Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Gerry Duggan

Updated: Guide to Cable

by

It’s time for another update to a long-standing X-Guide! It’s another guide where I re-wrote every word and rebuilt every link from scratch to make it clearer than every before how to follow the story of one of the most-complicated X-Characters. Welcome to my all-new, all-different Guide to Cable!

Guide to Cable

This Guide to Cable didn’t exist when I first launched Crushing Comics back in 2010.

At the time, Cable’s 1993 series wasn’t particularly well-collected and his 2008 series was just wrapping up, so the bulk of his collected editions were actually from the run of Cable & Deadpool from 2004 to 2008. At the time Deadpool hadn’t been associated with the X-Men for well over a decade (this was just before Uncanny X-Force was announced!), but he had several well-collected series to his name.

Faced with a decision between an under-collected X-Character and well-collected non-X-Character, it made sense to package the pair of them together thanks to their shared series and intertwined origins. Thus, the Guide to Cable & Deadpool was born. [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to Cable

New for Patrons: Red She-Hulk AKA Harpy

by

I’m back today with a highly-specific guide for “pledgeonaut” Patrons of CK. This one also spun out of last week’s update to my Guide to She-Hulk, because it’s also a Guide to She-Hulk! No, not that She-Hulk, the other She-Hulk – it’s a Guide to Red She-Hulk!

Be warned: Even though the guide itself is careful not to spoil details of Red She-Hulk’s secret identity while covering pre-reveal issues, I’m talking about it openly in this post.

Honestly, it was only a secret for nine months 12 years ago! But, I think it was a fun secret executed well, so I try not to ruin it for people who might be coming to the run for the first time.

Marvel was going through an interesting period from 2005-2012 where at first they were revitalizing lines and characters purely out of the business instinct to stay alive, but then they started adjusting them even more due to the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

To me, this began with the period of Bendis launching New Avengers through the death of Captain America at the end of Civil War, with House of M sandwiched between them. Despite Marvel using the “All-New, All-Different” tagline since the Bronze Age, this was the first time in a while that the main 616-Marvel Universe felt like a truly new and different place.

(A lot of that was down to the sales and popularity pressure from the Ultimate Universe, which at that point was threatening to subsume the main one.)

One result of that period was character lines that felt larger than they used to. Marvel’s major Silver Age characters feel encouraged to reinvent their casts and build their own huge events. That was certainly true for Hulk, which went from a Marvel also-ran to one of their hottest titles on the strength of Greg Pak’s “Planet Hulk” storyline, which spun into the line-wide “World War Hulk” event.

In the wake of that, Pak and Jeph Loeb had more leeway than ever to expand the scope of Hulk comics. Suddenly, there were a lot of Hulks and Gamma-powered characters. We had Bruce Banner as Hulk, Jennifer Walters as She-Hulk, Doc Samson, Rick Jones as A-Bomb, the newly-birthed Skaar, and even Lyra – Hulk’s daughter from a potential future!

(Spoilers begin here.) [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Red She-Hulk AKA Harpy

X-Men, The Age of Krakoa (2019 – 2024) – The Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order

The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide on collecting X-Men Age of Krakoa, including X-Men flagship titles by Jonathan Hickman, Gerry Duggan, Kieron Gillen, & Al Ewing, in comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated August 2024 with titles scheduled for release through February 2025.

Comics mega-star Jonathan Hickman took over the X-Men franchise as both a writer and “Head of X” in July 2019, and since then nothing has been the same.

That’s not the only reason 2019 was a historic year for the X-Men. As a film media property, the rights to X-Men returned to the Marvel fold when Disney acquired FOX in March of 2019.

Certainly, this change to the licensing of Marvel’s Merry Mutants had an effect on the potential for massive comic plots to return to the somewhat languishing X-line. By many accounts, Hickman and his massive pitch for a massive shift in status quo for the X-Men had been around for some time in the X-Office during All-New All Different Marvel and RessurXion.

Even knowing a major change was coming to the X-line couldn’t prepare readers for what Jonathan Hickman had in store. He launched his era with a pair of intertwined mini-series – House of X and Powers of X, widely abbreviated as HOX and POX or HOXPOX – both filled with major bombshells of plot. Hickman revised the history of several characters in a major way that will forever color re-reads of classic material, and he used that change to set up an utterly shocking set of present day circumstances for the mutant race.

From the conclusion of HOXPOX, Marvel launched an initial line of six ongoing comics – a flagship X-Men title from Hickman, and five supporting books.

Marauders by Gerry Duggan was the most integrated with elements introduced by HOXPOX. Excalibur by Tini Howard used a newly-available character to spin new continuity about mutant magic. New Mutants by both Hickman and Ed Brisson examined the younger generation of mutants as evangelists to stray members of the mutant race. X-Force by Benjamin Percy looked at the security of the new world of mutants, both internally and externally. Fallen Angels by Bryan Edward Hill was the one fizzled launch book – it tried to integrate Kwannon into the new status quo, but stumbled along the way.

After the initial wave of books, early 2020 brought a new wave of ongoings and mini-series – as well as a replacement for the canceled Fallen Angels with Hellions by Zeb Wells following Kwannon’s continuing adventures. Notable, X-Factor by Leah Williams addressed one of the core concepts of Hickman’s new status quo for mutants.

Marvel Comics, along with most other publishers, paused their physical releases starting in late March of 2020 due to the global pandemic. This pushed back the first major event of the Hickman era to begin in September. X of Swords was a massive 22-part direct crossover through all of the ongoing books in the line pulled together plot threads from Hickman’s flagship as well as Howard’s Excalibur. It addressed virtually no plots outside of that, though it would certainly have an effect on all of the books coming out of the event.

After X of Swords, a third wave of new books launched in late 2020 and 2021, including one directly out of the event – Al Ewing’s S.W.O.R.D.

Patreons make this page possible! Every month, Patrons of Crushing Krisis help to fund its hosting, helper applications, video production, and more! Every dollar contributed by Patrons goes directly to helping sustain and grow this site.

[Read more…] about X-Men, The Age of Krakoa (2019 – 2024) – The Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order

Marauders (2019) #16: Kate Pryde’s revenge against Sebastian Shaw! | This Week in X

by

It’s This Week in X for Marauders (2019) #16, released 9 December 2020!

Marauders (2019) #16 finds Sebastian Shaw reaping what he has sowed from four specifically aggrieved parties – and you’ll never guess who exacts the worst revenge!

This issue is one long beatdown (or, if you were as amused by it as we were, a slaptstick routine), but the individual beats said a lot about identity, friendship, loyalty, reparations, and revenge.

Join Peter, Tyler, and Fariha’s specially-nominated guest New Mutant, Harry, for this epic discussion.

Need help making sense of reading and collecting the X-Men? Crushing Comics can help!

Want to keep up with comics commentary all week long? Follow Crushing Comics on Twitter and subscribe to my channel on YouTube.

Recapping X of Swords, Week 9: X-Force #14, Hellions #6, and Cable #6 | This Week in X

by

Join Peter, Tyler, and Fariha as we dissect the penultimate ninth week of X of Words in the X-Men comics of 18 November, 2020 – X-Force (2020) #14, Hellions (2020) #6, and Cable (2020) #6.

They’re the 17th, 18, & 19th chapters of X of Swords, and it’s all about duels and double-crosses. We discuss Sinister’s duplicitous plans, ponder whether we’re eager to see the resurrection process go awry, and charge through a lightning round chat about EVERY ONE of the tournament match-ups this week.

Plus, Fariha brings along a special surprise!

Need help making sense of reading and collecting the X-Men?