House to Astonish Episode 141
We’re back to normal operations this time round (by which I mean “recorded with sound errors” – for some reason the laptop didn’t pick up the mic so the show recorded using the internal mic on the Macbook, which means a slightly echoey experience that long-time listeners will remember from our first year). We’ve got a good bit of chat about Civil War II, the newly-announced Poe Dameron ongoing, the all-new Wasp, Netflix’s potential Punisher series, titbits of info on the Wonder Woman movie and the creative team change on A-Force. We’re also casting a critical eye over the December sales charts, reviewing Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion and Spider-Man/Deadpool and the _fficial Ha_db_ _k _f the _fficial Ha_db_ _k _f the Marvel U_iverse. All this plus Barney Stinson: Hitler’s Wingman, a ham & egg breakfast and the Green Lantern Corps Rotary Club AGM.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page. And remember, there are super-awesome House to Astonish t-shirts on sale at our Redbubble store, and they really suit you.
I haven’t got Edge of Oblivion yet, but I was reading GLC: Lost Army, and the point is Corps don’t know how they ended up in this universe, which is why they haven’t tried to go back the same way. It sounds like that could have been explained better.
Regarding how Miles Morales fits into the new universe, was anything ever done with the bit at the end of Spider-Men, where Peter googles if there’s a Miles on Earth-616 and is shocked by what he discovers?
I don’t think so. If I were in charge it would be revealed that the 616 Miles Morales was something really embarrassing, like a serial pest performance artist or the man (kid?) behind the Christians Against Dinosaurs movement. Nothing evil, just humiliating.
The Force Awakens is not the highest grossing film in history. It’s still #3.
-This podcast was the first I’ve heard of Civil War II, but the “kill a guy to prevent a bad future” plot sounds really, really similar to Bendis’ Age of Ultron plot. Granted, it’s precognition over time travel, but it still feels like re-treading. (Then again, it’s a sequel to a previous event, so I guess the re-treading is built in.)
-I enjoyed Spider-Man & Deadpool as well; between this and Howard the Duck and Squirrel Girl (and regular Deadpool, maybe), Marvel’s got a healthy set of comedy superhero books going.
-Between Miles, Silk, Spider-Woman, Spider-Gwen, and the rest of the Spider-Universe cast, there are really a lot of Spider-characters running around these days.
Also, pre-requisite Trekkie question–which series is your favorite, Al?
having read a number of early Werewolf By Night issues, I’m always amazed at the number of times Jack Russell is surprised by the full moon. Obviously, 1973 was before diaries contained lunar calendars as standard…
I was looking at the December sales charts the other day and was surprised that the first issue of Catwoman after Tieri took over somehow lost over 25% from what it was doing under Genevieve Valentine. Not a good sign for DC dialing back on DC You.
Well, Ultimate End shows Miles “appearing” in the new Marvel Universe, supporting cast intact, and with his mum alive again, and the suggestion that any last vestiges of memory of his “former life” have faded away.
Now I’m trying to work out which other 90s marvel transformers stories would map to recent Marvel event series: current xmen status quo equals ‘On the Edge of Extinction’ right?
Sad to hear that Illuminati is probably already doomed. A worthy successor to Superior Foes for heel team book everyone should be reading.
As far as Star Treks go, c’mon, it’s DS9 seasons 4-7; as Aerosmith would say, it’s not even a quesshon.
Daibhid Ceannaideach says:
“Regarding how Miles Morales fits into the new universe, was anything ever done with the bit at the end of Spider-Men, where Peter googles if there’s a Miles on Earth-616 and is shocked by what he discovers?”
I don’t remember where I heard this, but apparently Bendis wanted to introduce an adult Miles Morales into the main Marvel Universe, but that didn’t jibe with plans for either 616 Peter Parker or the Ultimate Universe, so the idea was scrapped.
I really felt like Secret Wars would have been a good time for Bendis to do Spider-Men 2, since the main story at least implies that the two characters spend a lot of time together crossing Battleworld to sneak into Castle Doom. That would’ve been a nice opportunity for them to encounter various alternate versions of Miles, and even Peter perhaps, and cover what Peter discovered at the end of the first series.
