Charts – 2 October 2011
We’ve had eleven straight number ones by British artists, but this week that run comes to a screeching halt thanks to what can only be described as a Spanish novelty record. Oddly enough, the last Spanish number one single (“Asereje” by Las Ketchup from 2002) was also a novelty record. But at least it wasn’t “Loca People” by Sak Noel. Caution: what follows is an irritating record with an extraordinarily bad video.
Sak Noel is a Spanish DJ who’s done pretty much nothing else of note (in terms of releases, anyway – apparently he also runs a music festival). The uncredited vocalist is Esthera Sarita, who’s pretty much a blank slate too.
DCU Week 4
Welcome to the second chunk of this week’s reviews. For those of you befuddled by the notion of downward scrolling, you’ll find the regular X-books here, this week’s podcast here, and a wholly unrelated wrestling column here. Oh, and check the podcast if you want to see what Al and I thought of Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley’s new creator-owned series Brilliant. (I’ve got seven DCU titles to cover here, I’m not going to review that one twice.)
Aquaman #1 – This one, however, I will come back to briefly. We talked about it on the podcast, and we weren’t greatly impressed by it – though I think I liked it more than Al did. But across the board, it seems to have been getting decent reviews. Which kind of mystifies me, to be frank, because as far as I can see, nothing bloody happens.
Hell in a Cell 2011
Does the WWE really need another pay-per-view, just two weeks after the last one? No! Of course it doesn’t! And the fact that only five matches have been announced for this show tends to suggest that it’s about as much of an afterthought to them as it is to us.
If they’ve got any sense, “Hell in a Cell” is a show that will be dropped from the 2012 calendar. Quite aside from the fact that they need to cut back on pointless D-list PPVs, this one is a hangover from a couple of years ago when the company got the idea that it would be a really good idea if every show had a theme. So, casting around through the company’s arsenal of established gimmick matches, they came up with a show headlined by “Hell in a Cell” matches.
The problem with this is twofold.
The X-Axis – 1 October 2011
If you’re looking for the podcast, it’s one post below. Meanwhile, once again, I’m going to split the X-books off from the rest of the new launches in an attempt to keep these reviews within some sort of manageable size…
Astonishing X-Men #42 – The final chapter of Christos Gage and Juan Bobillo’s inexplicably scheduled “Meanwhile”, which has been running in alternate issues between chapters of Daniel Way’s wholly unrelated Monster Island arc. For the life of me, I still can’t figure out why somebody thought that was a good idea, particularly in the title whose whole selling point is supposed to be that it has self-contained stories. (You just need to remember only to buy every second issue.)
House To Astonish Episode 69
A pretty full episode this time round, with a look at December’s solicitations, DC on the Kindle Fire, George Perez leaving Superman, the CBLDF’s ironic purchases, Marvel’s Point One promos and Albert Uderzo retiring from Asterix. We’ve also got reviews of Aquaman, Near Death and Brilliant, and The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe feels pretty, oh so pretty. All this plus characters made out of Gummi Bears, join-the-dots puzzles and the link between Jeph Loeb and Michael Vick.
The podcast is here, here on Mixcloud or accessible via the player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
Charts – 25 September 2011
Undiscriminating patriots rejoice! The weekly turnover of number one singles continues, and it has apparently been decreed that a new chart record has been set: eleven consecutive number ones by British acts. That would be DJ Fresh, the Wanted, JLS, Cher Lloyd, Nero, Wretch 32, Olly Murs, Example, Pixie Lott, One Direction (who have an Irish member, but it seems the Official Charts Company determines nationality by majority vote) and now…
…the one with the stupid hats from N-Dubz.
DCU Week 3 (and some others)
There’s so much to write about this month that I’m splitting the X-books off from the other titles. You’ll find them in yesterday’s post, and in this one I’m going to cover… well, the DC books I bought from week three, along with a couple of other new titles.
The DC relaunch has been pretty successful so far, but for my money this was a faintly underwhelming week. There’s a lot of books out this week of no interest to me – and other than some positive reviews for DC Universe Presents, I’ve seen little to suggest I’m missing out. Based on the cover alone, I wasn’t going within a mile of Catwoman, and it seems pretty clear that one was a smart call.
Batman #1 – We’ve already had Detective Comics back in week one, which would traditionally be regarded as the lead Batman title, but I’m happy enough to have sat that one out. This is the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo book, and thankfully, it seems to be pretty much self-contained. Some of the sidekicks are wandering around, but there’s no apparent attempt to tie in with events in the other Bat-family titles.
The X-Axis – 24 September 2011
We’re now three quarters of the way through September, and once again I’m going to split the reviews into two. I didn’t actually pick up that many DCU titles from week three, but there’s a veritable ton of X-books, and they include the big events in Schism. So we’ll cover the X-books today, and tomorrow I’ll come back to Batman, Blue Beetle and Wonder Woman, along with Jay Faerber’s Near Death and the relaunch of Ultimate X-Men (which isn’t part of the line proper, and besides, it helps balance out the posts).
Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3 – There’s a certain degree of event pile-up going on with the X-books right now. This week features two “Schism” books as well as two Fear Itself tie-ins, which doesn’t exactly seem like the best way to sell either story as a big deal.
Charts – 18 September 2011
It is time once again to bow before our overlord Simon Cowell. Yes, just in time for the new series of X Factor… One Direction are back. And this time they’re McFly! Well, kind of, anyway.
With X Factor about to launch in America, a whole new nation is, one suspects, about to be exposed to the dubious charms of the ad hoc group.
DCU Week 2
Everyone else may want to call it week three, but here at House to Astonish we’re choosing to pretend Justice League didn’t happen.
And for those of you checking in late of a weekend: you’ll find this week’s X-book reviews here, you’ll find this week’s podcast here (with reviews of Pigs, Ultimate Spider-Man and Demon Knights), and you’ll find the wrestling preview here. Content!
The DCU titles I didn’t get this week: Batman and Robin (reviews suggest it’s okay), Deathstroke (sounds like I’m not missing much), Green Lantern (mixed reviews elsewhere, and nothing that makes me feel like I want to read it), Mr Terrific (seems to be getting a fairly muted reaction), Resurrection Man (ditto, and I never much cared for the book first time round), Suicide Squad (critical consensus: destroy) and Superboy (Al’s read it, and he says it’s better than you’d expect). If you want to persuade me to give any of these a go, the comments thread is at the bottom.
But now for the six I did buy…
