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.

Oversize X-Men: A map of every existing omnibus, plus what’s missing (Part 1: 1963 to 1991)

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The Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot allows collected editions fans to play “Fantasy Collections Department” by picking the runs they’d most like to see in an oversized format.

Now that I’ve recapped the history of past years of the Ballot, we’re up to two weeks of the really fun stuff – thinking up dozens upon dozens of suggestions for Marvel omnibuses we’d love to see on our shelves!

I highlighted 50 runs that deserved an omnibus at the close of the survey last year, but this time I’m going to be a lot more comprehensive.

I’ll begin on my home turf: The X-Men. It’s how Crushing Comics guides began, and I own every issue of X-Men in either single issue or collected format, so I’m accutely aware of the gaps in oversized content.

Today I’ll cover both existing and potential Omnibuses for X-Men from their debut in 1963 through the launch of X-Men, Vol. 2 in 1991. Then, tomorrow we’ll look at the tumultuous and under-collected 90s, before finishing up on Wednesday with the pair of most recent X-Men eras – from Grant Morrison’s New X-Men in 2001 through present day.

After that, we’ll rinse and repeat this exercise in reverse for the entire Marvel Universe, working backwards from the current All-New All-Different Marvel to look at the top possible omnibuses across the entire line from every period until we’re back to the few books still left uncollected from the 1960s.

So, if you haven’t yet voted in the poll or just need a few more books to fill out your personal Top 20, get ready – the next two weeks of CK will have over 100 omnibus suggestions for you to choose from!

Now, let’s get to some X-Tensive X-Men omnibus mapping, staring with the Classic X-Men era from 1963-1974, before moving on to Chris Claremont’s tenure on X-Men from 1975-1991 (plus, all of the tie-in series from that era.

There are 19 potential omnibus volumes in this material! Collected Edition mapping can be exact and contentious work, so if you have a correction or disagreement don’t hold back – sound off in the comments below!

[Read more…] about Oversize X-Men: A map of every existing omnibus, plus what’s missing (Part 1: 1963 to 1991)

The 2013 Inaugural Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot Results (and, what’s been printed?)

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Right now Marvel Omnibus fans across the web are voting open for the 5th Annual Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot, but today we’re going to flash back to the first ballot back in 2013.

2013 was a simpler time with a simpler list of just 33 selections. Due to the smaller scale of participations, a few imaginative picks were able to slip through that we haven’t seen since. Also, there was slightly less of an obsession with simply extending every open line.

Last year I devoted just one summary post to what got printed and what disappeared, but to this point the only place to read the full results of prior ballots was to dig through dozens of message board posts.

How many of those books have we seen printed since then? In total, 21 of 33 (63.6%) of the 2013 votes have been recollected in some format. [Read more…] about The 2013 Inaugural Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot Results (and, what’s been printed?)

RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E05 – “Reality Stars: The Musical”

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This week on Drag Race, the queens were faced with an all-syncing, all-dancing tribute to The Kardashians and a faux fur runway.

These pre-choreographed lip sync challenges rarely give any queens a chance to shine, but this week’s was a bit different since almost all of the girls got to impersonate a current celebrity.

Or, at least, I hear they are celebrities. Other than being vaguely aware that one of them is married to Kanye West and that another was a Drag Race judge, I really don’t have the slightest idea of who any of the Kardashians are.

Meanwhile, faux fur was a fail, with most queens looking rather slapdash in their attempt to mix and match fabric and fake animal skins.

Did anyone come out of this week looking good? Three queens rose from last week’s standings, although one was really more about sinking less than her competitors than rising. [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E05 – “Reality Stars: The Musical”

My Best Pesto

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I don’t remember the first time I had pesto, but it is one of my favorite things to add to any food.

pesto-in-jar-crushingkrisisPasta. Salmon. Shrimp. Toast. Eggs. Chips dipped directly into it. Pesto makes everything better. It’s also pretty much an entire spinach salad in every few spoons, which is how I help justify how quickly I can consume it compared to the amount of cheese and oil it contains.

I clearly recall having it at the appropriately-named Ristorante Pesto on Broad Street as a teenager, but that seems like such a late point in life to have tasted pesto for the first time.

Thus, while I wish I could say this is an old family recipe, it’s not – it’s just adapted from The Better Homes and Gardens cookbook over the course of dozens of trials over the course of the past decade. It used to be that E made it and then I just greedily consumed it. Finally, I became impatient about waiting for her to decide she felt like making pesto and so I made it myself and realized it is so easy to do (as long as you have a decent food processor).

Now I make double and triple batches every time so I can enjoy as much pesto as I want on my pasta and everything else.

Here is the ingredient list for an 8oz batch of pesto, which is probably enough to toss with for pasta for four. I use the alterations in parenthesis every time, but they make things more complex – you’ll do just fine ignoring them your first time. [Read more…] about My Best Pesto

The 2015 Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot Results (and, what’s been printed?)

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With voting open for the 5th Annual Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the 2016 secret ballot results, but that was the fourth year of the survey!

Last year I devoted just one summary post to what got printed and what disappeared, but to this point the only place to read the full results of prior ballots was to dig through dozens of message board posts.

Today and over the weekend, I’m going to work backwards through the results of the first three years of the ballot. There were 52 books on the 2015 ballot results due to a pair of ties. How many of those books have we seen printed since then?

Of 52 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibuses of 2015…

7 of 52 (13.5%) omnibuses were printed in 2016

Doctor Strange, Vol. 1, Master of Kung-Fu, Vol. 1, War of Kings, Avengers West Coast, Vol. 3 AKA by John Byrne, Spider-Man (1990) by Todd McFarlane, Captain America, Vol. 2, and Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Vol. 1

10 of 52 (19.2%) additional omnibuses have been solicited to date

The 7 above, plus in 2017 Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 3, Alpha Flight by John Byrne, Amazing Spider-Man by David Michelinie, Thor, Vol. 3, Daredevil, Vol. 1, Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1, Daredevil by Mark Waid (Vol. 1), X-Force, Vol. 2 (as Deadpool & X-Force), 27. Realm of Kings, Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen

That means 17 (32.6%) of all 2015 Most Wanted Marvel Omnibuses have been printed as Omnibuses! But, what about the proposed material hitting other formats? [Read more…] about The 2015 Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot Results (and, what’s been printed?)