• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Crushing Krisis

The Newest Oldest Blog In New Zealand

  • Archive
  • DC Guides
    • DC New 52
    • DC Events
    • DC Rebirth
    • Batman Guide
  • Marvel Guides
    • Omnibus & Oversize Hardcover DB
    • Marvel Events
  • Star Wars Guide
    • Expanded Universe Comics (2015 – present)
    • Legends Comics (1977 – 2014)
  • Valiant Guides
  • Contact!

Titans

New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to Teen Titans, Titans, and Young Justice

May 26, 2018 by krisis

I’m back after a few busy months both online and off with the first of a few new comic guides to thank Patrons of Crushing Krisis for their continued support…

Teen Titans, Titans, & Young Justice – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide

This guide covers every in-continuity Teen Titans series, from their first appearance in The Brave and The Bold (1955) #54 and 60 in 1964 to the two titles currently running in Rebirth.

This guide was nowhere near next on my list, but two things changed that. First, I reached Teen Titans and Titans in my DC Rebirth reading. I felt like I didn’t understand who any of the characters were or where they came from. As is my wont, as I read the comics and researched the characters, I sketched in some guide details. Within a few hours I realized I had a solid skeleton for a a complex guide.

Second, earlier this week I polled my friends at The Omnibus Collector’s™ Comic Swap and Community and they overwhelmingly voted that this should be the next guide I tackle!

Want access to this guide today? It’s available, along over a dozen other exclusive guides, in exchange for covering $1.99 a month of CK’s hosting expenses.

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: DC Comics, New Comic Guide, Teen Titans, Titans, Young Justice

Teen Titans, Titans, & Young Justice – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for Teen Titans, Titans, & Young Justice comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated February 2019 with titles scheduled for release through June 2019.

In 1965 the Silver Age of comics was in full swing, with all of DC’s iconic heroes starring in their own titles as well as in the the Justice League.

One element that DC generally lacked at the time was the youthful energy of Marvel’s Silver Age titles, which included hip young heroes like Spider-Man and The X-Men alongside more iconic DC analogs like The Avengers or Thor. It wasn’t that they lacked for young characters. It seemed the every DC hero had a teen version of sidekick. They  hadn’t been assembled all in one place.Teen Titans by George Perez

That changed with The Brave and The Bold (1955) #54 in 1964, which combined Golden Age creation Robin (Dick Grayson) with the more recently-made sidekicks of Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad. Their next appearance in issue #60 added a formalized version of Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) and gave the group a name – “The Teen Titans.”

After just one more anthology series appearance (in Showcase (1956) #59), the Teen Titans graduated into their own title in 1966. While many other teen heroes appeared, only one became a more permanent member – Speedy, Green Arrow’s sidekick. The team-up was revived in 1973 and then shuttered in 1978 as the heroes felt they were growing too old to be “teens.”

Marv Wolfman and George Pérez reawakened the franchise in 1980. In an astounding act of creation, they introduced team mainstays Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven in a preview story in DC Comics Presents (1978) #26, where they also reintroduced Beast Boy as “Changeling.”

Wolfman and Pérez would become synonymous with the Teen Titans for the next decade in the same way Chris Claremont was with the X-Men, who the Titans rivaled in popularity. Along the way the co-writers introduced Slade Wilson as Deathstroke and changed Dick Grayson to Nightwing. Their characters made it through Crisis on Infinite Earths relatively unscathed as DC chose not to rock the boat of their most-popular team franchise. [Read more…] about Teen Titans, Titans, & Young Justice – The Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!

March 18, 2018 by krisis

The Pull List was slightly lighter this week than the past three, partially due to me not managing to pick up any additional ongoings from Marvel or DC. I made a heroic effort to catch all the way up with Doctor Strange, but fell an arc short.

This week’s comics felt a little ho-hum for me, with even typical standouts like Flash and Paradiso falling flat. However, it also brought not one but two near-perfect comics, plus one unexpectedly great debut.

Here’s The Pull List for the 14th of March, 2018. New adds to the pull list are marked with *; dropped titles are marked with #.

