The Homies 2013
We’re one day off the end of 2013, and our next episode (coming this weekend) feature our review of 2013. Those of you who heard last year’s Christmas special (which is all of you who’ve ever heard an episode of the show, I imagine, as it’s still our most-downloaded episode) will know that this means that we’re going to be awarding House to Astonish’s own awards – the Homies – in a variety of categories. As with last year, we want YOU to help – Paul and I are each going to select our winners in the following categories, but we’re also going to read out what our listeners think on the next episode. So check out the categories below, and let us know who or what you think deserves to take home each gong!
BEST NEW SERIES
This one’s pretty self-explanatory – any comic whose first issue was published between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2013 is eligible. What new series got your attention the most this year?
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
This one’s a little less self-explanatory – what series, again first published between 1 January and date of broadcast, did you think was best, with the proviso that it has to be something where the property wasn’t in existence prior to the start of 2013. We’re counting re-use of titles as well as concepts, so Hellboy in Hell, Young Avengers or Batman ’66 wouldn’t be eligible, but (for example) Sex Criminals would.
MOST WANTED
This is for the comic, series or graphic novel that saw print this year which you’d want to see more of, whether that be a book that was cancelled before its time, a one-shot or mini that just begs for a follow-up, or an OGN that you’d love to see a sequel to.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
It may have seemed unappealing when you read about it online, and those preview pages may have looked unremarkable, but when you finally got the winner of this category in your hands you were ready to eat your words. What comic, series or graphic novel did you find yourself enjoying much more than you thought you would?
STIFF DRINK AWARD
This award will go to the comic or graphic novel that most made us gasp with surprise – an unexpected plot twist, a daring cliffhanger or a shocking denouement will stand a book in good stead here.
THE BILL ODDIE SPRINGWATCH AWARD FOR EMERGING TALENT
Here we’re looking for the comics creator whom you think is the one we should all be observing closely in 2014 – they may have had a good year in 2013, but they’re someone whom you believe is only going to go from strength to strength.
THE GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS AWARD FOR EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
What move did a comics company or creator make this calendar year that made you glad you didn’t have to work with them? Wonky management edicts, prima donna creators and tales of publisher woes are what we’re looking for here.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
This is exactly what it says – which creator, creative team or publisher really knocked it out of the park this year?
Let us have your picks in the comments thread below, before midnight (your local time) on 3 January. Only ONE NOMINATION per category, please – any that say “oh, I just couldn’t decide, so here are two, or three, or five suggestions” will be disregarded in relation to that category. Please also let us have a bit of info on your thinking on each one – we’ll read out a range of the responses on our big end-of-year show. Happy nominating!
Charts – 29 December 2013
Welcome to the annual Weird Chart. Once upon a time, the two charts after Christmas were basically a write-off because the shops were closed for so long. In the download era, that’s no longer a consideration, but almost nobody releases new material in Christmas week because of the near impossibility of getting anyone to pay attention. Next week’s chart will be a bit closer to normal, as Pitbull tries to sneak himself a number one.
In the meantime, we have a chart in which the top 75 is basically shoved into a blender and rearranged in a random order. This is because, even though there’s no new material available, there are plenty of people who got gift cards or MP3 players for Christmas, and who want to fill them up. Cue the march of the re-entries…
Longshot Saves The Marvel Universe
Marvel’s publishing strategy over the last year or two has shifted away from the scattering of under promoted miniseries that used to reliably prop up the bottom end of the chart, and understandably so, since most of them were basically thrown out there to die unmourned and unnoticed. A few of these books do still emerge, though, and since they’re no longer a dime a dozen, they get a bit more attention than before.
Longshot Saves The Marvel Universe is one of these oddities. Whatever may have prompted Marvel to publish a Longshot miniseries written by Christopher Hastings (the creator of Adventures of Dr McNinja) and drawn by Jacopo Camagni (who’s done a scattering of work on the likes of Marvel Adventures: The Avengers), it surely wasn’t visions of dollar signs.
