Mike Carey

DC Comics Lucifer – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for DC Comics Lucifer comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated August 2022 with titles scheduled for release through January 2023.

Lucifer Morningstar. Rebellious Angel of Heaven. Lord of Hell.

We first meet the DC Comics Lucifer of the Sandman Universe in The Sandman (1989) #4, where he is modeled on Space Oddity era David Bowie. He is a prickly and clever opponent for the still-recovering Morpheus, but one who allows for a battle of wits with his proxy rather than a physical confrontation.

That’s why it’s so surprising when Lucifer abdicates his throne in “Season of Mists,” handing the key to his kingdom to his former foe, Morpheus and decamping to the mortal coil to live on Earth.

Lucifer continues as a supporting character through the end of Neil Gaiman’s run on Sandman, also appearing in The Demon and Books of Magic in the 90s. When we find him in Mike Carey’s 1999 mini-series, he is running a piano bar in his exile when an agent of Heaven asks him to intervene in a human wish-granting scheme.

This highlights the central conflict of this version of Lucifer. Does he have free will? Does anyone? In choosing to abandon hell or aid heaven, is Lucifer flouting the shape of God’s plan or going along with it? This Lucifer seems to yo-yo between rebellion and self-destruction, never quite sure which which will cause more deviation from God’s plan. [Read more…] about DC Comics Lucifer – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Crushing Comics S01E080 – X-Men: Nation X and X-Necrosha

March 5, 2018 by krisis

I’m down to just three more bricks of comic books, but this first one is huge – it’s got over a half a dozen X-Men hardcovers inside! In the first of a three-part unwrapping, I dig into X-Men: Nation X and X-Necrosha, and discuss why this might be my favorite modern period of X-Men comics.

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

Episode 80 features X-Men: Nation X and X-Necrosha, covered in guides to Uncanny X-Men and X-Force, respectively.

Indie Series Spotlight: Suicide Risk by Mike Carey, Elena Casagrande, & Andrew Elder (Ep01)

March 1, 2018 by krisis

This is the pilot for the fourth video series on my YouTube channel – Indie Series Spotlight!

After months of opening my massive collection of Marvel oversized hardcovers, I realized I was really missing talking about my love of comics not released by Marvel. Since returning to comic reading in 2012, I’ve become a massive fan of independent and creator-owned comics – they occupy a full third of my comic reading time, and they dominated my list of favorite comics in 2017.

In this new show, I’ll be sharing my indie comics love with you one series at a time. Each series will be something I strongly recommend to new readers – including folks who have never read a comic before in their lives! For each series, I’ll start by giving a general pitch of the title and then get into spoiler territory for readers who need even more convincing.

First up: Suicide Risk by Mike Carey, Elena Casagrande, & Andrew Elder. I picked this series up out of blind devotion to Mike Carey, who I love from his work on X-Men: Legacy and Unwritten, not realizing it would become one of my favorite indie comic runs of all time! It’s hard to discuss this series’ massive scope without spoiling it, but it spans genres from police procedural to massive action movie!

I hope you’ll enjoy this new show, because I’ve got over a year’s worth of indie series mapped out to discuss!

Indie Comics Spotlight Episode #1 features Suicide Risk Volumes 1-6, which are currently available as part of the Comixology Unlimited library!

Crushing Comics S01E072 – X-Men: Supernovas and Uncanny X-Men: The Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire

February 12, 2018 by krisis

Today I start out by talking about “the perfect weather.” If you’re the kind of person who loves it super hot on the beach or frigid on the slopes, would you really want to experience that every day? My favorite kind of day is breezy and springlike, maybe 68 to 72 degrees – and I see no problems with waking up to that every day of my life.

After that, I open a massive block of oversize modern X-Men – so big I had to break it up into a pair of episodes. In this one, I start out with a pair of weirdly orphaned oversized volumes.

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

Episode 72 features X-Men: Supernovas and Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire, which are covered by my X-Men, Vol. 2 & New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men by Brubaker, Fraction, & Gillen guides, respectively.

Back Issue Review: Barbarella, Black Sable, Giants, Grass Kings, Shade The Changing Girl, and Slots

February 11, 2018 by krisis

This week in Back Issue Review I catch up with five indie series that have new issues out this week, plus one DC series that feels pretty indie. Between feminist explorers, giant monsters, recursive mean girls, backstabbing space pirates, and lucky retired boxers, I bet you’ll never guess what my favorites were!