Lantern – New Guardians: Love and Death