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X-Men
New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to Marvel’s X-Man, Nate Grey
Today’s new guide for Patrons of Crushing Krisis covers an unusual X-Men character, a copy of another character who went one to helm one of the longest-running X-Men solo series before disappearing into the aether (literally) for nearly a decade…
X-Man, Nate Grey – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: yes, this is really a guide for one 80-issue ongoing and fewer than 50 additional appearances by a character who went forgotten for a decade, and then for another half decade after a brief return.
That’s it! And, yet, X-Man AKA Nate Grey is about to make a major comeback to the world of X-Men, so it was time he got his own guide.
He debuted as part of “Age of Apocalypse” in 1995, and it’s important to remember that this event was quite specifically not an alternate reality at the time. It was the only version of Marvel’s reality that existed in the present day thanks to Legion going back in time to murder his father, Charles Xavier, rather than his target Magneto. (Oops!)
Nate Grey was a critical figure in the Age of Apocalypse – a version of Cable unravaged by time and the TO virus. While our Cable relied on his tactical skill and his leverage over the timestream to thwart his enemies, Nate Grey only needed Cable’s heritage of raw, uninhibited mutant power – the kind that Mr. Sinister had spent years trying to realize in our original timeline.
Age of Apocalypse was well-received and marvelous fun to read at the time. The idea of four of its characters and one of its titles persisting into Marvel-616 continuity was thrill! Of course, it made the most sense for that title to be X-Man, the most unique and singular of all the converted books.
However, there was the question of what to do with Nate Grey. In the Age of Apocalypse he was the most-powerful rebel, but in 616 Marvel he had nothing to rebel against. There was no narrative to welcome Nate Grey to the main Marvel timeline. [Read more…] about New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to Marvel’s X-Man, Nate Grey
Updated: X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #3: The New Mutants
This updated X-Men Reading Order guide is available to everyone, but it was made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis
The Revised & Expanded X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #3: The New Mutants
This era covers every X-Men story from Uncanny X-Men #143 in March 1981 and ending with Uncanny X-Men #200 in December 1985.
That includes the significant broadening of the world of X-Men – Kitty Pryde adventuring with the team, the launch of Dazzler, the debut of Rogue, the launch of New Mutants and Alpha Flight, the first three Marvel line-wide events, and a bevy of mini-series from Magik, Wolverine, Iceman, Nightcrawler, and more!
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This is the era where the X-Men really began to explode – both in popularity and in proliferation across the Marvel Universe. [Read more…] about Updated: X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #3: The New Mutants
New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to Marvel’s Domino – star of Deadpool 2!
Today’s new guide started for Patrons of Crushing Krisis as a quick’n’dirty way to cover a new X-Men title but turned into one of the most thorough single character guides I’ve created…
Domino – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide
Domino is a character I’ve always loved. Sure, she started out as part of an influx of X-TREME characters (and extreme T&A) in Liefeld’s X-Force launch, but Domino is the rare 90s comics babe who has become much more than that while maintaining agency in her depictions as a sexy, sexualized character.
Domino has all the skill of Deadpool and all the leadership ability of Cable. She’s funny, self-deprecating, and self-interested. She has a thing for big hunks of men and has no hesitance about making her affections known. She lead X-Force as a knowledgable friend rather than a commanding parent, and it shows in her continuing relationships with characters like Boom Boom and Warpath. She’s a complex, damaged character whose trauma never entirely defines her.
That makes Domino a treat whenever she appears, as she has in all but one iteration of “X-Force” – making her the team’s most-consistent cast member!
In reading her new ongoing series from Gail Simone, I realized that I’ve missed out on a lot of Domino’s major development; I stopped reading comics in the 90s before the “Road Trip” era of X-Force and her pair of limited series. [Read more…] about New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to Marvel’s Domino – star of Deadpool 2!
Updated: X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #1: Original X-Men (The Silver Age)
This is available to everyone, but it was made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis:
The Revised & Expanded X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #1: Original X-Men
One of the biggest factors in CK’s popularity exploding in the early 2010’s was the X-Men Reading Order I debuted back in 2012.
It emerged from a moment of frustration, as all of my best projects tend to. This time, my ire was focused on the fact that no one had produced an actually readable chronological guide to reading X-Men. Existing guides were either simply ordered by release date or ridiculously complex lists that broke down every single-panel flashback.
None of them were comprehensive of every book, nor were they appropriate for the Trade Era of collected editions.
Despite being a major feature of CK, I can’t say I’ve ever been proud of the presentation of the Reading Order. A lot of the pages have a certain “git’er’done” quality to them that was a hallmark of CK’s early expansion that I’ve never had the time to improve.
Honestly, they always makes me think of the scrawlings of a Serial Killer, like the notebooks upon notebooks in Se7en. That’s what it looked like to figure out – I had giant rolls of paper unspooled across the floor with scribbles and crossouts and loop-de-loop arrows on them. [Read more…] about Updated: X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #1: Original X-Men (The Silver Age)