Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Roy Thomas

New for Patrons: Guide to Adam Warlock

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Today I’m here with a new guide for all Patrons of CK that has been secretly part of another guide for close to a decade! Of course, it’s not really helpful to new readers to have a whole character’s guide stealthily tucked away somewhere they might never look. That’s why I just went on a deep dive through the 56 year comic history of a major Marvel character who at first was only known by his pronouns. Now his golden skin is about to hit the silver screen. That’s right, I’m talking about “Him,” whose comic history is covered under his better-known name in my  Guide to Adam Warlock!

Guide to Adam Warlock
This guide is now available to all readers thanks to the supernatural support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis!

Guide to Adam Warlock

I’d hazard a guess that the vast majority of CK readers have no idea that every Adam Warlock appearance from his 1967 debut through 2017 is summarized in my Guide to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Guess what? I had totally forgotten about that, too! I truly thought the Guardians guide only covered the movie team as individuals. Imagine my surprise when I checked a collection on it recently to discover that it also encompassed Adam Warlock, since he was one of the initial cast members of the now-classic Abnett & Lanning 2008 run that set the stage for the team to appear in the MCU.

All of that Warlock material still exists for public perusal in the Guardians Guide. However, aside from the obscurity of knowing where to find that information on the site, I also saw an opportunity to explain things in a much clearer way in a dedicated Guide to Adam Warlock. [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Guide to Adam Warlock

Updated: Guide to Silver Age X-Men

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I’m excited to share this much-needed guide refresh, especially in the wake of yesterday’s broadcast with Near Mint Condition – which included a key omnibus this page was missing! Welcome back to my uncanny Guide to Silver Age X-Men – covering every major collection format for Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1-66, their hiatus years guest appearances, and modern “Hidden Years” stories inserted into that period!

Guide to Silver Age X-Men

Guide to Silver Age X-Men

My Guide to Silver Age X-Men hasn’t had a significant update since 2016, although I did stop by to add a few Epic Collections in the past seven years.

Fortunately, the landscape of Silver Age X-Men collections hasn’t shifted too much since the introduction of the Epic line. Yet, there are still new collections to add to the guide. The big news has been the recent initiation of a new line of paperback “Mighty Marvel Masterworks,” plus the recent announcement of an omnibus of John Byrne’s retcon insert series, X-Men: The Hidden Years. There have also been a number of reprinted books along the way, including both classic omnibuses, and they’ve all been added explicitly to the guide.

I added those new collections, as well as gave the guide a facelift to bring it in line with my newer style guides. That means it now includes publishing years, full ISBNs, and links to buy and read digitally.

Many folks don’t hold this Silver Age run in high regard past the initial handful of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby issues. However, I think a lot of it is worth reading for modern X-Men fans. In particular, I’d suggest reading issues #1-6 to see Namor and Magneto’s first meeting, issues #12-13 for Juggernaut’s first story, and issue #14-16 for the first Sentinels story – as well as some of the Roy Thomas and Neal Adams material from issues #56-66.

This Guide to Silver Age X-Men update is just the first of many X-Men guide updates to come, which have been the most-demanded updates from Patrons and the general public alike. I hear you! There are now over 200 guide pages to update, but the X-Men guides will always be the closest to my heart and I know that’s true for many of you as well.

Crushing Comics S01E067 – X-Men, Vol. 1 & Ed Piskor’s X-Men: Grand Design (+ My Origin Story)

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This episode is all about humble beginnings.

First, I share a story about my t-shirt, Philly, and how I became comfortable performing on stage and in front of the camera thanks to a connection to a relatively new super-star, as I’ve related in the past.

Then, I unwrap the legendary first volume of X-Men’s classic Silver Age run by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, and Werner Roth! Is this volume still worth reading now that you can simply read Ed Piskor’s terrific summary in 40 pages in X-Men: Grand Design #2?

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

Episode 67 features the X-Men Silver Age Omnibus, Vol. 1. For more information (and details on how to collect this run other than in its hard-to-find omnibus), see my Guide to Silver Age X-Men.