Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Batman

The Pull List: Batman, Damage, Dark Fang, Ales Kot, & more!

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Welcome back the The Pull List, where I review every new comic I digitally picked up this week that wasn’t X-Men?

I’m still a few weeks away from being caught-up on non-X Marvel books, so my reads were restricted to some young DC titles, DC’s first “New Age of Heroes” launch, and Tom King’s Batman – which I mostly stay caught up upon for the hot takes.

This week’s Pull List includes:

  • Avengers (2017) #676
  • Batman (2016) #39
  • Damage (2018) #1
  • Dark Fang (2017) #3
  • Days of Hate (2018) #1
  • The Further Adventures of Nick Wilson (2018) #1
  • Ice Cream Man (2018) #1
  • James Bond: The Body (2018 #1.

[Read more…] about The Pull List: Batman, Damage, Dark Fang, Ales Kot, & more!

The Pull List: Babyteeth, Black Bolt, Captain America, Crosswind, Giant Days, and more!

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What did I read this week that was newly released and wasn’t X-Men?

I’m still a long way off from being caught up to all of present-day Marvel, so I have to choose my battles – reading series that are in the early stages of their Legacy numbering or have few enough issues that I can catch up all the way. A handful of indie series I follow (one only begrudgingly) also dropped this week.

This post covers:

Comic Book Review: Dark Days – The Forge #1 by Snyder, Tynion, Kubert, Romita, & Lee

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This week DC launches a major event that promises to be the biggest story of the Rebirth era to date. What are the mysteries of Dark Knights: Metal, and is its first chapter Dark Days – The Forge at all accessible to readers not well-versed in DC’s history?

Dark_Days_The_Forge _2017_0001_coverDark Days – The Forge #1 (digital)

Written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV. Line art by Andy Kubert with Danny Miki, John Romita Jr. with Klaus Janson, and Jim Lee with Scott Williams. Color art by Alex Sinclair and Jeremiah Skipper. Letters by Steve Wands

DC Comics has always delivered better mysteries than Marvel.

Maybe it’s down to their “Detective Comics” namesake, or maybe it’s because none of Marvel’s major characters are as dedicated to unravelling secrets as Batman, but DC Events always seem more mysterious to me than their Marvel counterparts.

The Forge is no exception. I went into this quite suspicious that the story would work for me as a minor DC fan. I enjoyed it, despite there being a few elements that went over my head.

I think an even newer reader might actually fare better than me, because a lot of my confusion came from knowing just tidbits of some of the stories and being confused about what relied on history and what was introduced. To fresh eyes, this will all have the ring of a story that’s been in motion for years.

The central thrust of this issue is that Batman has been exploring a worldwide mystery, possibly spurred on by a revelation Court of Owls. It’s not about a villain or an imminent threat to the Earth, but it’s the sort of ball of yarn he cannot help but unravel. Per his usual M.O., Batman has been keeping other heroes in the dark, bringing them in only as-needed while using his vast resources both as Bruce Wayne and Batman to pursue an answer.

He isn’t the only one in the middle of an investigation. Hawkman recounts an unending life of reincarnation as he ponders the mysteries of the Nth Metal. And, Hal Jordan is assigned by one of the Guardians of the Universe to investigate an Earthbound mystery – and it’s no coincidence that the mystery is deep below Gotham City. [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: Dark Days – The Forge #1 by Snyder, Tynion, Kubert, Romita, & Lee

New Comic Guide: All of the Robins!

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This is the final of four weeks of Bat-Guides before we switch to a a more “universal” theme for the next few weeks. And, you can’t have Bat-Guides without The Definitive Guide to Robin(s)!

Yes, that’s Robins – plural.

This guide tracks each Robin for as long as they bear the title from Dick Grayson debuting in Detective Comics (1937) #38 to Damian Wayne’s current reign as the Boy Wonder.

Before starting this guide I knew there were four distinct Boy Wonders (and one Girl Wonder), but I was confused about who was Robin when. It seems like Grayson has been Nightwing since time immortal – I’ve never read a story with him as Robin that wasn’t a flashback! When did he get upgraded?

Plus, I remembered Jason Todd dying back in the 80s (and coming back in the 00s), but when did he initially arrive? And, while I’m now a Damian Wayne expert from working on the Morrison Batman guide, what exactly was a Red Robin and when did Tim Drake start calling himself that?

I untangle all of those questions in this guide. It’s Robin-centric, so it does not follow Nightwing and Red Hood into their post-Robin adventures (they will be covered by future guides).

What it does do is track every Robin title, plus all of the many Robins’ appearances in Batman flagships and Titans titles from the Golden Age through present.

Plus, the Robin(s) Guide has a few new elements, including collapsable sections for lengthy issue lists and links back to the top of the TOC.

Okay, now it’s time for the tough question: Who is your favorite Boy Wonder? Post-Robin careers don’t count (a-hem, Nightwing). I’m talking about who was the best Robin?

New Comic Guide: A Guide to DC’s Gotham City Titles

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Today is the third week of my Bat-themed new guides, except this week’s guide isn’t for a character – it’s for a place…

The Guide to Gotham covers every DC book with “Gotham” in the title. Some of them are Batman ongoings, but others aren’t – like Gotham Central, Gotham City Sirens, and Gotham Academy.

I know that’s a slightly odd choice. The guide came about as I struggled to map Batman’s universe of ongoing titles as well as decide where to place some of his most important supporting books. After a lot of puzzling things together, I decided the best approach would be one page of Gotham titles, another (still to come) of his ongoing series (other than Detective, Batman, and LotDK), and a third to capture outliers and act as an index to everything.

These Gotham books tend to be fan-favorites and are frequently met with critical acclaim, which just speaks to the richness of Batman’s city as a setting.

I’ll be back with one last Bat Guide in this sprint next week – The Definitive Guide to Robin! I really enjoyed putting that one together, and I’m excited to share it with you. Then we’ve got a few big releases. I’d call them “universal” in size, each for a different reason.