Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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New Comic Guide: All of the Robins!

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This is the final of four weeks of Bat-Guides before we switch to a a more “universal” theme for the next few weeks. And, you can’t have Bat-Guides without The Definitive Guide to Robin(s)!

Yes, that’s Robins – plural.

This guide tracks each Robin for as long as they bear the title from Dick Grayson debuting in Detective Comics (1937) #38 to Damian Wayne’s current reign as the Boy Wonder.

Before starting this guide I knew there were four distinct Boy Wonders (and one Girl Wonder), but I was confused about who was Robin when. It seems like Grayson has been Nightwing since time immortal – I’ve never read a story with him as Robin that wasn’t a flashback! When did he get upgraded?

Plus, I remembered Jason Todd dying back in the 80s (and coming back in the 00s), but when did he initially arrive? And, while I’m now a Damian Wayne expert from working on the Morrison Batman guide, what exactly was a Red Robin and when did Tim Drake start calling himself that?

I untangle all of those questions in this guide. It’s Robin-centric, so it does not follow Nightwing and Red Hood into their post-Robin adventures (they will be covered by future guides).

What it does do is track every Robin title, plus all of the many Robins’ appearances in Batman flagships and Titans titles from the Golden Age through present.

Plus, the Robin(s) Guide has a few new elements, including collapsable sections for lengthy issue lists and links back to the top of the TOC.

Okay, now it’s time for the tough question: Who is your favorite Boy Wonder? Post-Robin careers don’t count (a-hem, Nightwing). I’m talking about who was the best Robin?

RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E03 – “Draggily Ever After”

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This week’s RuPaul’s Drag Race had one of the most peculiar challenges of all time!

The remaining 13 queens presented fully-developed princess characters on the runway, but each one had to be accompanied by a dweeby floating-head sidekick which later had an animated body added to it.

Maybe some fans weren’t into this Roger Rabbit, Space Jam sort of realness, but I loved the juxtaposition – plus, I adore any challenge where the queens have to get literary.

This week on Untucked, the safe queens opined that most of them belonged in the top group, and I can’t help but agree. I think all of them were better than the queens that remained on the stage (yes, even Trinity).

Despite loving drag even as a child that I’ve only been in what I’d call “full drag” – with makeup and everything – twice in my life. One of those times was for Halloween, the other was on stage. Both were now half a life ago during my willowy, longhaired youth when I would easily pass for a woman just walking down the street.

Thinking and looking back at those occasions, getting dressed up specifically to read as “woman” and not “man in dress” was still a challenge. Even with an easy-to-dress figure, soft features, and no issue with affecting a feminine walk, there were still a hundred details to presenting myself as womanly I had to figure out. Not just padding, make-up, and jewelry, but how to stand with my legs held demurely or how to toss my hair.

That’s why for me drag is not only about a heightened reality of womanhood and blurred gender lines, but also a reminder of the exceptional expectations the world places on every woman, every day. Women are held to a ridiculous standard of seamless beauty whenever they leave the house, always treated by some as an object which must always make itself worthy of attention.

And, if they have the temerity to appear in front of a camera? I believe the term for the world’s expectation is “picture perfect.”

Is there some hypocrisy to me – a guy who hasn’t been in a dress for many years – ranking queens who do this professionally multiple nights a week on their picture perfectness? Absolutely! At the same time, there’s a reason why I watch Drag Race and not a single other reality TV show, and that’s to see people at the height of their craft showing off their abilities.

I know that even on my best day I probably couldn’t do drag as good as the last-place contestant in any season of Drag Race. However, I’ve also done a lot of the other things they have to do to win – some professionally – and I think it’s fascinating to dissect their performances.

With that off my chest, let’s begin! [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E03 – “Draggily Ever After”

the perfect potato process

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I often bemoan that I don’t especially enjoy baking things because I can’t tweak a recipe to taste as I go like I can while cooking on the stovetop, but the real problem is a matter of kitchen chemistry.

Case and point: roasted potatoes. They’re delicious, they’re easy, and we love to eat them, but I hardly ever made them before the past few months. Getting the taste just right isn’t the problem. It’s all down to one factor: crispiness. No matter how tiny I diced my potatoes or how high temperature I roasted them, I’d still get the same soggy, saggy wedges.

Perfectly Crispy PotatoesI cracked the code back in November with the help of some tips from RachelCooks.com. I wasn’t getting anything wrong about the temperature or size of my potatoes. It turns out that the magic of crispiness is a matter of chemistry, and it all comes down to the prep work. You’ve got to soak some of the starch out of your spuds, plus dry them thoroughly and space them out on the pan.

With Rachel’s tips on my side, my roasted potatoes when from flaccid to super-crispy in three attempts!

However, now I have my own tip to add to the mix. If you want delicious, savory roasted potatoes, mincing an onion isn’t going to get you there. What you need are shallots.

Shallots have a much subtler spiciness than onion, and a sweet undertone that comes out when they’re roasted. I’d go with one to two of them to match Rachel’s recipe in lieu of the onion. I used to dice them by hand, but lately I just drop them into the food processor along with a quarter cup of grated romano cheese and a tablespoon of minced garlic from a jar. I add that mix to the potatoes along with salt, pepper, and olive oil, but otherwise follow Rachel’s instructions to the tee.

The result? Perfect, restaurant-quality, super-crispy potatoes, every time.

(Sadly, we ate them all before I could snap a photo to go with this post!)

New For Patrons: Definitive Guide to Animal Man

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Launched just moments ago to my Crushing Comics Club Patrons is a guide to my favorite New 52 hero, Animal Man!

I feel like I’ve always been aware of Animal Man, but had never read a single issue of him prior to Jeff Lemire’s wonderful run in New 52. Putting this guide together was an eye-opening experience about Animal Man’s history, and about ultimately how much of a blank slate he became in the decade after the end of his famous Vertigo series launched by Grant Morrison. The guide includes his every appearance, with brief descriptions of his action to accompany nearly every issue.

Want access to this guide? Right now this guide is planned to be available to the general public in May, but Patrons at the Crushing Comics Club level have access right now!