Some #1 thoughts…
The X-books are all mid-storyline this week (or just starting), and I haven’t had time yet to read some of the other new launches that we didn’t cover on the podcast. But with Marvel swinging into another phase of relaunches, it seems an opportune time to make a few comments about their – shall we say – increasingly relaxed approach to whacking #1s on the cover.
Even in the boom period of the early 1990s, an issue #1 normally came attached to at least a revival of something long dormant, or a new spin-off. Then, from roughly “Heroes Reborn” onwards, it was good enough just to be a major relaunch of a continuing title. After that, any old relaunch was good enough. Then a change of creative team.
House to Astonish Episode 119
Hot on the heels of our special episode on CHIKARA Pro, we’re back with a regular hour-and-a-bit of comics chat. We’re talking about Mike Marts and Nick Lowe’s editorial moves, the new creative team on Superman, the Chew/Revival crossover, the Preacher TV show and various bits of comics movie casting. We’ve also got reviews of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Ms Marvel and Batman: Joker’s Daughter, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is for kids, silly rabbit. All this plus your grandfather’s superheroes, Deathmate: Taupe and the reshuffling of a plate.
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 through our Facebook fan page.
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Holds to Astonish
As mentioned in our last podcast post, Paul and I have put together a special one-off wrestling-themed episode of the show, which we’ve renamed Holds to Astonish for the occasion. On this episode, we’re speaking to two of the highly entertaining peeps from CHIKARA Pro (which we’ve previously written about here) – commentator Leonard F Chikarason (co-host of excellent comics podcast The Weekly Longbox) and wrestler Kobald (who is a goblin. We’re not kidding. It’s that kind of promotion). Forewarned is forearmed, though – we try to set out as much of the essential information on Chikara as possible in our intro, and we’ve made the interviews (which follow on from the important storyline events of National Pro Wrestling Day, which you can watch the whole of for free here) as user-friendly as possible, but there may be points which are necessarily glossed over a little. For that we can only apologise, and encourage you to check out Chikara shows for more details. Also, Kobald is a goblin, so his voice is… distinctive.
There’s practically no comics chat in this episode (though we do natter to Kobald for a bit about Spider-Man) so if you’re not a wrestling person, or if you’re not interested in hearing about the only wrestling promotion that can even get me interested, then never fear – your regular episode of the show will be along this weekend.
For everyone else, the show is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the embedded player below. We’re also on Stitcher.com and their free iOS and Android apps, and you can find our feed, as always, on iTunes. Let us know what you think, in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
There’s also super snazzy House to Astonish merch, as always, on our Redbubble store.
Charts – 2 February 2014
As we enter February, the release schedules are back to something approaching normal. Of course, there’s always something odd going on.
40. Dappy – “No Regrets”
This was the only solo number one for the N-Dubz bozo, back in 2011. He was last in the chart in September 2012, and the only apparent reason for “No Regrets” to suddenly reappear now is his recent stint on Celebrity Big Brother, the once-mighty Channel 4 ratings titan now eking out a living in reduced circumstances on Channel 5.
34. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – “Young Blood”
Podcast Schedule Update
Hey folks, just a quick note to let you know what we’re going to be doing for the next couple of podcast episodes.
We were scheduled to have a regular episode this weekend, but because of various circumstances (including my being on holiday and there not being much comics news from the past couple of weeks) we’ve moved the next episode to next weekend (February 8/9). We’ll be back then with news, reviews and the Handbook, all as per usual.
In the interim, we’re intending to have a special one-off show, probably going up on Monday or Tuesday, which is going to be a completely different kettle of fish. You might remember this post which we did back in October, concerning the heavily comics-influenced indie wrestling promotion Chikara Pro. Well, we’re going to be speaking to a couple of representatives from that promotion – commentator Leonard F Chikarason (whose comics podcast, The Weekly Longbox, is available here) and Kobald (a wrestler who’s heavily influenced by a certain Spidey villain with a pointy glider). We’re going to be talking about Chikara, and about everything that’s been going on with that promotion and its ARG over the past eight months.
Just to be clear: this isn’t going to be an episode of House to Astonish (we’re calling it Holds to Astonish, because it made us laugh), though it’s going to come out on the same feed (because a lot of people who enjoy our podcast also like Paul’s writing on wrestling here, and because we’d have to pay to set up a separate feed, which seems a little over the top for a one-off). You’re not going to miss out on any of our chat about comics news, reviews and daft Marvel characters if you skip this episode, so if it’s not for you then please do just ignore it – we know that not everyone who listens to our show is interested in wrestling (and to be honest, I’m in that category 90% of the time), but as we were going to be delaying the regular episode until next weekend anyway you’re not actually getting any fewer episodes of the show, and there’ll be a new episode of House to Astonish along next weekend. If you’re interested in finding out more about Chikara, though, then check it out. It’s an extra, and in all honesty I think it should be a lot of fun.
If you’d like to get yourself warmed up for it, you can check out the live, free stream of National Pro Wrestling Day today at their site from 6pm UK time/1pm EST- it’s likely to be a pretty major forum for developments in the ongoing Chikara saga. The show is completely free, but they’re running a donation drive for the Against Malaria Foundation, so maybe consider throwing them a few bucks anyway.
X-Force: “Vendetta”
And so we reach the final storyline for both Uncanny X-Force and Cable & X-Force, before the titles face their latest relaunch.
The decision to launch two entirely unrelated X-Force titles in the last wave of Marvel Now is no less baffling now than it was a year ago, particularly since one of those teams never actually called itself “X-Force” in the course of the series. The ludicrous overuse of the “Avengers” and “X-Men” brand names at least makes some sort of short-term, blinkered sense – those are top franchises, at least. But “X-Force”?
Charts – 26 January 2014
All-New X-Men #18-21 – “All-Different”
One thing about the solicitation system is that, by requiring even cryptic plot details to be released months in advance, it can make it abundantly clear when plans have changed. These four issues will form the majority of All-New X-Men vol 4 (the volume being rounded out, rather oddly, with issue #22, which is the first part of “The Trial of Jean Grey”). Over on Amazon UK, that volume is still listed alongside copy that first appeared in the solicitation for issue #18:
“The X-Men are shaken to the core by the Battle of the Atom. Kitty Pryde is particularly shaken by the events of the X-Men crossover. With her students gone, what is Kitty to do?”
Royal Rumble 2014
To be perfectly honest, I’ve been too busy to pay much close attention to the build up for this show. But it’s worth saying something about since, with the launch of the so-called “WWE Network” (actually an online streaming service on the Netflix model), we’re nearing the end of the current PPV model in pro wrestling.
The WWE Network has been in the pipeline for ages – they actually announced it a couple of years back only for it to drift off the radar. Despite this, it still seems to have come as a surprise announcement to many people not following the industry. Essentially, the big idea is to have a streaming service where, for around the price of a single PPV on the current model, you can subscribe for six months and get all the PPVs in that period, plus a ton of archive material, and, well, some blatant filler like a reality show that’s been languishing at the back of a drawer for two years.
