X-Men

Updated: Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont

February 21, 2023 by krisis

Today I am here to announce an update to the one guide that started it all back in 2010 when I asked the internet, “How do I collect all of Chris Claremont’s X-Men onto one shelf” and found a resounding silence where I expected an easy answer. That’s right, X-Men, X-Women, and X-Thems, it’s a complete overhaul of the one-and-only Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont!

Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont

I feel as though I’m saying this same thing almost every time I update one of the pre-2016 comic guides, but: you have to understand that the world of collected editions in 2010 when I created this guide was completely unlike the world we know today!

At the time, if there was an obscure UK edition trade paperback that collected Uncanny X-Men (1963) #274-277, that was a very big deal. Even as one of Marvel’s most-collected titles, Uncanny X-Men had plenty of gaps in its reprints. Putting together a complete shelf of Claremontian X-Men meant having a hodgepodge of mismatched spines and different-sized editions – I know, because that was my shelf for over half a decade! [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 15, 2023

February 15, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to the third post in my trial run of a return to new release posts! This post covers Marvel Comics February 15 2023 releases.

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from Marvel this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. For each new release, I’ll point you to the right Crushing Comics guide.

Marvel Comics February 15 2023 Collected Editions

The Amazing Spider-Man by Zeb Wells Vol. 3: Hobgoblin (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302933135 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man, Peter Parker (2018 – Present Day). This volume includes Spider-Man’s brief intersection with last year’s A.X.E.: Judgment Day event.

Captain America by Nick Spencer Omnibus Vol. 1 (2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN / digital)
See Guide to Captain America or Guide to Falcon. While much of this run is the dour run-up to the joyless Secret Empire event, it also includes a lot of Sam Wilson being incredibly competent as Captain America, which is a decent read. However, I just don’t think this run is significant enough to warrant a spot on an omnibus shelf – especially not two books of it.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty Vol. 1: Revolution (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302931438 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America. The first collection of this Kelly, Lanzing, & Carnero run, which I am absolutely dying to dig into! I’m working my way up to it as fast as I can!

Daredevil & Elektra Vol. 1: The Red Fist Saga (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302926113 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil or Guide to Elektra. This is the first collection of the Daredevil & Elektra co-starring run of Daredevil from Chip Zdarsky & Marco Checchetto that directly follows Devil’s Reign and Elektra’s stint as “Woman With Fear.” There are another two volumes already solicited to follow, and the entire prior Zdarsky run is covered in oversize hardcover – so there’s every reason to jump in (unless you are awaiting an inevitable omnibus in a few years).

Daredevil Epic Collection: The Man Without Fear (2016 paperback, ISBN 978-0785195481 / 2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950361 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. A reprint of the first in Daredevil’s 21-book Epic Collection line covering his 1964 series in full. Right now we have every volume except 7-12, most of which have been collected in other formats (including Miller’s entire run).

Doctor Strange Epic Collection Volume 11: Nightmare on Bleecker Street (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951054 / digital)
See Guide to Doctor Strange. I’ve just given this guide a major shake-up to bring it up to date on collections, although I still have a lot of work to do on guest appearances and formatting. I was surprised to see how aggressive Marvel has gotten with Epic Collections of his 1988 series, since they’ve also been covering it in omnibus volumes at the same time. I would’ve guessed that they’d want to pump out some classic Stern material to coincide with last years Multiverse of Madness film, but I suppose the Masterworks line is still not too far ahead of that point.

Edge of Spider-Verse (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302947170 / digital TBA)
See Guide to Spider-Man, Peter Parker (2018 – Present Day). This is the prologue to Dan Slott’s Spider-Verse redux that played out in Spider-Man (2022).

Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302946722 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers or Guide to Captain Marvel, Genis-Vell (eventually) for the return of the son of Captain Mar-Vell

Hulk: Planet Hulk Omnibus (2017 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302907693 / 2023 hardcover, ISBN 978-1302949686 / digital)
See Guide to Hulk, Bruce Banner for this 2023 straight reprint of the 2017 omnibus.

Iron Man, Books of Korvac IV: Source Control (20xx paperback, ISBN 978-1302932701 / digital)
See Guide to Iron Man. I was absolutely obsessed with the first three volumes of this epic Christopher Cantwell Iron Man series, though I haven’t yet read the contents of this final book.

Marvel Knights: Make the World Go Away (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302949709 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. I’m a little puzzled about this one, as this book collecting the six-issue Marvel Knights anniversary series by Matt Rosenberg & Donny Cates was already issued in trade with the same contents in 2019… and neither collection puts Daredevil in the title, which would help it sell better! It primarily stars Daredevil and fits in just prior to his Zdarsky series.

Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 16
See Guide to Iron Man. This book pushes the Iron Man Masterworks collection into 1983!

Star Wars – Bounty Hunters Vol. 5: The Raid on the Vermillion (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-0785194798 / digital)
See Guide to Star Wars Expanded Universe Comics. This is one of the current Star Wars ongoing series set in the period directly following Empire Strikes Back.

X-Men: Hellfire Gala – Immortal (2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302952099 / digital)
See Guide t0 X-Men – The Age of Krakoa. This second annual Hellfire Gala merits a much less fancy and much slimmer release compared to the special oversize hardcover gold edition from 2021’s event. It collects the Hellfire Gala one-shot, the mirth-filled Tini Howard follow-up to the prior gala from Secret X-Men (2022) #1, and a number of digital shorts.

Read on for a rundown of Marvel Comics February 15 2023 single-issue releases, including a link to their accompanying guide pages on Crushing Comics.

