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!

Crushing Comics S01E059 – Building a Mystery (not the song) + X-Men by Claremont & Lee Omnibus, Vol. 1

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I begin this episode by asking “where is the mystery?” – or, more accurately, the persistence of mystery and why as consumers of stories have lost our appetites for long-running mysteries in fiction. (I think it’s all JJ Abrams’ fault.)

Appropriately, after that introduction I finally unwrap a pair of my most-cherished collected editions – X-Men by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, and Marc Silvestri! I had so much to say about them that this turned into a two-parter! In this edition, hear the tale of the unravelling of the X-Men, who spend thirty entire issues not being a team even as their popularity soared.

I tackle this book nearly issue-by-issue to explain how the X-Men get from their confrontation with Mastermind to the beginning of their reunification in Genosha during X-Tinction Agenda.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 69 features X-Men by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee Omnibus, Vol. 1. To learn more about this book and its contents, visit the Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont.

Crushing Comics S01E058 – Hellboy Library Edition Volume 5 & Volume 6

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I (incorrectly) predict that I’m opening an Absolute Edition, and explain how my lack of spacial reasoning skills completely put me off of math as an academic subject. Then I discuss my final two volumes of Hellboy Library Editions without having read them before.

What can I possibly be talking about? How Hellboy is unique in his ability to move forward, grow, and change as a character, as opposed to characters like Captain America and Rogue who are constantly returned to their factory settings.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 58 features Hellboy Library Edition, Volume 5: Darkness Calls and The Wild Hunt and Hellboy Library Edition, Volume 6: The Storm and The Fury and The Bride of Hell.

Crushing Comics S01E057 – Tomb of Dracula Omnibus, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

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Despite claiming that I’m not going to do much talking while I unwrap, I briefly talk about how I haven’t explored the weirder side of shopping in Wellington before opening up the classic pair of Tomb of Dracula omnibuses. To help explain how this series came to be, I give an explanation of one of my favorite increasingly-forgotten aspects of comics history -Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent. I also get to highlight one of my all-time favorite artists, Gene Colan.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 57 features Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Crushing Comics S01E056 – Learning Vocabulary from Claremont + X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Companion Omnibus

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Coming off of two episodes of unwrapping intense Claremont X-Men books, I talk a little bit about how reading classic comics built my vocabulary and how the loss of narration boxes has really limited the narrative power of comics. Then, I unwrap the Age of Apocalypse Companion and sift through its material to explain what is and isn’t essential in this tag-along book.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 65 features the X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Companion Omnibus. For more on Age of Apocalypse, visit the Guide to Marvel Events.