Angel

Guide to The Champions – now available to the public!

January 23, 2023 by krisis

I’m happy to announce that my Guide to The Champions is now available to all CK readers! This guide covers both the 1975 Champions of Los Angeles as well as the 2016 revival of the team as a squad of Marvel’s young characters in the wake of Civil War II This guide exists thanks to the ongoing support of the outstanding Patrons of Crushing Krisis.

Guide to The Champions

When I first covered how to collect the 1975 edition of The Champions they didn’t merit their own guide page. They had 17 issues of their own and then faded into Marvel history while their members scattered to the winds. I relegated them to my Guide to X-Men Ongoings due to the team including Angel and Iceman.

In reality, the problem with reassembling The Champions wasn’t just that Iceman and Beast had been incorporated into The Defenders (visit the Guide to Defenders), and later into X-Factor (visit the newly-updated Guide to X-Factor)

It was also that Marvel lost the ability to publish comics with the “Champions” title! [Read more…] about Guide to The Champions – now available to the public!

Crushing Comics S01E033 – Finding foreign spices + Angel & Faith Library Editions from Buffy Season 9

December 6, 2017 by krisis

In this episode I share an anecdote about going spice shopping with my E and then unwrap the trio of Angel & Faith Library Editions from Buffy Season 9. I haven’t read these books yet, but my brain is packed with information from Buffy Season 1-8, so I give a rundown of how Faith came to be (although I inexplicably don’t mention The Mayor!) and discuss my love for Christos Gage.

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

Episode 33 features Angel & Faith: Season 9 Library Editions Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3.

Silver Age X-Men – Collecting Guide and Reading Order for Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1-93

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for Marvel’s Silver Age X-Men and X-Men Hidden Years comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

The Silver Age X-Men

The X-Men debuted in 1963 under the pen of the father of the Silver Age Marvel Universe, Stan Lee, and his frequent collaborator, Jack Kirby.

X-Men (1963) is one of the most important key issues of the Silver Age because the team debuted fully formed with a complete cast of Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Marvel Girl AKA Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman, Beast – and, their signature foe, Magneto!

The “Original Five” were lead by Professor Xavier against foes like Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Namor, Unus The Untouchable, The Blob, Juggernaut, the original Sentinels, and many other classic X-Men enemies that are recalled to this day. Issue #4 introduced Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who would soon migrate to the Avengers to become a part of “Caps Kooky Quartet” along with a third reformed villain, Hawkeye.

The original run of X-Men lasted from issue #1 in September 1963 through issue #66 in March 1970. From there, the title continued exclusively as a bi-monthly reprint book from issues #67-93, republishing prior issues with new cover illustrations.

Those five ears ended in 1975 with the publication of Giant Size X-Men and the relaunch of the title with a new cast in issue #94.

Though no new X-Men material was published from 1970 to 1974, the team was still active at the margins of the Marvel Universe – as seen in occasional guest appearances. That has led this period to be dubbed “The Hidden Years” by both Marvel and fans. Those “Hidden Years” contain contemporaneous Silver and Bronze Age material from the period, as well as later-inserted material.

Since all of that material features the assembled Silver Age team, it is also covered by this guide – distinguished as “Silver & Bronze Hiatus Appearances” and “Modern Age Hidden Years.”

(Making things even more confusing, the “Modern Age Hidden Years” should generally be read first – since it does not include the fuzzy version of Beast!)

Because this era is covered comprehensively by multiple formats, I have not listed the full breadth of single issues collected by story or single issue – there’s no reason to collect this run in that fashion. However, I have included some key issues below to help orient you to major moments in the Silver Age run.

If you want a reading order of every X-Men comic and character in that period (including guest appearances, flashbacks, and retcon stories), see The Definitive X-Men Reading Order, Era #1: Original X-Men.

A note on the title of this series: The official publication name of this title was “X-Men” through the Silver Age and beyond. The title was not formally changed to “Uncanny X-Men” until the indicia of issue #142. However, Marvel routinely refers to the entirety of this 1963 – 2010 volume as “Uncanny X-Men,” as on this Marvel Unlimited entry for issue #1. As a result, my convention on Crushing Comics is to always refer to the entire series as “Uncanny X-Men,” even prior to the indicia change.