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This Week in X at The Hellfire Gala, 9 June 2021 | Crushing Comics Podcast, Episode 0067

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It’s This Week in X for 9 June, 2021 – the second week of The Hellfire Gala!

Join Peter, Fariha, & Tyler as we discuss X-Men (2019) #21, Excalibur (2019) #21, & Children of the Atom (2021) #4. (Yes, we know the books have Excalibur first; we disagree!)

X-Men #21 is the finale of Hickman’s X-Men, and it is fireworks-filled but surprisingly subtle. Come for intense Namor ego, stay for Sinister Secrets and sumptuous art (but, not for the anticlimactic off-panel psychic vote).

Excalibur #21 is about breaking things and circling back to previous status quo. We discuss narrative necessities, the personal vs. the political, ridiculous capes, finding the right cast, and a long-anticipated reunion.

Children of the Atom #4 is a BUY or SKIP discussion, with us highlighting what’s working and what’s worrying about this supporting book (which is NOT part of the Gala).

Spoiler warning – we discuss everything about X-Men up to and including comics from this week, as well as other current events in the Marvel Universe.

Want to subscribe? You can find us on our RSS feed, Spotify, Stitcher, PodChaser, Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict!

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Batman by Grant Morrison, Episode 02 – Tales of the Demon | Crushing Comics Book Club

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Welcome back to Crushing Comics Book Club for Batman by Grant Morrison! This is the second of three episodes of pre-reading to catch up on some of the themes, characters, and influences on Morrison’s run.

In this episode, we read the first 2/3rds of the Tales of the Demon TPB, which includes the debut of Talia al Ghul and R’as al Ghul. We didn’t know what to expect from these Bronze Age stories, but we wound up falling in love!

Harry is our expert – he loves Batman and Morrison, and he has read this run multiple times. Fariha is our intermediate – she has read plenty of Morrison and DC. And, Peter is now the novice – he’s read some of this run before, but otherwise this is his FIRST TIME reading pre-New-52 Batman!

The stories are:

  • Detective Comics #411 – “Into the Den of the Death-Dealers” (May 1971)
  • Batman #232 – “Daughter of the Demon” (June 1971)
  • Batman #235 – “Swamp Sinister” (Sep 1971)
  • Batman #240 – “Vengeance for a Dead Man” (March 1972)
  • Batman #242 – “Bruce Wayne – Rest in Peace!” (June 1972)
  • Batman #243 – “The Lazarus Pit” (Aug 1972)
  • Batman #244 – “The Demon Lives Again!” (Sep 1972)

Tune in next week as we wrap up our pre-reading by finishing the final four issues in Tales of the Demon, as well as the Demon Trilogy of Son of the Demon, Bride of the Demon, and Birth of the Demon.

Want to subscribe? You can find us on our RSS feed, Spotify, Stitcher, PodChaser, Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict!

This Week in X at The Hellfire Gala, 2 June 2021 | Crushing Comics Podcast, Episode 0065

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It’s This Week in X for 2 June, 2021 – and time for The Hellfire Gala!

Join Peter, Fariha, & Tyler as we discuss Marauders (2019) #21, X-Force (2020) #20, and Hellions (2020 #12.

In Marauders #21, we discuss every morsel of this opening platter of Hellfire Gala hors d’oeuvres, including welcome committees, psychic consent, Banshee’s multiple invites, potential bonus Cuckoos, and fireworks that are only implied.

For X-Force #20, we discuss the team’s role in keeping undesirables OUT of Krakoa, inserting themselves in places THEY aren’t desired, and encountering internal resistance to Beast’s interventionist ambitions.

Finally, in Hellions #12, it turns out the Hellfire Gala is NOT for all mutants. We discuss Sinister’s oblivious mingling, Nanny’s unlimited imbibing, Havok’s ineffective inquiries, Empath’s kindest moment, and that shocking final panel.

Spoiler warning – we discuss everything about X-Men up to and including comics from this week, as well as other current events in the Marvel Universe.

Want to subscribe? You can find us on our RSS feed, Spotify, Stitcher, PodChaser, Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict!

