Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

comic books

Crushing Comics includes definitive comic book guides, essays about characters and titles, collecting strategies, comic reviews, and more!

Doom Patrol – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Updated Jan 27 2026! The definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for DC’s Doom Patrol comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated January 2026 with titles scheduled for release through April 2026.

Doom Patrol Book One, by Grant Morrison

The Doom Patrol is DC’s weirdest team of all. They’re part Fantastic Four super-science, part X-Men misfits assembled by a brainy benefactor, but still something entirely their own.

Despite being a Silver Age creation, this title will always be associated with Grant Morrison, who had one of their many early star-making turns with the Patrol as they pivoted from the fringes of DC’s superhero universe into the realm of their Vertigo line in the early 90s. Morrison’s run was followed by much-beloved run by Rachel Pollack.

Since then, DC has wrestled the team back into the superhero world several times, but it always clicks the best when they allow it to sit just outside the borders of their mainstream continuity – as it did when it was revived by Gerard Way for his Young Animal imprint in 2016. [Read more…] about Doom Patrol – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

New for Patrons: Guide to Hal Jordan, Green Lantern

by

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)

by

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

by

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 

+

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