Guides to Carnage, Pre-Crisis Superman, & Doctor Who! (Patreon)
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Hello my patient Patrons! If you've been reading Crushing Krisis this past month you know I've been up to some huge projects. Now, it's time to break the silence here at Patreon to catch you up on the massive work I've done in the past 60 days - and what's coming next!
First, the big news - NEW and UPDATED stuff EXCLUSIVELY for Patrons!
PATRON'S CHOICE: Guide to Carnage - Cletus Kasaday (Launch Essay)
NEW (for Pledgeonauts): Guide to Pre-Crisis Superman (1939-1987) (Launch Essay)
NEW (for Pledgeonauts): Guides to Doctor Who - 9th Doctor, 14th Doctor, 15th Doctor, & Multiple Doctors Who (Launch Essay)
Quick Updates for Patrons: Blade, Flash, Spider-Gwen - Ghost-Spider, Spider-Man - Miles Morales, Outsiders, Spider-Man 2099, Venom, Weapon X
Plus... get ready y'all... here's the list of 60 days of content powered-by-Patrons but available for all readers:
NEW (for All Readers): Guide to X-Men - From The Ashes (2023 - Present) (+ Live Reaction Stream)
DC Comics
New Releases: April 10
Quick Updates: Batman - Detective Comics (Post-Crisis), Robin(s)
Marvel Comics
New Releases: February 14, February 21, February 28, March 6, March 13, March 20, March 27, April 3, April 10
Major Updates: Marvel Universe Events
Quick Updates: Avengers Flagships (2010 - Present), Black Panther, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Excalibur, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Marvel Ultimate Comics, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel - Kamala Khan, New Warriors, Runaways, Spider-Man, Peter Parker (2018-present), Spider-Woman, Thor the Odinson, Wolverine - Logan, X-Men - The Age of Krakoa
Marvel Most-Wanted Poll Omnibus Mapping Posts: Avengers; Captain America + Iron Man + Thor (+Asgard); Doctor Strange; Elektra & Daredevil; Fantastic Four; Ghost Rider & The Midnight Sons; Hulk (+other Hulks); Marvel Events; Marvel Golden Age + Atlas Era + Anthologies; Marvel Imprints & Alternate Realities; Marvel Solo Heroes (A-M); Marvel Solo Heroes (N-Z); Marvel Teams, Spider-Man; Spider-Man Family & Venom; Star Wars + FOX Properties + Licensed Properties; X-Men, X-Men Solo; X-Men Teams; X-Men: Wolverine
Video Streams:
Announcements: Marvel June Solicits, Marvel July Solicits, Marvel Most-Wanted Reprint Poll, Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12th Annual Poll
Old Reader / New Reader: Mutant Massacre (Omar Birthday Edition!), Peacemaker Tries Hard
Evergreen Debates: DC Evergreen Omnibus Debate, X-Men Evergreen Omnibus Debate
Other Videos: X-Men Reading Order LIVE with Omnidog
Other Posts: DC Universe United Announcement, Every 2024 Marvel Omnibus (+ NMC Live Stream),
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Do you even want a full update after all that? 😂
Let's start with the biggest news and work our way down, shall we?
Patrons Choice: Guide to Carnage!
Y'all delivered a three-way tie in the January Patron's Choice poll, so I'm still delivering your choices! I've been wanting a Guide to Carnage for well over a year now and you gave me the perfect reason to launch one. It is available to all Patrons, since you all picked it.
Doctor Who Guides!
I have Doctor Who guides now - not just guides to Doctor Who comics, but guides to every episode, prose story, audio drama, magazine and comic for each Doctor.
These guides are for Pledgeonauts and up specifically because your pledges have allowed me to bring on an additional content editor - the first in CK's 24-year history. I've been working closely with my Australian colleague AdjectiveNoun to plan and launch this project since late last year.
You'll be seeing new Doctor guides at a regular pace. These guides will debut to the public much more quickly than Marvel and DC Guides - usually just 30-60 days after they launch to Patrons.
Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll
March kicked off my national Marvel Omnibus holiday with the launch of the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 12 Annual Secret Ballot!
This year was extra-special for me, because Tigereyes and Omar asked me if I would join them to organize and announce the poll (which included researching all of the possible entries - an amazing full-team project).
Those of you who have been with me for the long haul will remember that I tried to cover every entry on the poll back in 2017 and was rudely interrupted in the middle to move to New Zealand! I've always been bummed that I didn't have a chance to complete the final 30 deep dive posts that year.
I decided if I was going to be organizing the poll in 2024, I wouldn't just cover the results - I would map and explain every single omnibus Marvel could possibly print.
Yep, that means I mapped more than 600 omnibus volumes in just two weeks. If you love my typical mapping posts for just a single series, these posts are goldmines of reading orders and publishing errata.
We will be announcing the results live on Sunday, so I'm heading straight from writing this post to working on the slide show!
Superman Guides Continue: Pre-Crisis Superman (1939 - 1987)
My quest to slowly cover all of Superman's publishing history with guides continued at the end of February with the launch of my Guide to Pre-Crisis Superman (1939-1987).
Superman guides have long been the most-demanded guides from Patrons. More guides - including modern ones - will continue to roll out all year long.
The Return of Crushing Comics DC Guides!
