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RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2, Episode 6 – Strictly Come Prancing Power Rankings

March 16, 2024 by krisis

I’m back with more coverage of the Drag Olympics of Drag Race! RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 Episode 6 – Strictly Come Prancing, a choreographed partnered dance challenge with a “Business In The Front, Party In The Back” contrasting runway.

I am not a dancer, but I love dancing – both doing it myself as watching other people do it! I grew up dancing all the time in my living room, at parties and weddings, and on the sidewalk in front of my grandmother’s house with my boombox blasting “Pump Up The Jam.”

As an adult I’ve discovered I have no head for learning choreography (as divined by working with my competitive dancing sister-in-law to try to learn the American Foxtrot). I’ve never taken a proper dance class, but I leap at the chance for any gym class with a hint of choreography.

Even if I’m no dancing queen myself, I am very well-acquainted with this week’s guest-choreographer Janette Manrara (and her dance partner, real-life husband Aljaž Škorjanec)!

I fell in love with Janette’s dancing from the moment I first glimpsed her on So You Think You Can Dance Season 5. She executed everything flawlessly, but with a casual air that reminded me of the chic Italian women of the 80s at all those parties and weddings. I’ve rewatched her routine to “Ruby Blue” with Brandon Bryant so many times I can play it back perfectly in my brain! And, she is one of the few (only?!) celebrities who I personally follow on Facebook, where I’ve kept up with her transformation from reality show contestant, to professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing (the UK’s Dancing With The Stars), to becoming a co-host and media personality in the UK.

Manrara has been on both sides of dancing competitions – as the contestant and the pro – and she brought a no-nonsense approach to instructing our queens without a whiff of for-the-cameras drama.

The result was a predictable winner and an obvious eliminated queen, without many surprises in the middle. That did lead to one key change from last week’s Power Rankings for Seven!: The Rusical, which might make a real difference heading into the finale in two weeks!

(Want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World outside of the UK? For most of the world, it’s available with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Readers, start your engines. And, may the best international drag superstar win!

Drag Race Belgique Season 2, Episode 7 – Paquets Cadeaux makeover challenge Power Rankings

March 15, 2024 by krisis

Bon retour, mes chers lecteurs, dans plus de classements! Drag Race Belgique Season 2 Episode 7 was Paquets Cadeaux, a makeover challenge of the loved ones of our Top 4. It is also the final power ranking of the season prior to next week’s grande finale!

Late season makeover challenges like Paquets Cadeaux seem to exist solely to give the Drag Race judges the freedom to assign top and bottom placements as they please. The idea of “resemblance” is often subjective, which helps them eliminate unwanted queens and make the standings more even for the impending finale.

That was abetted by this final four, three of whom seemed to passionately resist the directive that they have a mother/daughter relationship with their makeover partners. All three brought high-concept costumes (moon & stars, pirates, and rats) and seemed to actively resist Rita’s advice in the workroom to do more to make their relationship clear.

It was a letdown to see three of these artists refuse to accept the prompt, but it was a delight to see Rita Baga attempt to convince them. Rita was perhaps at her most charming from both seasons of the show during her workroom walkaround. It gave me the sense that while she is a willing and able judge, she would likely be more at home hosting a talk show or a variety series. I actually rewound several times just to appreciate her silliness and banter with the queens and their loved ones.

In this end, this makeover challenge came with an unexpected twist: the judges DID NOT use it to cut an obvious fourth-place contestant from the finale! Instead, they boldly risked their front-runner in a lip sync clearly earmarked as a “double shantay.”

I think it was the right move. It gave a seemingly flawless finalist a small sense of vulnerability (even though that was entirely manufactured). And, it brought along a wildcard to the finale who can actually dance – which will be useful, since the episode will feature Beyoncé’s choreographer!

Despite all of that turbulence, our Power Rankings haven’t changed at all since last week’s “Le Crime du Drag Express” acting challenge! A late-game surge from one competitor wasn’t enough to unseat our obvious potential-winner, and another bottom performance wasn’t enough for a third-place queen to sink beneath our wild card. I’ll be back with one final post next week to congratulate our winner.

(Want to watch Drag Race Belgique outside of Belgium? For most of the world, it’s available with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Lecteurs, start your engines. Et, que la meilleure Drag Queen gagne!

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 20 2024

March 14, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 12th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics March 20 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics March 13 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Franklin Richards’ secret revealed, Gillen’s final X-book, Spider-Woman old and new, repackaged collected editions, and more!

