Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

X-Men

Crushing Comics S01E059 – Building a Mystery (not the song) + X-Men by Claremont & Lee Omnibus, Vol. 1

by

I begin this episode by asking “where is the mystery?” – or, more accurately, the persistence of mystery and why as consumers of stories have lost our appetites for long-running mysteries in fiction. (I think it’s all JJ Abrams’ fault.)

Appropriately, after that introduction I finally unwrap a pair of my most-cherished collected editions – X-Men by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, and Marc Silvestri! I had so much to say about them that this turned into a two-parter! In this edition, hear the tale of the unravelling of the X-Men, who spend thirty entire issues not being a team even as their popularity soared.

I tackle this book nearly issue-by-issue to explain how the X-Men get from their confrontation with Mastermind to the beginning of their reunification in Genosha during X-Tinction Agenda.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 69 features X-Men by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee Omnibus, Vol. 1. To learn more about this book and its contents, visit the Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont.

Crushing Comics S01E056 – Learning Vocabulary from Claremont + X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Companion Omnibus

by

Coming off of two episodes of unwrapping intense Claremont X-Men books, I talk a little bit about how reading classic comics built my vocabulary and how the loss of narration boxes has really limited the narrative power of comics. Then, I unwrap the Age of Apocalypse Companion and sift through its material to explain what is and isn’t essential in this tag-along book.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 65 features the X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Companion Omnibus. For more on Age of Apocalypse, visit the Guide to Marvel Events.

Crushing Comics S01E055 – Why I can’t meditate + X-Men: Fall of the Mutants

by

As I unwrap today’s book, I talk about my inability to meditate in the traditional “relaxed mind” version of meditation. For me, meditation comes from engaging my brain in something. For some people that’s a zen koan, but for me it’s more like alphabetizing books or organizing files.

The book I unwrap after all that musing is X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, the “crossover that was not.” I explain how it began the unravelling of the main X-Men team and how it marked the highlight of Louise Simonson’s run on X-Factor.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 55 features X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, covered in the Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont.

Crushing Comics S01E054 – X-Men Inferno & Operation: Zero Tolerance (+ the vicarious thrill of natural disasters)

by

As I unwrap I talk about the combined thrill and terror of living through natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. I always said that Philly was relatively immune to such apocalyptic events, but now I live right on a fault line (and right on the water).

Then, I open what might be the most sought-after X-Men hardcover today – Inferno! Is the story worth all of the hype and high prices? I walk you through how it came to be, including a brief history of Madelyne Pryor, and speculate if it was Chris Claremont’s way of “fixing” his master plan after the debut of X-Factor. (I have much less to say about Operation Zero Tolerance.)

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 54 features X-Men: Inferno and X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance, which are covered in the guides to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont and X-Men (1991), respectively.

Crushing Comics S01E051 – X-Men Fatal Attractions & Phalanx Covenant (+ the challenges of reprinting 90s comics)

by

Do you remember what it was like to celebrate the new year as a young child? For me, it’s memories of banging pots and pans at midnight, but also of months trying to remember to get the date right when writing the headers of my school assignments. After all, when you’re seven years old, you’ve spent 100% of you school life so far writing the prior year down on assignments!

In this episode open up two big books of comics from my original collecting days of the 90s: X-Men: Fatal Attractions and X-Men: Phalanx Covenant. As I page through them, I discuss Marvel’s process for restoring the art from these comics, and how it presents different challenges than reprinting books from the Silver Age – including dealing with holographs.

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 51 features the X-Men: Fatal Attractions and X-Men: Phalanx Covenant oversized hardcovers. To understand where they fit into X-Men continuity, see Uncanny X-Men #281-350.