Guide to Shazam, The Captain Marvel of DC Comics (Early Access for Pledgeonauts & Up) (Patreon)

Hello, my Patrons with the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of... hey, wait a second, is there a handy acronym that could help me with this list of enviable traits? Perhaps an acronym that has become the habitual name of a character whose publishing history is full of copyright disputes? Of course, I'm talking about...

NEW: Guide to Shazam, The Captain Marvel of DC (Launch Essay)

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

Updated: Guide to Star Wars Legends - The Old Expanded Universe (Announcement)

Updated: Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont (Announcement)

Updated: Guide to Uncanny X-Men in the 1990s (Announcement)

I'm always nervous about working on guides for characters where I haven't read much of their continuity before I get started. That's especially true when it comes to characters from the Golden Age.

Once I got past the first three hours of research, the Guide to Shazam was a lot of fun to build. It took a long time, but that was mostly down to untangling a lot of immediately Pre- and Post-Crisis continuity and appearances. On the plus side, if you've never read Shazam's 1995 Jerry Ordway series before, I can now highly recommend it!

This week also included a trio of massive guide updates, including the one you've all requested the most: a total rebuild of the guide to Chris Claremont's original 16-year run on X-Men! I completely changed how this guide is organized, which was necessary since it is by far the most-reprinted classic Marvel run of all time.

By comparison, the update to the Guide to Uncanny X-Men in the 90s was a tiny one! That's because not much has changed about the reprint coverage of this era in the past few years. Every issue is covered... if you're willing to puzzle together paperbacks and omnibuses. (A new trio of Epic Collections will help.)

I also gave my Guide to Star Wars Legends a massive refresh to bring it up to date with the dozens of Epic Collections and Omnibuses announced in the past few years. I was incredibly lucky to have an assist from the legendary Kurtis from the Epic Marvel Podcast on my final proofing pass, for which I am very grateful. If you love classic comics and Epic Collections, give it a listen!

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

This was another week that zoomed by at top speed. Honestly, I find it hard to believe my last update to you was already six days ago. It feels like I wrote it last night.

The forces of nature have been taking it easier on New Zealand this past week, although every passing truck makes me think we're in for another earthquake. However, thousands of people north of here remained without power in the wake of the cyclone, with more heavy rains forecasted for the next few days. In fact, it's just picked up from a drizzle to a torrential downpour outside as I write this update.

I took a breather from my Quick Updates this week, purely because the combination of Shazam, Star Wars, and Claremont was a massive pile of guide work to get through! However, I'll continue to make those stealthy updates whenever I can to catch guides up to the present day in manageable increments.

Here's some breaking news: I'll be back on the Near Mint Condition YouTube channel next week for another live show to announce and review Marvel's June solicits! Right now we're aiming for Thursday March 2 at 1pm ET, but that could change.

(I have a ton of reading to do between now and then, since I took a break from reading new comics in 2022 and that's most of what we'll be announcing!)

I have launched 23 Guides to you in the past 365 days - 18 Marvel and 5 DC! Plus, I've also made 20 significant, non-stealthy updates to existing guides. With this week's new guide and trio of updates, the median guide update date has improved from February 2019 to March 2019. (Current goal: May 2022).

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What's up next on Crushing Comics?

I have a mid-sized Marvel Guide coming your way on Monday for a key character about to make a huge media splash. They're kind of covered in an existing guide, although you might not even realize it (which is why they're getting their own guide).

After that, there are a number of guides on the way, and just how big March will be on CK depends on how accurately I've estimated how long the first few will take.

The first guide was the start of a major era in comics, though the comic itself has surprisingly few lasting fans. Another is for a comparatively obscure (yet surprisingly recognizable) character who might be familiar to fans of the X-Men Animated Series (though the guide isn't for a Marvel comic). And, I'm already chipping away at a third guide for a comic that might prove to be my second most-popular single page after Spider-Man.

Any guesses?

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Tell me what you want!

As always, I love to have your feedback and want-lists of new and updated guides. Many of your made it clear that updating my Claremont guide should be a top priority, so I got to it as soon as I possibly could.

I know Superman, GI Joe, and updated X-Men Reading Orders are also on your lists. Also, Jeff Lemire's Black Hammer won the Indie Patron's Choice poll, so you'll see that very soon!

Please leave a comment with anything else you're looking forward to or need help with collecting! Your opinions matter the most to me out of everyone on the internet.

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Current Exclusives for Crushing Cadets ($1/month): 29 Guides!

DC Guides (6): Batman – Index of Ongoing Titles, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: Hal Jordan, Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner, Omega Men

Marvel Guides (23): Alpha Flight, Angela, Beta Ray Bill, Black Cat, Blade, Captain Britain, Dazzler, Domino, Dracula, Elsa Bloodstone, Emma Frost - The White Queen, Heroes for Hire, Legion, Marvel Era: Marvel Legacy, Mister Sinister, Sabretooth, Spider-Ham, Thunderstrike, Valkyrie, Vision, Weapon X, X-Man – Nate Grey, X-Men - Age of Krakoa

Current Exclusives For Pledgeonauts ($1.99+/month): 60 Guides!

All of the 29 guides above, plus 31 more guides…

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, Shazam, Suicide Squad, Swamp Thing

Marvel Guides (14): Darkhawk, Falcon, Gwenpool, Hellcat - Patsy Walker, Kang the Conqueror, Loki, Power Pack, Red She-Hulk, Sentry, Silk, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Venom, Werewolf by Night

Indie & Licensed Comics: None right now (but that might change by the next update...)