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from Marvel this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. For each new release, I’ll point you to the right guide within my Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics to find out how to collect each character in full – and, if a guide is linked from this post, that means it is updated through the present day!

Marvel Comics March 20 2024 Collected Editions

Astonishing X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Gifted
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302957971 / digital)
See Guide to Astonishing X-Men. On one hand, I’m all for any recollection of the brilliant first two arcs of this title, which should always been easily accessible to new readers. On the other hand, this is an exact copy of a prior Ultimate/Complete collection, which bums me out because it would be cool to see an Epic line of this title include some or all of Kitty Pryde: Shadow & Flame, Phoenix: Endsong, or Phoenix: Warsong – which were all extensions of this title. (For that matter, so was House of M).Shadow and Flame would have fit perfectly as another five issues in this collection.

Captain America Omnibus Vol. 4
(2024 “Vol. 4” oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1302955137 / digital)
See Guide to Captain America. This is a reprint of “Captain America by Jack Kirby” simply rebranded to fit seamlessly into the omnibus line. That means it’s actually totally fine to buy as a standalone book – that’s how it’s been sold for well over a decade! If you want to read the beautiful madness that is Kirby drawing and writing Cap, it’s all here.

Carnage Epic Collection Vol. 3: The Monster Inside
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956363 / digital)
I’m working on this Carnage Guide right now, I swear! It’s been a busy month. This is a third (and likely last) “Classic” Carnage collection, picking up in 1998 and cruising all the way through 2009 to pick up some of his modern mini-series.

Doctor Strange by Jed MacKay Vol. 2: The War-Hound of Vishanti
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302951177 / digital)
See Guide to Doctor Strange. I wouldn’t recommend picking up this book as a standalone, as it’s all payoff for the mystery that was set up expertly in the first volume by MacKay. That said, this is immensely enjoyable. It shows off just how good modern Strange comics can be. There’s a way to build off of old magical continuity and established foes without being slavishly devoted to it in a way that is dull or alienating to new fans. MacKay is the author to perfectly walk that tightrope, and it yields a fascinating puzzle box of plot for our Doctor. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – March 20 2024

Old Reader, New Reader: X-Men – Mutant Massacre – LIVE on Near Mint Condition

March 12, 2024 by krisis

I’m making a very special appearance on Near Mint Condition RIGHT NOW at 8pm US ET – my debut on their iconic, long-running show “Old Reader, New Reader” to help celebrate Omar’s birthday week by serving as the (very) old reader of X-Men: Mutant Massacre! It was the first multi-title X-Men event, and it includes two of my favorite comics of all time – Uncanny X-Men (1963) #213-214!

Want to read along yourself? Check out the Guide to Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont for collection options for Uncanny X-Men (19630 #210-214, plus all of the other Mutant Massacre tie-ins.

Old Reader New Reader: X-Men Mutant Massacre Omnibus

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 10 – Werq the World “Power” & True Colors runway Power Rankings

March 10, 2024 by krisis

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 10 was a mash-up of a Girl Groups songwriting challenge and an election year voting challenge with Werq the World “Power” – a legit funk tune produced by Leland with a message of empowerment. Plus, a “True Colors” runway that let the queens play to their strengths (even when that turned out to be a weakness).

As a rock music nerd, I cannot tell you how excited I was to see a band on Drag Race credibly miming along to a track. “Power” is a legit funk pop and I love the nasty hook that uses Dorian Mode to give us a tritone of the major sixth against the minor third.

(The melody on the hook is E – F# – G – D – C#. In E-Minor, that C# would be a C. An E-Minor scale with a sharp 6th is called Dorian Mode. The G-(D)-C# leap is a tritone – it’s using the flatted 5th of the G to make a discordant sound even though they’re both a part of the Dorian Mode scale. Think “The SIMP sons” but as “The sons SIMP.”)

Pushing the queens to put on a high-energy performance to such a rocking track gave us one of the most energetic, entertaining music challenges we’ve had on the show. I’m only able to make some of the nitpicks I do in the Power Rankings below because I’ve rewatched this so many times!

This funky challenge proved the power queens have to control their own fate on this show when it comes to challenges that hinge on pure talent. In last week’s Neo-Goth design challenge Power Rankings I had Morphine Love Dion locked in for elimination because the judges weren’t giving her many positive notes. She week she delivered a decisive win, schooling the entire cast on what it means to show up and show out in a singing performance while other queens struggled. That means some major shake-ups in the Power Rankings… and not from the queen you might expect.

Readers, start your engines. And, may the best drag queen win!