The X-Axis catch-up (part 2)
Right, I did say we’d get through the rest of these books, and that’s what we’re going to do. Quickly, because there’s a whole new week of books to cover next…
Uncanny X-Force #24 – A one-off story between arcs, as X-Force hunt down the Age of Apocalypse Iceman (who’s apparently now living in our world) and try to kill him. I can see the thinking here – X-Force need some nice disposable villains to hunt down in order to sell their black ops concept, and it’s also a good opportunity to put Nightcrawler in the spotlight. Thus far, the focus has tended to be on how he’s a dark and bitter version of the original Nightcrawler; this story, playing up his former friendship with Iceman, allows an opportunity to play up his similarities instead.
The X-Axis catch-up (Part 1)
Don’t forget it’s a podcast weekend – you’ll find this week’s show just a post down, with reviews of Reset, Popeye and Captain America & Hawkeye. Meanwhile, I’ve got some catching up to do, since we skipped last week, and the Avengers vs X-Men crossover is in full sway. Seven issues in those two weeks, people! Mind you, most of them are the same story from different perspectives, so…
I’m not ploughing through 14 X-books and crossover titles in one post. Instead, I’ll do the first half here and follow up with the rest during the week. (Fingers crossed.)
House to Astonish Episode 83
We’re a day later than usual, but we’ve got loads of great chat to make it up to you with – this time round we’re talking about Chris Roberson leaving DC and the fallout from that, the return of Devil’s Due and lots and lots of film and TV chat as we look at the impending X-Men: First Class sequel, the Daredevil and Fantastic Four reboots and the potential New Mutants movie, the animated Flashpoint direct-to-DVD flick, Fox’s Axe Cop animated show and the Lobo film. We’ve also got reviews of Popeye, Captain America and Hawkeye and Reset, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe does the robot. All this plus Hank Pym’s secret vendetta, the Avengers Personality and Little Cabin In The Woods.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, available on Stitcher.com or via their Android or iOS apps, or via the embedded player below, or on iTunes. Let us know what you think, in the comments thread, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
Extreme Rules 2012
And normal service is resumed with the post that a small minority of you were waiting for – a preview of WWE Extreme Rules! This, to be honest, is a show I won’t be ordering because I won’t have time to watch it in the next few days – but it’s also an unusually newsworthy B-show, built around the return of Brock Lesnar after eight years.
Extreme Rules started life as a successor to the WWE’s successful ECW reunion pay-per-views which paid tribute to the influential 90s promotion. After the WWE revived the ECW brand for a short-lived and entirely unsuccessful weekly show, their annual PPV was rebranded under the current name, and basically ended up as a show full of gimmick matches. “Extreme Rules” used to be the WWE’s preferred term for ECW rules (i.e., no count-outs and no disqualification), but for the purposes of this year’s show, it seems that pretty much any gimmick is deemed acceptable – there’s nothing especially “extreme” about a best-of-three-falls match, but they’re doing one anyway. Mind you, it’s not as if wrestling referees are exactly noted for their rigorous enforcement of the rules in the first place.
This year, Extreme Rules also follows Wrestlemania in the PPV calendar. This slot has traditionally gone to a generic show called “No Way Out”, but this year No Way Out is taking place later on and is being rebranded as a show full of cage matches (a gimmick which worked surprisingly well for the distant number two promotion TNA with their annual Lockdown show).
But the main story for this show is…
More housekeeping…
Well, so much for probably getting a chart post done earlier in the week…
Fortunately, things should now be getting back to normal (ish), so here’s the plan: podcast tomorrow, reviews catching up over the next week or so, wrestling preview coming up, charts catch-up at some point too.
Honest.
Housekeeping
No reviews this week. Haven’t received the books yet and I’m terribly busy anyway. Probably a chart post at the start of the week, and we’ll be back with comics with a podcast and X-Axis post next weekend.
Charts – 15 April 2012
It’s the busiest week for new entries in ages – 7 new entries, plus three surprise re-entries from the back catalogue. One of them very surprising indeed, in fact. But sitting serenely above them all…
1. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
Second week at number one, and for the second straight week she outsells the number two single 2:1. It’s almost certainly going to hang on for a third. It’s a huge hit.
2. Justin Bieber – “Boyfriend”
No video for this yet, but it’s a fairly blatant example of Bieber trying to grow with his audience and turn into Justin Timberlake. Can you take seriously the idea of a sultry Justin Bieber? No, me neither.
The X-Axis – 15 April 2012
It’s a podcast weekend, so check out the post below and download the show, where you can hear Al and me talk about Secret Service, Courtney Crumrin and America’s Got Powers. Over on the X-books, it’s an extremely quiet week, so I’ll chuck a couple of other books in as well…
Avenging Spider-Man #6 – This is the start of the three-part “Omega Effect” crossover, which also runs through Daredevil and Punisher. In fact, it looks suspiciously like a Daredevil storyline which has sprouted some guest stars in the name of mutual sales-boosting. The story is built entirely around that book’s Omega Drive subplot, in which Daredevil has ended up in possession of a hard drive full of information about the Marvel Universe’s major criminal/terrorist groups. Naturally, they’d like it back. And for equally obvious reasons, the Punisher would quite like it too.
House to Astonish Episode 82
Plenty of stuff to get through in this episode, as we’re looking at the new Buffy spin-offs, the GI Joe/Danger Girl crossover, the new version of The Crow, Archaia and DC’s forays into “digital first”, the launch of Thrillbent Comics, Matt Wagner and Simon Bisley’s The Tower Chronicles and the Thief of Thieves TV show. We’ve also got reviews of Secret Service, America’s Got Powers and Courtney Crumrin, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is going up in the world. All this plus Scott Allie’s burning bush, Ted Bundy Comics and Brian Michael Bendis as Widow Twankey.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud. You can also, as noted in the previous post, check us out on Stitcher.com, or use the embedded player below. Let us know what you think in the comments, on Twitter, via email or at our Facebook fan page.
Housekeeping: House to Astonish on Stitcher
In advance of tomorrow’s episode, we’ve got a quick bit of info about another way in which you can now get hold of the show.
If you listen to a variety of different podcasts then you might have heard of Stitcher – it’s a site (and a free app for iOS and Android) that lets you put together what are essentially custom radio stations, “stitching” together podcasts and radio from their available sources. They’ve got a bunch of podcasts that I normally listen to, such as the Bugle, Answer Me This and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, as well as some other comics podcasts like Comic Geek Speak and Around Comics. They’ve also now got House to Astonish, so if you’re looking for another way to listen to House to Astonish (and to be honest, who wouldn’t want another way to listen to House to Astonish?) then check it out – their site is here or you can get the app from the iTunes or Android app stores.
