Charts – 30 September 2012
Let’s stick with the countdown format, shall we? But before we start, a brief diversion.
You may have heard in the news that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s apology for breaking an election pledge on tuition fees two years ago was “racing up the charts” in an autotuned remix. This was, of course, complete nonsense. The record exists – and it does indeed have 1.8m views on YouTube – but at no stage was it actually selling in any significant quantities. Naturally, this didn’t stop plenty of journalists from talking about it as if it somehow mattered. Its chart position is number 104. And to put that into perspective, there’s a knock-off cover version of Lucy Spraggan’s “Last Night” at number 74.
35. fun. (feat Janelle Monae) – “We Are Young”
A re-entry after two weeks spent at number 42. Nothing to see here, move along.
The X-Axis – 30 September 2012
The X-office continues to lurch back and forth between weeks of putting out virtually nothing, and weeks of putting out loads of X-Men titles all at once. I’m sure there must be some sort of thought process behind this approach, but I’d take rather more convincing that it’s a good one.
Anyway, Avengers vs X-Men may not technically be over, but it might as well be given that it doesn’t crop up in any of this week’s books. You’ll realise, of course, that that leaves at least a couple of these titles in the odd position of doing stories that take place after the crossover conclude but which require to tiptoe around actually revealing the ending. For the most part they manage that by finding something else to focus on, but again, it’s an odd scheduling choice.
Anyhow…
Astonishing X-Men #54 – Wow, this storyline is going on for ever and a day, isn’t it? We’ve been at this for, what, six issues now, and we’ve finally reached the stage of identifying the villain’s plan and giving some vague outline of her motivations. I realise we’ve had a diversion in there to do the wedding, but even so, this is moving at a snail’s pace.
Charts – 23 September 2012
The X-Axis – 23 September 2012
It’s a podcast weekend (though I’m told the sound quality is a bit dodgy on this one), so check it out one post down.
Otherwise… I’m horribly busy right now, but thankfully, Marvel have considerately obliged me by releasing virtually nothing this week. Which, come to think of it, kind of begs the question of what possessed them to put out so many X-Men titles last week instead of shunting a few of them into this week. But whatever. We’ve got one X-book and one AvX tie-in – if only barely – so let’s take a look at those…
Avengers #30 – One for the “outrageously tenuous tie-ins” file, if ever I saw one.
House to Astonish Episode 91
We’re back with another episode of House to Astonish, where we’re discussing Greg Rucka’s views of Marvel and DC, Marvel’s “Superior” teaser, Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Jerry Ordway’s Human Bomb, Ultimate Captain America as US President and the Dredd UK box office success, as well as taking a run through December’s solicitations. We’re also reviewing Team Seven, Ghost and Sword of Sorcery, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook is close to ending it all. All this plus people who sound like Crayola crayons, the optimum way to not watch Arrow and the return of a certain vaguely London-y comics creator impression.
Please be aware that there was something very strange about the audio this time round which we didn’t discover until after we recorded, which makes us sound like we’re sitting about ten feet away from the microphone, so you might have to turn this one right up. C’est la vie.
The episode is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or through our Facebook fan page. We’re also available on Stitcher.com or through their free iOS or Android apps.
For those of you who make it through to the end, What The Fox can be found here. Enjoy.
Charts – 16 September 2012
Quite an odd one this week, with the Sunday chart not bearing all that much resemblance to the midweeks for a change. That’s partly because of a last-minute download campaign, partly because the midweek number one had frontloaded sales that couldn’t last the week, and partly because of some tracks gaining real momentum during the week, including the first ever K-pop record to make the UK chart.
But first…
1. The Script (featuring will.i.am) – “Hall of Fame”
The run of new entries at number 1 comes to a halt. Unlike everything around it, this single has sustained its sales – and so it climbs from number 2 last week, to become the Script’s first number one. Their new album “#3” enters the album chart this week at number 2, which is very confusing.
The X-Axis – 16 September 2012
Hey, you know what the world needs this week? A truly ridiculous quantity of X-Men comics! Set the dial to excessive!
(Poor Astonishing X-Men must be wondering why it didn’t get to ship an issue this week. Everyone else did.)
Avengers vs X-Men #11 – And so here it is. The moment that must come in every crossover. The obligatory death of a character who hasn’t had a significant role in the story, but whose demise might justify a press release.
Night of Champions 2012
Of all the WWE’s second-tier themed pay-per-views, Night of Champions ought to be the easiest to write. The theme is, quite simply, that all the company’s championships will be defended on the same show. This is barely much of a concept at all, since most of the titles are defended on each show anyway. But it avoids having to shoehorn a gimmick match into a storyline that isn’t ready for it. You can just book some title defences.
Despite this seemingly easy remit, the build-up for Night of Champions 2012 has been more than a little shambolic. The problem for the writers is that the company actually spends very little time trying to build interest in the second-tier titles, and so most of the main storylines don’t involve them at all. The result has been one featured match that doesn’t have a title at stake at all, and two matches in which characters engaged in their own storylines have suddenly been shoved into a title match even though the defending champion has nothing to do with the story at all. Oh, and one match that is only taking place at all by accident.
Charts – 12 September 2012
We seem to be settling back into the routine of singles entering at number one. This is the fourth consecutive new entry at number one, and probably the least interesting of the bunch.
1. Ne-Yo – “Let Me Love You”
This is the lead single from Ne-Yo’s upcoming album, and it’s, y’know, above average, I guess. It’s also very much a typical single for the year, with an equally typical video, and I’m kind of struggling to think of anything else to say about it. Ne-Yo obviously rates it rather higher, describing it in his press release as a song that “if taken care of the right way, could help the world.” By teaching us to love or something.
The X-Axis – 9 September 2012
It’s a podcast weekend, so if you haven’t checked out the episode yet, it’s just one post down from here. (Actually, it’s one post down from here whether you’ve checked it out or not.) This week, we review Steed & Mrs Peel, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolts, and Phantom Stranger – which really is just as bad as we say it is.
Back with the X-books, it’s a quiet week – but that does give me the opportunity to catch up on the last handful of books that came out while I was on holiday! Um, because the next issues are now out…
Age of Apocalypse #6-7 – I sat down to write this with a vague memory that I had not yet reviewed issue #6. Then I tried to remember what had actually happened in issue #6. And I couldn’t.
