Marvel Comics

Star Wars Legends Guide – Updated through November 2023!

February 17, 2023 by krisis

I’m excited to take a (very brief) detour from updating my core of X-Men guides to bring you a comprehensive update to my guide page that might contain the most individual series in the most exact reading order out of all of Crushing Krisis! It’s not May the 4th, but it’s time to journey to a universe far, far away with this update to my Star Wars Legends Guide – which covers the entirety of the old Star Wars Expanded Universe comics that ran from 1977 to 2015!

Guide to Star Wars Legends Comics (Expanded Universe Comics, 1977 – 2015)

As I’ve been sprinting through updating all of my Marvel Comics guides, I hadn’t given too much thought to collections of the Star Wars Legends old Expanded Universe. Of course, Marvel is pumping out new Expanded Universe comics non-stop, which have now expanded to post Empire Strikes Back and into the High Republic era.

But… how much action could there be on recollecting Star Wars Legends in a handful of years?

Apparently, a lot of action. I was surprised when I showed up to my live co-hosting gig with Near Mint Condition last week to discover how many Star Wars Legends omnibuses have been released over the past two years. When our co-host Kurtis from Epic Marvel Podcast mentioned that the Star Wars Legends Epic Collection line was only a handful of books from being completed, I knew it was time to take a closer look at updating my Star Wars Legends Guide.

(Kurtis also sent me some personalized recommendations of Star Wars Legends comics after the stream, which sent me even further down the rabbit hole. So, if you’re happy for this guide update, you have him to thank.)

What I discovered is that Marvel has transformed the landscape of Star Wars Legends over the past few years. [Read more…] about Star Wars Legends Guide – Updated through November 2023!

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 15, 2023

February 15, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to the third post in my trial run of a return to new release posts! This post covers Marvel Comics February 15 2023 releases.

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from Marvel this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. For each new release, I’ll point you to the right Crushing Comics guide.

Marvel Comics February 15 2023 Collected Editions

The Amazing Spider-Man by Zeb Wells Vol. 3: Hobgoblin (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302933135 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man, Peter Parker (2018 – Present Day). This volume includes Spider-Man’s brief intersection with last year’s A.X.E.: Judgment Day event.

Captain America by Nick Spencer Omnibus Vol. 1 (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN / digital)
See Guide to Captain America or Guide to Falcon. While much of this run is the dour run-up to the joyless Secret Empire event, it also includes a lot of Sam Wilson being incredibly competent as Captain America, which is a decent read. However, I just don’t think this run is significant enough to warrant a spot on an omnibus shelf – especially not two books of it.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty Vol. 1: Revolution (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302931438 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America. The first collection of this Kelly, Lanzing, & Carnero run, which I am absolutely dying to dig into! I’m working my way up to it as fast as I can!

Daredevil & Elektra Vol. 1: The Red Fist Saga (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302926113 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil or Guide to Elektra. This is the first collection of the Daredevil & Elektra co-starring run of Daredevil from Chip Zdarsky & Marco Checchetto that directly follows Devil’s Reign and Elektra’s stint as “Woman With Fear.” There are another two volumes already solicited to follow, and the entire prior Zdarsky run is covered in oversize hardcover – so there’s every reason to jump in (unless you are awaiting an inevitable omnibus in a few years).

Daredevil Epic Collection: The Man Without Fear (2016 paperback, ISBN 978-0785195481 / 2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950361 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. A reprint of the first in Daredevil’s 21-book Epic Collection line covering his 1964 series in full. Right now we have every volume except 7-12, most of which have been collected in other formats (including Miller’s entire run).

Doctor Strange Epic Collection Volume 11: Nightmare on Bleecker Street (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951054 / digital)
See Guide to Doctor Strange. I’ve just given this guide a major shake-up to bring it up to date on collections, although I still have a lot of work to do on guest appearances and formatting. I was surprised to see how aggressive Marvel has gotten with Epic Collections of his 1988 series, since they’ve also been covering it in omnibus volumes at the same time. I would’ve guessed that they’d want to pump out some classic Stern material to coincide with last years Multiverse of Madness film, but I suppose the Masterworks line is still not too far ahead of that point.

Edge of Spider-Verse (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302947170 / digital TBA)
See Guide to Spider-Man, Peter Parker (2018 – Present Day). This is the prologue to Dan Slott’s Spider-Verse redux that played out in Spider-Man (2022).

Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302946722 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers or Guide to Captain Marvel, Genis-Vell (eventually) for the return of the son of Captain Mar-Vell

Hulk: Planet Hulk Omnibus (2017 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302907693 / 2023 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302949686 / digital)
See Guide to Hulk, Bruce Banner for this 2023 straight reprint of the 2017 omnibus.

Iron Man, Books of Korvac IV: Source Control (20xx paperback, ISBN 978-1302932701 / digital)
See Guide to Iron Man. I was absolutely obsessed with the first three volumes of this epic Christopher Cantwell Iron Man series, though I haven’t yet read the contents of this final book.

Marvel Knights: Make the World Go Away (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302949709 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. I’m a little puzzled about this one, as this book collecting the six-issue Marvel Knights anniversary series by Matt Rosenberg & Donny Cates was already issued in trade with the same contents in 2019… and neither collection puts Daredevil in the title, which would help it sell better! It primarily stars Daredevil and fits in just prior to his Zdarsky series.

Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 16
See Guide to Iron Man. This book pushes the Iron Man Masterworks collection into 1983!

Star Wars – Bounty Hunters Vol. 5: The Raid on the Vermillion (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-0785194798 / digital)
See Guide to Star Wars Expanded Universe Comics. This is one of the current Star Wars ongoing series set in the period directly following Empire Strikes Back.

X-Men: Hellfire Gala – Immortal (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952099 / digital)
See Guide t0 X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. This second annual Hellfire Gala merits a much less fancy and much slimmer release compared to the special oversize hardcover gold edition from 2021’s event. It collects the Hellfire Gala one-shot, the mirth-filled Tini Howard follow-up to the prior gala from Secret X-Men (2022) #1, and a number of digital shorts.

Read on for a rundown of Marvel Comics February 15 2023 single-issue releases, including a link to their accompanying guide pages on Crushing Comics.

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 8, 2023

February 8, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to the second in my trial run of a return to new release posts! This post covers Marvel Comics February 8 2023 releases.

Marvel Comics February 8 2023 Collected Editions

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus, Vol. 1
(2017 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302907082 / 2023 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302945473 / digital)
This is the massively-satisfying first half of Hickman’s Avengers run, taking it through the end of the Infinity event in perfect Hickman-approved reading order. Although I’ve been known to have complains about this run, they’re 100% from the back half – you cannot go wrong with this (and I’m a rare dissenter on the run as a whole). See the Guide to Avengers Flagships (2010 – Present Day).

Avengers By Jason Aaron Vol. 11: History’s Mightiest Heroes
(2022 paperback, ISBN 978-1302928858 / digital)
This is the final volume of this series collected on its own before it heads into the climactic Avengers Assemble crossover. See Guide to Avengers Flagships (2010 – Present Day).

Avengers: Kree/Skrull War Gallery Edition HC
(2023 oversize “Gallery” hardcover, ISBN 978-1302949594)
These gallery editions are even larger than omnibus-size – they’re similar to DC Absolutes. And, if any classic run of art merits one, it’s Kree/Skrull war, which contains one of my favorite issues of all time, Avengers (1963) #93 – “Journey to the Center of the Android.” See Guide to Avengers (1963 – 1996).

Mighty Marvel Masterworks: Captain Marvel Vol. 1 – The Coming of Captain Marvel
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302948894 / digital)
This book is part of Marvel’s new paperback Masterworks recollection line, which does not always line up directly with the breaks in the original Masterworks line. See Guide to Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers or Guide to Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell (eventually).

Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Menace Revealed Vol. 3
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302932312 / digital)
This release (and the announcement of some Epics for later in 2023) brings us tantalizingly close to full coverage of Star Wars Legends in Epic format. Of course… Marvel hasn’t reprinted a single volume, so some of them have risen to omnibus-prices on the aftermarket! We’ll see if Marvel releasing the actual omnibuses deflates that a bit. See Guide to Star Wars Legends (Expanded Universe, 1977-2015).

X-Men: The Animated Series – The Adaptations Omnibus
(2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302947774 / digital)
This one is PACKED with nostalgia for us 90s X-kids. It collects the three ongoing series comic adaptations-slash-extensions of the iconic X-Men Animated series. Collects X-Men Adventures (1992) #1-15, X-Men Adventures (1994) #1-13 and X-Men Adventures (1995) #1-13 in full. See Guide to X-Men Ongoing Titles.

