Crushing Krisis

New Comics & Collected Editions: Marvel Comics – February 28 2024

February 22, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 9th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers Marvel Comics February 28 2024 releases. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering Marvel Comics February 21 2024 new releases.

This week in Marvel Comics: Gang War ends, Tony Stark’s X-era, nostalgic Power Pack perfection, the conclusion of unexpectedly great turns on Punisher & White Widow, 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 February 28 2024 Collected Editions

The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 8: Spider-Man’s First Hunt
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302953447 / digital)
See Guide to Spider-Man – Peter Parker (2018 – Present). This collects the arc that directly precedes Gang War and vaguely follows up on Dark Web with a focus on new comedy character Rep-Rap. It was fine, but ever since the initial meta-arc of this book wrapped up in issue #25 it has felt a bit directionless. I wouldn’t call this a jumping-on point.

Daredevil Modern Era Epic Collection: Underboss
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1302956332 / digital)
See Guide to Daredevil. This recollects Brian Bendis’s run from the start. However, it is not the same mapping as Daredevil by Bendis & Maleev Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 because it collects the typically skipped arc from #20-25! This is the first time that arc has ever been collected in sequential order along with the issues that surround it.

The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2: The Wedding of Tony Stark and Emma Frost
(2023 paperback, ISBN 978-1302947590 / digital)
See Guide to Iron Man – Tony Stark. If you haven’t been reading Iron Man I imagine that title might warrant an eye-roll or the assumption that this is a big sales gimmick forcing a romance between Tony and Emma. In reality, this is a surprisingly organic outgrowth of the continuing plot of Fall of X extending out of the 2023 Hellfire Gala.

In this collection, Iron Man is 100% an X-book, and here’s a secret: Gerry Duggan is way better with a solo title with one or two characters than a big team book, so importing Emma here means he has room to really have fun with both her and Tony. Issues #9-10 are perfection, especially if you’ve also been reading Duggan’s X-Men (2021).

Debating our Evergreen DC Omnibus List – LIVE on Near Mint Condition

February 21, 2024 by krisis

Are you ready to rumble? Tomorrow, on Thursday 22 February at 5:30 pm US ET I’m live with Near Mint Condition to share my Evergreen DCOmnibus List – that means the books should never go out of print!

Omar of Near Mint Condition, Jess the Omnidog, Lars of Mad Norwegian Press, and more distinguished panelists will share their lists, too… and then we’ll fight tooth and nail over our officially endorsed Evergreen DC Omnibus List of 10 books.

It’s the show that is half serious recommendations, half a cut-throat game show of all of us trying to block other people’s recommendations so that all of our own make the list. How many Batman books will make the cut? Can we manage to shut out all of Omar’s choices for the second stream in a row?

Tune in to Near Mint Condition on YouTube find out!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 7 – The Sound of Rusic Rusical Power Rankings

February 18, 2024 by krisis

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 7 was our annual Rusical! “The Sound of Rusic” recast familiar tropes from The Sound of Music as a pop music musical set in a high stakes pageant in a remote town.

It was paired with a “I Can Buy Myself Flowers” runway themed to match the lip sync tune “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus’s recent Grammy-winner for Record of the Year

We’re at a point in the evolution of Drag Race where not only every contestant comes ready to smash the Rusical, but the show itself has a vested interest in the Rusical looking amazing. Even though this was unseen to us, it’s a virtual guarantee that the queens had an extra 1-2 days to rehearse this show “off camera” between when we saw them go home on Day 1 and when they hit the runway on “Day 2.”

As with “Wigloose” last year, that resulted in a musical with no obvious worst performance, unless we’re going to get nitpicky about a wardrobe malfunction. That means we do have to get nitpicky, not only about that, but about whether people looked alive behind the eyes or made the most out of their little bits of business.

That lead to a cutthroat and somewhat hard to predict set of bottom queens. However, it was the runway that confirmed our top queens, as three of our drag artists had the objective best looks of the night (and a fourth queen’s fashionable runway may have saved her from the bottom).

What does that mean for our Power Rankings compared to last week’s “Welcome to the DollHouse”? One queen fights her way back into the Top 3 while another queen falls out of the Top 4 for the first time, and the four queens marooned outside of the Top 5 are going to have to get serious about their game theory to see if they can last long enough to play spoiler against a frontrunner.

