WWE TLC 2011
Reviews later. For now… let’s preview tonight’s WWE show. TLC (Tables Ladders & Chairs) is a hangover from the period when the company was experimenting with gimmicks for every show, and also from the days when they were a lot more cavalier about the injury risks in matches. TLC matches started as amped-up versions of the ladder match, with added weaponry and more convoluted stunts, some of which were genuinely unwise. Today’s product is a lot more restrained than that, and the random shoehorning of TLC matches into storylines that don’t call for them hasn’t helped either. The upshot is that the TLC show now sits at the tail end of the pay per view calendar in a rather toned down form.
The established set-up is to have one TLC match coupled with one ladder match (winner is the first person to climb the ladder and the retrieve the whatever), one tables match (winner is the first person to throw their opponent through a cheap plywood table – it made more sense when ECW originated the idea, since they actually used those tables for their timekeepers), and one chairs match (in which, uh, chairs are legal as weapons – nobody had ever heard of such a pointless gimmick until the WWE had to invent it for the purpose of this show).
Charts – 11 December 2011
We have something of a surprise at number 1, as “Wishing On A Star” by the X Factor Finalists fails to spend a second week at the top, despite having no major competition. That leaves the way clear for 2009’s X Factor alumni Olly Murs’ “Dance With Me Tonight”, which has already spent a fortnight locked at number 2, and now gives him a third number 1 to join “Please Don’t Let Me Go” and “Heart Skips A Beat”. It’s not very good, but here it is anyway.
Housekeeping
I’m not getting the X-books till Monday, so no reviews this weekend. I’m going to decorate the tree instead. Hopefully I’ll do something early next week.
Check below for this week’s podcast, though!
House to Astonish Episode 74
Surprise! Early episode! As we weren’t both going to be around in Edinburgh this weekend, we’ve got in a bit under the wire with a nice juicy hour and a quarter of chat on such topics as the passing of Jerry Robinson, the continuing New 52 creative reshuffle, the Kickstarter success of Ashes, the upcoming Marvel crossover event and Brian Michael Bendis’s move off the Avengers titles. We’ve also got reviews of Valen the Outcast, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and The Defenders, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is worth a thousand words.
The episode is here, or available on Mixcloud here, or you can use the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments thread, on Twitter, on our Facebook fan page or by email.
Charts – 4 December 2011
It took them long enough. But after all those weeks stuck behind Rihanna, The X Factor finally gets a number one single again. Yes, they’ve brought out the big guns – it’s the annual charity single by the finalists. When Remembrance Sunday came and went without a charity single, I wondered whether they were giving it a miss this year. Turns out, they’ve just moved on from soldiers. It’s children this year. You like children, don’t you? And to make extra specially sure that it definitely goes to Number 1, the single also features X Factor alumni JLS and One Direction.
The song this year is “Wishing On A Star”. The video is the same as every year, except with children this time. In a year’s time, when this shows up on the “every number one of the 2010s” marathons on the music channels, we’ll be able to play “who was that again?”
It goes without saying that it’s not very good – charity singles rarely are – but by the standards of X Factor charity releases, I guess it’s one of the better ones. Frankly, though, charity singles don’t exist to be bought on merit. They’re intended as social events. You buy them as a token of support. Judging them by conventional standards misses the point.
The X-Axis – 4 December 2011
This is about as quiet a week as you’re going to get. For shipping purposes, this was week five of November, and for some reason DC has decided that in order to keep its schedule nice and regular, it’s just not going to ship any of its regular DCU titles when a fifth week comes up. They’ve got a couple of minis out, and that’s really about it. As for the X-books, it’s a relatively light selection of three books. I shall take the industry’s invitation, and keep this one relatively short.
THUNDER Agents #1 – This is one of the handful of DC minis filling the release schedule. Perhaps this isn’t such a bad idea – it’s certainly getting a clear run with the DC readership.
