Charts – 13 October 2013
Some weeks, the Radio 1 chart show producers must look at the listing as it comes through, see an utterly predictable number 1, see an almost uninterrupted stretch of fallers from 40 through to 15, and sigh deeply. This is one such week, with a bunch of new entries clustered at the top (but no surprise at the very top), and literally nothing happening in the lower half of the chart except for one lone new entry.
And that new entry?
24. Ylvis – “The Fox”
Astonishing X-Men #68
So, farewell then, Astonishing X-Men. You will be back next month with a shiny new adjective.
It’s hard to believe now, but when it was launched in 2004, Astonishing X-Men was the main book of the line. Now it’s the runt of the litter that doesn’t get invited to the crossover, as if all the other books were whispering to one another to for christ’s sake not mention the party in front of Astonishing, because it’d be really awkward. The book was created as a vehicle for Joss Whedon, and while it proved to be something of an absentee flagship, it was a flagship nonetheless. Its regular absence from the shipping schedule didn’t deprive it of that status, so much as leave the line floundering for direction without it.
After Whedon left, the book was rebranded as a place where writers could do their own thing without worrying about the broader X-Men continuity, which isn’t really a premise, but at least allowed it to be defined by the style of the creative team of the day. Whatever you may think of the creators assigned, though, few could deny that the star power has eroded rather drastically over the years, much as occurred with the Ultimate line. For the last while we’ve had Marjorie Liu and Gabriel Hernandez Walta – hardly industry stars, though they were certainly allowed to bring their own voice to the book.
Charts – 6 October 2013
Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted
I could start by talking about the plot. But let’s be honest, the thing that’s really striking about this comic is the format. Japan’s Most Wanted is Marvel’s first venture into long-form digital comics under its Infinite imprint. We’ve had short stories and back-ups before now, but this is the first time a full-length story arc has been produced in the new format.
So depending on how things go, this is either the first of a new breed, or a weird little footnote that will rarely be mentioned again.
WWE Battleground
For those of you who come here for wrestling posts, I’ll draw your attention to the Chikara post just below, which, to be honest, is probably more interesting than Battleground. The general consensus is that the WWE hasn’t done a brilliant job of promoting this one, or even giving people a particularly good reason to watch it. But hey, it’s not a PPV in the UK, so I might as well record it…
1. WWE Title: Daniel Bryan v Randy Orton. The WWE Title is currently vacant. The storyline here is that the evil owners of the company don’t want Daniel Bryan as their champion, because he doesn’t look like their idea of a champion. In theory this is meant to get us behind him as a plucky underdog who doesn’t give up in the face of overwhelming odds. That’s fine as far as it goes.
Wrestling Without Wrestling (or, What the Heck is Chikara Playing At?)
Paul: We don’t normally look at indie wrestling here, but the current goings on in Chikara are worth a look – both because Chikara has always been the point where comics and wrestling meet, and because the company appears to be currently engaged in one of the strangest storylines ever attempted in wrestling. Genius? Insanity? Commercial folly? Implosion? ARG? Workaround? Nobody seems entirely sure what they’re up to, or how anyone’s going to make money from it at the end of the day.
Naturally, this makes it fascinating.
Al: Paul’s right that Chikara’s current turn of events is fascinating, but we should note that it’s actually interesting enough that someone who’s a complete outsider to wrestling (i.e. me) is utterly gripped (or possibly armbarred) by what’s currently going on in the promotion. We’re going to have a look at the basics of Chikara here, and go into a bit of detail about not only what’s happening at the moment, but also what makes it sufficiently fun in general that even I’m hooked.
Paul: Since this is not primarily a wrestling blog, let’s set the scene and explain what Chikara actually is (or was). Chikara storylines are, shall we say, a bit complicated, so let’s boil this down to the essentials.
Charts – 29 September 2013
A quiet week for new releases, and it’s X Factor audition season – it must be re-entry time…
37. The Kings of Leon – “Supersoaker”
Originally got to number 32 in July when it was released as the lead single from “Mechanical Bull”. The album enters at number 1 this week, and this is the track being played in the TV adverts, so it’s the one being cherrypicked. It’s got a video now, too!
A+X #12
Shall we cover this one quickly? Why not?
A+X‘s format is being tinkered with in the not too distant future, with an actual serial set to run in the lead slot – presumably on the logic that this will seem like a bigger deal. There’s actually something perversely admirable about the book’s ostentatious dismissal of continuity, and its open willingness to sell its stories purely on their intrinsic entertainment value rather than their big-picture importance. For me, the bigger problem with this book is that its content tends to be throwaway in more senses than one; a parade of generic team-up stories many of which barely gesture at being anything more than a fight scene with some squabbling between two characters whose names were drawn out of a hat.
But this is one of the better issues. Which is ironic, as Christos Gage and David Williams’ lead story reunites Wonder Man and the Beast for a night out catching up with one another. That’s basically the entire story.
Gambit #15-17 – “No Opportunity Wasted”
That’s the title for the final trade paperback, if you’re wondering. Because, yes, it is time once again for the X-books to indulge in the Cancellation of Gambit. We had it in 2001, we had it again in 2005, and now here it is again.
In some ways it’s surprising that Gambit hasn’t been able to support a title better than this. On paper, he ought to be one of the most suitable X-Men to sustain a spin-off book. He’s a loveable rogue adventurer who has ample excuse to go off and have his own stories. He wasn’t specifically conceived as a team player; if I remember rightly, his creator Chris Claremont originally planned for him to be a recurring guest rather than joining the team. He’s got a back story and mythology of his own, which has nothing much to do with the themes of the X-Men and might even be better off explored in its own book.
Cable & X-Force #10-14 – “This Won’t End Well”
Cable & X-Force seems to be a book paced more for the ongoing series than the trade. These five issues are going to form the third trade paperback of the current run, which makes this as good a point as any to check in on the series, and they do indeed have an overall linking arc. But at the same time there are single issue stories as the team split up to fight some villains of the week.
There are two main strands here, though. The main one doesn’t technically feature the title characters at all. Hope goes looking for Blaquesmith in order to find out what’s up with Cable and his spate of visions. She ends up being taken to an apocalyptic near future, where it turns out that Cable’s visions are the result of Blaquesmith and an older Hope trying to kickstart his precognitive powers so that he can change history and avert the apocalypse. Then, of course, she has to go back and try to sort out some of the damage they’ve done to him as a result of their botch job.
