House To Astonish Episode 69
A pretty full episode this time round, with a look at December’s solicitations, DC on the Kindle Fire, George Perez leaving Superman, the CBLDF’s ironic purchases, Marvel’s Point One promos and Albert Uderzo retiring from Asterix. We’ve also got reviews of Aquaman, Near Death and Brilliant, and The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe feels pretty, oh so pretty. All this plus characters made out of Gummi Bears, join-the-dots puzzles and the link between Jeph Loeb and Michael Vick.
The podcast is here, here on Mixcloud or accessible via the player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
Charts – 25 September 2011
Undiscriminating patriots rejoice! The weekly turnover of number one singles continues, and it has apparently been decreed that a new chart record has been set: eleven consecutive number ones by British acts. That would be DJ Fresh, the Wanted, JLS, Cher Lloyd, Nero, Wretch 32, Olly Murs, Example, Pixie Lott, One Direction (who have an Irish member, but it seems the Official Charts Company determines nationality by majority vote) and now…
…the one with the stupid hats from N-Dubz.
DCU Week 3 (and some others)
There’s so much to write about this month that I’m splitting the X-books off from the other titles. You’ll find them in yesterday’s post, and in this one I’m going to cover… well, the DC books I bought from week three, along with a couple of other new titles.
The DC relaunch has been pretty successful so far, but for my money this was a faintly underwhelming week. There’s a lot of books out this week of no interest to me – and other than some positive reviews for DC Universe Presents, I’ve seen little to suggest I’m missing out. Based on the cover alone, I wasn’t going within a mile of Catwoman, and it seems pretty clear that one was a smart call.
Batman #1 – We’ve already had Detective Comics back in week one, which would traditionally be regarded as the lead Batman title, but I’m happy enough to have sat that one out. This is the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo book, and thankfully, it seems to be pretty much self-contained. Some of the sidekicks are wandering around, but there’s no apparent attempt to tie in with events in the other Bat-family titles.
The X-Axis – 24 September 2011
We’re now three quarters of the way through September, and once again I’m going to split the reviews into two. I didn’t actually pick up that many DCU titles from week three, but there’s a veritable ton of X-books, and they include the big events in Schism. So we’ll cover the X-books today, and tomorrow I’ll come back to Batman, Blue Beetle and Wonder Woman, along with Jay Faerber’s Near Death and the relaunch of Ultimate X-Men (which isn’t part of the line proper, and besides, it helps balance out the posts).
Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3 – There’s a certain degree of event pile-up going on with the X-books right now. This week features two “Schism” books as well as two Fear Itself tie-ins, which doesn’t exactly seem like the best way to sell either story as a big deal.
Charts – 18 September 2011
It is time once again to bow before our overlord Simon Cowell. Yes, just in time for the new series of X Factor… One Direction are back. And this time they’re McFly! Well, kind of, anyway.
With X Factor about to launch in America, a whole new nation is, one suspects, about to be exposed to the dubious charms of the ad hoc group.
DCU Week 2
Everyone else may want to call it week three, but here at House to Astonish we’re choosing to pretend Justice League didn’t happen.
And for those of you checking in late of a weekend: you’ll find this week’s X-book reviews here, you’ll find this week’s podcast here (with reviews of Pigs, Ultimate Spider-Man and Demon Knights), and you’ll find the wrestling preview here. Content!
The DCU titles I didn’t get this week: Batman and Robin (reviews suggest it’s okay), Deathstroke (sounds like I’m not missing much), Green Lantern (mixed reviews elsewhere, and nothing that makes me feel like I want to read it), Mr Terrific (seems to be getting a fairly muted reaction), Resurrection Man (ditto, and I never much cared for the book first time round), Suicide Squad (critical consensus: destroy) and Superboy (Al’s read it, and he says it’s better than you’d expect). If you want to persuade me to give any of these a go, the comments thread is at the bottom.
But now for the six I did buy…
Night of Champions 2011
(Lest I risk driving it off the front page: it’s a podcast weekend. The show is just two posts down!)
But now: WWE’s Night of Champions, a one-match show if ever I saw one. Ironically, that one match also happens to be the one that doesn’t fit the show’s gimmick, which is supposed to be that every title is on the line. This isn’t the draw that the company seems to think it is. The two versions of the world title – which should really be consolidated into one, especially given the continuing erosion of the brand split – are defended on every show anyway, so all they’re really promising is defences of minor championships like the Intercontinental Title, which not many people care about.
At the top of the card, however, the curious CM Punk storyline rambles onwards…
The X-Axis – 17 September 2011
(Before we get started: it’s a podcast weekend! Just one post down! Don’t miss out!)
Meanwhile: sticking with last week’s format, I’m going to do the X-books here, and the DC launches in their own post. That’ll most likely be tomorrow, assuming I’ve actually read them all by then. Which is not currently guaranteed. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Actually, there’s only three X-books out this week, but hey, I’ve got six DC launch issues sitting here, so that’ll do me. Check out the podcast if you want to hear Al and me talk about the first issues of Ultimate Spider-Man and Pigs (both of which are good reading).
House To Astonish Episode 68
We’ve managed to bring an episode in at under an hour for the first time in a while, with discussion of the good and bad press DC have received over the New 52, John Rozum leaving Static Shock, the Amanda Waller controversy, the announcement of Avengers: X-Sanction, the Spectre TV show and the opening of Little Island Comics. We’ve got reviews of Pigs, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and Demon Knights, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is running a two-for-one deal. All this plus kiddy-on people, the most mysterious brand of apple and the link between Green Lantern and Michele Bachmann.
The podcast is here, or here at Mixcloud, on iTunes or accessible via the player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or at our Facebook fan page.
While we’re here, here’s another quick plug for my guest appearance on Scotland’s most petty and foul-mouthed SF podcast, The Thumbcast, where Iain Hepburn, Craig McGill and I talk a lot of daft nonsense about Apollo 18, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Fright Night, Star Wars on Blu-ray, Doctor Who, the New 52, SeaQuest DSV and a whole bunch of other stuff. Enjoy!
Charts – 11 September 2011
For the seventh consecutive week, we have another new number one. And since it drops to 3 in the midweeks, it’s a pretty safe bet that there’ll be an eighth on Sunday.
Yes, Pixie Lott is back, to start promoting her second album. The single is “All About Tonight”, and it’s her seventh hit (they squeezed a lot of singles out of that debut album). Pixie Lott is a classic example of the age-old promotional technique of insisting very loudly that somebody is a star until everybody gives up and believes you. She had two number 1 hits in 2009, “Mama Do” and “Boys And Girls”, both of which had a sort of pseudo-retro-but-way-too-polished thing about them. Passable enough songs, but produced into the ground.
This time round she has apparently decided that she’s the Saturdays, and reinvented herself as an electropop act. This is a very formulaic piece of songwriting – people in the music industry seem to spend an awful lot of time waiting for the weekend considering they don’t work 9 to 5 jobs in the first place – but it’s a decent chorus and they’ve got the production right this time.
