Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

DC Comics

Crushing Comics S01E31 – Tithing Your Time To Your Hobbies and Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3

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I’m back for more unwrapping with new episodes every weekday!

Today I pull out my first Absolute Edition (of a scant few), but before I unwrap it I share my thoughts on how our hobbies grow to own our time. After that, I share some… let’s say, “vague” thoughts on the one Sandman Absolute from which I’ve never read any material.

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

Episode 31 features The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3.

Not a fan of watching videos – or just not able to watch right now? First, did you know you can speed up YouTube videos? Just click the little gear icon to change the speed settings. I know that makes me much more apt to watch.

Alternately, you can keep reading for the full transcript. Please keep in mind that this season of videos is shot off the cuff with no chance to review the books ahead of time, so I might occasionally fudge some facts (usually addressed in the video by subtitles).

[Read more…] about Crushing Comics S01E31 – Tithing Your Time To Your Hobbies and Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3

Crushing Comics S01E24 – Atari, Wonder Woman newspaper strips, Gaiman’s Death & Sandman Overture, & more!

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In this episode I pull an unusual hunk of books of the shelf – a set that pulls me far out of my Marvel Comics comfort zone! Watch as I reminisce about things old and new including my Atari 2600, Wonder Woman’s newsprint comics, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman prequel and afterword all rolled up into one, and more!

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

Episode 24 features Wonder Woman: The Complete Newspaper Comics (Amazon), Death Deluxe Edition (Amazon / Absolute Edtion), The Sandman: Overture Deluxe Edition (Amazon), Daytripper Deluxe Edition (Amazon), and Mystery Society (Amazon).

 

New Comic Guide: The Definitive Guide to Watchmen

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Yesterday, DC resurrected The Watchmen’s universe in the first issue of Doomsday Clock, a year-long event that gives us our first glimpse of what happened after the end of Watchmen 20 years ago.

To commemorate the occasion, starting today my new Watchmen guide is available to the general public! This new guide was made possible through the support of the Patreon community, who pay for Crushing Krisis’s regular monthly expenses.

My goal with this guide was to create something distinctly different from other Watchmen references on the web. I didn’t just want a bibliography or an encyclopedia article, but something in the middle that tracks every reprint of the original series and still offers some interesting insights.

How many of Watchmen’s 10 collected formats do you own? How many of the three cuts of the film have you watched? Have you read any of the Before Watchmen series? Do you know the Charlton Comics character equivalents for all of the characters, including which of them made it into the DC Universe proper after Crisis?

The guide answers all of those questions, and will be the home to Doomsday Clock information as the series progresses across the next twelve months.

New For Patrons: Guide To Justice League

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Today one of the most major DC guides launches directly to Patrons of Crushing Krisis – it’ll be available to the general public in about a week.

Whether the team is titled the The Justice League of America, Justice League International, Justice League Task Force, or just plain old JLA, every incarnation and in-continuity release is covered in this guide from the team’s 1960 debut in the pages of The Brave and the Bold through present day.

Head to Patreon to become a supporter of Crushing Krisis. Chip in as little as $1, or get early access to guides for the price of a single comic or cappuccino every month!

Brian Bendis leaves Marvel for DC! (Plus, breaking down Marvel Legacy’s writer roster)

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A few hours ago DC Comics dropped the biggest bombshell comics industry news we’ve heard in years. Forget special events or character deaths – this is truly a “nothing will ever be the same” kind of event.

It’s hard to imagine industry news bigger than that, aside from perhaps Jim Lee abandoning DC to head back to Marvel! Anything less couldn’t possibly compare. That’s because Bendis’s hand in steering the development of Marvel’s comic universe over the course of the past 17 years cannot possibly be overstated.

Brian Bendis completely rebuilt the Avengers franchise into a multi-title behemoth over the course of seven years, defining Marvel’s Universe along the way in a series of major events that fundamentally altered the company’s status quo.

He has solely written the Ultimate version of Spider-Men since 2001, including creating Miles Morales and bringing him to the main Marvel Universe.

He created Jessica Jones and set Daredevil on a course that had seen continued critical success through present day. He took previously forgotten characters like Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Spider-Woman and brought them back to prominence for other writer’s to develop.

That assessment doesn’t even mention his Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men, Iron Man, or any number of other major titles.

Brian Bendis has  just written a lot of comic book issues and stories. Even as a non-fan of most of Bendis’s output, I cannot possible deny his impact.

While it will be a little while before we learn who will be the new driving force behind Marvel’s creative direction, the more imminent question is: who will replace Bendis writing four titles a month!? We’re heading into Marvel Legacy with him writing Spider-Man, Iron Man, Jessica Jones, and The Defenders.

Plus, we have to make sure to leave at least two writers with room to steer The Avengers franchise, which will be up for a shake-up in April. Plus, we need to staff the impending returns of Wolverine and the Fantastic Four (both heavily speculated as potential Bendis territory). And, finally, we ought to spare at least one writer for a marquee X-book.

Let’s take a moment to dissect Marvel’s current roster of writers in Marvel Legacy and figure out how to reassign those books. [Read more…] about Brian Bendis leaves Marvel for DC! (Plus, breaking down Marvel Legacy’s writer roster)