krisis

Krisis has been creating Crushing Krisis since 2000, writing songs since 1996, and reading comics since 1991. He is a Customer Success and Digital Brand Strategy executive, serial organizer, parent, and feminist, among other things. Based in Philly through 2017, he now resides in Wellington, NZ.

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – September 20, 2023

September 19, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

It’s time to take a look at what’s out from Marvel Comics this week! This post covers Marvel Comics September 20 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 guide within my Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics to find out how to collect each character in full – and, if a guide is linked from this post, that means it is updated through the present day!

Plus, I’m getting close to caught up on reading all of the Marvel Universe – so I have some commentary on some of the single issues and new collections.

Marvel Comics September 20 2023 Collected Editions

The Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 22: Round Robin
(2015 paperback, ISBN 978-0785192688 / 2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302950545 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man, Peter Parker (1963-2018). I’ve just updated all of the Amazing Epic Collections on the guide and I was shocked at how many of them have been back to print in the past three lines. Even Epics of relatively insignificant runs! Marvel has truly found a way to create a Manga-Style, well-organized, evergreen line of their entire comics history and we love to see it.

The Avengers Omnibus Vol. 4
(2023 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302953621 / digital)
See the freshly rebuilt Guide to Avengers (1963-1996)! This is the last of the four reprints in addition to a brand new Volume 5 out this month. We love to see this line advancing without new Avengers movies on the big screen, which used to be the only way it got a new volume.

Bloodline: Daughter of Blade
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302924423 / digital)
See Guide to Blade. This series has an awkward history – originally it was meant to be launched by Tim Seeley several years ago, and then it was shelved and seemingly lost before it was revived (and revised) by Danny Lore. Unfortunately, this just didn’t hold together for me. It wasn’t Lore’s fault – I think the artist had trouble keeping up with a story that repeatedly mixed casual scenes with action scenes. The discontinuity of storytelling in the art eventually wore me down.

Captain Marvel: The Saga of Carol Danvers
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951818 / digital)
See Guide to Captain Marvel – Carol Danvers. This is a peculiar trade that’s more of a sampler for the movie crowd then a trade for a consistent bookshelf. It collects the opening eights issues of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s 2012 Carol Danvers series (which includes a great pair of issues where she meets up with Monica Rambeau) as well as the origin-redefining The Life of Captain Marvel (2018), which brought her comic origins more in line with the MCU (booo!).

New for Patrons: Guide to Monica Rambeau – Photon, Spectrum, & Captain Marvel

September 18, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

This week I’m back with a new guide for all Patrons of CK to spotlight a character who used to be just a footnote in another guide! She has been known by many names at Marvel, but ever since she was created by Roger Stern 41 years ago she has never quite disappeared from sight. Now, in 2023, she’s poised to have her biggest year ever thanks to this Novembers The Marvels. That’s right, it’s her time to shine: Guide to Monica Rambeau – Photon, Spectrum, & Captain Marvel.

Guide to Monica Rambeau – Photon, Spectrum, & Captain Marvel.

I adore Monica Rambeau and get excited every time she shows up on the page. Yet, I really hadn’t read her at all before I encountered her in a guest appearance in Captain Marvel (2012) #7-8 to argue with Carol over who should use the Captain Marvel name!

That’s because all of Monica’s past appearances – as Captain Marvel, Photon, and Spectrum – fell curiously between my prime reading years. I always knew that Monica Rambeau was a creation of Roger Stern’s for his run in Avengers, but those weren’t the back-issues I was tracking down in my X-crazed 90s collecting years, and she was mostly absent from comics the entire time I was collecting save a handful of solo stories. Then, I totally missed out on her 2006-2010 resurgence when I came back to reading in 2010!

I thought I’ve picked up a lot from context over the past 13 years of reading, but now that I’ve been through every single Monica Rambeau appearance I realize just how much I was missing – which makes me even happier to have created this guide.

Updated: Guide to Avengers (1963-1996)

September 15, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

This year celebrates the 60th anniversary of several major Marvel Comics publishing milestones. Yesterday I shared an update to my Silver Age X-Men Guide to mark the 60th Anniversary of X-Men (1963) #1, with a cover date of September 1963 (though it actually hit the stands in July – cover dates functioned as a “sell by” date in the Silver Age). The X-Men weren’t the only team to hit the newsstands in the middle of 1963, because the same month featured the debut of Marvel’s iconic supergroup – and another one of their most-iconic franchises – The Avengers! Today I’ve not only updated but completely rebuilt one of the most important Crushing Comics guides – my Guide to Avengers (1963-1996)!

Guide to Avengers (1963-1996)

I originally launched this guide back in November of 2011 as my first guide to comics outside of the X-Men line! It has been incrementally updated many times over since then. However, I never fundamentally changed the structure of the guide as Marvel’s collection strategy evolved to include more omnibuses, comprehensive coverage of universe-spanning events, and the amazing Epic Collection line to cover all of the gaps in each long-running series. The Avengers have transformed from an occasionally-collected title with major gaps – especially in the 90s – to a 400+ issue title with just a handful of issues left uncollected.

Today, I have completely rebuilt this guide from the ground up! What does that mean? Not only did I list every collected edition of Avengers (1963), but I also did all of the following… [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to Avengers (1963-1996)

Updated: Silver Age X-Men Guide

September 14, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

Earlier this year I launched an initiative to completely overhaul all of my X-Men team title guides with up-to-date collections, revised formatting, and links for digital buying and reading. Now, those guides will all continue to receive regular updates throughout the year! First up: My uncanny Silver Age X-Men Guide – 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!

Silver Age X-Men Guide

Since this Silver Age X-Men guide had a major update back in February, this update focused on adding just a few new collections:

Confirming that the Marvel Masterworks Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 reprints are indeed “Remasterworks” with revised restoration.
Adding the newest volume of the “Mighty Marvel Masterworks” digest-sized paperback reprint series
Adding a new section for Marvel’s licensed reprints with other companies, including a new Penguin Classic collections and a massive Taschen artbook with newly-shot artwork and restoration.
I also added some additional detail about collection formats and hiatus years appearances.

I think it’s so cool that Marvel is leveraging its new relationship with Penguin Random House to produce comics collections in their typically academic- and classics-focused Penguin Classics line! What an awesome way to celebrate the X-Men’s 60th birthday this month!

This Silver Age X-Men Guide update is just the first of a series of regular X-Men guide updates. I now have over 200 guide pages to maintain, but the X-Men guides will always be the closest to my heart and some of the highest-trafficked pages on CK! But, don’t worry – my upcoming page updates won’t be restricted just to revisiting these X-title guides again. There are some fresh page updates heading your way as well!

Updated: Guide to Conan The Barbarian

September 13, 2023 by krisis Leave a Comment

On Monday I released a new guide celebrating a new #1 comic I loved in Birds of Prey (2023) #1. Today I’m back with a major guide update for another new comic I am really digging – the new Titan Comics relaunch of Conan the Barbarian (2023)! You can find that, and every other Conan comic ever published, in my Guide to Conan!

Guide to Conan The Barbarian

The last time my Conan guide had a major overhaul was in 2019. It was still early in Marvel’s relaunch of the licensed property – around the time of their launch of the in-continuity Savage Avengers (2019).

A lot has happened with Conan since then! [Read more…] about Updated: Guide to Conan The Barbarian