Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Uncanny X-Men

Crushing Comics S01E081 – How X-Men: Second Coming brought me back to comics

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In the second of three episodes focused on unwrapping a massive brick of oversized X-Men comics, I reminisce about Second Coming – the storyline that tempted me back to reading comics in general and modern X-Men in specific (as discussed back in 2010).

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

Episode 81 features X-Men: Second Coming and X-Men: Second Coming – Revelations, both covered in my Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Brubaker, Fraction, & Gillen.

Crushing Comics S01E080 – X-Men: Nation X and X-Necrosha

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I’m down to just three more bricks of comic books, but this first one is huge – it’s got over a half a dozen X-Men hardcovers inside! In the first of a three-part unwrapping, I dig into X-Men: Nation X and X-Necrosha, and discuss why this might be my favorite modern period of X-Men comics.

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

Episode 80 features X-Men: Nation X and X-Necrosha, covered in guides to Uncanny X-Men and X-Force, respectively.

Crushing Comics S01E072 – X-Men: Supernovas and Uncanny X-Men: The Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire

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Today I start out by talking about “the perfect weather.” If you’re the kind of person who loves it super hot on the beach or frigid on the slopes, would you really want to experience that every day? My favorite kind of day is breezy and springlike, maybe 68 to 72 degrees – and I see no problems with waking up to that every day of my life.

After that, I open a massive block of oversize modern X-Men – so big I had to break it up into a pair of episodes. In this one, I start out with a pair of weirdly orphaned oversized volumes.

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

Episode 72 features X-Men: Supernovas and Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire, which are covered by my X-Men, Vol. 2 & New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men by Brubaker, Fraction, & Gillen guides, respectively.

Crushing Comics S01E055 – Why I can’t meditate + X-Men: Fall of the Mutants

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As I unwrap today’s book, I talk about my inability to meditate in the traditional “relaxed mind” version of meditation. For me, meditation comes from engaging my brain in something. For some people that’s a zen koan, but for me it’s more like alphabetizing books or organizing files.

The book I unwrap after all that musing is X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, the “crossover that was not.” I explain how it began the unravelling of the main X-Men team and how it marked the highlight of Louise Simonson’s run on X-Factor.

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

Episode 55 features X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, covered in the Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont.

Crushing Comics S01E051 – X-Men Fatal Attractions & Phalanx Covenant (+ the challenges of reprinting 90s comics)

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Do you remember what it was like to celebrate the new year as a young child? For me, it’s memories of banging pots and pans at midnight, but also of months trying to remember to get the date right when writing the headers of my school assignments. After all, when you’re seven years old, you’ve spent 100% of you school life so far writing the prior year down on assignments!

In this episode open up two big books of comics from my original collecting days of the 90s: X-Men: Fatal Attractions and X-Men: Phalanx Covenant. As I page through them, I discuss Marvel’s process for restoring the art from these comics, and how it presents different challenges than reprinting books from the Silver Age – including dealing with holographs.

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

Episode 51 features the X-Men: Fatal Attractions and X-Men: Phalanx Covenant oversized hardcovers. To understand where they fit into X-Men continuity, see Uncanny X-Men #281-350.