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Mar 17

Charts – 15 March 2024

Posted on Sunday, March 17, 2024 by Paul in Music

Ariana Grande has a new album out, and nobody’s going up against that with new releases.

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

Four weeks. It was fairly close with Benson Boone at number two, though, so he’s got a shot next week. She’s also now relying on the downweighting rule for her number one position – without it, “Stick Season” would be back at the top.

3. Ariana Grande – “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)”
13. Ariana Grande – “Bye”

“We Can’t Be Friends” is the release week single from “Eternal Sunshine”, which enters at number 1 – if you hadn’t figured it out, the video is basically a four-minute remake of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film released when Ariana Grande was 11. It’s a very Robyn-esque track.  “Bye”, on the other hand, is just an album track. She maxes out her three song limit with “Yes And”, which rebounds to number 6 – though it only dropped out of the top 10 last week. She hasn’t had a number 1 from this album yet, but “Yes And” peaked at number 2 and it’s had eight weeks in the top 10, which I’m sure will do her fine.

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Mar 16

The X-Axis – w/c 11 March 2024

Posted on Saturday, March 16, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #130. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. In which Gambit and Feint go to New Orleans to see if Candra knows what Selene is up to with the Externals. On the one hand, this does actually do something useful: it follows up on Feint becoming a proper X-Man, of sorts, in Dark X-Men, and on Gambit taking her with him at the end of the issue. Basically Candra explains that Selene is planning to sacrifice a bunch of mutants so that she and her allies can become invulnerable as well as immortal. Well, at least we’re advancing the plot, but bringing in yet more characters to do so only compounds this arc’s lack of focus, and the book still has the basic problem that – with the exception of a couple of characters created independently and retconned into the group – the Externals simply aren’t interesting. If you’re going to bring back a concept that’s been largely ignored or used simply as a plot device for a quarter century, you need a compelling case about what it is that everyone else has missed, and this arc doesn’t have one.

FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X #3. (Annotations here.) Well. I mean, I’ve read worse. But it’s not good, and as an anchor series paying off a whole era of the X-Men it’s really not good. I’m inclined to give the creators the benefit of the doubt that some sort of backstage chaos has been going on, given oddities like entire trailed storylines going missing, cliffhangers not connecting with the next issue and such like. Or Alia Gregor turning out to be important to the plot of this series when basically nobody has done anything with her in a year or more, even though X-Men‘s “Fall of X” issues seem to have been marking time with Latverian filler. Or… you get the idea.

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Mar 15

Wolverine #45 annotations

Posted on Friday, March 15, 2024 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #45
“Sabretooth War, part 5: X Marks the Spot”
Writers: Victor LaValle & Benjamin Percy
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Well, that’s a big X with Wolverine and Sabretooth at the sides, a Stark Sentinel at the top, and the three main alt-Sabretooths at the bottom – although “Cap” Sabretooth died last issue.

PAGES 2-4. Sabretooth returns to Krakoa.

The Stark Sentinels have been guarding Krakoa (to little effect) ever since the Hellfire Gala.

As Sabretooth points out, he was banished to the Pit right at the start of the Krakoan era (in House of X #6), so he never really knew the place.

Sabretooth has an Orchis ship because his Station Five base was stolen from Orchis in the Sabretooth & The Exiles miniseries.

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Mar 14

Dead X-Men #3 annotations

Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

DEAD X-MEN #3
“An Echo, a Stain”
Writer: Steve Foxe
Artists: Lynne Yoshii, Bernard Chang, Javier Pina & David Baldéon
Colour artist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The X-Men confront an alternate Psylocke.

PAGES 2-3. The X-Men arrive in Moira’s 9th life.

