Charts – 20 September 2024
At last, a singles chart with some actual activity.
1. Sabrina Carpenter – “Taste”
Admittedly, the activity is not right at the top, with “Taste” spending a fourth week at number one. Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck Babe” returns to number 2 to break the Sabrina Carpenter logjam, but she still has “Espresso” at 3 and “Please Please Please” at 4. She’s now been number 1 for 16 of the last 21 weeks.
12. The Weeknd – “Dancing in the Flames”
This is the lead single from his upcoming sixth album, debuted at a one-off concert earlier in the month. He’s had bigger hits than this before, but his first week places aren’t that important – the Weeknd tends to have his that stick around forever. The track is firmly in the 80s revivalist mode we’ve come to expect from him, but he does do it very well. And there is an alternative acoustic version available, if you want to hear the song in a less 80s mode.
The X-Axis – w/c 16 September 2024
X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES INFINITY COMIC #15. By Alex Paknadel, Phillip Sevy, Michael Bartolo & Clayton Cowles. This is the first part of a Beast story, and it spends much of the time setting up its take on the character. We’re directly reminded that this guy is in fact the last surviving Beast clone with copied memories – something that X-Men itself has largely danced around, for perfectly good reasons, since it hasn’t been relevant yet. In this series, it does matter, because it goes to the fact that Hank has skipped all the decades of continuity in which he became evil or showed up as an evil version from another universe. Reasonably but predictably, Hank is struggling with the idea that this might be an inevitable direction for his character. Perhaps more interesting is the idea that he doesn’t even feel able to trust his own reasoning to avoid that direction, because his evil versions were all hyper-rational anyway. Having set up all that quite nicely, the story then packs Beast off to rescue a new mutant (everyone else is busy), and in true Silver Age style it turns out to be a villain. That side of things is a bit more sketchy so far, but it seems like a story that should be able to come together.
SAVAGE WOLVERINE INFINITY COMIC #8. By Tom Bloom, Guillermo Sanna, Java Targalia & Joe Sabino. End of the arc and, yeah, this was actually good. The story is perfectly fine, but Sanna’s angular and brutal art really is the draw for this series. I’m not 100% sure about the final reveal, but on balance I think it works – and I quite like the idea that the mutants who did skip out going to Krakoa might feel a bit uncomfortable about looking to the big name characters for help now. Anyway, if you’ve got an Unlimited subscription and you’re not overdosing on Wolverine already, this one is worth your time.
X-Factor #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-FACTOR vol 5 #2
“We Could Be Heroes”
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Bob Quinn
Colour artist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Darren Shan
X-FACTOR:
Havok is apparently either living with Polaris or at least staying the night with her, despite her firm disapproval of his involvement in X-Factor. He defends the operation to her, despite his doubts, and explains that the team aren’t going on any missions until they figure out how last issue’s debut got so many characters killed. In fact, later in the issue, he seems to be arguing for this investigation to take place, which implies that he’s lying to Polaris about it being in train already. Even so, he understandably objects to her clumsily pushing him into an intervention by the Mutant Underground.
General Mills plays to Havok’s insecurities by telling him that he was put in charge of the team because he was a proper hero that they would look up to.
Pyro is appointed as Havok’s second in command. Havok objects to this, citing Pyro’s history in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants – though Pyro was pretty clearly rehabilitated as a Marauder during the Krakoan era. He maybe has a better point in terms of whether Pyro has ever shown any leadership skills. And in fairness, if Havok sees X-Factor’s function as being to improve mutant PR, he might well question what a well-known ex-terrorist is doing on the team from that point of view. For his part, Pyro seems happy to swan around Factor House and enjoy the free drinks.
X-Men #4 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 7 #4
“Upstarts”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Netho Diaz
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
THE X-MEN:
Cyclops stays behind at the Factory and sits out this mission, so plays a relatively minor role.
Magik is assigned as team leader for the mission, which makes sense given her role as one of the Captains of Krakoa. Granted, it means she’s chosen for the job over the Beast, but since he doesn’t even want to go, that seems fair enough. Beast is impressed with her performance in the field and thinks she’s a born leader, but he may not fully realise quite how fatalistic she is. According to Magik, she thinks there’s no hope of mutants ever winning, and her goal is just to “keep from losing for as long as possible”. Krakoa is the elephant in the room where this worldview is concerned; was she expecting it to fail all along, or just rationalising it after the fact?
Temper and Juggernaut make up her limited field team. Juggernaut gets to give a speech about how he’s opted into making mutant affairs his business, and that the X on his helmet is a crosshairs that he chooses to wear.
Charts – 13 September 2024
Legacy acts aren’t willing to stick to the album chart any more, it seems.
1. Sabrina Carpenter – “Taste”
Three weeks. She still has “Espresso” at number 2, and “Please Please Please” at number 5. Her album “Short N’ Sweet” is still at number 2.
4. Linkin Park – “The Emptiness Machine”
This is the lead single from Linkin Park’s eighth album, after a seven year gap. They’ve added Emily Armstrong as joint lead singer, and the band’s return to activity is clearly a big draw. Just as Oasis were able to get three tracks into the top 10 on the back of 90s nostalgia, Linkin Park get their highest chart position ever – they haven’t had a top 10 hit since 2008, and their previous peak was number 6 for “What I’ve Done.” Their earliest hit singles were back in early 2001, so in many ways they’re as much a legacy act as Oasis, but at least they’re here with new material. Their singles collection “Papercuts” is at number 8 on the album chart.
House to Astonish Presents: The Lightning Round Episode 22
It’s time to chew over a big beatdown bonanza as we look at the climactic clash between the Tbolts and Graviton in Thunderbolts issues 56-58, and take the time to say goodbye to Marvel’s breakout character of 1998. Then it’s time for something completely different, as one of the least fondly remembered gimmicks of the Bill Jemas era rears its very quiet head in issue 59.
