Luke Cage

The Definitive Jessica Jones Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The Jessica Jones comic books issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated October 2024 with titles scheduled for release through December 2024.

Jessica Jones went from a random adults-only non-hero made up from the whole cloth of spaces between superhero bash-ups to one of Marvel’s biggest screen stars.

Brian Bendis invented Jessica Jones for the 2001 Marvel MAX title Alias. It was by far the most explicit in-continuity title Marvel had published to date, featuring the hard-drinking, nymphomaniac, perennial failure Jessica Jones and her one-woman agency, Alias Investigations.

Unlike the first season of her Netflix show, the title wasn’t all about Purple Man – there were several plots of Jones’s investigations and entanglements on the fringes of the superhero world.

Jessica Jones caught the attention of Marvel readers, as did her author Brian Bendis. When he made the jump from writing more fringe, street-level titles to the big leagues of relaunching The Avengers, he brought Luke Cage with him. Luke had been reintroduced to readers in Alias, and Jessica Jones wasn’t far behind.

That left the character in an odd spot for an entire decade. The roguish, messed-up, inappropriate Jessica of Alias was irretrievably erased in favor of a nagging romantic partner and occasional straight-up superhero – and she was entirely controlled by Brian Bendis. She was still fun to read, but that original magic wore off.

2016 brings with it her first solo series since The Pulse ended in 2006 – this time, simply bearing her name. Yes, it’s still written by Brian Bendis, but it also features original penciler Michael Gaydos and colorist Matt Hollingsworth.

Will the magic return with the original creators reunited? We’ll see.

Just want to read the core JJ material? No problem. I’ve highlighted all of her major stories, and I sum up all of the skippable guest appearances and cameos.

Want to understand every issue, ever? I cover every single appearance Jessica Jones has made, explaining were to collect the major ones and what happened in the minor ones so you don’t feel like you have to track them down if you don’t want to. [Read more…] about The Definitive Jessica Jones Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Luke Cage, Power Man – Collecting Guide and Reading Order

Updated Mar 11, 2025! The definitive Power Man – Luke Cage – comic books issue-by-issue collecting guide and trade reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

Collecting Luke Cage

Luke Cage emerged from Marvel’s early-70s habit of stealing themes from pop culture – in this case, the emergence of Blaxploitation films. That made him only the second prominent black hero at Marvel, after Black Panther – who had become a staple in The Avengers.

Cage’s story could have easily come to an end with the waning of the 70s, but Marvel made an unusual move in 1978 – they introduced the similarly fad-based character Iron Fist into Cage’s title, rechristening it “Power Man & Iron Fist.”

A street-smart man with unbreakable skin and a billionaire’s son who mastered a secret martial art. This memorable odd-couple pairing lead to another eight years of an ongoing series, until 1986 when Marvel ended several long-running 70s books at the end of Secret Wars II. Afterwards, Luke Cage was basically put into mothballs, and when he was taken out he didn’t prove a hit on his own – his 1992 self-titled series lasted only 20 issues.

Despite numerous guest-appearances and a brief Heroes for Hire run during Marvel’s late-90s struggle, it was one man who brought Cage back to prominence despite never writing him in a solo title: Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis introduced Luke Cage as a foil and on-again/off-again flame to Jessica Jones in Alias, linking the characters from that point forward (and using them both in his Daredevil run). Then, he plucked Cage from relative obscurity to join New Avengers alongside surefire sellers Spider-Man and Wolverine.

Ever since then, Luke Cage went from occasional guest-star to one of the most prominent heroes in the Marvel Universe, though he occasionally takes a break to change a few diapers. Like Hawkeye before him, he serves as an anchor and mascot for Avengers teams and as a mentor for reformed criminals the Thunderbolts. He also has a habit of popping up in any Iron Fist title.

In the wake of his smash Netflix series released at the end of 2016, Luke’s profile at Marvel was as high as ever – with him appearing in his own title, as well as Jessica Jones and a re-branded Defenders team. [Read more…] about Luke Cage, Power Man – Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The Defenders – Collecting Guide & Reading Order

Updated Mar 25, 2025! The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide on collecting Defenders comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through July 2025.

Who are The Defenders? Or, perhaps the better question is, what are The Defenders?

The concept of this unofficial team of heroes originated with the cancellation of Dr. Strange’s 1968 series, itself an outgrowth of Strange Tales. When a multi-part story teaming up the Doctor with Namor and Hulk was slotted to begin in what turned out to be his final issue (#183), the remaining chapters wound up running in Sub-Mariner (1968) #22 and Incredible Hulk (1968) #126.

Later, the Namor/Hulk team-up added Silver Surfer to the mix in Sub-Mariner (1968) #34-35 as “Titans Three.” Then, the entire founding foursome of The Defnders assembled in Marvel Feature #1-3 before spinning off into their own title.

This quartet of characters worked so well together because they are all massively powerful loners. Each one of them could single-handedly battle a Silver Age Avengers line-up to a stand-still. Plus, they’d each bristle at trying to remain a member of a team in the long-term.

Together, they kept that curmudgeonly attitude, which made the main draw of The Defenders that it was a team that wasn’t a team – all while battling enemies from other dimensions and outer space. The original quartet was completed with a fifth member – Valkyrie – who debuted in the pages of issue #4.

The book later added other unlikely team members like Luke Cage, Moon Knight, Hellcat, and Daimon Hellstrom.

The original, 1972 Defenders volume has been collected in a variety of formats as a key part of Marvel’s transition from Silver to Bronze age. Over the years the original team has seen many revivals of its title and concepts (both of loners and of protecting our dimension).

In 2017 the title took a left turn as it was co-opted for Marvel’s Netflix team of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones – who could have easily been deemed Mighty Avengers based on those characters’ recent publication history.
[Read more…] about The Defenders – Collecting Guide & Reading Order