Marvel Comics Presents #1-9: “The Vigil”
Well, this went wrong. Marvel Comics Presents was a format that worked in the eighties and nineties – the original run made it to issue #175 – but the market is no longer so friendly to anthologies. Marvel put some well known creators on this book, and put a Wolverine story in the lead slot – at a time when the character had only just returned from a lengthy (if largely notional) absence. But here we are, cancelled after issue #9.
That’s particularly awkward since Soule’s original announcement of this storyline described it as a twelve-parter. The final issue is extended, but it still seems to have lost some pages along the way.
(more…)New Mutants: War Children
Marvel’s 80th anniversary celebrations have spawned quite a few retro one-shots, ranging from the straightforwardly nostalgic to the barely fathomable. You certainly can’t dismiss it as a pure cash grab – nobody publishes a Ziggy Pig & Silly Seal one-shot because they expect it to rake in the profits.
One of the more welcome one-shots – for readers of a certain age, at any rate – is New Mutants: War Children, which reunited Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz for what amounts to a missing New Mutants Annual. Claremont and Sienkiewicz never did an annual during their run – New Mutants Annual #1 has a Sienkiewicz cover, but he didn’t do the interior art. So if you’re going to revisit a very specific run, this is certainly the way to do it.
(more…)Charts – 4 October 2019
Movement! Or rather, artificial movement! Because, in another of those weeks when the downweighting rule for older singles makes its presence a bit too glaringly obvious, Ed Sheeran’s “Take Me Back to London” reaches its tenth week on chart, and (having peaked a few weeks ago) promptly drops straight from 1 to 13. This rule needs some refining. Meanwhile…
1. Tones & I – “Dance Monkey”
(more…)House of X #6 annotations
As always, this post is full of spoilers, and page numbers are according to the digital edition. This is the final issue of House of X, but I’ll be reviewing it and Powers of X together once both are complete, since they’re functionally a single book.
COVER (PAGE 1): Storm, Emma Frost and Exodus, on Krakoa, with Storm apparently addressing an audience. There are more people watching from the balconies in the background.
PAGE 2: The epigraph simply has Professor X proclaiming an imperfect but good start. That applies not just to his plan with Krakoa, but to the Hickman run in general – House of X is more of an extended prologue to establish the Krakoan status quo than it is a story in itself. The line comes from the Council meeting scene later in the issue.
PAGES 3-7: One month ago, Professor X dons the Cerebro helmet and makes his speech to humankind – the one that he gave shortly before issue #1.
(more…)Wolverine Annual #1: “Acts of Evil”
It’s not all Jonathan Hickman! I mean, it’s mostly Jonathan Hickman, to be sure. But there were a smattering of other X-books out last week, miles off to the side of anything that might impinge on current continuity.
First up is this year’s Wolverine Annual #1, because this is Marvel, and you have to explain which Wolverine Annual #1 you mean. There have been four this century, only one of which was followed by Wolverine Annual #2. If you’re into legacy numbering, then by my count this is actually Wolverine Annual #10, although that’s over a 24 year period, which isn’t especially annual. And I couldn’t even be confident about that because it’s so hard to search for them.
(more…)Charts – 27 September 2019
Practically a dead week… but let’s run through it. “Take Me Back To London” by Ed Sheeran featuring Stormzy spends a fifth week at number one, with unspectacular sales/streams but a comfortable lead over the pack. “Taste (Make it Shake)” by Aitch is up to 2, and “Ride It” by Regard climbs into the top 10 at number 5 – overtaking the original Jay Sean version in the process, which only managed number 11. “Dance Monkey” by Tones & I also enters the top 10, by climbing to 7.
I don’t normally mention the fallers, but “Don’t Call Me Angel (Charlie’s Angels)” by Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey drops from 2 to 12 in its second week out, which is really quite unusual for a major release – this sort of first-week fanbase behaviour was common in the days of sales charts, but we don’t see it so much any more. Then we have a string on modest climbers: “Post Malone” by Sam Feldt featuring Rani (17-15), “Be Honest” by Jorja Smith featuring Burna Boy (18-16), “Outnumbered” by Dermot Kennedy (20-17), “Professor X” by Dave (24-19) and “Panini” by Lil Nas X (23-21), none of which particularly merit talking about. More notably, “Wiley Flow” by Stormzy vaults 37-22.
23. Lizzo – “Good as Hell”
(more…)Powers of X #5 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers refer to the digital edition.
COVER (PAGE 1): Mister Sinister stands over some of the eggs from which cloned mutants are hatching. Once again, this is an odd choice of cover, since it has nothing to do with the issue (in which Sinister doesn’t appear).
PAGE 2: The epigraph is a very on-the-nose quote from Professor X saying that the real plan is something else entirely. Without context, it’s not clear who Xavier is referring to when he says that “they” will get it wrong, but Hickman’s run has been full of hints that all is not what it seems here. You’d expect Xavier to be referring to humans, but it could as easily be mutants…
PAGE 3: The credits. The title of this issue is “For The Children”, and Xavier has treated the X-Men – and mutants generally – in a very paternalistic way throughout Hickman’s run. But here, it’s a line of dialogue from Emma later on, when she decides to join Xavier’s plan. The small print reads “Once more I need three.” This might refer to the three back-up units that Xavier mentions in the next scene.
(more…)Charts – 20 September 2019
Quite a few oddities this week. Plus, a busy week at the top end of the album chart!
1. Ed Sheeran featuring Stormzy – “Take Me Back To London”
Four weeks and counting. It’s still getting eight million plus streams a week, and it holds off a strong challenge from…
2. Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus & Lana Del Rey – “Don’t Call Me Angel (Charlie’s Angels)”
The theme for the new Charlie’s Angels movie (hence the easily searchable bracketed bit in the title), from the all-star collaborative trios of Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and — hold on, who?!?
(more…)House of X #5 annotations
As always, this contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
COVER (PAGE 1): Apocalypse walks through the reeds. Not much to do with the content, aside from the fact that this is where he enters the modern-day story – so far, we’ve only seen him in the future time frame of Powers of X.
PAGE 2: The epigraph sees Professor X stressing the differences between humans and mutants – very different from his traditional approach of emphasising the similarities.
(more…)Charts – 13 September 2019
Once again, it’s a more interesting week for albums. But let’s get the singles out of the way first.
1. Ed Sheeran featuring Stormzy – “Take Me Back To London”
Three weeks and counting, so it’s now Stormzy’s longest-running number one. Stormzy also has another single out, but we’ll come to that later.
11. Post Malone – “Hollywood’s Bleeding”
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