Before the DCU reboot, Nick Spencer was getting decent reviews for his work on THUNDER Agents, and now they’re giving him another six-issue mini. At least, that’s how it’s being presented. But this doesn’t exactly read like a first issue; it reads like an issue of a series that’s already well under way. It’s not particularly interested in establishing the premise or introducing most of the title characters; a large chunk of the issue is given over to scenes between two characters called Toby and Colleen which certainly feel like they’re continuing a subplot about the characters’ relationship.
Charts – 27 November 2011
So far this year, we haven’t had a chart that was dominated by records associated with the X Factor. Not so coincidentally, ratings are down this year – albeit from stratospheric to merely very good indeed. But if you’ve been waiting for a chart dominated by the Spawn of Cowell, this would be it. Kind of.
First, however… Rihanna continues to defy gravity, as “We Found Love” remains at number 1, for a combined total of six weeks at number 1. Last week I claimed that five weeks was the biggest total of the year. That was wrong, because I forgot that “Someone Like You” by Adele also reached five weeks with an interruption. Thoughtfully, by hanging on for another week, Rihanna has rendered me retroactively correct. The last record to make seven weeks was “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis, at the tail end of 2007 – I don’t rate her chances of matching that, though, as her iTunes sales finally seem to be fading.
Two tracks from her new album also make the charts. Number 25 is the title track “Talk That Talk”, which has also got Jay-Z on it. No video, obviously, but her record company have put about half the album on YouTube as audio files. And number 39 is “You Da One”, which is in the other half, so I’ll leave you to search it out yourselves. Together with her guest appearance on “Take Care” by Drake (number 9), Rihanna once again accounts for 10% of the chart.
The X-Axis – 27 November 2011
Happy Thanksgiving, or whatever it is that Americans say to one another! If you check one post down, you’ll find this week’s podcast, now in association with CBR. It’s also something of an epic since it includes the interviews with Stephen Wacker, Nick Spencer and Kieron Gillen that Al taped at last week’s Thought Bubble convention. I usually leave the hype to Al, but you won’t want to miss this one, True Believers. I gather that’s how it’s done.
Meanwhile, I’ve got two weeks of X-books to catch up on (plus X-23 #16, which I think slipped through the net somewhere)…
Astonishing X-Men #44 – Another Regenesis issue, and another new creative team, as Greg Pak and Mike McKone take over. This is another of the Utopia titles, and quite what its remit is these days, heaven only knows. “Exalted” is a four-issue arc, so for all we know, this could turn out to be the book with rotating creators on each arc.
House to Astonish Episode 73
It’s our first podcast in conjunction with Comics Should Be Good, and it’s a bit of an epic – our longest ever episode, with discussion of the Marvel cancellation wave, the Booster Gold TV show, Image Comics’ convention and Ron Marz’s move off Voodoo, as well as a run through the solicitations. We’ve got reviews of Fantastic Four and Mudman, interviews with Nick Spencer, Stephen Wacker and Kieron Gillen recorded at Leeds’s Thought Bubble convention and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe hits the bottle. All this plus J Michael Straczynski’s tomb, Iceman being beaten with a giraffe and some of the more obscure levels of Sonic the Hedgehog.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments thread, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
Good News, Everyone!
Hot on the heels of our third anniversary show, we’re pleased to be able to announce that House to Astonish has joined top-tier comics website Comic Book Resources, as a new regular feature of the Comics Should Be Good blog! We’re going to be posting our show there as of tomorrow’s episode, and we’re looking forward to being part of their line-up.
Now, don’t fret – this isn’t going to have an impact on the blog. You’ll still get the X-Axis, the wrestling write-ups and the chart posts, and the podcast will continue to be posted here too. You’ve just got another avenue by which you can get hold of the show now. The RSS feed will remain the same as well, and all it should mean for House to Astonish’s continued operation is that we’ll be in front of a lot more eyes.
We’ll see you all tomorrow, for an extra-long episode, featuring interviews with Nick Spencer, Stephen Wacker and Kieron Gillen, conducted at last weekend’s Thought Bubble convention.
