Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/23 Edition

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Every week Marvel puts out graphic novels collection recent and classic comics. It’s a much cheaper and easier way to follow comic books than chasing down single issues (now $3-4 each!)

This week is light on X-Collections, though Marvel has a bevy of other books out.

As always, get the full scoop on every X-Men book collection ever in my Definitive Guide to Collection X-Men in Graphic Novels, which tells you how you can buy any X-issue ever printed. Also, if you’re just an X-Men dabbler, head over to my recent Intro to X-Men (on a budget) post.

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Collection of the Week:
FF by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1 Hardcover
Collects FF #1-5

CK Says: Buy it! It’s pretty rare to see a non-X-men recommendation at the top of my list, but this is a high quality comic. Fresh off of four volumes of incredible, must-read adventures, scripter Jonathan Hickman has transported Marvel’s first family to the top of the A-list of superheroes. Starting with Reed Richard’s compuction to solve all the world’s problems, the team was tipped on it’s ear – Reed saw his alternate-reality selves get slaughtered, Sue became a regent, Ben got to spend a day each month as a human, and  Johnny had to defend the residents of the Baxter Building against certain death. All the while, four cities of otherworldly humanoids declared war on each other, and on the team!

And that’s just a fraction of the insanity of the past 20 issues! Time travel! Cloning! Death!

FF is the result of all of that action. It’s not short for “Fantastic Four,” but for “Future Foundation” – what Mr. Fantastic coins the collection of refugee super-geniuses currently living in the Baxter Building. That means the comic is no longer just about four people in blue spandex. First of all, now they’re in pristine white spandex. And Spider-Man is on the team. But the new heart of the book isn’t Mr. Parker. It’s an expanded supporting cast – the Future Foundation made up of a dozen interesting characters. My favorite is Reed & Sue’s preternaturally genius pre-schooler, Valeria, who occasionally hatches troublesome plots with her god-father, Dr. Doom.

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X-Men Legacy: Collision TPB
Collects X-Men Legacy #238-241

CK Says: Buy it! X-Men Legacy has been on a roll since before Second Coming to present. Here Mike Carey detours from the angst of Utopia for a road trip to India with Rogue, Magneto, and a handful of former X-Men Academy students. Add to that Children of the Vault – the only quality X-Villains debuted in the past half decade (by Carey) – and you have an inessential-but-enjoyable four-issue arc that doesn’t require too much advance reading. That it includes beautiful, painterly covers with interiors penciled by outstanding fan-favorite artist Clay Mann only makes the read more fun. (Also available in hardcover)

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Keep reading for a summary of the rest of the books out from Marvel this week, including a street-level brawl headlined by Daredevil. [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/23 Edition

#MusicMonday: “King of Anything” – @SamuelTsui

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I always say the best sign of a good song is that it translates well to other mediums. A radio hit can use all the autotune and layered riffs in the world, but if someone was strumming it on an acoustic guitar or humming it on a street-corner, would it still be compelling?

To me that’s the difference between good pop music and disposable songs, as I alluded to in my recent Gaga post. Gaga tunes sound great from a hard rock band or on an acoustic piano. You could make an 8-bit video game version and they’d still be indelible. By contrast, with most newer Britney tunes you have to do some heavy lifting to make them work.

Most of Sara Bareilles’ repertoire passes the translation test. Certainly “Love Song” does, with it’s staff-spanning melodic leaps, but perhaps not as well as the hyper-pop single “King of Anything.” I was hooked on within twenty seconds of bro playing the video for me last fall.

My #MusicMonday today is “King of Anything,” but not by Bareilles – the version I’m crushing on is by YouTube phenom Sam Tsui, with an assist from Kurt Schneider

Sam Tsui isn’t a new phenomenon, and neither is his cover. Tsui, from just outside Philly(!), is one of the biggest stars of YouTube. He has an unbelievably golden counter-tenor to rival Glee’s Chris Colfer, and he’s been all over the web and on television – even on Oprah! Meanwhile, this video is nearly a year old, and has five million views.

I’ve seen it dozens of times already, but I keep coming back to it for a few reasons. [Read more…] about #MusicMonday: “King of Anything” – @SamuelTsui

Crushing On: My Face, by Neutrogena

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It is a well-known fact that I am no stranger to wearing makeup.

In high school this took the form of lip gloss and body glitter. What can I say – I thought I was David Bowie and was obsessed with anything that could make me sparkle like a Spider From Mars.

My #1 Beauty Secret

This is not a post about body glitter. It’s a post about being a local rock star and a vain motherfucker who applies makeup in the men’s room of my office and does not care about any looks or comments I get because I am going to walk out of that bathroom way more gorgeous than I came in.

In fact, if you’ve seen me give a presentation or play a show in the past two years, you’ve seen me wear plenty of makeup and probably didn’t even know it.

I know I am not the only vain, presentation-delivering local rocker with an interest in this stuff, so I’m sharing my secrets with the masses.

A few years ago in a particular pique of angst about the inescapable genetic heritage of dark circles under my eyes, E handed me her Neutrogena 3-in-1 Concealer for Eyes.

