Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Crushing Comics S01E060 – X-Men by Claremont/Lee Omnibus, Vol. 2

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It’s part two of my Claremont/Lee Omnibus unwrapping, where I discuss the events that follow X-Tinction Agenda that briefly brought the teams together, split them apart, brought them together again and – finally – launched a new X-Men book!

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

Episode 60 features X-Men by Claremont/Lee Omnibus, Vol. 2, which covers material in both the Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont and Guide to X-Men (1991-2001).

Back Issue Review: The Flintstones, Green Lantern Corps, Eugenic, Space Battle Lunchtime, and more!

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Welcome to our second pilot post of Back Issue Review, where I give you the run-down on all the not-new comics I read this week. (Did you miss last week’s edition?)

I know the knee-jerk reaction for a lot of readers to a post like this might be to say either “I don’t read comics” or “I’ll just tune in when you talk X-Men.”

My reply to you is that comics as a medium is so much more than what you’re seeing on the big screen or in the pages of X-Men books.

I’d love to connect you with a new favorite read, but also with a wider awareness of the medium.

Today’s back issue review includes write-ups on:

  • After Eden (2017) #1-4
  • Captain Canuck (2015) #3
  • Centipede (2017) #1
  • Cowboy Ninja Viking (2009) #1
  • Eugenic (2017) #1-3
  • The Flintstones (2016) #1-6
  • Green Arrow (2016) #10-11
  • Green Lantern Corps (2006) #1-3
  • Grimm Fairy Tales: Return to Wonderland (2007) #4-6
  • Jonesy (2016) #1, Scalped (2007) #1
  • Space Battle Lunchtime (2016) #1-8
  • X’ed (2015) #1-4

That’s a lot of indie comics and absolutely no Marvel!

Please let me know if you like this this post – it’s the second pilot of this new weekly series, but there’s no guarantee it will be back for more.

And now – let’s get to the comics! [Read more…] about Back Issue Review: The Flintstones, Green Lantern Corps, Eugenic, Space Battle Lunchtime, and more!

The Pull List: Avengers in No Surrender, Detective Comics, Mister Miracle, Paradiso, & more!

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Welcome to the second week of “The Pull List,” where I give a quick rundown of all of the non-X comics I read this week.

My pulls this week came from a wide spread of publishers – Marvel, DC, Image, Aftershock, and Valiant! It was also a week where the minutia of the craft really took me out of enjoying the storytelling. I had a lot of bones to pick with letterers, and many comments about pace and continuity.

This week’s Pull List included:

  • Avengers (2017) #675
  • Detective Comics (1937/2016) #972
  • Judas (2017) #2
  • Mister Miracle (2017) #6
  • Monstro Mechanica (2017) #2
  • Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe (2018) #1
  • Paradiso (2017) #2
  • Port of Earth (2017) #3
  • Rise of the Black Panther (2018)
  • Runaways (2017) #5
  • Sleepless (2017) #2
  • Witchblade (2017) #2
  • Wonder Woman (2016) #38.

You might be surprised at which of these books I loved and which left me in a seething rage. There’s at least one where I disagree with seemingly 99% of the folks who I’ve seen react to the book in the past few days. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Avengers in No Surrender, Detective Comics, Mister Miracle, Paradiso, & more!

This Week in X: Excalibur Returns (sort of) in X-Men Gold, X-Men Blue climaxes, and more!

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It’s the second week of new comics in 2018, and that means a whole new batch of X-Men comics books to help you catch up with!

This week brings five books with it – mid-arc issues of the two Ed Brisson old guy books in Cable #153 and Old Man Logan #33, the middle installment of Matthew Rosenberg’s Phoenix Resurrection, a climatic turn of events in Cullen Bunn’s X-Men: Blue #19, and an adorable pair of standalone stories in X-Men: Gold Annual #1.

None of these books are a must-read, but it’s nice to read a week of X-Men that’s solid across the board… well, except for one book, as you’ll hear in just a minute.

Don’t feel like reading right? You can watch the video version of This Week in X! This is not the same material as the full post below, although some of my opinions in the video overlap with the post.

Love the video? Love this post? Please let me know, because “This Week In X” is a pilot right now – there is no guarantee I’ll continue it past the end of this month unless folks are clamoring for more! [Read more…] about This Week in X: Excalibur Returns (sort of) in X-Men Gold, X-Men Blue climaxes, 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.