Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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.

New For Patrons: Guide to Thunderstrike, Eric Masterson

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Today I have a guide to yet another hammer-wielder guide for Patrons of Crushing Krisis to support my Guide to Thor, The Odinson as part of my countdown to Thor: Love & Thunder. Long before Jane Foster was the Mighty Thor, another civilian on Midgard was able to lift Mjölnir to don the mantle of Thor, though it started him on an ultimately tragic path…

Guide to Thunderstrike – Eric Masterson & Kevin Masterson

Reading every Eric Masterson comic for this Thunderstrike Guide reminded me of why I love the Marvel Universe.

(Below I will vaguely spoil a 25-year-old comic I almost certain you have not read. You’ve been warned.)

Eric began in Thor (1966) #391 as the most minor of supporting characters – an architect at a job site where Thor maintained a human cover identity. Over the course of five years, Eric went from supporting character, to ally to Thor, to intrinsically linked to Thor, to becoming Thor himself! All the while, creators Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz developed a rich personal life for Eric – including a loving relationship with his son Kevin, complex friendships with a handful of colleagues, and an unlikely roommate in Hercules. [Read more…] about New For Patrons: Guide to Thunderstrike, Eric Masterson

New For Patrons: Guide to Beta Ray Bill

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Today I am thrilled to share another guide for Patrons of Crushing Krisis to support my Guide to Thor, The Odinson as part of my countdown to Thor: Love & Thunder. This guide is for one of Thor’s most-dedicated allies, who was the first character other than Odinson himself to consistently wield Mjölnir in the comics. Of course, I’m talking about…

Guide to Beta Ray Bill

Beta Ray Bill is one of those comic characters who has confounded me while seeming very, very cool.

That’s because I’ve never read the sublimely legendary Walt Simonson run on Thor in full. Yes, yes, I know, how could I, how dare I, etc. In my defense, I used to own the omnibus, but I’m not a fan of the updated modern colors – so, when Marvel announced their Epic Collections in 2014 I decided I’d simply hold out to read it in Epic.

Here we are almost a decade later and I’m still holding out, so it was time to remedy the situation and read his origins (and every other issue he has every appeared in) for this Beta Ray Bill guide.

Even having read a fair amount of his appearances before this point, I had questions. First of all, why is he a walking horse-person who is dressed like Thor? What is going on with his golden hammer? And, why do I keep hearing that he is a cyborg? [Read more…] about New For Patrons: Guide to Beta Ray Bill

Drag Race France Season 1 Episode 1 – Bonjour, Bonjour, Bonjour: Review & Power Ranking

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Welcome to my review and power rankings of the first episode of Drag Race France Season 1 – “Bonjour, Bonjour, Bonjour.”

This episode was about getting to know our cast of 10 French queens in multiple ways – via their entrance looks, a photography mini-challenge, a talent show, and a Jean Paul Gaultier-inspired runway in front of Jean Paul Gaultier himself!

If you’ve been reading my RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7 All-Winners season episode recaps, this series of posts won’t be covering the show in such full detail.

That’s not only because those recaps take entire days to write!

If Drag Race France sounds intriguing to you I’d like to urge you to sign up for WowPresentsPlus so you can watch the actual episodes as well as the many other worldwide Drag Race franchises! It’s $4.99 a month or $50 a year, which is a very reasonable price to pay for access to all Drag Race, ever. (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)

When more English-speaking subscribers and viewers watch Drag Race France, it is a signal to Wow that we adore drag in every language and would love to see these queens invade their American content more often. (Also, perhaps they could increase their subtitling budget!)

Instead of a recap, first I’ll share my general impressions of the episode, and then I’ll present my Episode 1 Drag Race France Power Rankings. Will it turn out that my pre-season first impressions were totally en pointe or did I miss the mark?

Readers, start your engines. Et, que la meilleure Drag Queen gagne! [Read more…] about Drag Race France Season 1 Episode 1 – Bonjour, Bonjour, Bonjour: Review & Power Ranking

D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Adventuring With Pride, Herbarium, Servants of the Lich King, & more!

