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

Black Cat – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Updated: Guide to She-Hulk

August 16, 2022 by krisis

Are you read to go green? I’ve completely overhauled my Guide to She-Hulk to mark this week’s debut of the new Marvel Cinematic Universe series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, on Disney +.

She-Hulk stars the mega-talented Tatiana Maslany as Marvel’s Jennifer Walters, a mild-mannered attorney pulled into the heroic life of her Avenger cousin Bruce Banner … or, at least, that’s the story we know from the comics. And if you don’t know the story yet, don’t worry – I’ve got you covered with a guide that includes every She-Hulk series, every appearance, and links to find collected editions, buy digital versions, and read online with Marvel Unlimited.

Guide to She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters

My Guide to She-Hulk will always hold a special place in my heart and memory, because it is one of the first two guides I completed after leaving my tech start-up job in 2016 to be a stay-at-home parent.

At the time, the kid didn’t spend a single second of time looking at screens, so my only downtime from wake-up to goodnight were her mid-day naps. In overhauling this guide, I saw so many places in it where I remembered, “yep, that’s when she woke up,” or other such toddler-motivated interruptions from my guide-making.

As weird and as confusing as a time as that was in my life, it was also a time where I value every single second and every memory. I have so many photos and videos of our adventures, and my She-Hulk Guide is like the negative space of that – one of the few things I was doing in the time I had to myself.

While the guide has always been complete and completely definitive, there were many half-finished thoughts throughout, and I never had the time to refine the the structure and table-of-contents to my typical level of perfectionist completion.

That’s no longer the case. I’ve completely changed my approach to presenting Jennifer Walters’ many series and guest-starring turns, plus added a “Where To Start Reading” section and highlighted the quickest ways to build a She-Hulk shelf in oversize hardcover or paperback.

Some Marvel characters find a niche early on and stick to it. Others grow through a single, continuous arc.

She-Hulk’s progression has been more about evolving with the idea of what being a “powerful woman” means to the broader pop culture in any given publishing era. [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to She-Hulk

Spider-Man, Peter Parker – The Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order (2018 – Present)

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for Marvel’s Spider-Man, Peter Parker comic books from 2018 to present in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated June 2024 with titles scheduled for release through November 2024.

Peter Parker is Spider-Man is Marvel’s flagship character.

Even if he’s occasionally replaced by a clone or the mind of a villain, he’s a consistent seller who will always have at least one flagship title at the center of Marvel’s publishing line. That title has always been called “Amazing Spider-Man” with only a single exception in the past 60 years.

From 2010 to 2018, that title was written exclusively by Dan Slott. Slott wrote Amazing Spider-Man through three volumes, plus the exception of Superior Spider-Man from 2011 to 2014. (In fact, Slott began writing Spidey even earlier than that, as part of a rotation of writers.)

That made the 2018 re-launch of a fifth volume of Amazing Spider-Man as part of the Marvel Fresh Start era a big deal! It was the end of Dan Slott’s reign over the book, and the firts truly fresh jumping-on point for Spider-Man in close to a decade.

That title was helmed by writer Nick Spencer for a massive three-year run that shipped two, three, and sometimes four issues a month for a total of over 87 comic issues in three years! Then, in the same volume number, a rotation of writers took over for the “Beyond” story arc featuring Ben Reilly back in the Spider-Man mask.

After that, Amazing Spider-Man relaunched into a sixth volume by Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr. in 2022, which roared past A.X.E. Judgment Day to have its own X-Men crossover with “Dark Web” before heading into a major 2023 event – “Summer of Symbiotes.”

However, Peter Parker wouldn’t be Marvel’s flagship hero if he was restrained to just one book – even with that book sometimes shipping multiple issues a week.

We’ve seen additional ongoing titles, like Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, special events like Spider-Geddon and Clone Conspiracy, flashback series like Peter David’s Symbiote Spider-Man, mini-series like Joe Kelly’s Non-Stop Spider-Man, and out-of-continuity comics like Chip Zdarsky’s Spider-Man: Life Story.

Heck, in October 2022 Marvel added an adjectiveless Spider-Man ongoing by Dan Slott (again!) alongside the flagship book!

Every one of them are in this guide! Titles are grouped based on the current flagship title that was running when they were released, even if their reading order might place them slightly earlier or later.

This guide covers every Peter Parker series released from the relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man in 2018 to the present day, plus all of their supporting events. If you’re looking for Spider-Man’s titles from 1963 – 2018, see my main Guide to Spider-Man, Peter Parker (1963 – 2018). For Spider-Man Miles Morales titles, see my Guide to Spider-Man, Miles Morales.

Heroes For Hire & Villains For Hire – Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order

Crushing Comics – Guide to Indie Comics & Licensed Characters

You shouldn’t have to be a comic book expert to enjoy reading comics! Find every issue of your favorite indie comics – including creator-owned titles and licensed characters – in the right reading order, including how they’ve been collected in physical and digital format. Plus, suggestions for the best places to start!

Every guide debuts exclusively to Patrons of Crushing Krisis & Crushing Comics before being released to the general public. Guide images in black-and-white with a publisher logo are hints of what’s to come in the near future. Sign up to be a Patron today for as little as $1/month to gain access to every guide as soon as it launches!