EXPANDING REALMS

EXPANDING REALMS 1. Overview Spoiler warning: early Grimm Universe setup and pre-Dream Eater reading order. No later Wonderland or Volume 2 outcomes. Expanding Realms brings together Sinbad, original Neverland, Salem's Daughter, The Piper, Inferno and the continuing Sela series. My collection groups several follow-ups here too, so this guide separates the initial stories from books that fit better after the first crossover. The continuing Sela story is becoming more prominent, while the side books establish characters who can carry their own adventures. You can still read those branches in blocks. The important part is knowing which books are preparation for Dream Eater, which belong to the event itself, and which can wait until afterward. 2. READ ORDER: Sela's spine 1) Grimm Fairy Tales #44–48. 2) Grimm Fairy Tales #49–50. Keep this main-series turning point together. 3) Grimm Fairy Tales #51–56. Optional: the original Volume 9 bonus “Goddess” afterward. 4) Grimm Fairy Tales #57–59. 5) Continue immediately into Grimm Fairy Tales #60–62, before beginning Dream Eater Saga. 6) Stop before #63. That issue is a numbered Dream Eater chapter and needs the event order. The collection-group break is after #59, but the continuing story carries on. For the clean reading route, finish #60–62 before starting Dream Eater #0, instead of inserting them after the crossover has already started. This deliberately keeps the preceding arc together; it is not strict release-date interleaving. [Main-series and event placement](https://t.co/lCCc6xDb1u) The collected-edition alternatives are original Volume 8 for #43–50, Volume 9 for #51–56, and Volume 10 for #57–62. Remember that #43 was already covered in Wonderland Begins. Some versions of Volume 10 also include the Dream Eater prologue; check the contents and count that prologue once when you reach the event. [Volume 8](https://t.co/qaoH5r8faE), [Volume 10 issue contents](https://t.co/tgzdySAL5x) 3. READ ORDER: Sinbad If you took the Sinbad detour in the previous guide, resume with the first unread item here: 1) 1001 Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad #0. 2) Sinbad #1–6, the Eyes of Fire material. 3) Grimm Fairy Tales #33, from Wonderland Begins. 4) Sinbad #7, the connected Wilhelm story. 5) Sinbad #8–13, the City of the Dead material. That is the publication-led order for the #33/#7 pair. For an in-story backstory arrangement, those two can be reversed, but don't switch back and forth or count the extra #33 scan as another story. Eyes of Fire replaces the first arc, and City of the Dead replaces #8–13. Keep track of #0 and #7 separately rather than assuming that two trade volumes must contain every numbered issue. Catalogs identify the first trade as #1–6 and the second as #8–13; inspect the actual edition for additional material. [Sinbad trade contents](https://t.co/PuoWWwF38C) 4. READ ORDER: the branches that feed the crossover These can be read as complete blocks around Sela's run above. There is no need to alternate every issue among all four titles. 1) The Piper #1–4, if not already read after GFT #24. 2) Original Inferno #1–5, after GFT #41 and before its Dream Eater appearance. 3) GFT 2008 Annual, if not already read, followed by Neverland #0–7. 4) Optional after Neverland: Tales from Neverland's Tinker Belle, Tiger Lily and Croc one-shots, available together in the Tales from Neverland collection. These expand the original branch's history. 5) Salem's Daughter #0–5. 6) Myths & Legends #1–5, after GFT #50. The Volume 1 trade also reprints GFT #1; that earlier issue counts once, not as a new chapter here. [Collection contents](https://t.co/Pw6T6XJ5Sf) For a lean Sela-only read, the stand-alone branches are optional background. For the fuller shared-universe read, finish those initial stories before Dream Eater so its visiting characters already have a place in the reading. Myths & Legends needs particular care: #6 and #7 are event chapters. Its Volume 2 collects #8–11 plus the earlier GFT #25–26, so jumping straight from Volume 1 to Volume 2 skips those crossover chapters. Read Dream Eater between them, and count the Little Mermaid reprints once. [Publisher-distributed Volume 2 description](https://t.co/KkdsUFRhXK) [Tales from Neverland collection](https://t.co/VLsclmnjZf), [Dream Eater chapter