House to Astonish Episode 116
It’s our Christmas gift to you – a slightly belated podcast featuring discussion of the casting of Ant-Man, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Sandman movie, Shia LaBoeuf’s plagiarism, Matt Fraction leaving Inhuman and Zeb Wells leaving Elektra, the return of Stray Bullets, Mike Carey and Salvador Larocca’s X-Men OGN and Stephen Wacker’s job move. We’re also reviewing The Illegitimates, The Midas Flesh and Harley Quinn, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is just your dad really.
Hear! Al briefly sing a They Might Be Giants tune. Boggle! At both Paul and Al admitting that they really don’t get one of the most celebrated newspaper strips of all time. Wonder! If there is no awards ceremony because Al was too disorganised to ask for nominations (yes). All this plus a clown car, a pint of drawing pins and the Coen brothers movie that’s happening behind the DC offices.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Twitter, via email, or on our Facebook fan page. Don’t forget that we’ve got our t-shirt store open 24/7 if you want to spend some of that Christmas money Granny gave you, and we’ll see you again in the new year.
Uncanny X-Force #10-15
Hey, six issues of Revenants! You know, the story we started back in issue #1!
The pace of Uncanny X-Force might charitably be called stately. It’s not “decompressed” in the classic sense; plenty happens. But much of what happens is layers of complication that drag out a fairly basic plot way beyond its natural lifespan. We’re now a year into the title’s life, and not only are we still on the first storyline, but the titular team hasn’t even formed yet! And they’re being cancelled in a couple of months!
Charts – 22 December 2013
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our annual detour into the utterly predictable parallel world of the Christmas Chart, where regular music fears to tread. In fact, it’s so predictable that for the most part irregular music fears to tread here as well, leaving us with what’s mostly a motley collection of reality show tie-ins and failed Facebook campaigns.
Let’s take the album chart first, since it’s dead. “Swings Both Ways” by Robbie Williams is the Christmas number one. Literally nothing else is happening. Right, onto the singles.
40. John Newman – “Love Me Again”
Originally a number 1 hit in July, I’m honestly not sure why this is suddenly back.
39. Little Mix – “Little Me”
Cable & X-Force #15-17
A three-parter of which it can truly be said, “That was three issues of Cable & X-Force.”
This series completed its initial storyline in issue #14, with Hope having joined the team, and the source of Cable’s visions having been explained. Now, we get something that’s actually quite rare in modern superhero comics – a routine story in which the heroes simply have an adventure within their status quo. It’s not something that fits very well with the fashion for making every story long enough to justify a collected edition.
Charts – 15 December 2013
It’s the final chart before Christmas number one, which means it’s a calm week before next week’s flurry of novelty records overambitiously going head to head with the X Factor winner (for, yes, they’ve gone back to gunning for the Christmas Number One this year).
Still, there’s a bit of activity this week – and some massive climbers that would have been high new entries if they hadn’t snuck into the low thirties last week…
This week’s token back catalogue re-entry. Good to see Andrew Ridgley remains financially secure.
36. Sub Focus – “Turn Back Time”
Uncanny X-Men #15.INH
So this is Marvel’s new thing, then – sticking file extensions on the end of issue numbers to signal crossover stories. Hallelujah. With this out of the box thinking, the industry is saved.
Uncanny X-Men #15.INH doesn’t work. Or at least, it doesn’t work if you’ve been skipping the build-up to Inhumanity – which I have. But since this issue’s primary purpose is apparently to advertise Inhumanity to Uncanny X-Men readers, you would certain hope that it would be aiming to capture the interest of people coming to the event fresh. In this, it fails.
WWE TLC
One of the strangest cards the WWE has given us in quite some time. TLC is usually a pretty minor show. It’s a hangover from the days when hardcore matches – and specifically Tables, Ladders and [steel] Chairs – were regular features in the WWE, something they’ve wisely moved away from in recent years. It now sits on the schedule as an odd little quirk, with matches somewhat toned down from earlier years. It’s the December show, and usually marks time before the “Road to Wrestlemania” gets under way with the Royal Rumble in January.
Which made it something of a surprise when, out of nowhere, and with only three weeks of promotion, they announced…
1. WWE Title & World Heavyweight Title – Tables Ladders & Chairs Match: John Cena © v Randy Orton ©. Yes, completely out of nowhere, it’s the long overdue unification match between the Raw and Smackdown titles.
