Crushing Krisis

The Newest Oldest Blog In New Zealand

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Updated: X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #2: Second Genesis (Bronze Age)

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This is available to everyone, but it was made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis:

The Revised & Expanded X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #2: Second Genesis

Now that I’ve re-read all of the X-Men Classic back-up stories and Marvel Team-Up issues as part of our Epic X-Men (re)Read, I had some adjustments to make to this guide. I also rebuilt my reading order database, which allowed me to catch some stray appearances mentioned in the comments of the page.

I think the most-significant change to this reading order is that I’ve promoted a handful of Iron Fist and Marvel Team-Up issues to be required reading from being optional, since they were written by Claremont and fill in actions and relationships referred to later in the main Uncanny run.

Updated: X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #1: Original X-Men (The Silver Age)

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This is available to everyone, but it was made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis:

X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #1: Original X-Men 

Now that I’ve re-read all of the X-Men Classic back-up stories as part of our Epic X-Men (re)Read, I had some adjustments to make to this guide. As a result, I rebuilt my reading order database for all of the Original 5 X-Men + Xavier + Havok, Polaris, Magneto, & Mimic.

That didn’t lead to too many changes, but I adjusted the placement of several stories. Also, reader comments lead me to update or add placements for all of X-Men First Class, Ka-Zar #2-3, Avengers #102-104, and several other stories and guest appearances.

Hear me on The Comic Source’s “Comic Book Content Creator Conversation” Podcast

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Last week I had a chance to sit down with Jace from “The Comic Source” to talk about the behind-the-scenes of the past decade of Crushing Comics!

Our discussion including my approach to outlining comic guides, how I find the time to read thousands of comics a year, and why my focus is on opening gates rather than gatekeeping. Check out our full conversation on The Comic Source podcast or at Apple Podcasts,  Spotify,  SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play.

New for Patrons: Guide to Hal Jordan, Green Lantern

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It’s time for the biggest of the Green Lantern guides for ALL Patrons of CK – and I’m certain there isn’t another one on the internet anything like it!

Hal Jordan, Green Lantern – The Definitive Guide

Working on comic guides is a curious chicken vs. egg situation. Do I start the guide because I’m fascinated with a character’s history, or do I become fascinated with a character’s history because I started the guide?

In this case, I’m firmly in the latter camp.

Part of what was causing me to drag my feet on this guide was that Hal Jordan didn’t seem at all fascinating to me. He was a space cop, went mad with power, and then got redeemed because people love their Silver Age dudes. Plus, that last bit has been obsessively covered by many other websites who actually like this character.

What more was there to know? What could I possibly add?

I found that both of those questions were answered by the same two facts.

First, because Hal Jordan wasn’t altered much (if at all) by Crisis on Infinite Earths, the internet is not obsessed with dealing with his Post-Crisis retcon chronology. Yet, there’s actually an interesting sequence of almost a dozen series published after Crisis that fit prior to his 1990 ongoing return.

I didn’t think it would be too big a deal to list these in story order with some context attached, but I just skimmed five of the top Green Lantern guides on the web and none of them have these details in full.

Second, Hal’s transformation from Lantern to Parallax to The Spectre back to Hal. I only saw a single guide get close to really nailing this story order – and it didn’t give any context!

I’ve never understood this sequence of events before and it’s never been collected succinctly in one place. I assumed that DC wanted to rehabilitate him and just rammed him into their spot as The Spectre so he could atone for his many sins.

That’s not quite how it happened. [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Guide to Hal Jordan, Green Lantern

Shelve, Store, or Sell? – Hulk, 2005-2012 with Zach! (Episode 010, Box 1030)

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I’m a little more familiar with the comics in this half of my Hulk box, but I kept Zach on board to help me decide if any of them should hit my shelf. They’re all covered in my Hulk Guide.

New for Patrons: Guides to Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern AND Omega Men

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When I told you I had more Lantern guides on the way, I wasn’t joking! Actually, today I have TWO for ALL Patrons of Crushing Krisis…

Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern, Ion, & White Lantern – The Definitive Guide 

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Omega Men – The Definitive Guide

I’m not sure who my Green Lantern is.

I started reading comics at the end of 1991 with X-Men’s peak in popularity, but it took me a while after that to make my way over to DC.

I think that started with the buzz around The Death of Superman. My family and friends assumed I’d know something about it (by the commutative property of comics, I suppose). I dug in a bit, but the entire Superman line was a bit much for a teenager to afford on top of X-Men and Wildstorm! Afterward, I sporadically kept up with Superman and then became a dedicated Wonder Woman buyer.

My reading never reached much beyond that at DC… except for Zero Hour. I was only dimly aware of Crisis on Infinite Earths at the time, but Zero Hour was “the new Crisis,” and I understood that was a big deal. Plus, it had those cool white covers with silver ink!

I also understood that it connected to this horrible hero-turned-villain, Hal Jordan, and his bright-eyed replacement, Kyle Rayner. [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Guides to Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern AND Omega Men