The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, via email or on our Facebook fan page. And have you seen those new clothes the Emperor is wearing? They’re absolutely rubbish compared to a House to Astonish t-shirt.
The X-Axis – w/c 9 September 2024
X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES INFINITY COMIC #14. By Alex Paknadel, Diógenes Neves, Arthur Hesli & Clayton Cowles. Just a two-parter, this one – the first time the series has broken from a three-part format. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from the first part, which is to say, it’s a vignette designed to remind Magneto that even without his powers he can still help by providing direction. Given the limits of that sort of story, it’s quite well done and avoids feeling too trite, even if it has to reach for some sense of resolution without actually advancing very much.
UNCANNY X-MEN #2. (Annotations here.) Two issues in, I have mixed feelings about this title. Having Rogue act as if there isn’t another X-Men book out there might be intended to suggest that she doesn’t regard Scott’s team as real X-Men, as I suggested in the annotations… but in the absence of any hints at a reason for that, it feels more like a weird discontinuity than an intentional plot. And I’m entirely un-sold on Corina Ellis as a main villain, since she’s both one-dimensional thus far and way, way too close to Orchis, a villain type that’s been beaten into the ground for most of the last year. Quite a few of these From the Ashes books read as if the new office wasn’t expecting the “Fall of X” period to be anywhere near as bleak and fascistic as it was, and thought they were taking over just after Krakoa had fallen; it’s a pervasive problem across the line. On the other hand, the Outliers all seem like promising new characters, and the art is consistently beautiful – David Marquez adds a ton of depth and emotion to the cast.
Wolverine #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 8 #1
“In the Bones”
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Martín Cóccolo
Colour artist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
WOLVERINE:
A less-than-prominent editorial note on the credits page places this story before X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men #1, though you could work that out anyway.
After the fall of Krakoa, Logan has headed off to the Canadian wilderness, as he sometimes does, to run around naked with wolves. He hasn’t completely dropped off the radar but he’s made it very clear that he wants to be left alone. Logan attributes his mental state to the trauma of “Fall of X” and associated events, and seems to be saying that now that he’s finally in a position to take some time to drop out of society, that’s what he wants to do. He resents being told that he has responsibilities as a prominent mutant (which is consistent with how he’s been acting in the X-Men books).
The wolves get wiped out by Cyber rather quickly, and Logan blames himself for exposing them to the inevitable attack by one of his villains. A few pages later, one of the campers who survived Cyber’s attack makes essentially the same argument – that the mutants drew Cyber to attack them. He’s not exactly wrong, but given his anti-mutant tone, Wolverine has a lot less sympathy for him, and declares that if Cyber comes back for him then he has it coming. In fact, though, Wolverine does try to protect them.
Uncanny X-Men #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #2
“Red Wave, part 2: There Was a Before, There Will be an After”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: David Marquez
Colour artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
THE X-MEN:
Rogue thinks that it’s fallen to her little group to step up and be the X-Men. She flags that the Outliers were willing to ally with her when most of the former X-Men wouldn’t return her calls. The elephant in the room here is the state of her relationship with Cyclops. They’re clearly in touch and basically cordial – they spoke last issue and speak again in this one. At the end of issue #1 (which leads directly into this one) Rogue said that “Cyclops is building something up there [north], I think”.
However… this issue includes Rogue’s side of her conversation with Cyclops from X-Men #3. If so, this issue comes after X-Men #2, where Cyclops’s team showed up publicly in San Francisco, and attracted some public attention. So did Rogue just miss all that? Or does she not regard Cyclops’ team as proper X-Men for some reason? The fact that she calls Cyclops “the last guy I want to talk to” might point in the latter direction.
Gambit is apparently affected by the Eye of Agamotto which he obtained last issue. It’s described here as the “left” eye, which alludes to the fact that it’s the pair of the one normally found in the custody fo Dr Strange. (For more of the back story, see the Uncanny X-Men #1 annotations under “Sadurang”.) This plot is a bit odd, since the issue starts with everyone apparently aware of the issue, and I don’t see anything in issue #1 setting it up. Anyway, the Eye fires off an energy blast without Gambit wanting it to. He says he’s “picked up a hitcher” who’s “a bit twitchy”.
Daredevil Villains #37: The Dark Messiah
DAREDEVIL #97-98 (March-April 1973)
“He Who Saves” / “Let There Be – Death!”
Plotter: Gerry Conway
Scripter: Steve Gerber
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inker: Ernie Chua
Letterers: John Costanza (#97), Shelly Leferman (#98)
Colourists: not credited (#97), George Roussos (#98)
Editor: Roy Thomas
We’ve skipped issues #95-96, which are a rematch with the Man-Bull. That brings us to the final Gerry Conway story, which is also the first Steve Gerber story. Although he’s only the scripter, these issues kick off a storyline that runs through to issue #107, and so they’re more a part of Gerber’s run than Conway’s. Spoiler: it’s another of those arcs where Daredevil takes on a series of lesser villains before facing the final boss at the end.
Steve Gerber was still fairly new to Marvel at this point. His first comics were cover dated December 1972. But they included Adventure into Fear #11, the start of his Man-Thing run. Later in 1973, he debuts Howard the Duck. So some of his signature work is happening at the same time as his Daredevil run. In comparison, Daredevil is a minor entry in his bibliography. He plays this book fairly straight, at least while it remains set in San Francisco. Things change when the book moves back to New York, but we won’t get to that for a while. At this stage, there’s a bit of weirdness, but for the most part Gerber’s Daredevil remains within normal parameters for 70s Marvel. This is Steve Gerber showing that he can also be a safe pair of hands.
