krisis

Guides to Red Hulk, Kraven, & more! (Early Access for ALL Patrons!)

Added 2025-01-09 04:48:50 +0000 UTC

Happy New Year, my faithful Patrons! After months toiling away on behind-the-scenes work I am back with two new guides and a lot of updates. Like, seriously, you will never believe how many updates.

NEW: Guide to Red Hulk (launch post)
NEW: Guide to Kraven the Hunter (launch post)
NEW: Guide to Saga
NEW (for Pledgeonauts): Doctor Who - 3rd Doctor
Quick Updates for Patrons: EVERY MARVEL GUIDE, plus Action Comics (Post-Crisis), Birds of Prey, Green Lantern - Hal Jordan, Harley Quinn, Justice Society of America (JSA), Savage Dragon, Shazam AKA Captain Marvel, Stormwatch

Plus, powered-by-Patrons but available for all readers:

DC Comics
- NEW: Guide to DC Absolute Universe
- New Releases: January 1, January 8
- Quick Updates: Detective Comics (Post-Crisis)
Marvel Comics
- New Releases: January 1, January 8
- Available the the Public: What If? (Launch Post)
- Quick Updates: EVERY MARVEL GUIDE!
Indie & Licensed Comics
- New Releases: January 1, January 8
- Full Updates: Spawn

Finally, I get to tell you what I've been up to for the past half year of Crushing Krisis!

Starting last July, I decided it was time to update every Marvel Guide to include the newest titles and appearances. I didn't want to keep adding new guides if my existing guides weren't the best they could be. Also, it didn't feel fair to all of my readers - and especially to you - to add any new streaming appearances beyond my existing commitments if I had critical guide work to complete.

I thought it might take me about three weeks to make it through all 125+ pages. Instead, it took six months, with me finishing the final pages at the start of December! That wasn't only because updating more than 125 guides is hard work - more on that below.

With that finally wrapped up, I started prepping for 2025. That meant getting ever so slightly ahead on the first two guides of the year - a Guide to Kraven the Hunter (really, to all Kravens) and a Guide to Red Hulk.

Both of them have obvious ties to Marvel movies - in general, this year's new Marvel guides will be very motivated by the MCU.

I also started the new year with a return to weekly New Releases posts. Right now I'm experimenting with covering Image Comics alongside Marvel and DC. As a reminder, my New Releases posts explain every collection and issue, including context on the stories and creators, reviews of prior issues, and links to guides where they exist.

No one on the internet covers new releases as thoroughly as I do!

As part of working on New Releases posts, I put together a pair of quick guides to help me: a quick Guide to Saga and its many formats for CK Patrons, and a Guide to DC Absolute Universe for the public. Also, I completed a massive update and reorganization of the Guide to Spawn!

I've continued my regular contributions to Near Mint Condition as the co-host of the Evergreen Debate, plus regular appearances for Marvel Solicits, a "Map My Wolverine," and a few other shows. Plus, I now appear with my beloved friends Omnidog & Freddie for a monthly "Jamming on Comics" hangout every second Tuesday on Omnidog's Vault.

Finally, I'm also back to my own YouTube channel, which has been renamed CrushingKrisis to celebrate my return (and for some brand consistency). Make sure to subscribe so you're notified about upcoming live streams - I'll be doing one this Sunday!

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.

Behind-the-Scenes Krisis

Obviously, a lot has happened in the past six months! However, I want to highlight two things in specific.

First, starting at the end of June I experienced a very disruptive health problem. I was in blinding, searing pain for a lot of July, August, and... oh gosh, now that I'm looking at my calendar, it lasted into September. It took some time to get an appointment, get diagnosed, get fixed, battle a post-fix infection, and get fixed some more.

In that period my comics consumption ground to a halt. Not just comics. At one point I was in too much pain to do anything but stare at the ceiling and cry for well over a week. I stopped reading new comics entirely, so I gave up on New Releases posts. When I wasn't feeling completely wrecked, I chipped away at updating every Marvel Guide - but my pain management through September was one reason that effort turned into a six month process.

Second, from September through just last night, Crushing Krisis has experienced a series of Denial of Service attacks. I don't think there's anything being targeted about CK in specific - it's just a popular, highly-trafficked WordPress site, all of which are broadly targeting with traffic meant to hack or crash them.

That was on top of CK regularly setting new records for page views almost every month. It's more popular than ever!

Between the attacks and hacks and popularity, I've spent a lot of time chatting with the support team at my web host and using CloudFlare. Enough time that I probably could've launched another two guides. Just this past week I had to authorize my host to temporarily boost my RAM to accommodate the level of traffic CK has been experiencing.

Being a webmaster in the modern day can be a full time job on top of creating all the content for your web page!

Luckily, that temporary increase in RAM allowed us to definitively investigate and seal off some potential avenues for hacking and improve server efficiency in general.

If that turned into permanent fix - and it might, later this year, if traffic keeps increasing - it will cost another >$1000 a year in hosting costs!

I mention these two things because they are the moments when I am incredibly grateful for your ongoing support. You don't all disappear if there are no new guides for a few months. You pay for all of CK's hosting fees so I never have to choose between keeping CK running and groceries. And, I know you have my back if I incur new costs thanks to CK's ever-growing popularity - which your support has helped to drive for the past seven years.

Seriously, y'all, I don't know how many more ways I can say it: this website wouldn't exist anymore if it wasn't for you.

Also, I appreciated many messages to say hello and check on me here on Patreon, via CK, and on various streams!

Here's where CK stands on freshness - the best shape it has been in since this Patreon launched back in 2017!

Overall Goal: September 2024 Average Guide Freshness Date
- Currently: September 2024!!! 🎉
Marvel Goal: October 2024 Average Guide Freshness Date
- Currently: November 2024!!! 💪
DC Goal: August 2024 Average Guide Freshness Date.
- Currently: April 2024 😅
Image Goal: October 2024 Average Guide Freshness Date
- Currently: August 2023 😔
Indie/Licensed: October 2024 Average Guide Freshness Date
- Currently March 2023 😭
  (as always, this is hugely due to Star Wars era guides)

What's up next on Crushing Comics?

I'm torn about what the guide will be, but either way it will be something hellish, followed by a DC Guide. I'm still working on your Patrons' Choice Martian Manhunter Guide, which won't happen this month.

As a reminder, DC Guides that are NOT Patron's choice are for Pledgeonaut's and up - which is only an extra $1 a month as of this writing!

Keep your eye on the CK homepage for New Releases posts this weekend.

Also, I have a very busy streaming schedule next week, if you're into that sort of thing:

Sunday 12 Jan @ 4pm US ET - Crushing Comics Live ‪on Crushing Krisis‬
Monday 13 Jan @ 6pm US ET - Map My X: Magik on Near Mint Condition
Tuesday 14 Jan @ 7pm US ET - Jamming on Comics on Omnidog's Vault
Thursday 16 Jan @ 6:30pm US ET - Evergreen DC Events on Near Mint Condition

What new guides are you hoping to see from me in 2025? I think I've got a pretty awesome lineup worked out, but your feedback always matters to me the most.

Exclusives for Crushing Cadets ($1/month): 53 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 (33): 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, Kraven the Hunter, Legion, Marvel 2099, Marvel Era: Marvel Legacy, Mister Sinister, Monica Rambeau - Photon, Morbius, Red Hulk, Rocket Raccoon, Sabretooth, Silk, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man 2099, Thunderstrike, Valkyrie, Vision, Weapon X, Werewolf by Night, X-Man – Nate Grey