X-Men: Gold #4-6 – “Techno Superior”
The thing about biweeklies is, you fall a little bit behind on the reviews, and they’ve already started the next arc. Time to catch up, then.
“Techno Superior” is the second arc of X-Men: Gold, and this time our artist is R B Silva, who is much less problematic than his predecessor. And in most ways it follows in the direction which the opening arc established: it’s going to play the hits while it re-establishes what the X-Men are all about. It’s solid, it’s a bit house style, it feels like an X-Men book, everyone feels in character, and it’s very much a return to an 80s/90s team format.
Charts – 30 June 2017
There are rule changes coming to the chart next week. Because if the compilers wanted to make a case for them, they couldn’t have wished for a more helpful chart than this one. It’s dull as ditchwater.
1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber – “Despacito”
Returning to number one for a seventh week, after being interrupted by Artists For Grenfell (which drops to three). So, let’s talk about those rule changes.
Charts – 23 June 2017
All-New Wolverine #19-21 – “Immune”
Well, they can’t all be winners. I really like All-New Wolverine. It’s consistently one of the best X-books. But “Immune” is a three-parter devoted to setting up a contrived set-piece finale, and it’s a bit of a dud, to be honest with you.
So here’s the idea. An alien spaceship crashes on Roosevelt Island in New York – population 11,000 or so, according to Wikipedia. There’s a dying alien child inside who asks for Laura Kinney before dying. By a happy coincidence (well, presumably the kid was aiming for her), Laura and Gabby happen to be in the area doing something unrelated. Specifically, it’s a child-trafficking subplot that takes up a lot of chapter one but has no real purpose beyond keeping Laura away from the main story until it’s ready for her.
Charts – 16 June 2017
We’ll get back to reviews soon. I’ve been busy. In the meantime, here’s a quiet week on the singles chart. Five new entries, but three of them below 30…
1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber – “Despacito”
That’s six weeks, and it’s still miles ahead of the competition. It could be there for a while, in the absence of any obvious challengers – remember, even charity fundraisers now face the challenge of getting streams as well as sales. For example, Ariana Grande’s live version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” lands at 60 this week, which is because it sold respectably but didn’t get streams.
Meanwhile, “Unforgettable” by French Montana featuring Swae Lee climbs two places to 3.
5. David Guetta featuring Justin Bieber – “2U”
Charts – 9 June 2017
Prime time television still sells records. But first…
1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber – “Despacito”
Five weeks at number one. It’s the top streaming single of the week, but it’s not the top seller. That would be…
2. Ariana Grande – “One Last Time”
Generation X #1-2
We reviewed Generation X on the podcast a few weeks ago, but it turns out that the book is opening with a two-parter, so here we are already. This is a straightforward intro story – very straightforward – so, sure, if you’re going to start with this, best get it over with.
Be warned, this is basically going to be me putting in writing the same things I said on the show. Which is to say, there are good elements here, and some individually promising ideas, but right now it’s very much less than the sum of its parts.
Old Man Logan #21-24 – “Past Lives”
Coming a little late to the relaunch party, this is Jeff Lemire’s final arc on Old Man Logan before handing over to Ed Brisson. It’s a bid for closure.
Like All-New X-Men, Old Man Logan feels like a short-run concept, a second (or third) Wolverine while the real one is out of commission selling his death. Played that way, the natural ending would be pretty obvious: having found peace in the present, Logan heroically returns home to protect his loved ones anyway. Or some such thing. But Old Man Logan is selling pretty well by Marvel’s current standards, and it isn’t going away any time soon.
Charts – 2 June 2017
It’s election time.
1. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber – “Despacito”
That’s four weeks, which – assuming you’re prepared to turn a blind eye to Justin Bieber’s bits – makes it the longest running foreign language number one ever. The previous record of three weeks is officially (i.e., in the eyes of the chart compilers) held by Manhattan Transfer’s “Chanson D’Amour”, from 1977, though that’s actually a mixture of English, French and “ra da da da da”.
4. Captain Ska – “Liar Liar”
Now here’s something a bit more contentious than usual.
Weapon X #1-3
So it’s this again, is it? In the X-books’ “back-to-basics” relaunch, I can’t say I was especially enthused to see Weapon X trotted out again, with the teaser story apparently setting up the old routine of baddies forcing people onto a team.
In fact, it’s not quite so clear that the book really is heading in quite that direction. The core group here is Lady Deathstrike, Logan, Sabretooth, Warpath and Domino. We already saw Deathstrike getting carted off in X-Men Prime. But now that the series is underway, what actually seems to be happening is that Weapon X want to capture these guys in order to copy their powers and use them to improve Weapon X’s own home-grown cyborgs.