mapping](https://t.co/f2HJRLmjN7) 5. A useful optional Sela backstory The Library #1–5 can be read as a self-contained backstory after you've spent time with adult Sela. Its premise follows her as a teenager, so putting it first on an in-world timeline would move it ahead of the comic that originally introduced her. That is a chronology option, not a requirement for understanding GFT #1. [Publisher's Library description](https://t.co/60ep0lxTPI) Read The Library as five singles or as its collected edition. Its earlier setting is useful background, but the main Sela run can be followed without stopping for it. 6. The separate 2011 Sinbad crossover There is another Sinbad story here, distinct from the earlier GFT #33/Sinbad #7 pair: 1) Grimm Fairy Tales 2011 Annual. 2) Grimm Fairy Tales Giant-Size 2011. 3) Grimm Fairy Tales 2011 Special Edition. Keep those three together. They are also distinct from the Dream Eater: Sinbad one-shot, which is chapter eight of that event. For this continuity-led route, read the three-parter after the earlier Sinbad material and Sela through #62, then proceed to Dream Eater #0. Its publication actually overlapped the event's later months, so publication-order readers can also leave it as a later look back. Keep the three parts together in either case. [Three-part collection record](https://t.co/UWrVc0Z0uM) 7. Follow-ups to read after the crossover Salem's Daughter: The Haunting #1–5 is the follow-up to the original #0–5. Its publication began during Dream Eater and continued into 2012. For this route, leave it until after the crossover rather than treating every Salem's Daughter story as a prerequisite to the event. [Series dates and issue range](https://t.co/PDKTULpw4D) Neverland: Hook #1–5 is also a later continuation. Read original Neverland first, then the Dream Eater material, then Hook. Use the trade or the five singles, rather than reading both. [Publisher's Neverland collections](https://t.co/wCGcAqfTZA) Myths & Legends beyond #5, the Age of Darkness one-shots and Inferno: Resurrection belong to later stages. They aren't additional prerequisites just because they feature characters introduced here. 8. Annuals, holiday books and duplicate traps The 2008 Annual and Giant-Size 2009 were early catches in the previous guide. The 2009 Halloween and Holiday books, Las Vegas Annual 2010, and the 2010 Halloween and Holiday books are optional additions to this early run. If you want a simple catch-up break, finish the 2010 specials before leaving #44–50 behind. That keeps them in the broad early period without pretending each has one indisputable slot between two issues. The original Volume 8 also reprints a story from the 2010 Swimsuit Edition, so a swimsuit-branded book should not automatically be dismissed as cover art only. Read that story once if taking the extras route. [Volume 8 library catalog](https://t.co/Sot9om5T1m), [Swimsuit issue contents](https://t.co/m00fCD1WyE) Different Seasons Volumes 1–3 collect seasonal material. They don't follow all those loose specials as three entirely new adventures. Check the contents against the annuals and holiday issues already read, and don't automatically finish every later volume before Dream Eater. The April Fools books are optional humor extras; the 2012 one isn't a reason to extend this route past the event. For every collected edition, compare its contents with the issue list rather than counting the title as a new adventure. That matters especially when an event chapter also appears in its parent series' trade. 9. Ready for Dream Eater The clean handoff is: • Sela's main story through #62, not just this group's #59 cutoff. • Myths & Legends through #5, stopping before its event chapters. • The original Wonderland trilogy for its branch's context, with the annuals as optional expansion. • The initial Piper, Sinbad, Inferno, Neverland and Salem's Daughter stories if you're taking the fuller shared-world route. • The separate 2011 Sinbad three-parter as its own block before the event on this continuity-led route. From there, use the prologue plus twelve-chapter crossover sequence. Don't read every book called “Dream Eater” and then go back to repeat the same chapters under Grimm Fairy Tales or Myths & Legends. The event numbering and the parent-title numbering are two labels on some of the same comics.