Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

DC Comics

New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to DC’s Nightwing, Dick Grayson

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Today’s new guide for Patrons of Crushing Krisis fills in one of the major gaps in my DC coverage and brings my collection of Bat-Family guides a little bit closer to being complete:

Nightwing, Dick Grayson – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide

Dick Grayson occupies a distinct spot in both DC and Marvel history as a rare hero who had a long-standing, in-continuity early identity to which he will likely never be reverted.

That’s because Grayson was the original Robin to Bruce Wayne’s Batman in the Golden and Silver Ages – but, he’s spent the entire Post-Crisis modern age of comics as Nightwing (except for those few years he was Batman).

As a reader of primarily Marvel Comics, the first time I encountered Dick Grayson was during his time as Batman in Grant Morrison’s epic run with the caped crusader. I really didn’t know a thing about him other than that he was the first Robin, which made him seem pretty boring to me – like a character DC kept publishing just out of habit. It seemed like a dull gimmick to turn him into Batman.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Grayson was new to wearing the cowl, but not to being a hero. He wasn’t as foolproof as Bruce as Batman, but he was more emotionally complex and pragmatic. [Read more…] about New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to DC’s Nightwing, Dick Grayson

New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to DC’s The Outsiders

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Sometimes creating a new guide for Patrons of Crushing Krisis turns into a getting-to-know you process about a hero or team I’ve never read before. That was definitely the case with today’s new guide, about a team of heroes who existed entirely outside of my comics knowledge…

The Outsiders – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide

I’ve always been dimly aware of The Outsiders, mostly because Batman and the Outsiders (1983) #11 was one of the first dog-eared comic books of my early childhood – years before I started collecting.

Yet, as of a few weeks ago, I couldn’t have told you who a single one of the characters in the header image were aside from Katana. Heck, it was years into New 52 before I realized that the Katana I know from that classic cover image was the same one who starred in Birds of Prey and Suicide Squad! Based on her costume, I thought she was some kind of DC Sunfire analog.

What I learned in putting together this team guide is that the Outsiders really are outsiders. Batman formed the team specifically to work outside the rules and regulations of the Justice League. [Read more…] about New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to DC’s The Outsiders

New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to Teen Titans, Titans, and Young Justice

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I’m back after a few busy months both online and off with the first of a few new comic guides to thank Patrons of Crushing Krisis for their continued support…

Teen Titans, Titans, & Young Justice – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide

This guide covers every in-continuity Teen Titans series, from their first appearance in The Brave and The Bold (1955) #54 and 60 in 1964 to the two titles currently running in Rebirth.

This guide was nowhere near next on my list, but two things changed that. First, I reached Teen Titans and Titans in my DC Rebirth reading. I felt like I didn’t understand who any of the characters were or where they came from. As is my wont, as I read the comics and researched the characters, I sketched in some guide details. Within a few hours I realized I had a solid skeleton for a a complex guide.

Second, earlier this week I polled my friends at The Omnibus Collector’s™ Comic Swap and Community and they overwhelmingly voted that this should be the next guide I tackle!

Want access to this guide today? It’s available, along over a dozen other exclusive guides, in exchange for covering $1.99 a month of CK’s hosting expenses.

Titans, Teen Titans, & Young Justice – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Updated Mar 19, 2025! The definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for Teen Titans, Titans, & Young Justice comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through November 2025.

In 1965 the Silver Age of comics was in full swing, with all of DC’s iconic heroes starring in their own titles as well as in the the Justice League.

One element that DC generally lacked at the time was the youthful energy of Marvel’s Silver Age titles, which included hip young heroes like Spider-Man and The X-Men alongside more iconic DC analogs like The Avengers or Thor. It wasn’t that they lacked for young characters. It seemed the every DC hero had a teen version of sidekick. They  hadn’t been assembled all in one place.Teen Titans by George Perez

That changed with The Brave and The Bold (1955) #54 in 1964, which combined Golden Age creation Robin (Dick Grayson) with the more recently-made sidekicks of Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad. Their next appearance in issue #60 added a formalized version of Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) and gave the group a name – “The Teen Titans.”

After just one more anthology series appearance (in Showcase (1956) #59), the Teen Titans graduated into their own title in 1966. While many other teen heroes appeared, only one became a more permanent member – Speedy, Green Arrow’s sidekick. The team-up was revived in 1973 and then shuttered in 1978 as the heroes felt they were growing too old to be “teens.”

