Astonishing X-Men #66-67
There’s a big crossover going on in the X-Men books right now, and Astonishing X-Men is not invited to the party. The book is scheduled to end with issue #68 (albeit that it’s being instantly replaced on the schedules by Amazing), so you might have thought that outgoing writer Marjorie Liu would be using these remaining issues to wrap up some outstanding storylines, such as the subplot about Northstar’s immigration status. Instead, these two issues contain a story that doesn’t seem to have much to do with anything else from her run.
Issue #66 picks up in the aftermath of the Iceman storyline. The melting ice floods the New York subway and wakes a green tentacled baby alien that can possess people by touching them. Mostly the alien just wants a hug, so the result is shambling groups of people asking for a cuddle. The X-Men break its hold on some New Yorkers (using a good old fashioned electric shock) and then try to hunt the alien down, while it apparently manages to hitch a lift on a series of vehicles out of town.
Night of Champions 2013
Ah, Night of Champions. The annual show where the entire gimmick is meant to be that every title is defended – and so, of course, one of them won’t be. Admittedly, that’s because the storyline in question pretty much requires a non-title match, but it shows the limitations of the company committing itself in advance to themed shows. (I use the word “committing” loosely, obviously. This is the WWE we’re talking about.)
1. WWE Title: Randy Orton (c) v. Daniel Bryan. Last month, you’ll recall, dimwitted Raw GM Brad Maddox allowed John Cena to pick the challenger for his WWE Title. Being a solid heroic type, Cena played fair and chose Daniel Bryan, setting up the storyline that the McMahon family, who own the company, were divided about whether the misfit underdog Bryan was a remotely acceptable world champion . As widely expected, Bryan did indeed beat Cena to win the title clean, with Triple H refereeing the match fairly – only for Triple H to attack him immediately after the match and basically hand the title to Randy Orton, who cheerfully cashed in the Money in the Bank title shot he won earlier in the year.
Charts – 8 September 2013
This week: Katy Perry releases her big single, and everybody else steers well clear.
39. Starship – “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”
It’s being used in an advert for… you know, I’ve seen it several times, and I still can’t remember what for. Google says it’s Talk Talk.
“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was a number 1 hit back in 1987, and started off life as the theme to Mannequin. Perhaps surprisingly, this is its first chart appearance in the download era. Starship were a spin-off that emerged from the break-up of Jefferson Starship, the name reflecting the fact that (unlike Jefferson Starship) they didn’t feature any former members of Jefferson Airplane. They had one other hit in the UK, “We Built This City”, which reached number 12 in 1985.
X-Factor #257-262 – “The End of X-Factor”
What was the last time a series ended with six straight issues of epilogue? Sandman?
Yes, granted, X-Factor is evidently being relaunched. Issue #260 ends with Polaris being being recruited for a new corporate version of X-Factor, and Peter David’s closing essay is sure to remind us of that. In fact, it sounds very much as though David himself is sticking around for the new version. This is not a high-selling book, and from the looks of it everyone realised that the Hell on Earth War was a suitable opportunity to quit while they were ahead and go for the relaunch.
Charts – 1 September 2013
So is the parade of huge-selling number ones over, or are we just in a lull for now? Probably a lull…
40. Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx – “Gold Digger”
This charted on the strength of a late surge of sales after it cropped up on an X Factor audition show on Saturday 31 August. So yes, it’s that time again. Originally a number 2 hit in 2005.
39. Bastille – “Things We Lost In The Fire”
Uncanny X-Men #10-11
They’re doing odd things with the collections of Brian Bendis’ Uncanny X-Men. The first collection, titled “Revolution”, covers issues #1-5. Volume 2, “Lost in Limbo”, covers #6-11. But this doesn’t match up with the story arcs – the Limbo arc actually appears in issues #5-7, so it’s been split between the books. And issues #8-11 are just kind of lumped in with volume 2.
In fact, they’re not really an arc at all; they’re just issues of an ongoing series, a storytelling structure we don’t see that often. Calling issues #10-11 an arc is a bit arbitrary, in fact, but since the “Battle of the Atom” crossover starts next month, it’s as good a place to stop as any. And they’re both drawn by Fraser Irving.
A+X #11
In his latest weekly interview over at CBR, Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso sings the praises of the anthology format as a place for new creators to cut their teeth at Marvel. “There are few easier ways to gauge a new writer or artist than to have them work on a short story,” he says. “It gives you a quick glimpse at how they approach their craft because they have to structure a story with a beginning, middle and end without occupying lots of real estate.”
In theory, there’s a lot of truth to this. There’s long been a widely held view that British creators who started off at 2000AD learned how to get to the point, if nothing else. But the ability to structure a story with a beginning, middle and an end has not been consistently in evidence in A+X.
Wolverine and the X-Men #31-35 – “Hellfire Academy”
How stupid is too stupid?
It’s a question that’s come up a lot ever since Schism, where Jason Aaron introduced the current version of the Hellfire Club – a quartet of evil twelve-year-olds who seized control of the Hellfire Club and moved on to become the main villains of Wolverine and the X-Men. These characters don’t work. But why not?
Charts – 25 August 2013
Five new entries, four of them in the top ten. It’s a busy week at the top and a dead one at the bottom – though it’s also one of the increasingly rare weeks were the number one sold fewer than 100,000.
14. Matt Cardle & Melanie C – “Loving You”
X-Men #4
The Arkea story finished in issue #3, the “Battle for the Atom” crossover doesn’t start until issue #5 – let’s round out that first collection!
Actually, though, that’s unfair. This isn’t a filler issue; Wood could easily have strung out the Arkea arc for four issues if he’d wanted. If anything, four issues would be more common these days. Instead, this issue seems to be trying to take a moment to lay down some markers for future stories and character directions, before the big crossover comes along and subsumes everything for two months.
