krisis

Krisis has been creating Crushing Krisis since 2000, writing songs since 1996, and reading comics since 1991. He is a Customer Success and Digital Brand Strategy executive, serial organizer, parent, and feminist, among other things. Based in Philly through 2017, he now resides in Wellington, NZ.

Newly Announced: Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 5 (+ the problem with its mapping explained)

August 30, 2022 by krisis

This weekend, Marvel announced their most-anticipated omnibus via my friend and colleague Omar’s YouTube channel, Near Mint Condition: Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 5!

(That isn’t an exaggeration; the online omnibus community produces a yearly secret ballot to determine its most-wanted books and this one tops the list, as also reported by Omar.)

This is the last omnibus X-fans need to complete their oversized bookshelf of Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1-321. That means it’s time for the celebration to begin! Let the X-villagers rejoice!

Well… not quite.

The hesitation comes down to the initially-announced contents of the book, what fans assumed it would contain, what Marvel has recently reprinted, and how Marvel plans to continue collecting Uncanny X-Men in omnibus in the coming years.

(Note: Omar very kindly invited me to a discussion of this topic on his channel, but I couldn’t make it work across time zones. Plus, I’m trying to keep my X-Men X-Posure contained to CK, at the moment.)

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 5 Contents

The contents of this volume, as announced by Omar on Near Mint Condition, are:

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #194-209 & Annual 9, New Mutant Special Edition (1985) #1, Nightcrawler (1985) #1-4, Longshot (1985) #1-6, and material from Marvel Fanfare (1982) #33.

I’ll explain why all of those issues are in the omnibus in just a moment. First, let’s talk about what’s missing. Or, should I say “missing” – since not everyone agrees.

What is Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 5 “missing”?

The initial solicited contents of Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 5 skips two runs that many buyers of all of the X-Men omnibus line anticipated it would include, for reasons I’ll cover below.

Here is what the contents do not currently include:

Uncanny X-Men (1963) Annual 10 and New Mutants (1983) Annual 2
Avengers (1963) #263; Fantastic Four (1961) #286; X-Factor (1986) #1-8 & Annual 1, and potentially some other related material

If you know your X-mapping well, you will immediately see the problem with these exclusions! By leaving Annual 10 out of this volume, Marvel has invented a difference between the mapping of the X-Men “Classic Omnibus” line that begins with Volume 1 and the X-Men “Event Omnibus” line that begins with Mutant Massacre. But, there’s no reason that difference has to exist!

If you’re not a X-Men mapping X-Pert yet, keep reading for a complete X-Plainer. [Read more…] about Newly Announced: Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 5 (+ the problem with its mapping explained)

Guide to Legion of Super-Heroes – now available to the public!

August 29, 2022 by krisis

I’m happy to announce that my Guide to Legion of Super-Heroes (LOSH) is now available to all CK readers as part of the Crushing Comics Guide to Collecting DC Comics! This guide covers ever Eternals series and every major Eternals character!

This Guide to Legion of Super-Heroes was originally launched back in June thanks to the ongoing support of the legion of outstanding Patrons of CK. It is newly updated with EVERY Legion title and EVERY Legion collection EVER published, plus links to buy them all physically and digitally or read them online at DC Universe Infinite.

Guide to Legion of Super-Heroes (LOSH)

If you’ve never read Legion of Super-Heroes before, here’s the briefest crash-course through their history that I can manage (with apologies to Legion super-fans):

(Longtime Legion fans, please forgive me.) [Read more…] about Guide to Legion of Super-Heroes – now available to the public!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2, Episode 5 – Bosom Buddies: Review & Power Ranking

August 28, 2022 by krisis

Kia ora and welcome to my review and power rankings for the fifth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 – Bosom Buddies, a classic Girl Group challenge of writing and recording a verse on a pop song.

I think fans all often overlook the fact that there’s a songwriter locked in a tiny room somewhere writing these girl group tracks on demand for Drag Race. It’s a daunting task! They have to come up with an idea that feels in-genre and on-trend, that can fit in a number of additional verses, but that’s not too good of an idea or else they’d want to sell it for use as an actual song!

I think “Bosom Buddies” joins the pantheon of the best Girl Group challenge tracks, presided over by the spectacular “Break Up (Bye Bye).” This song hits the perfect spot of a snotty, pop-punk Charlie XCX or Olivia Rodrigo tune that gives a nod to its grungy forebears likeAvril Lavigne and Veruca Salt. I would absolutely listen to it outside of the context of a Drag Race recap.

This episode included some tense interpersonal drama between Beverly Kills and Kween Kong. Beverly Kills was being young and overconfident to try to psyche herself up for a win, but that crossed the line to taunting the similarly-pressed Kween Kong and then later blaming her for snapping back.

I felt for Kween Kong in this moment. It feels like she is a queen who constantly has the expectations and assumptions of others piled onto her. I’m sure that’s down to many reasons, including being a queen of color in an overwhelmingly white space, and being such a handsome and masc-presenting man who performs in drag.

It was sad to watch this moment of reality show conflict become a trigger for Kween Kong, sending her into a spiral of negativity as she prepared for the main stage. I know some people would celebrate her turning out a strong performance after that setback. While I celebrate her success, I recognize it as a moment of sadness. This is a burden Kween has been made to carry many times over, both in and out of drag. She wants to access the same ease and joy as other queens around her, but she always has the weight of expectations, assumptions, and projections on her shoulders.

More than anything, I want for Kween Kong to never need to feel that weight again once she exits this season as an international star.

What did this Girl Groups challenge do for my Power Rankings? I’d say things have solidified even further from last week’s rank, but I’m sure some of you would have my #3 at #1 and my #5 at #4! Please sound off in the comments below if that describes you.

If you want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 outside of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the home country of a franchise you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see that content.)

Readers, start your engines… and may the best Down Under drag queen win!

Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 Episode 7 – Squirrels Trip: The Rusical, Review & Power Ranking

August 27, 2022 by krisis

Welcome to my review and power rankings of the seventh episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 – Squirrels Trip: The Rusical, a live one-act musical that required each queen to pre-record her vocals but act, dance, and lip sync live on stage.

Canada’s Drag Race has a reputation for bringing out the best versions of all the standard Drag Race challenges, and “Squirrels Trip: The Rusical” was no exception!

I think this Rusical even managed to top last year’s spectacular “Under the Big Top“ all-clown musical, because this year’s challenge had a narrative and played out like a real show rather than a series of single-character vignettes.

This was the sort of magical mid-season Drag Race episode where no queen truly did badly. This is a cast of six highly-capable queens who have the chops to entertain in almost any kind of challenge. There was an obvious bottom two, but both queens were fun to watch in the Rusical – and one of them delivered surprisingly great musical theatre vocals!

This week’s rankings got a solid shake-up from last week, with a new queen on the top of rank. Do you agree with my assessments heading into next week’s challenge, or would you rank them in a different order? Comment below to let me know your thoughts.

If you want to watch Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 outside of Canada and the UK you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best Queen (of the North) win!

happy birthday to this

August 26, 2022 by krisis

Today is the 22nd anniversary of Crushing Krisis.

This site began on 26 August, 2000, as a blogger.com-powered blog, hosted on Freespeech.org, launched in my final days living in a summer dorm room at Drexel University before moving into my first college apartment in West Philadelphia

I had no idea what I was doing and no plan.

I knew I loved to write and I wanted a home on the internet where my writing was the entire point.

I couldn’t have possibly imagined then who (and where) I would be 22 years later or that Crushing Krisis would still exist. [Read more…] about happy birthday to this