The X-Axis – 7 July 2013
It’s the quietest week we’ve had in ages. In fact, I’m slightly surprised to learn it’s even possible to have such a quiet week given the volume of material the X-office puts out these days. This won’t take us long.
What If? AvX #1 – How’s this for the most optimistic solicitation of the year? “The biggest event of 2012 is now the biggest miniseries of 2013!” Come on, now. This isn’t even the most anticipated miniseries of the week. It’s a four-issue weekly mini with an alternate version of last year’s Avengers vs X-Men story, and honestly, the only reason I’m even mentioning it is because it’s so quiet otherwise.
Charts – 30 June 2013
So Robin Thicke doesn’t manage a fifth week at number one – but to be honest, he was unlucky. He still sold over 100,000 copies, and he was only dethroned by a track that had its release date brought forward when the record company finally started panicking about cover versions.
40. Evanescence – “My Immortal”
As covered on The Voice UK by Andrea Begley – of whom more in a bit. This is probably the best known Evanescence song that isn’t “Bring Me To Life”, and it made number 7 in 2003 before going on to an afterlife soundtracking TV shows and being used in, well, singing contests. The band’s biggest UK hit was, obviously, “Bring Me To Life”, which made number 1 the same year.
39. Kanye West – “Black Skinhead”
House to Astonish Episode 109
We’re a day or two late, but we have a lean slice of chat for you this time round, with news on Comixology’s new subscriptions and bundles, the six new launches from Vertigo and Gerry Conway’s comics creators royalty drive. We’ve also got reviews of Uncanny, Batman/Superman and Lazarus, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is engaging in a cavalcade of crime. All this plus a village fête, the smell of paraffin and a taser taped to a rabbit.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
Remember, it’s never too early to buy a House to Astonish t-shirt from our Redbubble store – they’re the coolest possible way to stop yourself for being arrested for public indecency.
The X-Axis – 30 June 2013
It’s one of the X-office’s semi-regular “let’s ship everything in one week” weeks! Seriously, all we needed was an issue of Astonishing and we’d have a complete set!
All-New X-Men #13 – I’ll give it this, though – for once, I can’t use the now-familiar Standard Bendis Review, because for a change, there’s some actual progress in both of his titles. Kitty, Wolverine and the remaining members of the Silver Age team are (at long last) actually trying to trace Mystique and her crew. It’s something they should have got around to ages ago – but now that the series has finally got round to it, the pace suddenly picks up tremendously.
Housekeeping
Morning all. Just a quick update to say that we’re not going to have a podcast for you this weekend due to not being able to coordinate our schedules, but we’re hoping to record on Monday evening. We’ll let you know if there are any changes to that schedule.
Charts – 23 June 2013
The X-Axis – 23 June 2013
Loads out this week, plus a couple I didn’t cover last time round. Let’s take a deep breath and get to it…
A+X #9 – Is this still going? Really? Wow.
Oh well. On paper, this is one of the book’s better line-ups. The lead story has Nathan Edmondson and Humberto Ramos doing Captain America and Wolverine, though Wolverine’s been in the Avengers for so long at this point that I’d query whether he’s a sensible character to be using in this book. Anyhow, Ramos’ art is a matter of taste, and it’s perfectly acceptable here. But the story is a bit half-baked.
Charts – 16 June 2013
Whoops. Nearly forgot about this one.
From the look of it, virtually everyone decided to steer clear of releasing new material this week. That could be because last weekend saw the final of Britain’s Got Talent; perhaps nobody wanted to risk going head to head with some viral sensation. If so, they needn’t have worried, because there is no viral sensation. The result is an almost totally dead chart, to the point where the lower end is propped up by a string of back catalogue material from the iTunes 59p sale.
Such as this…
40. Pras Michel featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard introducing Mya – “Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)”
The X-Axis – 16 June 2013
I’m still waiting for the books that I get by mail order – which, this week, means Wolverine and the X-Men #31 and Astonishing #63. But that still leaves the other three titles that I’m getting digitally – Wolverine, Savage Wolverine and Uncanny X-Force – so let’s cover them.
It’s also a podcast weekend, so check two posts down to hear Al and me talk about Superman Unchained, Six-Gun Gorrilla, and True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.
Savage Wolverine #6 – Now into its second storyline, by Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira. Since the September solicitations have Jock doing the book, it seems this is going to be Wolverine’s Legends of the Dark Knight title. Or, if you prefer, it’s basically a string of miniseries unified under a single banner.
Payback 2013
Wrestling preview time! Payback is the new name for the June show. Last year this show was called No Way Out (except in Germany, long story, don’t ask), but this time they’ve come up with a different name for what remains an un-themed show. Come to think of it, it does feature all six titles being defended, which is going to be presented as a gimmick when we get to Night of Champions in September. Here, though, it’s just a coincidence.
It’s an odd card – a promising undercard, but with a sprawling main event that doesn’t sound very good and surely has to drain time from everyone else.
1. WWE Title – Three Stages of Hell Match: John Cena (c) v Ryback. So here’s where we stand. John Cena regained the WWE title at Wrestlemania in April, after chasing it for months. In May, he defended it at Extreme Rules against Ryback. This was problematic. Cena had only just got the title, but Ryback had only just turned heel (and has been desperately short of credible wins ever since they decided to push him to the main event). So it didn’t make enormous sense for either to lose. (more…)