Artwork from Infidel #1 cover by Aaron Campbell & José Villarrubia

  • DC Comics
    • Action Comics (2016) #999
    • Batgirl and The Birds of Prey (2016) #20
    • Detective Comics (2016) #976
    • *Eternity Girl (2018) #1
    • The Flash (2016) #42
    • Mister Miracle (2017) #7
    • Sideways (2018) #2
    • Suicide Squad (2016) #37
    • Titans (2016) #21
    • Trinity (2016) #19
    • Wonder Woman (2016) #42
  • Image Comics
    • Bonehead (2018) #3
    • *#Dry County (2018) #1
    • *Infidel (2018) #1
    • Paradiso (2017) #4
    • #Sleepless (2017) #4
    • Slots (2017) #6
    • VS (2018) #2
  • Marvel Comics
    • All-New Wolverine (2016) #32
    • Astonishing X-Men (2017) #9
    • Avengers (2017) #684
    • Marvel Two-in-One (2018) #4
    • New Mutants – Dead Souls (2018) #1
    • Old Man Logan (2016) #36
    • Weapon X (2017) #15
    • X-Men: Blue (2017) #23
  • Smaller Publishers: Aftershock Comics, Archie Comics, Black Mask Studios, & Boom! Studios
    • Judas (2017) #4, Boom! Studios
    • *Come Into Me (2018) #1, Black Mask Studios
    • *Vampironica (2018) #1, Archie Comics
    • *Betrothed (2018) #1, Aftershock Comics

Before we begin, a reminder that 2.5 stars on my rating scale is an average comic book and my bell curve distribution peaks at 3/5 stars! Don’t freak out and assume a comic book is terrible because it has 2 stars. That means it’s just a hair below average (and there are a lot of those this week)

Picks of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Pick of the Week:
Action Comics (2016) #999, DC Comics

Dan Jurgens leaves us with a truly perfect, contemplative issue of Superman that puts a wrap on his stellar Rebirth run but also addresses his writing from over 25 years ago, as beautifully rendered by artist Will Conrad and colorist Ivan Nunes.

In Metropolis, Lois is newly reunited with her estranged Army General father after saving him from execution in the last arc. It’s his first time meeting Jon (sort of), but General Lane isn’t in on the Superman secret, so he thinks Jon is a regular kid. That makes it even more tense as Lois and her father square off across the dinner table about the philosophy of Superman. Jon has never been exposed to this kind of hatred and xenophobia about his father before – which is also, by extension, aimed at him.

Meanwhile, Superman is in space dealing with a routine chore of breaking up an asteroid that will stray a bit too close to Earth for STAR Labs liking. Superman is thinking about fathers – General Lane, his own father Jor-El, as well as Zod – all of whom were tangled in the cross-time plot he just wrapped with Booster Gold.

Superman can see the errors in the ways of each of those parents and they in turn reflect his errors back upon him. Clark Kent is good-natured to a fault, but he’s not always right. General Lane isn’t entirely wrong about him – sometimes his absolute power corrupts him, both in how he metes out justice and in how he isn’t accustomed to apologizing for his actions.

As a result, Superman decides to put right two wrongs. One is with Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, who he currently has imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. The other, eventually is General Lane. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Action Comics, Aftershock Comics, All-New Wolverine, Astonishing X-Men, Avengers, Batgirl, Batgirl and The Birds of Prey, Batman, Batwoman, Betrothed, Birds of Prey, Black Canary, Black Mask Studios, Bonehead, Charles Soule, Chip Zdarsky, Come Into Me, Cullen Bunn, Dan Jurgen, Dan Jurgens, Dan Panosian, DC Comics, Detective Comics, Dry Country, Ed Brisson, Eternity Gitl, Fantastic Four, Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, Greg Smallwood, Huntress, Image Comics, Infidel, Jack Herbet, James Robinson, James Tynion, Jeff Loveness, Jorge Molina, Joshua Williamson, Judas, Kenneth Rocafort, Lois Lane, Magdalene Visaggio, Marvel Two-in-One, Matthew Rosenberg, Mister Miracle, Mitch Gerads, New Mutants, Old Man Logan, Paradiso, Red Robin, Rob Williams, Sabretooth, Sideways, Sleepless, Slots, Suicide Squad, Superman, The Flash, The Pull List, Titans, Tom King, Trinity, Valerio Schiti, Vampironica, VS, Weapon X, Will Conrad, Wonder Woman, X-Men Blue