Read on for a rundown of Marvel Comics February 8 2023 single-issue releases, including a link to their accompanying guide pages on Crushing Comics.

Cable Math & Maps: Collected Issue Counting and Future Omnibus Mapping

February 2, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to a post comprehensively mapping Cable – from his 1990 debut in the pages of New Mutants to present day!

This is the second pilot of my “Math & Maps,” series where we dissect how every issue from a character or title has been collected and then figure out the best way to add it to our shelves in omnibus editions. Last time, we tackled X-Factor Mapping. This time, we’re looking at Mapping Cable – Nathan Dayspring Gray Summers – based on my recently-updated Guide to Cable.

Are you ready to map?!

To get started with our Cable Math & Maps, let’s look at the current collection standings for all of Cable’s series. This only includes series where he is a title star, but not series like X-Force (1991) and Cable & X-Force (2016) where he’s the leader in a team book.

Series	Total Issues	in Color*	in Epic	in Oversize
Cable	262	247	0	136
as a percentage:		94.27%	0%	51.91%

Note that Cable: Blood & Metal (1992) #1-2 are collected in the X-Force Epic Collection line, but Cable does not have his own line.

How does that break down across every Cable series from 2012 to present? What am I even counting? And, how can it all fit onto our bookshelves in a set of tidy hardcovers? Read on to find out! And, when you’re done, be sure to leave a comment to let me know if you’d like to see more posts like this in the future.

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 1, 2023

February 1, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to a trial of a kind of post I haven’t written for years: a post covering Marvel Comics February 1 2023 releases! This list includes every comic and digital comic out from Marvel this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats.

For every new release, I’ll point you to the right guide, which will be updated to reflect the current series and issue.

I last attempted this sort of post five whole years ago. Time flies! Seriously, it feels like it was just a few months ago. At the time, I had several dozen fewer Marvel guides than I do today and I was more than a year behind on reading the entire Marvel Universe. Trying to point readers toward the right collection information for every issue was like trying to bale out a boat with a sieve. I needed to spend the time guide-building!

There are still many more Marvel guides left to build, but I have much better coverage than I did a half a decade ago. I’m going to experiment with bringing this post back this month as a way to catch up on everything that Marvel is offering – both for myself and for my 100+ Marvel reading guide pages.

Marvel Comics February 1 2023 Collected Editions

Vol. 1: The Man in the Ant Hill (2015 paperback, ISBN 978-0785198505 / digital / 2023 paperback, 978-1302950354)
See Guide to Ant-Man for this straight reprint of the existing Epic just in time for the Ant-Man movie.

Captain Mar-Vell Omnibus Vol. 1 (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302948658 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers for coverage of this series (though, a Mar-Vell guide may be coming…). This omnibus is a big deal, as the three color Masterworks that cover this material have been out of print for some time. It’s nice to see Marvel focusing on a classic hero without much current exposure.

Daredevil By Frank Miller & Klaus Janson Omnibus (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302945534 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil for this reprinting of the perennial one-and-done classic Daredevil ominbus.

Fantastic Four by Dan Slott, Vol. 3 (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302945343 / digital)
See Guide to Fantastic Four for this hardcover recollection line, which continues to be one of the lines Marvel is reprinting most-aggressively. It’s almost as if they’re getting reading for a movie…

by Gerry Duggan, Vol. 2 (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302945213/ digital)
See Guide to X-Men – The Age of Krakoa for this hardcover recollection line. This completes Duggan’s run in hardcover.

Miles Morales: The Avenging Avenger! (2023 digest-size paperback, ISBN / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man, Miles Morales for this digest-size recollection of Miles’s post-Secret Wars Marvel-616 series.

Silver Surfer Epic Collection Volume 5: The Return of Thanos (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302948290 / digital)
See Guide to Silver Surfer for this new Epic Collection! This brings us past halfway point of Silver Surfer’s Epic line, with 8 books released and 6 still to go to cover his material through the end of his 1987 ongoing. Still missing are Volumes 2, 8, 10, 11, 12, & 14.

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Omnibus Vol. 1 (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302947941)
See Guide to Star Wars, Episode 4 – A New Hope or Star Wars Expanded Universe Comics for this new printing of the surprisingly hot 2021 Gillen omnibus.

Read on for a rundown of Marvel Comics February 1 2023 single-issue releases, including a link to their accompanying guide pages on Crushing Comics.