Housekeeping
Just a quick note to say that this week’s podcast and reviews are going to be delayed for a few days, for assorted reasons. Watch this space, we’ll get back to you.
Housekeeping
Just a quick note to say that unfortunately we’re not going to have an episode of House to Astonish for you this week. We’ll hopefully be back with you soon, and we’ll keep you up to date with when you can expect our next dollop of comicsy chatter.
Charts – 21 March 2013
After the excitement of last week, the mainstream media have packed up and gone home, and we’re back to business as usual. Which means midweek releases, odd classical crossover acts, and three records by will.i.am. One of them is “Scream and Shout”, still hanging in there at 35.
34. will.i.am (featuring Miley Cyrus) – “Fall Down”
And one of them is this, which isn’t officially on YouTube, but you won’t have too much trouble finding it if you want to hear it. It’s one of his less obnoxious songs, with a catchy whistling hook, though it still ultimately ends up in the territory of Flo Rida with added electro and orchestral pretensions. The last minute or so is completely off the deep end. Weirdly, this isn’t being downloaded as an album track – he simply released two singles in the same week and only promoted one of them.
The X-Axis – 21 April 2013
The march of the middle chapters continues…
Astonishing X-Men #61 – Part five of “X-Termination”, which now seems bound and determined on being the worst crossover in years. Notionally this seems to be intended to wrap up two cancelled titles, X-Treme X-Men and Age of Apocalypse. Since they both share an alternate reality theme, that could potentially have worked.
Charts – 14 April 2013
The podcast is just below, so I’m kind of deluging you with material today, but this seems like a day to try and get the chart post up quickly.
This week: Margaret Thatcher dies, the chart goes berserk, and the BBC makes an incredible hash of the whole situation.
Where there is harmony, let us bring discord.
35. The Notsensibles – “I’m in Love with Margaret Thatcher”
Margaret Thatcher died on Monday following a stroke, at the age of 87. To call her divisive would be an understatement. Everyone can agree that she’s an important historical figure – the first female Prime Minister, the longest serving of the post-war era, and somebody who actually succeeded in remaking the British political culture in ways that have stuck. Where people disagree, and passionately, is on whether this was a good thing.
House to Astonish Episode 104
Even though it’s been a relatively quiet couple of weeks for comics news, we still somehow managed to put together an hour and three quarters of discussion of the Saga/Comixology shenanigans, the first transgender character in the New 52, the sad passing of Carmine Infantino and the July solicitations. We’ve also got reviews of Avengers Assemble AU, Batman and Invincible Universe, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is going swimmingly. All this plus Bob Harras’s trousers falling down, what AU really stands for and Marvel’s most confusingly numbered ongoing series.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments below, through Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
Also, let’s not forget that we’ve got a new merchandise store, where you can get our super snazzy shirts. Check it out!
The X-Axis – 14 April 2013
It’s middle chapter week for the X-books!
Uncanny Avengers #6 – Well, except for this, which is more of a prologue. In fact, the Avengers don’t even appear in it. Instead, it’s an issue of set-up from the 11th century, with Kang (well, Rama-Tut, but it’s the same character) trying to alter the course of history by getting Apocalypse to kill Thor and a chap called Logan who is one of those conveniently recognisable ancestors that characters tend to have.
Charts – 7 April 2013
After last week’s improbable departure into the realms of 90s pop, normal service is now resumed.
(Briefly.)
40. Imagine Dragons – “It’s Time”
Are Imagine Dragons on a crusade to provide fodder for chart trivia collectors? The band had their first UK hits in December when “Radioactive” and “Hear Me” both made the lower reaches of the top 40 in the same week. In fact, that was largely the result of a misfired promotion: “Radioactive”was the song everyone wanted, but it was released as the B-side to “Hear Me”. So, under chart rules, if you downloaded “Radioactive” alone, it was credited as a sale of “Radioactive” – but if you downloaded the entire single, it was credited to “Hear Me”.
The X-Axis – 7 April 2013
I’ve been away for a few weeks, so we’ve got another backlog built up. Let’s cover the digital books first.
A+X #6 – I’m going to assume this is a “poker game” theme issue, rather than just a case of accidentally commissioning the same story twice.
Wrestlemania 2013
The biggest, and longest, show of the year. And also the one most heavily laden with veteran part-timers to boost the star power at the top end of the card – not exactly a ringing endorsement of the WWE’s faith in its current full-time roster. Then again, this is also a card intended to have the greatest appeal to more casual fans who will only buy one show a year; hence the march of the semi-retired.
1. WWE Title: The Rock v John Cena. The Rock has held the title since January, not that he’s done a great deal with it – aside from defending it on the February show, he’s not wrestled at all, and he’s only been a sporadic presence on the TV shows thanks to promotional work for his movies. In short, he’s been an absentee champion, but since he’s meant to be a babyface this has generally been played down.
