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Psylocke

Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #20 to 16

June 12, 2016 by krisis

Omnibus on ShelfA week into this countdown and accompanying annotation and we’ve finally reached the Top 20 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibuses from the 2016 Secret Ballot by Tigereyes. I covered #25-21 in the last installment.

This installment includes two books of fan-favorite material, a long shot second volume to an orphaned first, the long-ignored origin of a hero who has two films to his name, and the highest-ranking vote from my own ballot! There’s a solid chance I would buy all five of these books.

If you have any extra information to add about the probable runs or opinions to share about the comics therein, please leave a comment! Even when it comes to X-Men, I don’t know (or remember!) everything about these books – and you might.

Do you own an oversized tome of your favorite character’s comic books? My Marvel Omnibus & Oversized Hardcover Guide is the most comprehensive tool on the web for tracking Marvel’s hugest releases – it features details on every oversize book, including a rundown of contents and if the volume is still readily available for purchase. [Read more…] about Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #20 to 16

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: Alan Davis, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Chris Claremont, Collected Editions, Dazzler, Doug Braithwaite, Fabian Nicieza, Gary Friedrich, Ghost Rider, Journey Into Mystery, Kieron Gillen, Kurt Busiek, Loki, Longshot, Mark Bagley, Marvel Comics, Matt Fraction, Mephisto, Mitch Breitweiser, Mutant Massacre, New Mutants, New Warriors, Night Thrasher, Nova, Omnibus, Psylocke, Rogue, Stephanie Hans, Storm, Thor, Thunderbolts, Uncanny X-Men, Whilce Portacio, Wolverine, X-Factor

Excalibur – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide and trade reading order on collecting Excalibur comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Collecting X-Men: A Definitive Guide. Last updated November 2019 with titles scheduled for release through March 2020.


Excalibur is one of the most peculiar of all of the original line-up of X-Men spinoffs, and that’s a large part of why it is so beloved by fans.

A light-hearted departure from the main X-Men series, Chris Claremont packed up three of his favorite X-Men – Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Rachel Summers (Phoenix II) – and flew them across the pond to the pencils of former Marvel UK collaborator Alan Davis. They added Marvel UK characters (and non-mutants) Meggan and Captain Britain (Psylocke’s brother) to create an irreverent, firmly British spin on an X-book.

It initially launched in the wake of “Fall of the Mutants” in Uncanny X-Men. Claremont’s flagship book found the mutants besieged from foes on all sides.

The lighthearted Nightcrawler and idealistic Kitty Pryde were both early sacrifices to this status quo as casualties of “Mutant Massacre” a year earlier. By the time they healed the X-Men were no longer a fit for them – and, in continuity, believed to be dead!

Meanwhile, Claremont creation Captain Britain had wrapped up a 10-year run at Marvel UK across a number of different comic titles and anthology. The latter five years of his life were stewarded a by a rising star artist named Alan Davis (as well as, briefly, Alan Moore), but with Davis moving on to work on Batman and the Outsiders it looked like the end of the line for Captain Britain.

Claremont collaborated with Davis on a pair of annuals that imported the character (and his sister, Psylocke) to the states, but he was too unknown in the American market to support his own ongoing there.

(There was also the problem of Rachel Summers, who had been supplanted as team psychic by Psylocke, and who brought her own complications of her extensive future knowledge, connection to Cyclops, and massive powers.)

This was the genesis of Excalibur, which saw Claremont reteaming with Davis and using his extensive knowledge of British culture (he was born there) to return to Captain Britain, to give Nightcrawler room to be the dashing swashbuckler he always hinted at in X-Men, and to write Kitty’s coming of age away from the horrors facing the X-Men.

The challenge of the “Excalibur” brand name is that X-Men fans tend to associate it as much with Kitty and Nightcrawler as they do with Captain Britain, but the former two characters have long since been reabsorbed by the core of the X-franchise.

Claremont relaunched the title in 2004 as focused on Xavier and Magneto living on Genosha, but the name never made any sense. He later introduced a “New” version set in London that paired Captain Britain with Dazzler and Juggernaut, but didn’t capture fan’s hearts like the original did.

In 2019, the Dawn of X relaunch curated by Jonathan Hickman tapped the “Excalibur” name for a new spin on the concept. This book focused not on the Britishness of the brand name, but the magical connections to Otherworld. It also swaps Brian Braddock for his sister Betsy, and duplicates the import of fan favorites Kitty and Nightcrawler by bringing in Rogue and Gambit – along with Jubilee, Rictor, and Apocalypse!

Patreons make this page possible! Every month, Patrons of Crushing Krisis help to fund its hosting, helper applications, video production, and more! Every dollar contributed by Patrons goes directly to helping sustain and grow this site.

[Read more…] about Excalibur – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The Definitive Exiles Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The Exiles comic books definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2018 with titles scheduled for release through March 2019.

Exiles (2001) - 0001The launch of Exiles in 2001 by writer Judd Winick with author Mike McKone was Marvel’s first long-running ongoing with a continuously-told story combining reality-hopping and alternate versions of heroes.

Prior to the launch of Ultimate Comics in 200o, Marvel Comics had a slim list of ongoing titles that lived permanently in alternate continuities – and Exiles was nothing like Ultimate Comics. Ultimate had the goal of the alternate universe as verisimilitude – the environment started the same as the main Marvel Universe only more modern, and the fascination was watching it splinter.

McKone’s pitch for Exiles followed the debut of Ultimate Comics and swiped the title of a 1990s Malibu series, but it had much more to do with Marvel’s classic series What If. What If never told a consistent story – in fact, there were hardly ever two issues which focused on the same tale! Each one-shot take hopped to a new reality to imagine the most twisted possibilities.

Exiles combined that reality-hopping approach with a consistent team, much like Chris Claremont’s classic Excalibur story The Cross-Time Caper. Instead of starting with a team of known 616-reality heroes, McKone drew inspiration from Age of Apocalypse. That event presented four months of an alternate reality full of X-Men reimagined to take advantage of their best and worst qualities. Exiles would do the same, only with a palette of infinite realities from which to choose.

Lead by the short-lived but hugely-popular X-Men character Blink, this collection of alternate-reality X-Men had little impact on the main X-continuity. Despite that, the book is regarded highly by fans – at least, it was when it was helmed by creator Judd Winnick. By contrast, any issues penned by Uncanny scribes Chris Claremont and Chuck Austen aren’t as popular with fans. [Read more…] about The Definitive Exiles Collecting Guide and Reading Order

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