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Image by ScalyDragon from Pixabay

Kickstarter offers a near-infinite stream of new 3rd party Dungeons & Dragons and 5e-Compatible projects ranging from entire game worlds to books focused entirely on picking herbs.

Today I’m going to offer a glimpse at the ten projects that are wrapping up in the next week, viewed through the lens of last week’s essay, “What makes a good Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition official release or 5e-Compatible supplement.”

I’m covering the following 10 projects:

(It’s pure coincidence that the first four alphabetical entries are my recommendations, since I didn’t even review them in that order!)

I know that every Kickstarter project is a labor of love. I hope if any creators catch my write-ups they’ll appreciate them for what they are: me trying to figure out if their projects are worth backing based on what I value most in D&D! In the future I’ll probably spend less time on projects I don’t recommend, but right now I want to establish a baseline of what works and what doesn’t on Kickstarter.

I’m hoping that if I keep at this for a few weeks I can make it to looking at campaigns as they are announced rather than chasing the ones that are soon to resolve. But, I’ll only keep doing that if it matters to you! Please comment on this post and share it if it’s something you’d like to see more of in the future

[Read more…] about D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Adventuring With Pride, Herbarium, Servants of the Lich King, & more!

Music Monday: “I Love Your Smile” by Shanice

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It’s impossible to separate my love for Sharice’s “I Love Your Smile” from the nostalgia it evokes.

They’re one and the same.

“I Love Your Smile” is a slice of such a specific time and place for me. It is a perfect encapsulation of the pure, twinkling, late-80s R&B birthed by Janet Jackson with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, complete with a woozy saxophone riff by Branford Marsalis.

Produced by Grammy-winning drummer-turned-hitmaker Narada Michael Walden, it’s an updated R&B version of the mall pop from The Jets and Debbie Gibson, free from rock crossover elements that would come with songs like En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind” or samples that would come to dominate 90s Hip Hop by the middle of the decade.

It’s so sweet and plaintive. Almost oppressively sweet. The lyrics are about Sharice daydreaming through class and work, her mind fixated on the simplicity of a cute boy’s smile. The chorus is literally just her repeating “I love your smile” over the scatted vocal riff that opens and closes the song.

Sitting in my class, just drifting away
Staring into the windows of the world, yeah
I can’t hear the teacher, his books don’t call me at all
I don’t see the bad boys tryin’ to catch some play

‘Cause I love your smile
I love your smile

Shanice - I Love Your Smile single coverLooking at all of those elements one by one, it seems impossible that this song is good at all. My love for it must be pure nostalgia, right?

Taken altogether, the elements speak to a specific sense of teenage innocence in music that hasn’t returned to the top of the pop charts in force since then. Songs that start with “sitting in class” stopped being Billboard smashes unless the line was delivered with irony and retrospect.

The wistful simplicity of “I Love Your Smile” isn’t so different than how Britney’s loneliness was killing her in “Hit Me Baby (One More Time.” Yet, the late-90s teen pop resurgence heralded by Britney and Christina was threaded with self-awareness and sexual liberation that didn’t exist for Sharice.

There was no double entendre of being “rubbed the right way” in “I Love Your Smile.” It wears its heart on its sleeve, and Sharice’s biggest worries are putting a little black dress on a credit card and “thunder clouds of doubt” about if her love will be returned.

When I hear “I Love Your Smile,” I hear sunshine – which is ironic, since it peaked on the charts over Christmas break at the end of 1991. However, that means it was still in regular rotation in the spring of 1992. That makes sense with how it summons sunshine and pure innocence for me. That was my final year of schoolyard simplicity, existing right at the precipice of I realizing the darker themes that surrounded me in my Born Again Christian education.

Sharice’s innocence and my innocence were one and the same. That might be why this song will always work for me, even if it falls flat for a modern listener – although, I maintain that it’s hard to resist that scatted hook.