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.
Charts – 6 September 2024
We’re still marooned in the doldrums.
1. Sabrina Carpenter – “Taste”
Two weeks – and again, it heads up an all-Sabrina top three, with “Please Please Please” at number 2 and “Espresso” at number 3. The album “Short N’ Sweet” drops to 2.
31. Coldplay – “We Pray”
Your highest new entry, climbing from number 44. I realise there’s a bunch of “featuring” credits on the video, but the official chart credit is just for Coldplay. This is the second single from their current album “Moon Music”. It’s an odd track – it’s one of the more interesting Coldplay tracks I’ve heard in a while, but Chris Martin’s voice somehow makes it sound like Maroon 5. Still, two top 40 hits from an album at this point in their career is a good result.
The X-Axis – w/c 2 September 2024
X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES INFINITY COMIC #13. By Alex Paknadel, Diógenes Neves, Arthur Hesli & Clayton Cowles. So, yeah, I just went on Marvel Unlimited to re-read this and they’ve added the entire run of CrossGen’s Mystic. Didn’t see that coming. Apparently they’ve just put out an omnibus, but I think it’s the first time they’ve added any CrossGen material.
Anyway, this is part 1 of a Magneto story set in Merle. That’s an interesting call in itself, because X-Men has mostly had Magneto hang around on the fringes in his floating chair trying to look ominous. But From the Ashes winds up being the first book to expand on that. The fact that he can’t walk was so strongly implied that it doesn’t really count as a reveal (and isn’t treated as one), but apparently he’s also outright depowered. The story leaves it to X-Men to cover how all that happened, so there really isn’t any new information that X-Men won’t cover in due course. But it’s still a bit of a surprise to see it show up here first.
Exceptional X-Men #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN #1
Writer: Eve L Ewing
Artist: Carmen Carnero
Colour artist: Nolan Woodard
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Editor: Tom Brevoort
THE X-MEN:
Kate Pryde has retired as a superhero and is working in a bar called Lulu’s Tavern in Bridgeport, a district of Chicago. According to Wikipedia, Bridgeport used to have a reputation for racial intolerance but is now one of Chicago’s most diverse areas. We saw Lulu’s Tavern before in X-Men #35.
Kate is depressed, anxious or both. There are a couple of points in the issue where she seems to break the fourth wall, though you could rationalise that she’s talking to herself out loud if you want. She’s taking the fall of Krakoa badly. While she describes Krakoa as her home “sort of”, presumably referencing her semi-detached status as the one mutant who couldn’t use the gates, she evidently feels it as a loss. She worries that the more hubristic aspects of the Krakoan age are going to come back to bite the mutants now, and she’s appalled by her dark-and-violent phase as Shadowkat in Gerry Duggan’s X-Men. Being around other mutants strikes her as living in “the shattered remains of the life I knew”, and since she can pass for human, she’s going to drop out of all that, live a normal life, and try not to think about it.
Charts – 30 August 2024
I’m starting to think that the state of the singles chart might be less than healthy.
1. Sabrina Carpenter – “Taste”
Yeah, that opening caption isn’t kidding about the violence. It’s cartoon violence but it does merit a parental warning when it comes from a mainstream pop act. Anyway, Sabrina Carpenter’s album “Short N’ Sweet” is out this week and enters at number 1. To put in context what a good year this has been for her career, this is her sixth studio album and her first to even make the albums top 40. Granted, some of those records were made for Disney, but 2022’s “Emails I Can’t Send” was on Island, and it only got to number 41.
A surge of interest in the previous singles is strong enough to cancel the downweighting rule (I think you need to increase sales/streams by something like 25% week on week), and so “Please Please Please” is at number 2 and “Espresso” is at number 3. Clean sweeps of the top 3 have happened before, but rarely, since in practice it wasn’t possible until the digital age. Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles have all done it.
The X-Axis – 26 August 2024
X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES INFINITY COMIC #12. By Alex Paknadel, Phillip Sevy, Arthur Hesli & Clayton Cowles. Some From the Ashes arcs have been rather obviously designed to yank a character into a new status quo so that a main line title doesn’t have to waste time on it. The Omega Red arc isn’t one of those, and turns out to be just a nice little story about a violent murderer returning to the miserable town where he grew up. There’s some low-level villainy for him to deal with but it’s more of a character and tone piece than anything else. I’m all for trying to round out Omega Red, who’s a very one-dimensional character with rather convoluted powers – honestly, I’ve never really understood what links the tentacles, the death spores and everything else about him. A perfectly fine little story designed to flesh him out a bit, without actually toning him down too much.
SAVAGE WOLVERINE INFINITY COMIC #5. By Tom Bloom, Guillermo Sana, Java Tartaglia & Joe Sabino. It’s a middle chapter of an Infinity Comic and so there’s not much to add to what I’ve said before: it’s a small town body horror story, pleasingly low key and well executed. Certainly at the high end of the range for Infinity Comics and worth a look if you have a subscription. (And if you don’t… well, Unlimited is very good value for the archives and for almost the whole Marvel line on a three month delay, but the Infinity Comics exclusives are at best in the “nice to have” category, rather than being a reason to sign up in themselves.)