Calling it Civil War II just feels like a blatantly lazy cash-in on the movie. Plus it will almost certainly end up being terrible given that Bendis is writing and his track record with multi-cast event books is simply awful.
I don’t think Paul is all that wrong when he mentioned about Marvel saying that Miles Morales was meant to be *the* Spider-Man going forward. Long term he is probably going to suffer quite a bit given that Peter Parker is still present in Amazing (the de facto #1 book) and then they severely dented Morales’ chances with ‘Spidey’ which is more or less the same set-up (rookie superhero in high-school) but featuring a more established named lead character.
I’m glad that you guys keep championing Vision as it is quite a gem and definitely something people should take a look at. When it was announced I just shrugged but checked it out and was really impressed.
The reaction to ‘Batman vs Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles’ was brilliant.
On your episode of Holds To Astonish, can you please interview that Goblin dude again as it was hilarious last time.
-As far as Star Treks go, c’mon, it’s DS9 seasons 4-7;
In the Pale Moonlight should go down as one of the best hours of television…ever. It’s kind of a crime Avery Brooks and Andrew Robinson haven’t done more, separately or together. They deserve and need to get cast in Game of Thrones or a Tarantino movie.
“As far as Star Treks go, c’mon, it’s DS9 seasons 4-7; as Aerosmith would say, it’s not even a quesshon.” That was exactly the answer I was hoping for. (Although really, I’m okay with any answer but Enterprise.)
Trek’s never done longform as well before and hasn’t done it as well since–not that it’s really tried. I also love that, unlike other Treks, it’s not a story about Starfleet’s cream of the crop, but a bunch of offbeat folk in a backwater station that are thrust into importance and learn to work together and rise to the occasion.
And yeah, In the Pale Moonlight is brilliant.
Maybe the Tick-Tock character you mention is the one that turns up in Civil War 2? “Someone is going to die within the next minute!”
Al has great taste in Trek. I thought DS9 was great almost all the way through — it even had a pretty strong first season. And yeah, some of the Dukat stuff in S7 made me feel like the character had overstayed his welcome, but Kira in the Cardassian resistance was brilliant.
Weirdly, I remember Avatar being part of that brief, brief time when Hollywood tried to make Sam Worthington happen.
“Mark Millar, the Murray Gold of comics,” is exactly how I feel too.
In the just-released April 2016 Marvel solicits, there’s the conspicuous absence of a 7th issue for Howling Commandos of SHIELD. So I guess there’s our first All-New, All-Different casualty…
‘“Mark Millar, the Murray Gold of comics,” is exactly how I feel too.’
I agree, but I was really surprised anyone knew who Murray Gold was. Is he well known in the UK? And are we talking about the composer for Doctor Who?
The Hangman returned to battle the West Coast Avengers and nearly murdered the US Agent alongside the reincarnated form of Joseph Stalin… yes?
Murray Gold has been the only constant since Doctor Who returned to our screens, for good or ill. He’s a bit predictable and over the top in my opinion. Much like Mark Millar. 😉
He’s no Dudley Simpson!
Sadly I’m a life-long fan of Doctor Who and an American, so I may not be the best example of the general public’s knowledge of Doctor Who composers. I’m no Andrew Pixley but just by mentioning Andrew Pixley one could guess how much spare knowledge about the production of Doctor Who I have floating about in my head.
A very late comment but I feel the need to point out that the reason Karnak hasn’t had an issue 2 is because Warren Ellis had a stroke while working on it and obviously that meant he wasn’t able to work on it for a while.
@hitmonkey: That happened in June. Alonso said the delays are due to “unforeseen complications in Gerardo’s life”. He’s still doing #2, but they’re bringing in Roland Boschi to do #3-4 at least: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/01/21/roland-boschi-to-join-warren-ellis-on-karnak-for-marvel-comics/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
FWIW two months on, the Hangman who fought the West Coast Avengers and was in the Night Shift was a different dude. His name was Jason Roland, and he made a deal with a demon to get superhuman powers (i.e. his bit of string was magic).
Paul may or may not remember him as the dude who killed Jamie Madrox (scythe through the heart and Hangman’s to blame) towards the end of Peter David’s X-Factor run.