Batman by Grant Morrison, Episode 01 – Intro to Batman & The Black Casebook | Crushing Comics Book Club

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Welcome to a new season of our Crushing Comics Book Club, where we discuss a classic run of comics together as both fans and critical readers. For the next few months we’ll be reading Grant Morrison’s Batman, but before we get started we’ll be doing a few weeks of pre-reading to catch up on some of the themes and influences of the run.

Harry is our expert – he loves Batman and Morrison, and he has read this run multiple times. Fariha is our intermediate – she has read plenty of Morrison and DC. And, Peter is now the novice – he’s read some of this run before, but otherwise this is his FIRST TIME reading pre-New-52 Batman!

Today, we start with a discussion of how we first found Batman (and Morrison), plus a read of Batman’s debut in Detective Comics (1937) #27 as well as Batman (1940) #1 – the first appearances of Joker and Catwoman.

Then, we all read The Black Casebook for the first time! It’s an unusual book – 12 of the most-outlandish Golden and Silver Age stories as selected by Morrison to hint at, explain, or reflect the themes of their Batman run. We’ll talk about our FAVORITE Casebook story, the WEIRDEST story, plus give a rundown of EVERY tale in this tome – with a few hints from Harry at how they might be relevant later.

The stories are:

  • Batman #65 – A Partner For Batman! from June, 1951
  • Batman #86 – Batman – Indian Chief! from September, 1954
  • Detective Comics #215 – The Batmen of All Nations from January, 1955
  • Detective Comics #235 – The First Batman from September, 1956
  • World’s Finest #89 – The Club of Heroes from July, 1957
  • Detective Comics #247 – The Man Who Ended Batman’s Career from September, 1957
  • Batman #112 – Am I Really Batman? from December, 1957
  • Batman #113 – Batman – The Superman of Planet X from February, 1958
  • Detective Comics #267 – Batman Meets Bat-Mite from May, 1959
  • Batman #134 – The Rainbow Creature from September, 1960
  • Batman #156 – Robin Dies at Dawn from June, 1963
  • Batman #162 – The Batman Creature from March, 1964

Tune in next week as we read the Tales of the Demon TPB.

Want to subscribe? You can find us on our RSS feed, Spotify, Stitcher, PodChaser, Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict!

Crushing Comics Podcast, Episode 0063: This Week in X, 26 May 2021

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It’s This Week in X for 26 May, 2021!

Join Peter, Fariha, & Tyler as we discuss X-Men (2019) #20 and New Mutants (2019) #18. We took a deep, DEEP dive into both of this week’s issues!

First, on X-Men #20, we discussed the prevailing theme of lost love, Mystique’s motivations, creating terrorists (and your own worst enemies), worst weapons, interventionism, impotent bigots, inadvertently causing your destruction, and burning it all down.

Then, for New Mutants #18, we discussed the themes of self-image, bodily autonomy, and the haves-and-have-nots of Krakoa and how each of those three themes weave through the various “debates” in the issue.

Spoiler warning – we discuss everything about X-Men up to and including comics from this week, as well as other current events in the Marvel Universe.

Want to subscribe? You can find us on our RSS feed, Spotify, Stitcher, PodChaser, Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict!

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Crushing Comics Podcast, Episode 0062: Epic X-Men Re-Read – Uncanny X-Men (1963) #137 & Phoenix: The Untold Story

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We’re back for our SEASON FINALE of reading classic X-Men!

Listen in as Tyler and Peter re-explore the classic Claremont material, with Fariha reading it FOR THE FIRST TIME!

This episode is an incredibly deep dive into Uncanny X-Men #137 and Jean Grey, as well as into the version that ALMOST made it to print from Phoenix: The Untold Story, as well as Claremont’s 1990 epilogue to the story in Classic X-Men #43.

Plus: Have we convinced Fariha to love Jean Grey?!

This episode contains full spoilers for House of X and Powers of X and a few comments about the Dawn of X status quo that follows it.

And, get ready, y’all – we’ll be back next week with BATMAN BY GRANT MORRISON!

Want to subscribe? You can find us on our RSS feed, Spotify, Stitcher, PodChaser, Apple Podcasts, and Podcast Addict!

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