Updated: Guide to Silver Age X-Men

February 10, 2023 by krisis

I’m excited to share this much-needed guide refresh, especially in the wake of yesterday’s broadcast with Near Mint Condition – which included a key omnibus this page was missing! Welcome back to my uncanny Guide to Silver Age X-Men – covering every major collection format for Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1-66, their hiatus years guest appearances, and modern “Hidden Years” stories inserted into that period!

Guide to Silver Age X-Men

My Guide to Silver Age X-Men hasn’t had a significant update since 2016, although I did stop by to add a few Epic Collections in the past seven years.

Fortunately, the landscape of Silver Age X-Men collections hasn’t shifted too much since the introduction of the Epic line. Yet, there are still new collections to add to the guide. The big news has been the recent initiation of a new line of paperback “Mighty Marvel Masterworks,” plus the recent announcement of an omnibus of John Byrne’s retcon insert series, X-Men: The Hidden Years. There have also been a number of reprinted books along the way, including both classic omnibuses, and they’ve all been added explicitly to the guide.

I added those new collections, as well as gave the guide a facelift to bring it in line with my newer style guides. That means it now includes publishing years, full ISBNs, and links to buy and read digitally.

Many folks don’t hold this Silver Age run in high regard past the initial handful of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby issues. However, I think a lot of it is worth reading for modern X-Men fans. In particular, I’d suggest reading issues #1-6 to see Namor and Magneto’s first meeting, issues #12-13 for Juggernaut’s first story, and issue #14-16 for the first Sentinels story – as well as some of the Roy Thomas and Neal Adams material from issues #56-66.

This Guide to Silver Age X-Men update is just the first of many X-Men guide updates to come, which have been the most-demanded updates from Patrons and the general public alike. I hear you! There are now over 200 guide pages to update, but the X-Men guides will always be the closest to my heart and I know that’s true for many of you as well.

Elect your favorite mutant with Marvel’s annual X-Men Vote! #xmenvote

January 31, 2023 by krisis

For the third year running, Marvel Comics is offering fans a chance to elect one member of their flagship X-Men squad with their X-Men Vote campaign and polling site at marvel.com/xmenvote!

The electoral chaos of X-Men Vote began in 2021 with the announcement of the inaugural Hellfire Gala and, with it, the launch of a new flagship X-Men team penned by Gerry Duggan. It would be anchored by mainstays and fan favorites like Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Rogue, but fans could chose the final member in an expression of direct democracy.

(According to Duggan, the vote is totally unrigged by Marvel and he truly plans potential subplots for every character in the election)

There’s no superhero comics fanbase more obsessive than X-fans. X-Twitter immediately exploded with campaigning, trending X-Men around the world and driving up the votes. We wound up with Polaris on the team from that initial vote, pulling her out of Leah Williams’ X-Factor. Then, in 2022, Firestar topped the vote, pulling her out of… well, mostly out of disuse, if we’re being honest.

This year’s X-Men Vote has a list of six selections with a clear disparity between the media darlings, the fan faves, and the dark horses. Who are our six potential X-Men, and what are some of the best runs to catch up on their comics history?

Keep reading for a deep dive! And, let me know your favorite issues and runs with these characters in the comments below.

Marvel United: Multiverse makes more mutants, plus Inhumans enter the fray with War of Kings!

January 20, 2023 by krisis

We interrupt this post I had just started writing about the Marvel United: Multiverse Kickstarter campaign to bring you breaking news from the Marvel United: Multiverse Kickstarter campaign! Today, CMON announced their first new expansion box of the campaign, and it’s a massive one: War of Kings, including the entire primary cast of Inhumans and two X-character Shi’ar foes!

Let’s talk about this newly-announced box for a moment, and then I’ll get back to what I was already in the process of writing about – which is the many mutant characters who have been popping up as stretch goals over the past couple of days.

I have a 800+ character wishlist for Marvel United. I’ve ever grouped them into potential boxed sets whenever I could theme a group of them together. I know some of them are far beneath CMON’s threshold for notice. Maybe we could get Wiz-Kid, but we’ll probably never have my beloved Siena Blaze.

The Inhumans are one of those potential boxed sets, but I wasn’t sure if they were popular enough to merit their own expansion. They haven’t had their own ongoing for several years, and they were unceremoniously excised from the Marvel Universe. Casual comic fans likely only know half the royal family at best. CMON has snuck in many niche characters like Cloak & Dagger and the Starjammers via a steady drip of Stretch Goals, and I thought if we were lucky we could score half the royal family that way.

I was far to pessimistic about our chances! We’re getting the full royal family that I selected in my spreadsheet – Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, & Triton. Plus, a full sculpt and set of cards for Lockjaw! Plus, Gladiator – leader of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard – as a dual-playing Anti-Hero that can be a hero or a villain. And, one fully-evil Vulcan, the lost Summers brother.

ALL IN ONE BOX. For $35, that’s less than $4 per character. The only way this box could be any better is if they made Vulcan a hero (after all, all mutants fight for Krakoa!) – but I can take care of that on my own.

Cue me screaming my head off in Marvel geek delight. Also, all of their figure sculpts look amazing, and their power dynamics sound unique. Crystal can use her earth control to block villains from moving into a location, and Triton gets special advantage in locations marked with water tokens.

Meanwhile, the post I was already working on is this: CMON has really stepped up on filling in mutants they didn’t get to in their X-Men campaign. We’re only on Day 3 and they’ve already completed the entire Starjammers, gotten two characters into Generation X, and added everyone’s favorite good boy – Doug Ramsey!

Let’s take a quick look at which X-Characters have been announced and who remains MIA. [Read more…] about Marvel United: Multiverse makes more mutants, plus Inhumans enter the fray with War of Kings!