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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.

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.

Zach joined me on this episode because I had never read a single issue from the first half of this box of Hulk comics. Can he convince me to shelve any of them? They’re all covered in my Hulk Guide.

Welcome to the first post in a countdown of my Top 125 [American digital] comics of 2019!

I read >2500 comics released between November 2018 & November 2019 from more than 550 series and more than 30 publishers, because I wanted to be able to say that one year I made a definitive list of my favorite comics considering everything.

To arrive at this list, I sampled nearly every US digitally-available release from Marvel, DC, Image, Aftershock, Ahoy, Boom, Cave Pictures, Comixology, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Humanoids, IDW, Lion Forge, Mad Cave, Valiant, Vault, & Zenescope, plus many comics from other publishers.

(Why November to November? Even though I was still reading in December 2019, most best-of-year lists cut off in October or November, and I wanted to be roughly analogous. Why a Top 125? Because it felt like a cut-off where I could favorably recommend almost any title on the list.)

Even though this is a subjective list of favorites, there’s still some objectivity baked into it.

I rated every issue I read, totaled the ratings within the release window, applied two algorithms to rank their scores, and then took some liberties with ordering based on pure love.

(My 1st algorithm combats recency effects and gives more credit to longer-running series since it’s harder to maintain quality on a longer run. My 2nd algorithm is my “recommendation index,” a modified Net Promoter Score that weighs a series’ awesome issues against its dull ones)

Okay, that’s enough of a preamble – onto my Top 125 Comics of 2019!

Ready? (Or, if you prefer a Twitter countdown, start here!) [Read more…] about Krisis’s Favorite Comic Series of 2019 – #125 – 101

We’ve finally graduated to videos shot in my new space but we still have months of boxes to unpack! This was my order from April 2019, left boxed until the big move was over in October.

In this haul:

• from Marvel Comics
  • Daredevil Marvel Masterworks, Vol. 11 – visit the Guide to Daredevil
  • Fantastic Four Complete Collection – Heroes Return, Vol. 1 – visit the Guide to Fantastic Four
  • Infinity War Omnibus – visit the Guide to Marvel Events
  • Sgt. Fury Epic Collection, Vol. 1 – Howling Commandos
• other publishers
  • Lumberjanes, Vol. 11
  • Lumberjanes Novel, Vol. 2: The Moon is Up
  • Steven Universe, Vol. 3: Field Researching
  • Steven Universe, Vol. 4: Just Right

It’s another Classic Collection version of Haul Around the World, shot BEFORE my big move! This was my order from March 2019, shot and shelved in the old comics studio before my house move in September.

Listen as I explain Iron Fists epic Non-Epic, how we’re so close to total X-Men and Cable coverage, and go deep on my favorite indie comic of 2018 – Euthanauts from Black Crown!

In this haul:

• from Marvel Comics
  • Black Panther Epic Collection: Revenge of the Black Panther – visit the Guide to Black Panther
  • Cable & X-Force: Onslaught – visit the Guide to Cable or Guide to X-Force
  • Captain America Epic Collection: The Superia Stratagem – visit the Guide to Captain America
  • Iron Fist: Deadly Hands Kung Fu Complete Collection – visit the Guide to Iron Fist
  • Iron Man Epic Collection: Return of the Ghost – visit the Guide to Iron Man
  • Wolverine Epic Collection: Back To Basics – visit the Guide to Wolverine
  • X-Men: Onslaught Aftermath – visit the Guide to Uncanny X-Men #281-393 or Guide to X-Men (1991)
• other publishers
  • BLACK CROWN: Euthanauts, Vol. 1: Ground Control
  • DARK HORSE: BPRD Hell On Earth, Vol. 5
  • IMAGE: Cyber Force: Awakening, Vol 2