Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Avengers

Back Issue Review: Alan Moore’s The Courtyard, Captain Canuck, Dark Ark, & more!

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Welcome to a pilot of a new series of comic book posts on Crushing Krisis – Back Issue Review!

If I tried to complete my quest to read 2018 comic issues in 2018 purely by keeping up with new releases, I’d have to read 39 new comics every week!

Since my pull list isn’t quite that deep, I pad out my new release reading (and my playing catch-up to get current with new releases) with a healthy amount of back back issue reading, both from my own ridiculously deep collection and in browsing for digital deals.

Here’s the rundown of the back-issues I’ve read this week and reviewed below:

  • Alan Moore’s The Courtyard (2003) #1-2
  • Aquaman (2016) #1-6
  • Avengers/Champions: Worlds Collide (Avengers #672-674 & Champions #13-15)
  • Captain Canuck (2015) #1-2
  • Captain Marvel (2016) #6-10
  • Civil War II (2016) – The Oath
  • Dark Ark (2017) #1-4
  • Freelance (2017) #1
  • Grimm Fairy Tales: Return to Wonderland (2007) #0-3
  • Judas (2018) #1
  • Monstro Mechanica (2017) #1
  • Port of Earth (2017) #1-2
  • Realmwalkers (2017) #1-3
  • Silk (2016) #14
  • Spencer & Locke (2017) #1-4
  • The Skeptics (2016) #1-4
  • Toil and Trouble (2015) #1

Interested in what I have to say about other random pulls? Leave a comment about a series you’d love to see me dig into in the coming weeks. Given the scope of my collection, you might be surprised to learn I already own a copy! [Read more…] about Back Issue Review: Alan Moore’s The Courtyard, Captain Canuck, Dark Ark, & more!

Crushing Comics S01E052 – Avengers Assemble by Kurt Busiek & George Perez (+ an explainer on Onslaught and Heroes Reborn)

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In this episode I am totally faked out by set of books that are so thoroughly-wrapped that I was sure I’d be talking about an Absolute Edition! As I unwrap them (under this mistaken assumption), I talk about how Marvel only occasionally releases a book that large – variously titled an Adamantium Edition or Vibranium Edition.

Instead, I wind up unwrapping the first half of Kurt Busiek and George Perez’s 1998 run on Avengers! That lets me give an explanation of how Heroes Reborn extends from Onslaught and changed the status quo of the Marvel Universe.

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

Episode 52 features the Avengers Assemble Volume 1 and Volume 2, plus Avengers Forever. For more information on these books and what they contain, see the Guide to Avengers (1996-2005).

Crushing Comics S01E048 – The nature of memory + The Best and Worst of Avengers: Kree/Skrull War vs The Crossing!

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After musing on the nature of how we remember things I unwrap a special packet – one that has both the apex and the nadir of pre-Bendis Avengers! It’s “one of the 90s most-notorious narratives” versus a cosmic conflict that was actually quite Earth-bound.

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

Episode 48 features Avengers: The Origin, Avengers: The Crossing, and Avengers: Kree/Skrull War. See Guide to The Avengers (1963) for more.

Crushing Comics S01E045 – Bendis’s New Avengers & Mighty Avengers, Secret Invasion, + the pre-internet joy of comic shops)

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Do you remember how thrilling it used to be to spot a new comic shop out in the wild, back before there was internet shopping and endless databases of physical and digital back issues?

Then you, too, are old. No matter your age, join me for a few minutes of reminiscing before I open my final package of Bendis New Avengers and Mighty Avengers and dig in to why these books don’t stand alone well without Secret Invasion.

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

Episode 45 features New Avengers Vol. 5, Vol 6, & Vol 7, Mighty Avengers: Assemble (Vol. 1), and Mighty Avengers: Secret Invasion (Vol. 2). See the guides to New Avengers and Mighty Avengers for more information.

Crushing Comics S01E25 – Why I don’t like Avengers vs. X-Men (but do like Wellington weather)

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What happens when you combine my favorite comic franchise with a editorial direction I despise? Buckle up for a rough one, folks, as I dissect Avengers vs. X-Men and how it was a necessary evil to set up Marvel Now, plus discuss the difference between theoretical and actual weather conditions.

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

Episode 25 features Avengers vs. X-Men (Amazon / eBay) and Avengers vs. X-Men Companion (Amazon / eBay), both covered in the Guide to Marvel Events.