Having not worn much makeup in the decade since I also gave up vinyl pants, I was a little reticent to try it. I became a quick convert. This is not heavy, greasy makeup. It’s light, it blends in with my skin tone, and it doesn’t bother my medicatably grumpy T-zone in the slightest.

It became my standard, daily defense against especially baggy eyes. I would wear it to work for weeks at a time with no comment from my colleagues.

When it was time for our wedding, E went through a ritual of several official Hair & Make-Up Tests to make sure she had a solid plan for our big day. I was a little freaked out that the only thing I could control would be how closely I shaved – it seemed like woeful under-preparation for thousands of dollars of photography!

This time it wasn’t E to the rescue, but my co-worker Kate. She wasn’t a major makeup wearer, but she confessed a special secret: she relied on Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancer Tinted Moisturizer to even out her skin tone.

I'm gonna be a supermodel, and everyone is gonna dress like me - wait and see.

Here I was even more skeptical. Something to rub all over my face and “tint” it? It sounded like something that would make my sensitive skin freak out, and much too girly to wear at my wedding.

[That may be the only context in which I have ever rejected any plan of action for being “too girly.”]

That wasn’t the case at all. The Skin Enhancer simply smooths things out in paces where I’m naturally a little blotchy, like my chin. I put a dot there, another two dots at the top of my laugh lines, and a final pair at the edges of my jaw, and then blended. To that I added the final piece of my arsenal, a Neutrogena spot concealer (not the best, but it’s consistent in tone to the other two).

Verdict? I looked like a supermodel at my wedding, and most people thought I was joking when I said I had on as much makeup as my wife.

To this day I rely on that simple trio of Neutrogena products to take the unsightly edges off of my face for rock shows and special events. Aside from occasionally going overboard with the eye concealer (which, if applied heavy-handedly, shows up in flash photography), E professes that she can hardly tell when I’m made up.

Think you would know? If you saw me at the Philly Geek Awards, you saw me with facial treatment set to “stunning.” Could you tell?

Vanity aside, whether I’m pitching a campaign or rocking a mic, I want to present an enhanced version of the normal, every-day me. Smoothing out the edges of my face is just one way that I try to make myself a little larger than life.

The rest of my preparation is a trade secret.

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/17 Edition

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Here’s a recap of the X-Men hardcover and trade paperback collected editions out this month so far, penned by the (only?) blogger who owns almost every X-issue that’s ever been republished! Plus, a quick look at Marvel’s other collected releases.

Whether you’re a major X-Fan or a casual reader, I’ll share my opinion on what’s worth buying, and recap the rest of the field. If you have any questions, just let me know – I’m happy to help. This is a supplement to my Definitive Guide to Collection X-Men in Graphic Novels, which tells you how you can buy any X-issue ever printed. Ever.

If you’re new to X-Men in comics form, you should read my recent Intro to X-Men (on a budget) post.

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Collection of the Week:
X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda Oversized Hardcover
Collects Uncanny X-Men #235-238 & #270-272, New Mutant (1983) #95-97, and X-Factor (1986) #60-62.

CK Says: Buy it! This hardcover debut of the 1990 “X-Tinction Agenda” crossover is as close as any single storyline collection gets to being an X-Men greatest hits collection. I already have my copy, and it is a thing of beauty.

Paired with the included classic four-issue introductory arc, X-Tinction Agenda features nearly every possible member of the X-Cast through 1990 with few exceptions (notably Xavier, Polaris, Madrox, Magik, Magma, and Mirage/Moonstar). Also, the creative team is untoppable – script by 80s essential X-writers Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson, art by all-time greats Marc Silvestri and Jim Lee – oh, and some guy named Rob Liefeld.

As for the story, it brings together the various X-Teams after over a half-a-decade apart while introducing the island of Genosha, where mutants are abundant – as a persecuted slave-race! This collection lays the groundwork for future X-stories, including Grant Morrison’s New X-Men and the recent blockbuster Second Coming.

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What other books came out in the first half of August, including a side-story book that outclasses it’s main-story brethren? [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/17 Edition

#MusicMonday: “Blame It On the Boogie” – Jackson 5

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I was raised largely on a platform of indoctrination to the music of Michael Jackson, David Bowie, and Billy Joel.

While Bowie and Joel were my mother’s favorites, MJ was my own pick – entirely on the basis of Thriller.  If the 80s had YouTube I would have been on it doing my toddler version of the “Thriller” dance.

I wound up with all of the Jackson 5’s hits encoded in my DNA. I don’t know how that happened; I don’t remember owning any of their LPs. Nonetheless, when any one of them starts playing it evokes a physical and emotional rush that at makes me want to jump up and down and cry at the same time.

“Blame It On the Boogie” was part of the Jacksons’ Destiny album sessions before Michael recorded his first major solo hit, Off the Wall (a gem overshadowed by Thriller). Along with “Shake Your Body” (another all-time fav), it’s disco infused with the sheer joy of Michael’s aerobic, still-adolescent vocals, and backed by the assembled Jackons, who were a robotically perfect backing choir long before auto-tune was even invented.

To this day, very few songs not by Madonna can get me on the dancefloor faster than something by the Jackson 5, and “Blame It On the Boogie” is high on that list.