Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Grant Morrison

Crushing Comics S01E037 – Grant Morrison’s New X-Men (and why he writes the best Jean Grey)

by

I start off this episode musing about the skill of talk show hosting. It’s one thing to be able to extemporaneously monologue with coherence, but it’s another skill entirely to be able to do that while doing something with your hands – like unwrapping bricks of comic books.

The books I wind up unwrapping are a major part of the uncanny origin of my now-massive comic book collection. Grant Morrison’s New X-Men were the first trio of books I had delivered to our new house back in 2010. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with them since then, though even from my first read it’s been clear to me that Grant Morrison understood Jean Grey like no writer before him – and, none after have gotten the chance!

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

Episode 37 features Grant Morrison’s complete run on New X-Men, covered in my guide to New X-Men and X-Men, Vol. 2.

Batman by Grant Morrison – The Complete Guide & Trade Reading Order

Updated April 12, 2026! This page tells you everything you need to know and buy to read Grant Morrison’s Batman epic saga from 2006 to 2013. It includes every issue in comprehensive order, listing all of the formats in which each issue has been published. Last updated April 2026 with titles scheduled for release through December 2026.

Batman has had several epic single-author runs in his modern history, from the likes of Denny O’Neil, Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Scott Snyder, and more!

What makes Grant Morrison’s run any different or more notable?

It’s a question of history and of scope. Grant Morrison’s run is predicated on a knowledge and reference to past Batman stories, including some Pre-Crisis stories that had been in continuity limbo for several years. Also, no single author had previously had a Batman run of this scope – running across three titles and seven years and intersecting with one of DC’s biggest events along the way.

Plus, there’s the x-factor of Morrison himself. They is a psychedelic comic author as likely to mine continuity for details that deserve fresh exploitation as they are to take characters on inexplicable journeys with some of the steps missing or out of order.

Like him or not, Grant Morrison’s arrival on a superhero title almost always makes for appointment comics. Pairing him with the most-popular comic book hero in the world was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment for DC.

Ready to get started? [Read more…] about Batman by Grant Morrison – The Complete Guide & Trade Reading Order

Batman – Collecting Guide & Reading Order (Post-Crisis, from #401 – Present)

Updated April 23, 2026! The Batman comic books definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics and The Definitive Guide to Collecting Batman Comics. Last updated April 2026 with titles scheduled for release through December 2026.

Post-Crisis Batman: Batman (1940) #401 (Nov 1986) – Present Day

Many of DC’s heroes saw their comics relaunched in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths to delineate where their new continuity began. That was not the case with Batman, whose Detective Comics and Batman continued their runs uninterrupted.

Batman #401 is the first appearance of Post-Crisis Batman. Yet, the true keystone to Post-Crisis Batman is Year One in #404-407. Frank Miller pens a fresh, definitive take on Batman’s first year in the cowl that becomes the in-continuity bedrock of all further Batman stories. [Read more…] about Batman – Collecting Guide & Reading Order (Post-Crisis, from #401 – Present)

Review: Wonder Woman – Earth One, Vol. 1, by Morrison, Paquette, & Fairbairn

by

As a kid, I never wanted to be in a boys’ club and was always jealous of anything that was exclusively “girls only.”

I can recall many instances of this. Riding in the car, my mother tried to convince me that I might enjoy joining the Boy Scouts. “But, they’re all boys,” I replied, my rejection implicit. Later, when my female friends were allowed to sleep over together after parties while males went home, I rebelled. “Why shouldn’t I be allowed to stay over?” I raged. “They’re all of my best friends!”

It was hard for me to understand the power of either gendered space because, upon reflection, I did not feel strongly aligned to the idea of my maleness. There was nothing about it I particularly wanted – not the strength, or the camaraderie – because I did not have any evidence in my life that maleness could be good or worthwhile. I hated the idea of being a member of the boys’ club. If all you know about being a boy is bullying and irresponsibility – if the only masculinity you witness is toxic – then why would you want to access it?

That’s not to say I was desperate to be a girl. I liked to wear nail polish and own pink things because they were pretty, not out of a sense of gender dysphoria. Upon reflection, I think the idea of a gender continuum , or even simply a third gender, would have been powerful for me to be able to identify with at the time. (So would have a positive male influence, but I think the former would have been more accessible than the latter.)

Instead, I counteracted my boyness by idolizing female influences, none more than Wonder Woman – the only superhero that mattered to me even though Spider-Man shared my name.

Thirty years later, I can appreciate my ability to define my own maleness and that my gender role or expression does not define my gender identity. I also appreciate the power of single sex spaces in certain contexts. At RJ there was a recurring Ladies Night, were all the women would get together for dinner or drinks. Of course, I wanted to attend – these were all my friends out together! Yet, as women in tech, those friends shared an important, connected experience, and even as the most well-meaning male I might interrupt the ability to share that. Also, there may be women who don’t appreciate or benefit from that shared, female-only space.

Now this is a part of my story. Even when I’m accidentally or tacitly included in a boys’ club or male privilege, I don’t experience it in the same way as my peers.

I’m happy about that. I think it’s powerful to be able to access some piece of otherness to influence your viewpoint when you are in the majority. It doesn’t make you The Other, and you still have a lot of work to do to understand the experience of someone who prohibited from enjoying the club or the privilege, but it means you can see outside of your cave into the wider world of sunlight outside.

Oh, hey, and we’re here to review a comic book. [Read more…] about Review: Wonder Woman – Earth One, Vol. 1, by Morrison, Paquette, & Fairbairn