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

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2, Episode 2 – The Happy Ending Ball Power Rankings

February 17, 2024 by krisis

It’s another week of the Olympics of Drag Race! RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 Episode 2 brought us “The Happy Ending Ball,” a fairytale-themed ball challenge with three looks – including a design challenge with conventional materials.

I am always a fan of Ball challenges being earlier in the season. Instead of being a final gauntlet for a slim group of exhausted queens as they near the finale, it becomes a chance for a much bigger pack to jostle for attention.

That makes sense to me, as it gives almost the entire cast a chance to have multiple runway walks and lets the judges make early eliminate decisions based on a wider sampling of each queen’s fashion sense.

Ball challenges on All Stars seasons bring an additional layer of complexity. They function as a proving grounds for who has had the biggest glow-up (and, who has taken the time to learn how to sew). Almost every queen in the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 cast outperformed their original season design challenge looks in this episode, but they were doing that alongside a firm top group of fashionable heavy hitters who were not afraid to go full camp to command Ru’s attention.

That lead to a surprising queen leaping into a top power ranking compared to last week’s Queens’ Variety Show recap, while a previous potential finalist tumbled out of contention.

(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 3 – “Jawadde Dadde” Girl Groups Power Rankings

February 16, 2024 by krisis

Bon retour, mes chers lecteurs, dans plus de classements! Drag Race Belgique Season 2 Episode 3 was titled “Jawadde Dadde,” which had nothing to do with its Girl Groups challenge and Art Nouveau runway theme.

(The internet is cagey on the literal meaning of the Flemish expression “Jawadde Dadde,” a phrase uttered by guest judge Gaëlle Garcia Diaz. As far as I can tell, it’s an idiomatic phrase of that can mean anything from an exclamation of surprise (“oh my god” or “no way!”) to an expression of incredulity or exasperation (“oh my” or “really?”). It doesn’t have a direct translation in part because it is written phonetically the way it is spoken in certain regions – the actual words would be “ja wat dat.” If you translated it directly you’d get something like “Yes-what, that?!” If any of you readers can offer a better explanation, please comment!)

Jawadde Dadde was a study in contrasts, with a disastrous main challenge and a runway that reminded me of the reasons I loved Drag Race Belgique Season 1.

This episode’s Girl Groups performance posed the question: What if a Drag Race cast completely failed at one of the show’s standard challenges? I’m not sure if Girl Groups simply aren’t all that revered in Belgium or if we have an entire cast of non-singing non-dancers. Whatever the reason, it resulted in some truly questionable vocals and what surely ranks amongst the worst choreography in the history of Drag Race.

It’s a pity it turned out that way, because – as the queens pointed out – the instrumental track they were handed was a perfect rip-off of Robin S.’s “Show Me Love.”

The results could not have been more different on an Art Nouveau runway, which showed off the intellectualism and obsession with art that was so proudly on display in Season 1. Every queen presented something with at least one magnificent detail, which caused the judges to briefly feud over what ought to be considered Art Nouveau or allowed on an Art Nouveau runway. We saw one truly stunning runway hit the bottom purely for mixing up its period references.

(Yes, we’ve seen RuPaul go nuclear over 60s bouffant hair on a 70s outfit, but none of those 70s outfits were as opulent as this one!)

I love that Drag Race Belgique can assign an entire art movement as a runway theme with confidence that its cast will think deeply about how to symbolize it. I don’t think many of the other franchises could get away with that. Imagine if American Drag Race assigned ” Art Nouveau” as a theme! I’m sure we wouldn’t see the same results.

To me, this episode makes a good argument that if Drag Race continues to appear around the globe that some of its staple challenges ought to be better localized. Yes, we’ll always want to see Snatch Game and a Ball Challenge, but I wish we could see a full main challenge on Drag Race Belgique that leans into the show’s obsession with fashion and art history rather than it being constrained only to the runway.

An uneven episode led to uneven power rankings, with a new queen surging to the top and a surprising queen in contention for the finale compared to last week’s “Drag-en-Ciel” design challenge recap.

(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!