X-23 #11-12: “Dear Gabby”
We’re heading for another reboot of the whole line, then. The second-tier titles may have continued alongside “Age of X-Man”, but we’re starting from scratch when Jonathan Hickman arrives, with just the X-Men for a while. This explains a lot about the clumsy return of Wolverine, which exists simply to tie up a loose end and get him on the board again, not to relaunch a solo series.
Normally I might be annoyed at losing decent second-tier titles, but the reality is that few creative teams stick around for more than a year anyway, so it’s not as if anything seems to be cut short. It’s probably a smart move to cut the line to a core title, instead of diluting it with a sprawling line, even though chances are we’ll be back to typical numbers in six months. The X-books could use a grand gesture if they want to be seen as a big deal again.
In the meantime, a parade of final arcs lumbers towards me for review. This two-parter wraps up Mariko Tamaki’s run on X-23.
Charts – 24 May 2019
Well, it’s a busy week for albums, at least.
1. Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber – “I Don’t Care”
Two weeks. Since last week, we’ve established that Sheeran’s upcoming album is entitled “No 6 Collaborations Project”, which goes some way towards explaining what Bieber is doing here – commercially, at any rate, because he sure isn’t adding much creatively. The title refers back to his self-released 2011 album “No 5 Collaborations Project” (numbers 1-4 apparently being earlier EPs, though his discography lists seven earlier EPs, so you may picture me here shrugging and moving on). It heads up a top 4 made up entirely of records that reached number 1, which “Old Town Road”, “Someone You Loved” and “Vossi Bop” still hanging around – “Old Town Road” is actually still growing, despite being shoved aside by Sheeran.
Lewis Capaldi‘s first charting single “Grace” has been hanging around for a while, but vaults from 28 to 9 on the release of parent album “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent” (I know), which goes straight to number one. The single’s previous peak was 21. “Someone You Loved” climbs 4-3, and “Hold Me While You Wait” climbs 8-5, giving him the maximum three songs on the singles chart, all in the top 40 – though for once, they’re all song that were on the top 40 already. It goes without saying that without the three-song cap, we’d be swimming in Lewis Capaldi tracks this week. (more…)
Charts – 17 May 2019
He was bound to be back sooner or later.
1. Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber – “I Don’t Care”
This is the first new Ed Sheeran single in two years – unless you count his guest appearance on Eminem’s “River”, and even that came out right at the end of 2017. Yes, new songs written by Ed Sheeran seem to chart all the time; he’s approaching Barbara Cartland levels of prolificity. But this is a proper Ed Sheeran single, so it’s an entirely predictable number one (his sixth in total). It doesn’t quite have the highest sales/streaming figure of the year – that’s still Ariana Grande – but it’s close. The song is… pretty routine and on brand: Sheeran is an ordinary bloke who feels out of place in the celebrity world and his girl makes him feel okay about that.
Charts – 10 May 2019
We have a new podcast episode, just one post down! Or if you prefer, there’s this…
Two weeks, with over 10 million streams once again. “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X is still hanging in at 2 with very respectable numbers; it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that it might retake number one.
4. Lewis Capaldi – “Hold Me While You Wait”
House to Astonish Episode 174
Lots to discuss this time round, as we talk about the deaths of Kazuhiko Kato aka Monkey Punch and Kazuo Koike, the Lion Forge/Oni Press merger, Dark Horse’s Netflix first look deal, Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso’s new publishing company and Marvel Comics 1000. We’ve also got reviews of Excellence and New Agents of Atlas and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is a mean green mother from outer space. All this plus the maximum number of wild animals that can safely live in a blacksmith’s, the George’s Marvellous Medicine of comics, and Magic Ian the Magician.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page. You can, as always, pick up one of our well lush t-shirts over on our Redbubble store.
Dead Man Logan #1-6 – “Sins of the Father”
So here’s another one which I figured was meant to be a twelve parter – why make it a miniseries otherwise, after all? But no, issue #7 is apparently “Welcome Back, Logan” part 1, so this is indeed a six-part story.
Unlike Uncanny, though, these six issues actually do seem to be a separate story. If anything, the question is why the final two arcs of Old Man Logan have been hived off into a miniseries, beyond the obvious point that it provides an excuse for another issue #1. Which is probably the only reason you need. The unifying theme, as you might expect, is simply that this is the series ending. So the first half is Logan tying up the last loose end from present day earth, and the second half is his return to the Wastelands.
Uncanny X-Men #11-16 – “This Is Forever”
This isn’t an ideal point to be reviewing Matthew Rosenberg’s current Uncanny X-Men storyline, which to all intents and purposes is still going. But for whatever reason – most likely, to give different names to the trade paperbacks – issue #17 is titled “We Have Always Been, part 1”. So officially, at least, issues #11-16 are a single arc, and let’s go with that.
Except… well, except it very obviously is the first part of a continuing storyline, and not an arc at all. And I’m bearing in mind that Rosenberg’s New Mutants: Dead Souls looked like a bit of a mess at the halfway mark, only to cohere in the end stretch. Then again, his Multiple Man miniseries also looked like a bit of a mess at the halfway mark, and it was. Still, I’m inclined to reserve judgment to some degree.
Charts – 3 May 2019
Now this is a pleasingly eclectic week.
1. Stormzy – “Vossi Bop”
Well, that’s slightly unexpected. Stormzy is a big name – his 2017 album “Gang Signs & Prayer” got a week at number one. But his previous peak in the singles chart is number 6, and on top of that, Taylor Swift has a new single out this week. (Though as we’ll see, it wouldn’t have made number one anyway.) “Vossi Bop” has 12.7 million streams in its first week, though, so it’s a big hit.
Hulkverines
Marvel’s approach to the return of Wolverine could politely be described as confused. They brought him back in the Marvel Legacy one-shot, and then dawdled around for ages trying to decide what to do with him. Eventually, they decided that it wasn’t really him after all, and so they brought him back again in a sprawling collection of minis. And after all that effort, the follow-up is… Wolverine: Infinity Watch, a miniseries tying in to a crossover that finished long ago.
And, technically, Hulkverines, a three-issue mini in which Wolverine and the Hulk meet Weapon H, the Hulk/Wolverine hybrid that debuted in Weapon X before spinning off into his own series. This only barely qualifies as an X-book – I didn’t treat Weapon H as an X-book, since it promptly went its own way, so we’ve got here a one-third X-content. But hey, close enough.
Charts – 26 April 2019
More of an albums week, I think…
1. Lil Nas X – “Old Town Road”
Two weeks at number one, with a weekly streaming figure above ten million. That’s impressive. And now a string of climbers, so deep breath: “Piece of Your Heart” by Meduza featuring Goodboys climbs 4-2, and “SOS” by Avicii featuring Aloe Blacc climbs 12-6 to become Avicii’s tenth top 10 hit. “Here With Me” by Marshmello featuring Chvrches edges 10-9, and “So Am I” by Ava Max moves 14-13. And “All Day and Night” by Jax Jones & Martin Solveig featuring Madison Beer moves 22-14.
23. Jonas Blue featuring Theresa Rex – “What I Like About You”
