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New Collecting Guide: Marvel’s Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu

September 6, 2016 by krisis

shang-chi-3596575-avengers_world_3_alessio_variant Frequently, my comic guides begin as one of two questions – either, “Where has this character appeared?” or “Can you buy collections of this character?”

That’s what makes my Shang Chi collecting guide and reading order a bit of an outlier. You see, I started working on it after picking up his first omnibus earlier this summer and loving the first few issues. There is a total of six scheduled volumes to cover both his long-running Master of Kung Fu (MoKF) series and its magazine companion, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu.

(If you don’t already know who Shang Chi is, I cover his history at length in the intro the guide).

With that beautiful volume one omnibus in my hands, I began sketching Shang Chi’s guide to see how those two series intertwined, and to understand how much Shang-Chi of the 80s and 90s would remain uncollected after the Omnibus line was completed.

I knew Shang Chi wasn’t used too widely after his series since I didn’t really remember him from my active collecting in year back in the day, but I was surprised to see just how sparse his appearances really were. Shang Chi appeared only in 50 issues between the end of MoKF in 1983 and his joining Heroes For Hire in 2006. And, not all of those appearances are significant!

While that’s kind of crummy for having reading material of a character you love, it’s a good thing when it comes to collected editions. Even if the Omnibuses stop right at the end of Master of Kung Fu and don’t touch things like his MCP run, by the time they’re all released at the end of 2017 we’ll have gone from less than 25% of all Shang-Chi featured appearances collected to over 85%! [Read more…] about New Collecting Guide: Marvel’s Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu

Music Monday: “Can’t Get Enough of Myself” – Santigold, featuring B.C

September 5, 2016 by krisis

I love Santigold’s album 99¢, out earlier this year. It’s easily accessible and mercilessly catchy.

Does it sacrifice some of Santigold’s idiosyncrasies to get there? I’m not sure. Santigold is among a number of late-00s Electropop artists that I never entirely absorbed upon their first hit of fame. I don’t know where she’s coming from and I don’t have a raft of expectations to battle against on each new LP.

Maybe that’s s why I don’t know quite know how to talk about “Can’t Get Enough of Myself.”

Its easy, loping stroll topped with a constant bustle of triplets and a whistling high synth flute melody. The sound calls back to Stevie Wonder and post-Motown/pre-Disco 70s soul (even with modern touches, like a slight digital detuning on the flute riff).

(My mother loves an obscure (though frequently-sampled) 1976 LP by the band Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band that occupies that some space in my mind, particularly “Sunshower.” I remember when it was finally released in CD she was rapturous.

Oh, the 90s.)

Is it typical of Santigold? Are these her typical influences? I don’t know, and when a song is this good I’m happy to delay my research while I listen to it on repeat for a few more hours.

Aside from the inherently sunny charm of the throwback sound, there’s the unabashed happiness of the track. It’s infectiously cheerful, both melodically and in lyrics. Here’s the opening verse and chorus:

If I wasn’t me, I can be sure I’d wanna be
I’m pretty major and I’ll say it out loud
Living my life in a fantasy
Living my life in my vanity
Hey mom maybe you’ll see me now

…

All I wanna do is what I do well
Ain’t a gambler but honey I’d put money on myself
All I wanna do is bottle it to sell
Cuz my brand does vainglorious much better for your health

That’s a refreshing take on modern “drunk on my own fumes” braggadocio without lessening the intensity of self-love. It simply removes the component of superiority from self-love. When Santigold sings, “look at them liking me,” there’s no indication that just because she’s the the best she’s any better than anyone else.

In fact, maybe everyone should be exactly this vainglorious in their own heads as they walk down the street. They certainly might feel that way if they had this song pumped into their ears.

Children’s Book Review: Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

September 3, 2016 by krisis

This week EV got her own library card.

She was excited by the prospect. Maybe not in anticipation – even as a book-loving three-year old, I don’t think she really understood the concept of an entire building whose purposes was housing books which you could borrow. Yet, once we arrived and she witnessed the seemingly unending shelf of books she could choose from, the excitement became all too real.

I spent a lot of time at the library as a kid, partially owing to the fact we didn’t have the kind of money that made regularly visiting bookstores an option until I was older. My mother made sure I had books as a constant presence in my life, and though I was late to read I’ve been a voracious consumer of printed material ever since.

I don’t have a good excuse for abstaining from the library until now, other than the fact that E and I both really like owning books. However, three years into the children’s book accumulation endeavor and every possible shelf is filled … which makes this collection no different than our CDs, DVDs, graphic novels, guitars.

You get the idea. We like stuff. Or maybe I’m just a luddite, considering I could have a smaller collection of all of that (even the guitars) if I would embrace digital more.

Either way, E is a wonderful curator of great books for EV, and I’d like to start reviewing our favorites here – as well as covering picks from the library. Even if you’re not a parent, everyone has to get a gift for a kid every so often. I’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction, including noting challenging themes and bad behavior in books, which are both pet peeves of mine.

To start out, I want to highlight one all-star book in our collection which not only is parent-selected and toddler-approved, but also our go-to gift for other kids.

Stellaluna, written and illustrated by Janell Cannon

CK Says: – Buy It!

Gender Diversity: Female protagonist; supporting characters are female or agender
Ethnic Diversity: Not applicable
Challenging Language: “Awful” (so, none, really)
Themes to Discuss: parents in danger, gross food, obeying adults, assimilation

Stellaluna is a charming, positive story full of female anthropomorphized animal characters that includes several interesting hooks for discussion. We’ve found it to be a go-to re-read, not only for the depth of the tale but for its vocabulary and a clever secondary narrative.

Stellaluna is the story of a baby bat who loses sight of her mother and winds up raised alongside a trio of tiny birds in a nest. She has to endure such indignities as sleeping upright and eating worms (she’s a fruit bat), essentially losing touch with her bat identity while struggling to be more birdlike. She later finds her colony of bats, including her own mother. In the process, she learns to love being a bat, but also the differences between her and her bird friends. [Read more…] about Children’s Book Review: Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, S2E02 – “All Stars Snatch Game”

September 2, 2016 by krisis

The second episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars came packed with even more surprises than we’d typically expect from a Snatch Game!

First, Adore Delano decided to the leave the cast before the challenge. Second, a trio of high-quality, gag-worthy queens wound up in the bottom two – including both top queens from last week!

Of course, this entire cast is high-quality and gag-worthy, which makes every elimination a painful one – especially since the queens are the ones doing the eliminating. However, this one couldn’t help but be controversial because Alaska found herself choosing between her Season 5 BFFs Detox and Roxxxy Andrews and relatively forgotten (though wonderful) Season 2 queen, Tatianna.

Let’s check out where the rankings wind up after the carnage, and then I’ll get back to Alaska’s decision to cut Tatianna from the cast. [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings, S2E02 – “All Stars Snatch Game”

Marvel announces Monsters Unleashed series from superstar team

September 1, 2016 by krisis

This post is not about the X-Men. I really thought it was going to be. Instead, it’s about Monsters Unleashed.

Marvel unveiled a string of five nearly identical teasers in the past few days. Each teaser shared an anonymous acronym (“MU” is frequently used to mean “Marvel Universe” or “Marvel Unlimited”), and all the same information save for a differing headline artist.

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