Back Issue Review: Lumberjanes, DC Comics Titans, & Unstoppable Wasp

February 18, 2018 by krisis

I haven’t been doing much back-issue reading this week, which means this Back Issue Review isn’t as sprawling as its been in past weeks.

I did manage to knock out four volumes worth of youthful titles. None of the were major standouts, but they all presented nuanced looks at the meaning of friendship and identity.

  • Lumberjanes (2014) #25-28(AKA Vol. 7 – A Bird’s-Eye View), Boom! Entertainment, Inc
  • Titans (2016) Rebirth & #1-6 (AKA Vol. 1 – The Return of Wally West), DC Comics
  • Titans (2016) #7-10 & Annual 1 (AKA Vol. 2 – Made In Manhattan), DC Comics
  • Titans (2016) #12-18 (AKA Vol. 3 – A Judas Among Us), DC Comics
  • The Unstoppable Wasp #1-4 (AKA Vol. 1 – Unstoppable), Marvel Comics

[Read more…] about Back Issue Review: Lumberjanes, DC Comics Titans, & Unstoppable Wasp

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Andrew Dalhouse, Back Issue Review, Boom Studios, Brett Booth, Dan Abnett, DC Comics, Jeremy Whitley, Lumberjanes, Marvel Comics, Norm Rapmund, Titans, Unstoppable Wasp, Wasp

The Pull List: Avengers, Death of Love, Detective Comics, The Flash, Paradiso, Sideways, & more!

February 16, 2018 by krisis

I’ve managed to one-up last week’s edition of The Pull List! This week, the list is a whopping 27 issues deep – one more than last week. However, its also a tick worse, with an aggregate rating of 3.055 compared to 3.17.

What did I pull this week? I caught up with Birds of Prey, Flash, and Titans to add to my DC pull list, sampled four new number ones, and dropped a pair of weak books. Here’s what I reviewed in brief:

  • DC Comics
    • Batgirl and The Birds of Prey (2016) #19
    • Detective Comics (2016) #974
    • The Flash (2016) #40
    • Sideways (2017) #1
    • Titans (2016) #20
    • Wonder Woman (2016) #40
  • Image Comics
    • Dark Fang (2017) #4
    • Death of Love (2018) #1
    • Paradiso (2017) #3
    • Port of Earth (2017) #4
    • Sleepless (2018) #3
    • Slots (2017) #5
    • Twisted Romance (2018) #2
  • Marvel Comics
    • Avengers (2017) #680
    • Cable (2017) #154
    • Captain America (2017) #698
    • Marvel Two-in-One (2018) #3
    • Old Man Logan (2016) #35
    • Weapon X (2017) #14
    • X-Men: Blue (2017) #21
  • Smaller Publishers: Aftershock, Boom! Studios, Dark Horse, Dynamite, & Zenescope
    • Babyteeth (2017) #8, Aftershock Comics
    • Barbarella (2017) #3, Dynamite Entertainment
    • Black Sable (2017) #4, Zenescope Entertainment
    • Cold War (2018) #1, Aftershock Comics
    • Giants (2018) #3, Dark Horse
    • Judas (2017) #3, Boom! Studios
    • Xena (2018) #1, Dynamite Entertainment

Pick of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Issue of the Week: The Flash (2016) #40, DC Comics

I have never before been so viscerally scared of Grodd. He is utterly terrifying here, and I was really concerned that we could be seeing the end of Flash at multiple points – and, in a way, we did.