The previous issue ended with the X-Men in Moira’s seventh life, where they learned that the cyborg Moira from issue #1 was visiting Moira’s earlier lives, and decided that they had to pursue her through those timelines in order to stop her from causing damage to the timeline. They’ve apparently come directly from that timeline, but although they tell us that Rachel sent them here, it’s not altogether clear why, since they spend much of the rest of the issue trying to persuade Rachel to keep sending them back through Moira’s past lives. Presumably Rachel just assumes that they’re still just randomly visiting past timelines to see if anything interesting turns up, which is pretty much how Prodigy pitched matters to her last issue.

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Mar 13

Fall of the House of X #3 annotations

Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X #3
“The X Deaths of Dr Stasis”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artists: Lucas Werneck & Jethro Morales
Colourist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Wolverine pins down a terrified Dr Stasis. Wolverine doesn’t actually appear in this issue.

PAGES 2-4. Orchis attack the Juggernaut.

Last issue, the Juggernaut rescued Krakoa from Orchis. God knows how he ended up in the middle of a desert.

“It’s said that ‘nothing’ can stop the Juggernaut, but that’s not true.” Even at full power, the Juggernaut was in practice stopped on a fairly regular basis, but following his most recent re-powering (in Juggernaut vol 3 #4) he seems to be just very big and strong, as opposed to literally unstoppable. In X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023, he did survive what seemed to be a devastatingly lethal attack.

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Mar 11

House to Astonish Presents: The Lightning Round Episode 19

Posted on Monday, March 11, 2024 by Al in Podcast

It’s a brave new world for the Thunderbolts, as they try to readjust to civilian life… or, in the case of some, to adjust to being bossed around by Captain America as part of the Redeemers. We say hello to new regular penciler Patrick Zircher, as well as to the continuity transplants from the Heroes Reborn universe, as they look at issues 51 and 52 of Thunderbolts, as well as the Thunderbolts: Life Sentences oneshot. Join us as we explore the questions of who is the 19th best telepath in the Marvel Universe, where can you find the most racist electrical goods store in America, and how badly a 1990s comics character can lacerate himself with his own costume.

The podcast is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think in the comments, on Bluesky, via email or on our Facebook fan page. And do you know what John Cena could have done with at the Oscars last night? That’s right. A swell t-shirt. Or at least, I’m guessing he could have, I didn’t actually see him.

Mar 10

Daredevil Villains #17: The Exterminator

Posted on Sunday, March 10, 2024 by Paul in Daredevil

We’ve jumped forward quite a few issues again, thanks to a string of issues featuring guest villains from the wider Marvel Universe. Issues #30-32 feature the Cobra and Mr Hyde, explicitly on loan from Thor. Issues #33-34 are a Beetle story – he does come back for two more stories in the #100s, but I don’t think anyone regards him as a Daredevil villain. Issue #35-36 are the Trapster. Issues #37-38 are Dr Doom, and lead into a crossover with Fantastic Four.

DAREDEVIL #39-41 (April to June 1968)
“The Exterminator and the Super-Powered Unholy Three” / “The Fallen Hero” / “The Death of Mike Murdock!”
Writer, editor: Stan Lee
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inkers: George Tuska (#39), John Tartaglione (#40-41)
Letterers: Artie Simek (#39), Sam Rosen (#40-41)
Colourist: not credited

It’s been the best part of a year since Daredevil last debuted a new villain. But while the Exterminator is notionally the main villain of this arc, a lot of the emphasis is on his henchmen. Ape-Man, Bird-Man and Cat-Man debuted as the Organizer’s thugs back in issue #10, as part of the Wally Wood arc that Stan Lee hated so much. Now, they’re featured prominently as the returning villains. They’re billed as the Unholy Three, with their fourth member Frog-Man having fallen by the wayside for some reason – perhaps because of his similarity to Leap-Frog. Daredevil notes Frog-Man’s absence, assumes that he must still be in jail, and never mentions him again.

