Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Marvel Comics

Marvel Fresh Start Era (2018 – Present) – The Definitive Guide

A comprehensive guide to every comic book series in Marvel Comics’ 2018 Fresh Start era. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Updated May 2018.

What is Marvel’s Fresh Start?

Marvel Fresh Start promo image

Marvel Fresh Start represents an era of Marvel’s comic line that began officially with Avengers (2018) #1 in May 2018, but also informally includes several series launches in the months leading up to that kickoff.

Titles did not carry an explicit “Fresh Start” banner or trade dress, so for some titles the beginning of Fresh start is approximate.

In continuity, Fresh Start does not coincide with the end of a specific event or an inciting incident.

There are a few specific story beats that precede it, including (roughly in order) the resurrection of Las Vegas in Doctor Strange: Damnation, the return of Hulk in Avengers: No Surrender, the return of Tony Stark at the end of Invincible Iron Man, and the death of Mighty Thor (which is chronologically the final plot beat of Marvel Legacy, since Thor appears in many of those other stories).

Marvel Fresh Start isn’t associated with any specific new storyline, but it mirrors DC Rebirth in that it returns the focus to a recognizable core of Marvel heroes and titles that have mostly been well-known for decades with a few exceptions. [Read more…] about Marvel Fresh Start Era (2018 – Present) – The Definitive Guide

Crushing Comics S01E085 – Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon, John Cassaday, & Laura Martin

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In today’s episode I unwrap my final omnibus, which (as many of you have likely surmised through a process of elimination) is Astonishing X-Men. I use this famously self-contained, blockbuster run as an opportunity to muse on getting back into comics and the surprisingly limited scope of the comic book market.

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

Episode 85 features the Astonishing X-Men Omnibus, covered in the Guide to Astonishing & Amazing X-Men.

(Yes, I skipped posting Episode 84 – it was just a episode prompting folks to guess the final omnibus.)

This Week in X: All-New Wolverine #32, Astonishing X-Men #9, New Mutants – Dead Souls #1, Old Man Logan #36, Weapon X #15, & X-Men Blue #23

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It’s the eleventh week of new comics in 2018, and This Week in X has six new titles to review – so many that I mistakenly omitted one the first time I edited this video. I’ve never had to count as high as six before!

This week, I cover:

  • All-New Wolverine #32, a pleasant (if pandering) one-shot epilogue to “Orphans of X”
  • Astonishing X-Men #9, a dull middle chapter that does a lot of telling rather than showing
  • New Mutants – Dead Souls #1, a solid hit for lovers of every era of New Mutants
  • Old Man Logan #36, which flirts with some heavy themes before turning into a MacGuffin hunt
  • Weapon X #15, a surprisingly satisfying (and unsurprisingly bloody) tussle
  • X-Men Blue #23, far and away the best issue of this series and a return to form for Cullen Bunn

Learn more about how each of those series reached their current issues and hear which ones I’d recommend picking up.

Crushing Comics S01E083 – X-Statix emerges from X-Force (+ X-Men, Diversity, & Acceptance)

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I’m down to just two books left to unwrap. I know exactly what they are, but not which one is which, so I’m 50% surprised to unwrap the massive X-Statix omnibus.

X-Statix is an indie-style, deconstructionist take on mutantdom that features ongoing themes of addiction, teenage pregnancy, promiscuity, and racial identity/discrimination. I talk a little bit about X-Statix’s story, but spend a lot of the episode discussing diversity and comics. If you reject a (great) comic for having a same sex relationship, then have you been paying attention to the X-Men in the first place?

(You might recall this story from when I originally told it on CK over half a decade ago; it is still one of my favorite posts of all time.)

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

Episode 83 features the X-Statix Omnibus, which is covered in the Guide to X-Force.