Death of Wolverine
Death of Wolverine is an interesting comic, for a variety of reasons wholly external to the comic itself. It’s also, to be fair, quite an interesting comic for a variety of reasons that are on the page too. If nothing else, it’s a book that’s clearly taking its best shot at what many would surely consider a nightmare brief.
This is the first work that Charles Soule has done for the X-books. He’ll be sticking around for a while, since he’s also writing the upcoming Wolverines weekly, in which a bunch of characters who are very like Wolverine but aren’t Wolverine must fill the void left by his absence. So in reality, this marks the start of his run on Wolverine.
Charts – 12 October 2014
An unusually top-heavy chart this week – basically dead from 40 through to 21, which must have been a delight for the Radio 1 chart show producers. It picks up after that. Well, kind of.
20. Brian Wilson & Various Artists – “God Only Knows”
Nightcrawler #7
Going by the usual format, our main concern this week ought to be X-Force vol 2, which runs up to this week’s issue #10 (yes, four issues – they’re padding it out with a reprint of X-Men Legacy #300). But let’s do this first, since not only is it self-contained, but it’s a tie-in to another story.
That story is Death of Wolverine, to which this is an epilogue. Death of Wolverine is running late, and isn’t finished yet, but that’s no problem, because the only thing you need to know about it is in the title, and so can scarcely be called a spoiler. While that series (wisely) is all about the “how”, Nightcrawler #7 is only bothered by the “what”.
Charts – 5 October 2014
Uncanny Avengers vol 5 – “Axis Prelude”
Uncanny Avengers officially ends with issue #25, though what this actually means is that it gets replaced first by Axis, and then by whatever relaunched version comes after Axis.
Since volume 4 of Uncanny Avengers ran through to issue #22, this presents the collections department with something of a problem. Hence the unlikely-looking volume 5, “Axis Prelude”, which collects the final three issues of Uncanny Avengers, the two tie-in issues of Magneto (which will also be included in Magneto vol 2), and the entirely unrelated comedy issue Uncanny Avengers Annual #1.
Charts – 28 September 2014
It’s another very quiet week for new releases. But we do have a genuine moment of chart history that will live on pub quizzes for years to come. And here it is now.
33. Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
Cyclops vol 1 – “Starstruck”
This volume collects the first five issues of the Cyclops ongoing series, written by Greg Rucka, and with three issues of art by Russell Dautermann before Carmen Carnero takes over with issue #4. The whole creative team changes again with issue #6, which will be by John Layman and Javier Garron. Hence, one assumes, the unusual decision to have the first collection cover five issues rather than the more normal six.
A Cyclops ongoing series, then. Let’s be honest, it’s not something many people were crying out for.
Charts – 21 September 2014
Nightcrawler vol 1: “Homecoming”
The X-books have, for a while now, given the impression of being made – or at least commissioned – by people wrestling with the commercial challenge of how to have as many X-Men titles as humanly possible, while still trying to make them all at least somewhat creatively distinct. Part of the answer to that problem has come in a wave of solo titles for characters who would not previously have been thought natural candidates – Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler.
Night of Champions 2014
This is what you might call a post dictated by the blog format. I’ve not been closely following the build-up to this show (as you might imagine, there have been other things to occupy my attention over the last couple of weeks), nor do I have the faintest intention of watching it (since Chikara’s King of Trios shows are this weekend, and as Night 1 is already on VOD, I know that my wrestling-viewing hours for the week ahead are pretty much accounted for).
But let’s run down the card anyway. Night of Champions notionally has the gimmick of every title being defended, which isn’t much of a gimmick, really – plenty of WWE shows have all the titles being defended. Still, it’s something to say. Of more interest this year is the fact that the WWE’s “WWE Network” streaming service launched around six months ago, so that the first batch of subscribers will be coming up for renewal around now. In theory, that makes this an unusually important show, because it has to persuade people to re-sign.