In addition to launching that Superman Guide, I am finally chipping away at updating my many Guides to DC Comics!
This is not only important to me because I want to have up-to-date guides, but because I hold myself accountable to keeping all of CK updated for all of you. The DC guides have lagged on updates for years - not coincidentally, their big launch year was also 2017 and also got interrupted by my move to New Zealand, and their schedule has been wonky ever since.
I'm happy to have finally found a way to start making regular, sustainable updates to them. As part of that, I'm now publishing DC New Releases posts, starting with this week's new comics!
Streaming with Near Mint Condition
I was honored that Omar asked me to be a part of so many Near Mint Condition streams for his birthday month in March.
Omar is one of the kindest comics fans on the internet and he has come through for me as a friend again and again these past few years. Honestly, any time i get to hang out with him, Omnidog, Ødfel, Lars, and the rest of the gang is pure joy.
In addition to my regular appearance on Marvel Solicits streams and my co-hosting gig debating our Evergreen Lists, I also popped in for a recap of every 2024 Marvel omnibus, reacted to the new line-up of X-Men books, announced both the new and reprint Marvel omni polls, plus made my first appearances on NMC's classic book review show "New Reader / Old Reader" with Wonder Maddie! All of those shows are linked above.
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A reminder: Quick Updates are only announced here on Patreon. They include current and future series and collected editions, but not an update to guest appearances or page structure - both of which I save for when I make full guide updates that are announced on the CK main page.
To see new guides and guide updates announced as they happen, keep an eye on the CK homepage.
When you visit a Patreon guide you should be prompted to log in to CK using your Patreon login. If you aren't prompted when visiting a guide page, try visiting the CK login page directly.
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Behind-the-Scenes Krisis
There's not too much behind-the-scenes news to report on with all of that in-front-of-the-scenes action!
My daughter is 10(!) now, which means we're in the midst of looking at middle schools for her to attend next year. It's stressful to make such a big decision, but it's going to be so exciting for her. She loves school and learning and she thinks every classroom and every wall of lockers is the coolest thing she has ever seen.
I'm a very lucky parent.
Here's where we stand on guide updates. I've changed how this is measured to add a metric of when guides have been updated with new series & collections vs. when they've had a full style + guest appearances update to better show how I'm making two different kinds of progress.
Marvel Goal: July 2023 Average Freshness Date. Currently:
Jan 2024(!) - Average New Series/Collections
Aug 2021 - Average Full Guide Update
DC Goal: April 2023 Average Freshness Date. Currently:
Dec 2019 - Average New Series/Collections
Oct 2018 - Average Full Guide Update
Image Goal: September 2023 Average Freshness Date. Currently:
March 2023 - Average New Series/Collections AND Full Guide Update
Indie/Licensed: September 2023 Average Freshness Date. Currently:
March 2023 - Average New Series/Collections
September 2020 - Average Full Guide Update
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What's up next on Crushing Comics?
More Superman, another creepy Marvel character, more DC, more Who, and a little Marvel guide someone keeps very kindly requesting. Plus, another Patron's Choice poll!
Do you want something that's not on that list? If you've made it this far through this monster post, I'm definitely interested in your comments!
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Exclusives for Crushing Cadets ($1/month): 52 Guides!
DC Guides (7): Batman – Index of Ongoing Titles, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Birds of Prey, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: Hal Jordan, Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner, Omega Men
Marvel Guides (32): Alpha Flight, Angela, Beta Ray Bill, Black Cat, Blade, Captain Britain, Carnage, Dazzler, Domino, Dracula, Echo, Elsa Bloodstone, Emma Frost - White Queen, Heroes For Hire, Legion, Marvel 2099, Marvel Era: Marvel Legacy, Mister Sinister, Monica Rambeau - Photon, Morbius, Rocket Raccoon, Sabretooth, Silk, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man 2099, Thunderstrike, Valkyrie, Vision, Weapon X, Werewolf by Night, What If?, X-Man – Nate Grey
Indie & Licensed Comics (13): Aliens, The Authority, Black Hammer, Brigade, Codename Strykeforce, Cyberforce, Pitt, Princeless & Raven The Pirate Princess, Savage Dragon, ShadowHawk, Stormwatch, Supreme, WildStorm Events
Exclusives For Pledgeonauts ($1.99+/month): 92 Guides!
All of the 52 guides above, plus 40 more…
DC Guides (17): Animal Man, Aquaman, Books of Magic, Catwoman, Doctor Fate, Flash, Harley Quinn, Houses & Horrors, Infinity Inc., Justice League, Justice Society of America, Mister Miracle, Nightwing, Outsiders, Suicide Squad, Superman (1939) - Pre-Crisis, Superman in Action Comics (1938 - 1986), Swamp Thing
Marvel Guides (13): Darkhawk, Falcon, Gwenpool, Hellcat - Patsy Walker, Howard the Duck, Kang the Conqueror, Loki, Power Pack, Red She-Hulk, Sentry, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Venom
Indie & Licensed Comics (5): Miracleman, ROM - Spaceknight, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - IDW Continuity, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mirage Studios Continuity, ThunderCats
Doctor Who (4): 9th Doctor, 14th Doctor, 15th Doctor, Multiple Doctors Events