Uncanny X-Men vol 5 – “The Omega Mutant”
It’s been a long, long while since we checked in with Uncanny X-Men, but that’s because this is a long, long story. The title above may say volume 5, which collects issues #26-31, but the Matthew Molloy arc started back in issue #23, with the “Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier” issues. And then it overran at the end (which is why issue #31 has a cover for a completely unrelated story).
We should, I suppose, note at the outset the other oddity of this storyline – that the first three issues are billed as an Original Sin tie-in, despite the minor technicality of having absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Original Sin.
Those three issues, you may recall, were billed as Original Sin tie-ins, something which manages the unusual double whammy of being both egregiously mendacious and essentially harmless. “Last Will” is not an Original Sin tie-in by any possible stretch of the imagination. But it does at least feature a hidden secret coming to light, and since most actual Original Sin tie-ins just used the crossover as a springboard to do basically the same thing, I suppose there’s no harm done.
Charts – 8 March 2015
In a moment, we return to our regularly scheduled turnover of number one singles. Which is good, because the rest of the chart is pretty quiet.
33. Imagine Dragons – “Demons”
Originally a number 13 hit a year ago – it’s back because it was covered on The Voice UK.
18. Kanye West featuring Allan Kingdom, Theophilus London & Paul McCartney – “All Day”
X-Force vol 3 – “Ends/Means”
The third volume of Si Spurrier’s X-Force run is also the last. Given the sales on the one hand, and the imminence of Secret Wars on the other, you have to wonder whether Spurrier would have let this run for longer given the choice. But it doesn’t feel rushed; Spurrier makes his point in this fifteen issue run and draws a line under it. Yes, there are unusual narrative jumps in the closing issues which could be a sign of cancellation-driven compression, but they’re played (successfully) as deliberate creative choices.
Put shortly, Spurrier has devoted his run on X-Force to critiquing and rejecting the entire concept of the team – that is, the darker, paramilitary version of the X-Men that Rob Liefeld brought about in 1991, and which formed the template for the recent versions.
Charts – 1 March 2015
This is the annual chart that follows on the Brit Awards, hence a bunch of odd re-entries. The awards themselves seem to have some short-term sales effect, and the primetime TV coverage is always good for shifting a few downloads to people who aren’t regular audience members. Without the Brits this would be another rather quiet chart.
40. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t”
38. Ed Sheeran – “Sing”
35. Ed Sheeran – “Bloodstream”
12. Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”
All-New X-Men vol 6 – “The Ultimate Adventure”
It’s been a while – a long while – since I’ve been able to say this, but there’s a podcast this week! Check one post down for the new House to Astonish episode.
Meanwhile… All-New X-Men visits the Ultimate Universe in a story that ran long. This was originally solicited as a five parter, it winds up at six, and it’s gone off schedule enough that issue #38 ended up shipping ahead of issue #37 (to avoid screwing up the Black Vortex crossover).
House to Astonish Episode 129
Well, we did say we’d be back.
After eight months away, Paul and I have returned to the House, to resolve our cliffhanger. We’re also here to give you our thoughts on Convergence and Secret Wars, a few of the books out of the Image Expo, Marvel and DC’s upcoming movie slates and the Marvel/Kirby Settlement. We’ve also got reviews of Curb Stomp and Thor Annual, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is so low. All this plus a falling tide that lifts one ship, Mad Dave’s Power Armour Sale and Cornelius Meredith Punk.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments below, by email, on Twitter, or on our Facebook fan page.
Remember, we’ve also got a Redbubble store, where you can help put our kids through baby college and look amazing to boot.
Charts – 22 February 2015
I did think about doing a post for WWE Fast Lane but, well, the undercard is hardly a source of inspiration to anyone, is it? So let’s do the charts instead. This would have been an almost completely dead week were it not for a couple of late new entries.
37. Florence + The Machine – “What Kind Of Man”
Wolverines vol 1 – “Dancing With The Devil”
We’ve accumulated quite the backlog while I’ve been otherwise occupied. So let’s start with Wolverines vol. 1, which covers the first five issues of the series. For one thing, it’s the longest-outstanding review. And for another, it’s a weekly series, so the book is already halfway through volume 2.
Marvel aren’t generally that keen on the weekly format. They tried it with Amazing Spider-Man for a while, but for the most part they’ve been content to leave it to DC. DC, in turn, has had mixed results with it both commercially and (even more) creatively.
Charts – 15 February 2015
Alright, then. We’ll get back to a reviewing schedule at the weekend, when we’ll start catching up on Wolverines vol 1, the final X-Force arc, All-New‘s trip to the Ultimate Universe, and Uncanny‘s curious decision to whack the reset button only a handful of months away from the universe-wide whacking of the reset button.
But in the meantime, let’s run through this week’s chart while it’s still vaguely topical.
27. Imagine Dragons – “I Bet My Life”
Charts – 8 February 2015
So, yeah, still no time to write any reviews this week. Wolverines vol 1 is next in the queue. But let’s get the chart post done, since it’s another short one (and largely written already). So much for last week’s burst of new releases…
39. Kodaline – “Honest”
