New Comic Book Guide

New for Patrons: Guide to Star-Lord, Peter Quill

March 6, 2023 by krisis

It might be my Indie Comics Month here on Crushing Krisis, but it’s also a month to focus on a certain group of Marvel galactic heroes as we approach their third (and final?) entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Today I have a guide for all Patrons of CK that focuses on the leader of this ragtag band of galactic guardians and his odd trio of origins in the Marvel Universe – a Guide to Star-Lord, Peter Quill.

Guide to Star-Lord, Peter Quill

Often in these launch posts I admit to you that I was a little unclear on the origins of a character or that I learned a lot about them in my full read of their material.

This is a rare case where I can say I was TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY WRONG about my understanding about a character’s origins! In my defense, Peter Quill’s origins had just changed a year prior to the creation of my original Guide to Guardians of the Galaxy – and Marvel was still recollecting his original (no-longer-canonical) origins along with other Guardians materials!

First things first: The happy-go-lucky Star-Lord you all know (and many of you love) from the Marvel Cinematic Universe has very little to do with the Marvel Comics version of the character. Although Brian Bendis and subsequent authors have gradually introduced the goofball levity of the film version into comics, there’s no mistaking that the comic version of Peter Quill is considerably more experienced and downright grizzled than his film counterpart.

Actually, I’d say Star-Lord is the #1 example of Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity and characterization changing a character permanently in the comics! All of the other Guardians characters were already much closer to their film counterparts than Peter Quill as of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

Once you can get past the shock (and, perhaps, betrayal) of this surprising revelation, let’s move on to exploring the two (or, maybe three?) comic origins of Peter Quill. [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Guide to Star-Lord, Peter Quill

Guide to Lumberjanes

March 3, 2023 by krisis

I’m back today with another Indie Comic Month new guide for all Patrons of CK! This time, we’re departing from Image Comics in the 90s to focus on another group of comics that have a major presence in my life and in my home: all-age comics! This guide is for a comic I originally despised but eventually grew to love so much that it’s my number one recommendation to anyone introducing comics to kids of any age, from 0 to teen. It also has a wonderfully diverse cast of characters! It’s time to don your badges and move into the cabin in my Guide to Lumberjanes!

Guide to Lumberjanes
This guide is now available to all readers thanks to the hardcore support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis!

If you think there’s not enough about Lumberjanes to warrant a full on Guide to Lumberjanes, think again! Not only are there 20 original paperback volumes, but a pair of “Bonus Tracks” volumes, three OGNs, four prose novels, a fleet of translated editions, and a pair of (very different) accompanying guidebooks!

Lumberjanes first arrived in my home back in 2015 and it was not love at first sight. I picked up the first volume after hearing buzz about how wholesome and wonderful this little series about a magical summer camp was. However, I’d describe the dialog in those initial four issues as “MORE SCREAMING.” It’s a lot of howled exclamations in response to everything, to the point that some of the pages simply aren’t all that coherent.

I read the book and set it aside in my “to donate” pile.

Then, something magical happened…. [Read more…] about Guide to Lumberjanes

New for ALL CK Readers: Guide to Youngblood (to kick off my Indie Comics Month!)

March 1, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to the kickoff of “Indie Comics Month” at Crushing Krisis! I’ll be expanding the Crushing Comics Guide to Collecting Indie & Licensed Comics all month long, and I can’t have an Indie Comics guide without covering some Image Comics. I meant to kick that off last year for their 30th anniversary, but what could be more in the spirit of early Image comic books than running a few months behind schedule? Today I’m covering the first Image ongoing comic. Yes, it’s Rob Liefeld’s X-adjacent squad of X-Treme government heroes in my Guide to Youngblood!

Guide to Youngblood

To celebrate the start of my Indie Comics month, this new Guide to Youngblood is immediately available for all CK readers thanks to the X-Tremely Awesome support of Patrons of CK! For as little as $1 a month you can help to support the costs of maintaining and expanding the 200+ comic guides of Crushing Comics, plus get early access to guides like this one (and every X-adjacent guide).

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Krisis, did we really need a guide to Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood? Wasn’t there some other indie comic you could’ve started with?”

The answers to those questions are yes and no, respectively – but, maybe not for the reasons you think. [Read more…] about New for ALL CK Readers: Guide to Youngblood (to kick off my Indie Comics Month!)

New for Patrons: Guide to Adam Warlock

February 27, 2023 by krisis

Today I’m here with a new guide for all Patrons of CK that has been secretly part of another guide for close to a decade! Of course, it’s not really helpful to new readers to have a whole character’s guide stealthily tucked away somewhere they might never look. That’s why I just went on a deep dive through the 56 year comic history of a major Marvel character who at first was only known by his pronouns. Now his golden skin is about to hit the silver screen. That’s right, I’m talking about “Him,” whose comic history is covered under his better-known name in my Guide to Adam Warlock!

Guide to Adam Warlock
This guide is now available to all readers thanks to the supernatural support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis!

I’d hazard a guess that the vast majority of CK readers have no idea that every Adam Warlock appearance from his 1967 debut through 2017 is summarized in my Guide to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Guess what? I had totally forgotten about that, too! I truly thought the Guardians guide only covered the movie team as individuals. Imagine my surprise when I checked a collection on it recently to discover that it also encompassed Adam Warlock, since he was one of the initial cast members of the now-classic Abnett & Lanning 2008 run that set the stage for the team to appear in the MCU.

All of that Warlock material still exists for public perusal in the Guardians Guide. However, aside from the obscurity of knowing where to find that information on the site, I also saw an opportunity to explain things in a much clearer way in a dedicated Guide to Adam Warlock. [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Guide to Adam Warlock

Guide to Shazam, The Captain Marvel of DC Comics

February 20, 2023 by krisis

This week I’m back with my first new DC Comics collecting guide and reading order of 2023 for CK’s Plegeonaut Patrons on Patreon! This guide is for one of DC’s oldest characters, though really he has only been a DC character since the Bronze Age… or since Crisis, depending on how you count. I thought that would make for a confusing muddle of continuity. Instead, it turned out to be a delightful research project putting together this new Guide to Shazam, DC’s Captain Marvel!

Guide to Shazam, DC’s Captain Marvel
This guide is now available to all readers thanks to the magical support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis!

Here is what I knew about Shazam before researching his 83-year history for this guide: He’s really called Captain Marvel but we don’t call him that anymore (for reasons). He’s a Fawcett Comics character who DC (legally) stole. A wizard gave young Billy Batson the power to effectively become Superman (which is why DC stole him, legally), with the knowledge of Solomon and some other stuff that spells Shazam.

Oh, and: Geoff Johns is obsessed with him.

Honestly, that’s not a bad place to start with Shazam knowledge, but it turns out he’s both much simpler and much deeper than that. [Read more…] about Guide to Shazam, The Captain Marvel of DC Comics