Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

DC Comics

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)

New For Patrons: Watchmen – The Definitive Collecting Guide

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Today I launched a somewhat unusual guide directly to Patrons of Crushing Krisis – Watchmen: The Definitive Collecting Guide.

“But, Peter,” you might say, “Watchmen is only 12 issues long. How does that warrant an entire guide?

I’m so glad you asked. This guide does more than break out the many ways the original Watchmen series is collected. It also has information about the genesis of the Watchmen characters. It explains the differences between the three different cuts of the film, including one that incorporates the Tales of the Black Freighter material. It covers DC’s 2012 return to the Watchemen with Before Watchmen.

Much like my Complete Guide to Batman by Grant Morrison, this page is something I’ve always sought on the internet but never quite found. I look forward to adding more to it as the upcoming Doomsday Clock event as it unfurls.

This guide will become available to the general public in a few weeks to coincide with the release of the first issue of Doomsday Clock. Want it before then? Patrons get early access to every guide, including extended access to special Patrons’ Choice guides like Scarlet Witch.

Comic Book Review: Dark Days – The Forge #1 by Snyder, Tynion, Kubert, Romita, & Lee

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This week DC launches a major event that promises to be the biggest story of the Rebirth era to date. What are the mysteries of Dark Knights: Metal, and is its first chapter Dark Days – The Forge at all accessible to readers not well-versed in DC’s history?

Dark_Days_The_Forge _2017_0001_coverDark Days – The Forge #1 (digital)

Written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV. Line art by Andy Kubert with Danny Miki, John Romita Jr. with Klaus Janson, and Jim Lee with Scott Williams. Color art by Alex Sinclair and Jeremiah Skipper. Letters by Steve Wands

DC Comics has always delivered better mysteries than Marvel.

Maybe it’s down to their “Detective Comics” namesake, or maybe it’s because none of Marvel’s major characters are as dedicated to unravelling secrets as Batman, but DC Events always seem more mysterious to me than their Marvel counterparts.

The Forge is no exception. I went into this quite suspicious that the story would work for me as a minor DC fan. I enjoyed it, despite there being a few elements that went over my head.

I think an even newer reader might actually fare better than me, because a lot of my confusion came from knowing just tidbits of some of the stories and being confused about what relied on history and what was introduced. To fresh eyes, this will all have the ring of a story that’s been in motion for years.

The central thrust of this issue is that Batman has been exploring a worldwide mystery, possibly spurred on by a revelation Court of Owls. It’s not about a villain or an imminent threat to the Earth, but it’s the sort of ball of yarn he cannot help but unravel. Per his usual M.O., Batman has been keeping other heroes in the dark, bringing them in only as-needed while using his vast resources both as Bruce Wayne and Batman to pursue an answer.

He isn’t the only one in the middle of an investigation. Hawkman recounts an unending life of reincarnation as he ponders the mysteries of the Nth Metal. And, Hal Jordan is assigned by one of the Guardians of the Universe to investigate an Earthbound mystery – and it’s no coincidence that the mystery is deep below Gotham City. [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: Dark Days – The Forge #1 by Snyder, Tynion, Kubert, Romita, & Lee

New Comic Guide: DC Elseworlds and Alternate Earths

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I’m back with the second of three guides in my “Universal Theme.” Last week, I shared my expansive guide to all of DC’s Events. Now, it’s time to explore other earths with The Complete Guide to DC Elseworlds, Infinite Earths, & Alternate Realities.

This guide offers a comprehensive look at all of DC’s alternate continuity stories and characters. That’s not only Elseworlds, but Earth One and Earth 2, inter-company crossovers with Marvel and Dark Horse, and the video game worlds of Arkham and Injustice. In the future, It will grow to include TV and Film tie-ins.

I haven’t been entirely sure I’m actually making even as late as two weeks ago, but now that I’ve made it I’m happy I did. Truthfully, I should have made the Marvel equivalent of this page years ago, because I’m constantly encountering out-of-continuity Marvel series with nowhere in my current guide line-up to stash them.

This guide started as two different pages. One page was for DC Elseworlds titles, of which there are many. And another for DC’s major Alternate Earths, where I could stash things like the Earth One graphic novels and the New 52 Era Earth 2 series.

As I continued to rough out other guides I kept finding new material that fit well onto both pages – DC inter-company crossovers could go on Elseworlds, and collections of classic DC Earth Two stories belonged on Alternate Earths.

After a number of debates about which material belonged on which page (e.g., “Where should cohesive alternate realities like Injustice go?”) I realized I was actually working on a single, massive page for all of DC’s tales outside of their main reality.

In my push to finish this guide I realized it’s the sort of guide that can never really be finished. That’s because there will always be more random out-of-continuity tales to track down that I will continue to discover as I work on further DC guides.

I thought this guide was boggling to assemble but… well, wait until you see what I have in store for you next Thursday. It’s not DC, and it’s not… quite… Marvel.

You’ll see soon enough.

The Complete Guide to DC Elseworlds, Infinite Earths, & Alternate Realities

Updated April 23, 2026! A comprehensive guide to DC stories that don’t take place on their main-continuity Earth – including Alternate Earths, Elseworlds, Inter-Company Crossover, TV and Video Game tie-ins, and more! Find out how to read them via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperbacks. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. [Read more…] about The Complete Guide to DC Elseworlds, Infinite Earths, & Alternate Realities