New Comic Book Guide

Guide to Carnage – Cletus Kasaday (New for Patrons!)

April 8, 2024 by krisis

I’m back with another new comic guide from the very creepy spooky ooky Patrons of CK, who picked this serial-killing symbiote in a tie for their most-wanted Marvel Guide in their last Patrons’ Choice poll. That’s right, after many weeks of promises in my Marvel New Releases posts as I review his series, I’m finally done my Guide to Carnage!

Guide to Carnage

This guide covers every Cletus Kasaday appearance from his debut to last week, plus all of the major mischief that the Carnage symbiote has gotten up to without its psychopath host. It’s all in perfect reading order, complete with suggestions on where to start, a “greatest hits” list of only the best and most-relevant stories, an easy reference for building a uniform bookshelf of Omnibuses or Epic Collections, and links read every series on Marvel Unlimited!

That means I just did a lot of Carnage reading. So, having just seen his every page and word balloon, what’s the true story of Marvel’s cruelest symbiote?

Guide to Doctor Who – 9th, 14th, & 15th Doctors (New for Patrons!)

April 1, 2024 by krisis

Today is April Fool’s day, but this is not a joke! It’s a not a hoax or a dream! It’s not some wibbly wobbly, timey wimey nonsense… unless you count the untold hours we’ve spent readying these guides for launch! That’s right, it’s really the debut of a Guide to Doctor Who presented by Crushing Comics and edited by AdjectiveNoun.

We are launching the new Guide to Doctor Who with guides to three doctors – the 9th Doctor, who kicked off the modern era in 2005, and the 14th & 15th Doctors, who anchored the recent 60th Anniversary episodes. Plus, what would a new section of Crushing Comics be without a guide to the linewide events of the universe?! For Doctor Who, that means a Guide to Multiple Doctors Who, covering every media and anthology that includes multiple incarnations of The Doctor.

These new Doctor Who Guides are exclusively available to Pledgeonaut Patrons of Crushing Krisis until the debut of the new Doctor Who season in May on the BBC and Disney+.

Guide to The Ninth Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston

Guide to The Fourteenth Doctor Who, David Tennant (again!)

Guide to The Fifteenth Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa

Guide to Multiple Doctors Who Events

These guides not only cover comic books, but episodes, novels, short stories, audio dramas, and magazines! How? Why?! Because I recruited my Down Under friend AdjectiveNoun, a major Whovian who got me hooked on the new 60th Anniversary episodes that debuted this past December.

We combined AdjectiveNoun’s Who knowledge and my established Guide infrastructure & style to create a set of Doctor Who Guides that are organized differently than any other guides we could find online.

Guides to the remaining 12 Doctors will launch over the course of the next 12 months.

New: Guide to X-Men: From The Ashes

March 20, 2024 by krisis

Last week Marvel announced the creators and titles that will kick off the new era of X-Men comic books starting this July with X-Men: From The Ashes! And, a new era of comics means a new comic book guide – supported by Patrons of CK but available to all readers: Guide to X-Men: From the Ashes (2024 – Present).

Right now all we know about the nine incoming new X-Men titles are the creative teams and casts of the three flagship books – X-Men (2024), Uncanny X-Men (2024), and Exception X-Men (2024). This new guide will track every issue of the new era as they are announced, and explain the best way to read it and collect them all.

Guide to X-Men: From the Ashes (2024 – Present)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have two episodes of X-Men ’97 to rewatch for the fourth time!

Guide to Pre-Crisis Superman (1939) – Golden Age, Silver Age, & Bronze Age (New for Patrons!)

February 27, 2024 by krisis

As I continue my celebration of seven years of my Guide to DC Comics, it’s time to tackle yet another title for DC’s biggest hero in a guide debuting exclusively to Pledgeonaut Patrons of Crushing Krisis. This was the first true solo superhero book – and, it published continuously through WWII and even the early-50s dark ages of comics! That’s right, it’s a Guide to Pre-Crisis Superman (1939) – The Golden, Silver, & Bronze Ages!

Guide to Pre-Crisis Superman (1939) – The Golden, Silver, & Bronze Ages

Guide to Morbius, The Living Vampire (New for Patrons!)

February 5, 2024 by krisis

I’m back with the first new guide of February 2024 for all Patrons of Crushing Krisis – and it’s their January Patron’s Choice! It’s a guide for one of the horrific stars of 1970s Marvel, of the first Marvel characters to anchor two titles at the same time, and the most alive vampire you’ll ever meet. That’s right, folks, it’s Morbin’ time, with my Guide to Morbius – The Living Vampire.

Guide to Morbius – The Living Vampire

Morbius is one of those characters who I had next to zero exposure to prior to beginning my Marvel Zombie “read everything” approach to comics in 2011. That meant I had two seemingly conflicting ideas of the character in my mind – that he was a major Spider-Man villain and probably had been in the Sinister Six and that he was some sort of supernatural hero who was an ally of Ghost Rider.

Now that I’ve read every single Morbius appearance to write this Guide to Morbius, I know both those ideas were completely wrong! A better way to describe him would be as a reluctant monster and a begrudging anti-supernatural avenger, but even that fails to fully capture the nuance of his character… at least, when writers remember that he has nuance!