X-Men

Guide to X-Men, The Age of Krakoa – now available to the public!

March 31, 2023 by krisis

Before I debut the final guide of my Indie Comics Month, first I have the next installment in my weekly X-Men Guide update series. This time, it’s not just an update, it’s a whole new guide! I’m thrilled to announce the my Guide to X-Men – The Age of Krakoa is now available to all readers as we anticipate the announcement of more details of “The Fall of X” this weekend from Marvel at MegaCon.

Guide to X-Men – The Age of Krakoa

This guide is different than all of my other X-Men guides, because it’s not just about a single title or a group of flagship books. It’s about an entire publishing line with several distinct eras. [Read more…] about Guide to X-Men, The Age of Krakoa – now available to the public!

Updated: Guide to X-Men flagship titles, 2010 – 2019

March 24, 2023 by krisis

This week my X-Men guide update includes an unusual event: the birth of a new guide page! Now that we have hindsight on the storylines and collections of X-Men from 2010 to 2019, I’ve consolidated all of the main X-Men flagship titles into a single guide. Welcome to the all-new, all-different Guide to X-Men flagship titles (2010-2019)!

Guide to X-Men flagship titles (2010-2019)

This page consolidates the contents of a pair of older pages – a “Guide to Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 2-5” and “Guide to X-Men, Vol. 3 & 4,” though some of the former contents of those pages now lives in the recently revised Guide to New Mutants & Young X-Men.

At the time I original created my X-Guides, the “Second Coming” storyline was still ongoing and the map of X-Men titles seemed so obvious. There had always been and would always be the 1963 volume of Uncanny X-Men, often accompanied by an adjectiveless X-Men title as well as many supporting teams and titles like New Mutants, X-Force, X-Factor, and Astonishing X-Men.

I thought I had it all figured out. But, when it comes to the X-Men, that feeling never lasts for long.

Updated: Guide to X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) in the 90s

February 23, 2023 by krisis

Oh, you thought I was done with X-Men guide updates for the week? Not quite yet, my mutant friends! How could I complete yesterday’s update to Uncanny X-Men’s “Crossover Era” without also updating the guide to its sibling in crossover madness? That’s right, it’s an update to my Guide X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) in the 90s.

Guide X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) in the 90s

The collection status of this decade of X-Men comics hasn’t changed much in the past few years. There’s even less to report from this update than there was for Uncanny X-Men in the same period, since a few more issues of X-Men (1991) had already been covered by Pre-Epic Collection paperbacks.

That doesn’t meant there was nothing to improve on this guide page! [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) in the 90s

Updated: Guide to Uncanny X-Men in the 90s – The Crossover Era

February 22, 2023 by krisis

What?! Two days of Crushing Comics guide updates in a row? Your eyes do not deceive you, folks! After digging into a comprehensive update to guide that started it all, Uncanny X-Men’s Claremont era, I couldn’t help myself from charging onward to the next era of the title! Did you know that from 1991 to 2000 Uncanny X-Men featured no less than 16 direct crossovers and events?! They’re all covered by my Guide to Uncanny X-Men in the 90s – The Crossover Era.

Guide to Uncanny X-Men in the 90s – The Crossover Era

That image is the recolored cover of Uncanny X-Men (1963) #281, the first issue after Chris Claremont’s historic 16-year run on the title.

That was the comic that greeted me face-to-face when I walked into a comic book store for the first time at the age of 10. I had already started grabbing copies of its sibling title, X-Men (1991), off of the spinner racks in mall bookstores. But, X-Men’s popularity was at its peak during a rise in speculation, and even an issue from just a few months prior was already nearly $10!

There is so much new and accumulated plot in this one issue of X-Men that I wish I could go back to record my reaction to reading it live. Jean Grey, who apparently died before, died again! An entire class of young students were slaughtered, along with their instructor who was also apparently really into BDSM, Emma Frost. And there were giant purple robots and green-haired mutants from the future.

IT WAS WILD! And, I loved it – then and forevermore.

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