Charts – 7 October 2012
It’s a podcast week, so don’t forget to check out the podcast thread one post below! And now…
Psy only managed one week at number 1, largely because he had the misfortune to run smack into a strong week for new releases – his sales actually went up from the previous week. He winds up at an eminently respectable number 2, and he looks set to hang around the top 10 for a few weeks yet.
Meanwhile…
37. Adele – “I Can’t Make You Love Me”
House to Astonish Episode 92
A couple of days late, but better late than never, we’ve got just over an hour and ten minutes of chat for you on Marvel’s latest wave of teasers, Mark Millar’s new role at Fox, the expanded line-up of the Avengers, IDW’s latest mega-crossover and David Lloyd’s Aces Weekly. We’ve also got reviews of Non-Humans, Uncanny X-Men and Detective Comics, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is the new Buzz Lightyear. All this plus the Avengers’ five-a-side football tournament, boob claws and the Secret Invasion point-and-click adventure.
The podcast is here, or on Mixcloud here, or available through the embedded player below. You can also find us on iTunes or via Stitcher.com (or their free iOS or Android apps).
Let us know what you think, either in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or through our Facebook fan page.
The X-Axis – 7 October 2012
So we’re finally here – the end of a storyline that’s been running for months, which in turn ends a storyline that’s been running for years. No wonder they’ve given it a pretty clear run – we have four X-books out this week, but three of them are effectively different perspectives on the same story. Strangely, that works better than you might expect.
Avengers vs X-Men #12 – I may do a separate post looking back on this crossover as a whole. But let’s talk about the finale and where it leaves us going forward.
Housekeeping
Just so you know, we’ll be recording the next podcast on Monday, most likely. Al’s out of town, and besides, I’ve got a cold, so it’d be an hour of intermittent coughing anyway.
Charts – 30 September 2012
Let’s stick with the countdown format, shall we? But before we start, a brief diversion.
You may have heard in the news that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s apology for breaking an election pledge on tuition fees two years ago was “racing up the charts” in an autotuned remix. This was, of course, complete nonsense. The record exists – and it does indeed have 1.8m views on YouTube – but at no stage was it actually selling in any significant quantities. Naturally, this didn’t stop plenty of journalists from talking about it as if it somehow mattered. Its chart position is number 104. And to put that into perspective, there’s a knock-off cover version of Lucy Spraggan’s “Last Night” at number 74.
35. fun. (feat Janelle Monae) – “We Are Young”
A re-entry after two weeks spent at number 42. Nothing to see here, move along.
The X-Axis – 30 September 2012
The X-office continues to lurch back and forth between weeks of putting out virtually nothing, and weeks of putting out loads of X-Men titles all at once. I’m sure there must be some sort of thought process behind this approach, but I’d take rather more convincing that it’s a good one.
Anyway, Avengers vs X-Men may not technically be over, but it might as well be given that it doesn’t crop up in any of this week’s books. You’ll realise, of course, that that leaves at least a couple of these titles in the odd position of doing stories that take place after the crossover conclude but which require to tiptoe around actually revealing the ending. For the most part they manage that by finding something else to focus on, but again, it’s an odd scheduling choice.
Anyhow…
Astonishing X-Men #54 – Wow, this storyline is going on for ever and a day, isn’t it? We’ve been at this for, what, six issues now, and we’ve finally reached the stage of identifying the villain’s plan and giving some vague outline of her motivations. I realise we’ve had a diversion in there to do the wedding, but even so, this is moving at a snail’s pace.
Charts – 23 September 2012
The X-Axis – 23 September 2012
It’s a podcast weekend (though I’m told the sound quality is a bit dodgy on this one), so check it out one post down.
Otherwise… I’m horribly busy right now, but thankfully, Marvel have considerately obliged me by releasing virtually nothing this week. Which, come to think of it, kind of begs the question of what possessed them to put out so many X-Men titles last week instead of shunting a few of them into this week. But whatever. We’ve got one X-book and one AvX tie-in – if only barely – so let’s take a look at those…
Avengers #30 – One for the “outrageously tenuous tie-ins” file, if ever I saw one.
House to Astonish Episode 91
We’re back with another episode of House to Astonish, where we’re discussing Greg Rucka’s views of Marvel and DC, Marvel’s “Superior” teaser, Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Jerry Ordway’s Human Bomb, Ultimate Captain America as US President and the Dredd UK box office success, as well as taking a run through December’s solicitations. We’re also reviewing Team Seven, Ghost and Sword of Sorcery, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook is close to ending it all. All this plus people who sound like Crayola crayons, the optimum way to not watch Arrow and the return of a certain vaguely London-y comics creator impression.
Please be aware that there was something very strange about the audio this time round which we didn’t discover until after we recorded, which makes us sound like we’re sitting about ten feet away from the microphone, so you might have to turn this one right up. C’est la vie.
The episode is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or through our Facebook fan page. We’re also available on Stitcher.com or through their free iOS or Android apps.
For those of you who make it through to the end, What The Fox can be found here. Enjoy.
Charts – 16 September 2012
Quite an odd one this week, with the Sunday chart not bearing all that much resemblance to the midweeks for a change. That’s partly because of a last-minute download campaign, partly because the midweek number one had frontloaded sales that couldn’t last the week, and partly because of some tracks gaining real momentum during the week, including the first ever K-pop record to make the UK chart.
But first…
1. The Script (featuring will.i.am) – “Hall of Fame”
The run of new entries at number 1 comes to a halt. Unlike everything around it, this single has sustained its sales – and so it climbs from number 2 last week, to become the Script’s first number one. Their new album “#3” enters the album chart this week at number 2, which is very confusing.
