tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-154469372008-05-07T23:39:39.956+01:00Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comBlogger266125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-21742404760296521302008-05-07T23:31:00.002+01:002008-05-07T23:39:40.004+01:00

This clip has been around for a few months, but apparently they're really doing a weekly serial starting on May 22. The world is a better place for knowing this.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-6613156476314067672008-05-04T20:29:00.003+01:002008-05-04T20:33:07.294+01:00

For whatever reason, Ultimate X-Men #93 didn't show up at my store, so we'll probably come back to it next week. But we do have the X-Men's Free Comic Book Day special (actually rather good), X-Men: Legacy #210, and from the "I suffer through them so you don't have to" file, DC Universe Zero.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-1156714275775408302008-04-27T22:14:00.002+01:002008-04-27T22:59:12.199+01:00

It's not the end of April, but we've had the last Sunday, which is good enough for me. "American Boy" managed four weeks at number one, and now we move on to... Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake, "4 Minutes" (20 April 2008 to present, two weeks and counting). Madonna's built a career around collaborating with fashionable producers, usually with successful results, and if anything the surprise

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-46856525090795136902008-04-27T20:35:00.003+01:002008-04-27T21:46:37.606+01:00

Traditionally, Wrestlemania is the WWE's biggest show of the year. Backlash is the one that comes next. It's not an enviable position on the calendar, and as the name suggests, it's generally treated as a sort of epilogue to Wrestlemania. That's what we have tonight; it's a mixture of loose ends and generic PPV filler. Luckily for me, it's on Sky Sports 1, so I get it anyway. But before we

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-2598302380766888962008-04-27T20:33:00.001+01:002008-04-27T20:35:26.506+01:00

This week: since there are lots of X-books out and not a great deal else, we'll look in on Uncanny X-Men halfway through its "Divided We Stand" arc; Wolverine: First Class goes to a Japanese restaurant (in the loosest possible sense); and X-Men: First Class seems to have woken up thinking it's a Grant Morrison comic.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-32118134265677707332008-04-20T22:26:00.002+01:002008-04-20T22:39:07.900+01:00

This week, Wolverine: Origins finally gets around to defining Way and Dillon's take on Deadpool; X-Men: Divided We Stand catches up on the minor characters; and DC's latest relaunch of Titans gets off to a mediocre start.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-12171182145230009062008-04-14T21:08:00.003+01:002008-04-14T21:25:01.751+01:00

It's been a long time since ITV ran an American import in primetime. Media Guardian have tentatively suggested that the last one was The Practice way back in 1999, and while I couldn't swear to that, it certainly sounds plausible. Pushing Daisies is an odd choice to be the first show, particularly airing in a high-profile 9pm slot on Saturday. Traditionally, ITV weekend line-ups are, shall we

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-84230457152235127552008-04-14T20:19:00.003+01:002008-04-14T21:03:40.111+01:00

Designing gameshows isn't easy. The BBC has run up a long list of Saturday night shows that clearly had the core of a decent idea, but somehow needed a bit of tweaking. And now they've got another one. The Kids Are All Right is an early evening, adults-verus-kids quiz show. Perfectly good starting point. In fact, it's conceivable that somebody started off by saying "Why don't we do a game

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-78441077393403817552008-04-13T23:38:00.001+01:002008-04-13T23:40:33.525+01:00

This week: staggeringly slow, not just for the X-books, but across the board. Wolverine #64 is the penultimate chapter of "Get Mystique", but it's the only X-book out, so it'll have to do. And Number of the Beast is a WildStorm miniseries. See? Slow.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-11870787449372953362008-04-07T22:11:00.002+01:002008-04-07T22:39:28.228+01:00

So far, 2008 has been a remarkably slow year for turnover of number 1s. Which is probably a good thing; after years of everything being determined by release schedules, it's actually become vaguely meaningful to be a Number 1 single again. "Mercy" by Duffy stayed at the top until 23 March, for a total of five weeks. And now... Estelle featuring Kanye West, "American Boy." (23 March onwards,

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-49435016050071145072008-04-06T13:02:00.002+01:002008-04-06T13:05:40.524+01:00

This week: New Exiles completes its first story arc (not that you'd notice), and Young X-Men launches. Yes, I know there's a lot of other stuff out as well, but I'm afraid I don't have the time right now...

