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Guide to Stranger Things comics & novels – now available to all readers!

November 27, 2025 by krisis Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving from the Upside Down (and by the Upside Down, I mean New Zealand)! To celebrate the holiday and the release of the final season of Stranger Things, I’m excited to release the only complete guide to the Stranger Things expanded universe on the internet: my Guide to Stranger Things Comics & Novels! This guide was made possible through the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis!

Guide to Stranger Things Comics & Novels

If you’ve only ever watched Stranger Things on Netflix, you might be asking, “Does we even need a Guide to Stranger Things? How much other stuff is there?”

Well, I’ve got some news for you! There have been over 50 issues of Stranger Things comics over a dozen different volumes, a series of adult novels, a series of YA novels, junior novelizations of the show, script books for each season, and even a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book!

Not only that, but none of those Stranger Things expanded universe tie-ins were released in order of continuity, and no other source on the internet puts them all in story order and explains their placement. Nope, not even the incredibly-detailed Stranger Things wiki – trust me, I checked.

What’s so fascinating to me about Stranger Things tie-ins is the way The Duffer Brothers have managed the expansion of their story universe. Novels tend to stick closest to the lore of the show, but focus on expanding unseen moments of character history that occured before the show. YA novels always fill in character development for the core cast between the seasons. And, comics explore the wide range of adventures the kids get into that don’t involve the Upside Down (as well as expand the plot of the other lab kids and the background on the Russian plot).

None of that is required if you just want to watch the show. But, whether you just want to spend more time with your favorite character or are craving as many Stranger Things stories as possible, the Guide to Stranger Things Comics & Novels has got you covered. It’s one of over 250 guides that are part of Crushing Comics, which covers Marvel, DC, indie, and liscenced comic books with hand-curated guides to collecting and reading every story.

Want instant access to future guides like this one? Become a Patron of CK for the cost of one comic a month to gain access to every new guide as it arrives, plus over 100 Patron-Only guides months before the general public gains access.

Stranger Things – The Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2, Episode 8 – Grande Finale

March 30, 2024 by krisis

I’m back with one final post on the Drag Olympics of Drag Race! The RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 Grande Finale combined a reunion with a Lip Sync Smackdown for the Crown.

While final episodes often included some form of performance or lip sync, the idea of a sudden death lip sync tournament in the Drag Race finale began in 2017 with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9. That was our first season with four finalists – Shea Couleé, Sasha Velour, Trinity the Tuck Taylor, and Peppermint. We’ve learned since then that production shot multiple endings of the semi-final episode, including various eliminations, and that Peppermint wasn’t certain she would be included in the live finale until relatively close to the date of the show.

That could have become a one-time affair if not for winner Sasha Velour and her roses. Sasha undoubtably created the biggest Drag Race moment of all time – a meme that instantly spread across the internet, and which has been referenced by many mainstream shows including Saturday Night Live (twice!). The idea of a wig reveal to a downpour of roses has become part of the queer internet lexicon. [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2, Episode 8 – Grande Finale

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 12 – Bathroom Hunties Power Rankings

March 25, 2024 by krisis

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Episode 12 was called “Bathroom Hunties,” an interior design challenge with a heavy helping of improv. On the runway, the theme was “Chain Reaction” – and a few queens served imaginative chained-up looks different from anything we’ve seen before.

Drag Race occasionally serves these oddball “experiential” challenges that profess to be about giving the judges a live walkthrough of interior design. We’ve seen it before in “Queen of Clubs” on All Stars Season 4 (whispers “club 96″) and “Get A Room!” on All Stars Season 5.

What some fans – and queens – miss about these challenges is they’re not about design. The challenge is never to design the best room or create the most credible commercial. They’re either about improv or branding. Maybe both! The brief is basically “what would you do with an empty room,” in the same way that many of the marketing commercial challenges are “what would you do with a green screen.” Queens who get mired in painting the walls are missing the forest for the trees.

Of course, there’s also something to be said for the fact that Trixie Mattel is one of the very few queens to sell her own solo show with Trixie Motel – an interior design show! It’s not unusual for Drag Race to borrow from the success of their favorite alums to inspire challenges, and I think that was intentional here.

It was no surprise to see the two queens with the strongest brands easily win this challenge, although watching their process revealed some interesting things about them both. While they retained their spots compared to last week’s “Corporate Queens” drag seminars challenge power rankings, the rest of the semi-finalists shuffled their standings as they vie for the chance to be second-runner-up.

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

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2, Episode 7 – Haters Wedding Roast power rankings

March 23, 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 7 – Haters Wedding Roast, a stand-and-plant stand-up challenge delivered from behind a wedding dais paired with a “Take Me Up The Aisle” bridal runway.

If you engage in a retrospective Ru-watch of Drag Race, it’s interesting to watch how the show transforms over the years from a competition where drag queens must occasionally be funny to a full-fledged comedy competition. At this point, the show is known (and memed) as much for its laugh-out-loud absurd moments as for its fashion. At this point, there’s no way to win RuPaul’s lasting affection if you’re not at least a little bit funny.

The peculiar thing about that transformation into a full-on comedy competition is that it hinges entirely on RuPaul’s sense of humor. What Ru finds funny is grounded strongly in references that are older than most of her competitors. Though she’s twenty years older than me, RuPaul and I have an incredibly similar set of comedy references – Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, 80s sitcoms like The Golden Girls, campy game show hosts and guests, and the deadpan early seasons of Saturday Night Live.

That’s a big reason why campy queens and old souls tend to do so well with RuPaul – they tap into her comfort zone when it comes to humor. Would someone learning to be funny today for the young consumers of now be funny to RuPaul? Would they do well on Drag Race? I’m never sure. I think we got a hint of this with Willow Pill, who has a darker, edgier kind of humor that’s right on the edge of Millennial and Gen Z. RuPaul ate that up. Yet, most times when we see anyone with a more youthful sense of ironic humor on the show, Ru is quick to serve them neutch and chop them down at the first chance.

This Haters Comedy Roast included two sets that were legitimately hilarious for audiences of all ages. That gave us a tiny but critical shuffle to the rankings compared to last week’s Strictly Come Prancing power rankings. What does that mean for next week’s finale? I think we have a clear powerhouse pair of potential winners, but also a black horse (wonk wonk) who could come through and surprise them both.

I’ll be back next week to congratulate our winner and reflect on my predictions and power rankings for the season!

(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!