Joshua Williamson is proving that he is one of the best writers in the business with this constantly thrumming plot that has been building non-stop rising action for 40 straight issues. While you could easily jump right one with every arc, each of them builds off of everything that came before. That means this run has notched itself as the third or fourth best extended Flash run of all time in under two years, and it shows no immediate signs of stopping.

Carmine Di Giandomenico continues to stun on artwork with vivid coloring from
Ivan Plascencia. This issue includes some of the most inventive action paneling I can think of reading in recent memory. The paneling of Avery catching the lighting rod is breathtaking.

An A+ book through and through, with a thrilling final moment.

Best Small-Pub Issue of the Week: Giants (2018) #3, Dark Horse Comics

There’s no denying the craft, power, and charm of Giants. For a third issue in a row The Valderrama Brothers. turn in a beautiful, action-packed comic full of heart.

We begin our story with Zedo, the boy left for dead who is now making a cavalier power-play to control the gangs of the underworld. Only a child could see things as so black and white, yet both in the last issue and here he is making vicious choices that he can’t take back.

In stark contrast, Gogi has found a group of other children who are necessarily tough but still enduringly kind. Their acceptance and willingness to give without asking anything in return is alien to Gogi. At first he resists it, then he resents it, but finally he understand that’s it’s easier to live openly then be on guard and full of distrust.

Gogi’s journey from underground child to hero in the wider wider stands in stark contrast to Zedo’s dark turn at the end of this issue. Neither boy can entirely blame fate, nor can he say that the choices were all his own. That makes Giants a powerful allegory for the role of environment on our lot in life.

We might not all be fighting giant monsters, but we’re frequently either the child who ran away or the child that was left behind. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Avengers, Death of Love, Detective Comics, The Flash, Paradiso, Sideways, & more!

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Aftershock Comics, Alex de Campi, Allen Passalaqua, Avengers, Babyteeth, Batgirl and The Birds of Prey, Batwoman, Black Sable, Boom Studios, Cable, Captain America, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Chris Samnee, Christopher Sebela, Cold War, Cullen Bunn, Dan Abnett, Dan Brown, Dan DiDio, Dan Panosian, Dark Fang, DC Comics, Death of Love, Detective Comics, Donal Delay, Donny Cates, Dynamite Entertainment, Ed Brisson, Emanuela Lupacchino, Felipe Sobreiro, Gary Brown, Greg Pak, Ibraim Roberson, Image Comics, Ivan Plascencia, James Robinson, James Tynion, Jeff Loveness, Joshua Williamson, Judas, Justin Jordan, Kenneth Rocafort, Leila Del Duca, Mark Waid, Marvel Comics, Meredith Finch, Old Man Logan, Omar Estévez, Paradiso, Paul Pelletier, Phillipe Briones, Port of Earth, Saida Temofonte, Sarah Vaughn, Sideways, Sleepless, Slots, The Flash, The Pull List, Titans, Triona Tree Farrell, Twisted Romance, Valderrama Brothers, Venom, Vincente Cifuentes, Weapon X, Wonder Woman, X-Men, X-Men Blue, Xena, Yildiray Cinar, Zenescope

Primary Sidebar


Support Crushing Krisis on Patreon
Support CK
on Patreon


Follow me on Twitter Like me on Facebook Contact me
Follow me on Instagram Watch me on Youtube Subscribe to the CK RSS Feed

About CK

About Crushing Krisis
About My Music
About Your Author
Blog Archive
Comics Blogs Only
Contact Krisis
Terms & Conditions

Crushing Comics

Marvel Comics
Marvel Events Guide
Marvel Omnibus Guide
Spider-Man Guide

DC Comics
DC New 52
DC Rebirth

Valiant Comics

Copyright © 2017 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

Crushing Krisis is supported by SuperHeroic Sponsor Omnibuds' Café


Links from Crushing Krisis to retailer websites may be in the form of affiliate links. If you purchase through an affiliate link I will receive a minor credit as your referrer. My credit does not affect your purchase price. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program (in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), eBay Partner Network, and iTunes Affiliate Program. Note that URLs including the "geni.us" domain name are affiliate short-links.