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-849176293467675482008-03-29T13:48:00.003Z2008-03-29T22:29:18.114Z

Wrestlemania time again. Once upon a time, this was the only pay per view - frankly, the title shows its age - and it's still treated as the biggest show of the year. Of course, it goes without saying that a PPV is a PPV at the end of the day; but the WWE do treat this as the most important show, and generally book it accordingly. This year, we're in the Florida Citrus Bowl. This is an open-air

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-77743179918105595642008-03-23T11:17:00.002Z2008-03-23T11:54:54.635Z

I finished reading this book a while ago, but never got around to writing about it. Well, I say "finished." More accurately, I gave up about a hundred pages from the end. Which may seem an odd thing to do, as the book is seven hundred pages long, so I was pretty near to completing it. But boy, this one gets seriously haywire as it goes on. Christopher Booker was one of the founders of

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-89012947864524880222008-03-23T09:11:00.003Z2008-03-23T09:26:12.771Z

Because quite honestly, there's nothing out. The only X-book this week is Wolverine: Origins, which is the third part of a five-issue fight scene. Quite honestly, I can barely summon up the willpower to care about it long enough to finish this sentence. And there are a couple of fairly obscure new indie titles, neither of which did a great deal for me. Oh, and Garth Ennis's Phantom Eagle series,

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-88784420350649375032008-03-17T00:17:00.002Z2008-03-17T00:18:48.690Z

I will, honestly, be posting some more stuff this week. Honest. But for the moment, here's the weekly comments thread. This week: X-Factor adjusts to not having a point; Comic Book Comics reviews the history of comics; and The Last Defenders is, of all things, a Defenders miniseries without the Defenders.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-26874526393134999392008-03-09T22:52:00.002Z2008-03-09T23:37:30.726Z

This week: four new titles. Cable brings us exciting babysitting action, Logan goes back to Japan, Echo breaks new ground in the depiction of dialogue-free hailstorms, and Young Liars... well, it's a recent Vertigo title. - Occasional lapse into linkblogging: Stephen Fry explains why he hates dancing. At incredible length. Fry has an odd approach to blogging: he puts up entire essays, and he's

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-83871718242457230482008-03-02T20:02:00.002Z2008-03-02T20:07:17.275Z

This week, X-Men: First Class #9, featuring the Black Widow in a costume that time forgot; X-Men: Legacy #208, beginning a new direction without actually making clear what that new direction is; Kick-Ass #1, the latest high concept Mark Millar book; and RASL #1, the new project from Jeff Smith.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-77992626285132972432008-02-28T21:25:00.004Z2008-02-28T22:59:22.608Z

Basshunter stayed at the top through to 17 February, for a total of five weeks - surprisingly long for a record that I'd initially had down as a one-off novelty hit. Perhaps that sort of thing is coming back into fashion. Or maybe it's just going to be a year of really odd number ones, because next up is... Duffy, "Mercy" (17 February onwards, two weeks and counting). This rather charming

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-8724110735947899412008-02-24T22:58:00.002Z2008-02-24T22:59:54.782Z

This has been a ridiculously hectic weekend (and week), but fortunately it's also a very quiet week for comics. So, this week, the final issue of Cable & Deadpool. And, by way of comparison, Deadpool's guest starring role in Wolverine: Origins...

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-55327423633210017292008-02-18T00:22:00.002Z2008-02-18T00:24:36.100Z

This week: Jason Aaron and Ron Garney take over Wolverine; the new X-Force series launches; the Next Issue Project brings us Fantastic Comics #24, a mere 66-and-a-bit years after issue #23; and Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch arrive on Fantastic Four.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-66899521173565821062008-02-17T16:37:00.000Z2008-02-17T16:38:31.036Z

No Way Out, the WWE's February pay per view, has historically tended to be a filler show. For years, the WWE calendar ran like this: the Royal Rumble in January decided who would get the title shot at Wrestlemania in March/April, so you got two or three months of build for the big match. When No Way Out was shoved into the middle, it wasn't immediately obvious what should happen at the show -

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-43287758741668898972008-02-10T23:43:00.000Z2008-02-10T23:47:58.973Z

This week... well, this week would have been X-Force #1, but it's late. But Uncanny X-Men came out, and there's also a new ClanDestine miniseries from Alan Davis.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-11145845844747677402008-02-03T19:36:00.000Z2008-02-03T19:38:09.416Z

This week, What If? has a go at Spider-Man vs Wolverine - because god knows today's readership is crying out for a story based on a largely-forgotten one-shot which has been out of print for 18 years. Mind you, the comic's not bad. X-Men: Emperor Vulcan finishes the miniseries in a faintly baffling way. And Y: The Last Man completes its run.

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-43215435190229461932008-02-02T15:04:00.000Z2008-02-02T16:31:45.355Z

I wasn't initially planning to carry on these posts into 2008. I had vague plans to do the occasional chart-watch post flagging up particularly unusual or notable entries, but to be honest, the first few weeks of January were dull enough to put me off the idea. (Leon Jackson stayed at number one during the quiet period, as you'd expect.) And then you get this... Basshunter, "Now You're Gone"

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-18484102654662029702008-02-02T14:27:00.000Z2008-02-02T15:02:26.157Z

The conventional wisdom on No Country for Old Men is that it's a return to form by the Coen Brothers after a string of rather dodgy films. To be honest, I think that's a little harsh on their recent work. Intolerable Cruelty wasn't a bad film, it just wasn't up to the astronomically high standards of Fargo. Which is to say, it wouldn't look so bad if you weren't expecting genius. Anyway, that

Paul O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com