During the issues we skipped, Stan also brought back the other member of the Organization, Foggy’s ex-girlfriend Debbie Harris. Why? Because even Stan was bored with the book’s romantic triangle, and the simplest solution was to partner Foggy up with someone else. Not only does that get Matt and Karen out of their holding pattern, it frees up Foggy from being a blocking character and a comedy figure, and lets him start shifting back into his original role as Matt’s best friend. By the time we reach this issue Debbie is a full fledged member of the supporting cast, and Foggy is worried that their relationship will damage his chances of being elected as District Attorney. She’s a convicted criminal, after all. Nonsense, says Matt – New Yorkers are very understanding about such things. They love reformed criminals and the open-minded politicians who date them!

Once Debbie Harris was back in circulation, it made sense to bring back her former stablemates. In Wally Wood’s story, the Unholy Three were press ganged into working for the Organizer. They were halfway between actual super villains, and hired thugs who were pretending to be supervillains as part of the Organizer’s plan. All that has fallen by the wayside – they’re now just an animal-themed henchman squad. But Stan does keep the idea that a mastermind keeps track of them via their clunky headsets and chest-mounted video cameras. This time round, that villain is the Exterminator.

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Mar 9

Charts – 8 March 2024

Posted on Saturday, March 9, 2024 by Paul in Music

Evidently the Brit Awards do still move the needle. But first…

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

That’s three weeks at number one. She’s never actually had a longer run at number one, whether as a solo artist or with Destiny’s Child – currently, this is tied with “Crazy in Love” and “Beautiful Liar”.

13. Raye featuring 070 Shake – “Escapism”
38. Raye – “Worth It”

Raye won six awards at the Brit Awards last week, which is getting into “why did anyone else bother showing up” territory. And it does result in a surge for her music. “Escapism”, her number one from 2022, re-enters at 13. “Prada”, which was still hanging around in the low 20s, rebounds to number 18 – it’s not exactly a Raye song, but she did include it in a medley at the Brit awards show.

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Mar 7

The X-Axis – w/c 4 March 2024

Posted on Thursday, March 7, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

So before you ask, no, I’m not doing Ultimate X-Men. It’s an Ultimate book, not an X-book, and I stopped covering the first Ultimate X-Men after a while too. More to the point, though, Peach Momoko’s art is beautiful, but I found Demon Days a complete slog, and Ultimate Invasion didn’t do much to interest me in the new line either. So it’s really a book that I have no interest in. It’ll show up on Marvel Unlimited in three months time and I’m more than happy to wait and read it then.

X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #129. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. Now, having just said all that, I’m very conscious that this is a less than stellar week for the books I am reading. X-Men Unlimited takes a bit of a diversion from its main plot to explain what Sunspot was up to immediately before the Hellfire Gala. X-Men Red seemed to be setting this up as some kind of subplot, but never got back to it. So, sure, if that book’s not going to get round to it, this is as good a place as any to tie up the loose end. But “he was planning to launch a PR campaign with X-Corp” is a bit of an underwhelming answer, and it ultimately just adds to the sense of this arc being a random collection of elements loosely arranged around a rather slight Externals story.

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Mar 6

X-Men #32 annotations

Posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

X-MEN vol 6 #32
“From Emma, With Love”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Magik and Shadowkat fight Orchis.

PAGES 2-3. Orchis go after the Mykines Island Lighthouse Keeper.

“The site of the so-called ‘Mutant Massacre’.” X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023, where Orchis forced most of the mutants off Earth, slaughtered the human guests in attendance, and blamed the mutants for it.

The Lighthouse Keeper, who’s never been named, was shown as either flirting with Jumbo Carnation or perhaps being in a relationship with him in that issue, and also in Marauders vol 1 #17. We’re told here that he “used to travel the world” with Jumbo, which really makes no sense if he’s meant to be a lighthouse keeper, but perhaps this is supposed to be shared history from before he came here.

Why have Orchis only just remembered this inconvenient witness sitting here with (as far as they know) no defence? Look, they just haven’t, alright.

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