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!

New Collecting Guide: John Constantine, Hellblazer

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I have a new collecting guide for you today: John Constantine, Hellblazer!

The guide covers Hellblazer’s every appearance, from beginnings as a guest star in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing through his two decade run in his solo title to his multiple relaunches since 2012.

There’s something about Constantine that draws readers in and makes him a prime choice for screen adaptations.

A big part of that is that he is by no means a hero. Sure, Constantine is a supernatural detective and occasional magician, but he has little interest in saving anyone – in fact, his actions are often as likely to get people killed as to save them!

Another hallmark of Constantine was years of exclusivity. He was created by Alan Moore in a pre-Vertigo Swamp Thing and than shuttled off to his own title written by Jamie Delano, who was hand-picked by Moore to launch the character in Hellblazer.

Constantine made very few appearances outside of his own title, his mini-series, and Swamp Thing for the next twenty years. This insulation was furthered when he became a part of the Vertigo family of titles and allowed Constantine to age in real time with his readers.

That means Constantine is very easy to read sequentially, with just a few limited series and OGNs to fit in to his reading order. However, he’s a bit harder to collect. Despite DC keeping early Jamie Delano issues evergreen in print, Hellblazer went over a decade without his new arcs seeing collection (until #146 in 2000), though occasional trades went back to collect short bursts of issues. [Read more…] about New Collecting Guide: John Constantine, Hellblazer

Laura Kinney, X-23 & Wolverine – Definitive Reading Order & Collecting Guide

Updated Apr 22, 2025! The Wolverine – Laura Kinney AKA X-23 definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for comic books, omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated April 2025 with titles scheduled for release through December 2025.

X-23_2010_021_Textless.jpgX-23 is the original codename of Wolverine, Laura Kinney. She has been called both Logan’s clone and his daughter, but in her own way she’s Marvel’s Harley Quinn.

That’s because, like Quinn, X-23 originated in a medium other than comics. She was created for the cartoon X-Men Evolution by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, who would also oversee her comics journey for half a decade in a pair of mini-series and on two teams.

Kyle and Yost’s material is stellar from beginning to end. Their run on X-23 often explored the theme of her savagery – how she was raised to be a perfect assassin without being a person.

Afterwards, Author Marjorie Liu took X-23 over for two years for her first solo ongoing title. Liu focused more on X-23’s human side and her internal emotional life, forging connections with Gambit and Jubilee.

Unfortunately, her development goes on a detour from that point.

With the cancellation of her title in the midst of a reshuffling of the X-Men line, X-23 was shipped to Avengers Academy for a year. Christos Gage extended Liu’s work, but it was in a crowded team title. Afterward, Dennis Hopeless picked up X-23 and other Academy cast members for Avengers Arena – where she was cast mostly an unintentional villain.

After the end of Arena, X-23 is adopted by All-New X-Men, weirdly filling out the young cast of the 1960s original X-Men with a Wolverine analog. She’s mostly played for big action beats and romance, but her development finally gets back on track in the aftermath of Wolverine’s death in Wolverines.

Finally, in the wake of Secret Wars, X-23 regained a solo title for the first time in half a decade – this time taking on the mantle of Wolverine(!) while also continuing in All-New X-Men. [Read more…] about Laura Kinney, X-23 & Wolverine – Definitive Reading Order & Collecting Guide

Detective Comics – Collecting Guide & Reading Order (Post-Crisis, from #568 – Present)

Updated April 23, 2026! The Detective Comics comic books definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics and The Definitive Guide to Collecting Batman Comics. Last updated April 2026 with titles scheduled for release through December 2026.

Post-Crisis Detective Comics: #568 (Nov 1986) – Present

Many of DC’s heroes saw their comics relaunched in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths to delineate where their new continuity began. That was not the case with Batman, whose Detective Comics and Batman continued their runs uninterrupted.

Detective Comics #568 is chosen as the demarcation of Batman’s changeover from pre- to post-Crisis for three reasons.

First, it was a chapter in the Legends event, which was DC’s first linewide event after the conclusion of Crisis – necessitating all characters appearing therein were in their post-Crisis iterations.

Second, the creative team mentions the changes in the letters column of this issue!

And, finally, it’s the end of a run by and outgoing writer, Joey Cavalieri, so it makes a natural change-over point.
[Read more…] about Detective Comics – Collecting Guide & Reading Order (Post-Crisis, from #568 – Present)

The Definitive Guide to Collecting Batman Comics

Batman is one of the longest-lasting and most-enduring heroes in comics, published continuously from his debut in 1939 through present today. He’s also surely the most popular character, as proven month-in and month-out by the sales of his title being use as a benchmark against which all other titles are measured.

This page acts as an table of contents by chronological era of where to locate Batman and his titles throughout the Crushing Crisis Guide to DC Comics. Want an alphabetical index instead? Head to the Index of Batman Ongoing Titles. [Read more…] about The Definitive Guide to Collecting Batman Comics

DC Comics Collected Editions Solicits – February 2017

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Here’s a look at the lineup of collected editions from DC Comics out in February 2017.

(Looking for Marvel’s February releases? I covered those previously.)

This month DC’s releases are split evenly between the final run of New 52 collections and initial Rebirth era paperbacks, with a trio of huge books in the mix – Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1, Justice League of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1, andAbsolute Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang!

Posts like this will help both you and I keep up with DC’s newest collections until my Guide to Collecting DC Comics has guide pages to cover more of their heroes!

All of the links below are to Amazon. Note that Amazon (and other mass market retailers) receive books one to two weeks later than direct market sellers like comic shops. Still, I find Amazon convenient for their uniform format of displaying information like contents and ISBNs. If you purchase though an Amazon link on CK I receive a minor credit as your referrer; your purchase price remains the same. [Read more…] about DC Comics Collected Editions Solicits – February 2017