Marv Wolfman and George Pérez reawakened the franchise in 1980. In an astounding act of creation, they introduced team mainstays Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven in a preview story in DC Comics Presents (1978) #26, where they also reintroduced Beast Boy as “Changeling.”

Wolfman and Pérez would become synonymous with the Teen Titans for the next decade in the same way Chris Claremont was with the X-Men, who the Titans rivaled in popularity. Along the way the co-writers introduced Slade Wilson as Deathstroke and changed Dick Grayson to Nightwing. Their characters made it through Crisis on Infinite Earths relatively unscathed as DC chose not to rock the boat of their most-popular team franchise. [Read more…] about Titans, Teen Titans, & Young Justice – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!

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The Pull List was slightly lighter this week than the past three, partially due to me not managing to pick up any additional ongoings from Marvel or DC. I made a heroic effort to catch all the way up with Doctor Strange, but fell an arc short.

This week’s comics felt a little ho-hum for me, with even typical standouts like Flash and Paradiso falling flat. However, it also brought not one but two near-perfect comics, plus one unexpectedly great debut.

Here’s The Pull List for the 14th of March, 2018. New adds to the pull list are marked with *; dropped titles are marked with #.

Artwork from Infidel #1 cover by Aaron Campbell & José Villarrubia

  • DC Comics
    • Action Comics (2016) #999
    • Batgirl and The Birds of Prey (2016) #20
    • Detective Comics (2016) #976
    • *Eternity Girl (2018) #1
    • The Flash (2016) #42
    • Mister Miracle (2017) #7
    • Sideways (2018) #2
    • Suicide Squad (2016) #37
    • Titans (2016) #21
    • Trinity (2016) #19
    • Wonder Woman (2016) #42
  • Image Comics
    • Bonehead (2018) #3
    • *#Dry County (2018) #1
    • *Infidel (2018) #1
    • Paradiso (2017) #4
    • #Sleepless (2017) #4
    • Slots (2017) #6
    • VS (2018) #2
  • Marvel Comics
    • All-New Wolverine (2016) #32
    • Astonishing X-Men (2017) #9
    • Avengers (2017) #684
    • Marvel Two-in-One (2018) #4
    • New Mutants – Dead Souls (2018) #1
    • Old Man Logan (2016) #36
    • Weapon X (2017) #15
    • X-Men: Blue (2017) #23
  • Smaller Publishers: Aftershock Comics, Archie Comics, Black Mask Studios, & Boom! Studios
    • Judas (2017) #4, Boom! Studios
    • *Come Into Me (2018) #1, Black Mask Studios
    • *Vampironica (2018) #1, Archie Comics
    • *Betrothed (2018) #1, Aftershock Comics

Before we begin, a reminder that 2.5 stars on my rating scale is an average comic book and my bell curve distribution peaks at 3/5 stars! Don’t freak out and assume a comic book is terrible because it has 2 stars. That means it’s just a hair below average (and there are a lot of those this week)

Picks of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Pick of the Week:
Action Comics (2016) #999, DC Comics

Dan Jurgens leaves us with a truly perfect, contemplative issue of Superman that puts a wrap on his stellar Rebirth run but also addresses his writing from over 25 years ago, as beautifully rendered by artist Will Conrad and colorist Ivan Nunes.

In Metropolis, Lois is newly reunited with her estranged Army General father after saving him from execution in the last arc. It’s his first time meeting Jon (sort of), but General Lane isn’t in on the Superman secret, so he thinks Jon is a regular kid. That makes it even more tense as Lois and her father square off across the dinner table about the philosophy of Superman. Jon has never been exposed to this kind of hatred and xenophobia about his father before – which is also, by extension, aimed at him.

Meanwhile, Superman is in space dealing with a routine chore of breaking up an asteroid that will stray a bit too close to Earth for STAR Labs liking. Superman is thinking about fathers – General Lane, his own father Jor-El, as well as Zod – all of whom were tangled in the cross-time plot he just wrapped with Booster Gold.

Superman can see the errors in the ways of each of those parents and they in turn reflect his errors back upon him. Clark Kent is good-natured to a fault, but he’s not always right. General Lane isn’t entirely wrong about him – sometimes his absolute power corrupts him, both in how he metes out justice and in how he isn’t accustomed to apologizing for his actions.

As a result, Superman decides to put right two wrongs. One is with Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, who he currently has imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. The other, eventually is General Lane. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!