HTTP/2 200 cross-origin-resource-policy: cross-origin etag: W/"6ef511566e4307c479300dcd3bfd681bc6c390fd56118e03fe68b79719fe9353" date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:52:30 GMT content-type: application/atom+xml; charset=UTF-8 server: blogger-renderd expires: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:52:31 GMT cache-control: public, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, max-age=1 x-content-type-options: nosniff x-xss-protection: 0 last-modified: Sat, 05 Oct 2024 03:52:53 GMT content-encoding: gzip content-length: 9086 x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=2592000,h3-29=":443"; ma=2592000 tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-154469372024-10-05T04:52:53.780+01:00The difficult second album.Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.comBlogger553125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-79119449132113241762009-11-15T15:12:00.002+00:002009-11-15T15:20:44.786+00:00

Ladies and gentlemen, a moment of your time.Al and I have decided that it would make a lot more sense if both of us were blogging on Housetoastonish.com. After all, we're both on the show. And besides, the House to Astonish website is prettier. And it runs on WordPress, which has more buttons, so it must be better.So, I'm packing up and moving over to Housetoastonish.com. Do follow.This won't

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-71016253127958793272009-11-14T17:25:00.003+00:002009-11-14T18:37:59.705+00:00

"Romulus"Writer: Daniel WayPenciller: Scot EatonInker: Andrew HennessyColourists: Andy Troy with Rob SchwagerLetterer: Cory PetitEditors: John Barber and Jeanine SchaeferMore than three years into Wolverine: Origins, the great moment has finally arrived. It's time to unveil Romulus, the mastermind who's apparently been behind virtually everything in the series to date. Indeed, retroactively,

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-45111222614197368362009-11-09T20:28:00.003+00:002009-11-09T21:34:01.741+00:00

The X-Factor continues to bestride the charts like a colossus. As a Saturday night ratings juggernaut, the show simply has a profile that the rest of the music industry can't match. And so, once again, it's an X-Factor-related number one.That's JLS, "Everybody in Love." The official video isn't embeddable, so I've gone with their appearance on the X-Factor results show a couple of weeks ago. If

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-39493162781970508352009-11-08T18:54:00.004+00:002009-11-08T21:58:38.020+00:00

We have a new podcast this weekend, so see the post immediately below for the comments thread. (You can download the show here.)Meanwhile, with one thing and another, I still haven't read all of this week's comics... but let's race through the X-books and some of the other releases.Astonishing X-Men #32 - Last issue, most of the story was devoted to the X-Men rescuing an aircraft in distress.

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-85721160304366846622009-11-08T18:48:00.002+00:002009-11-08T18:53:50.333+00:00

It's our one-year anniversary, and an extra-long, largely unedited edition. This week, the usual news round-up, reviews of Assault on New Olympus, Stumptown and Great Ten, and a special Q&A segment with questions from the people who replied to Al on Twitter.Download it here, or visit the podcast web page, or subscribe via iTunes.

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-86680265439615778622009-11-06T21:40:00.003+00:002009-11-06T22:22:24.390+00:00

"The Adamantium Men"Writer: Jason AaronArtist: Ron GarneyColourist: Jason KeithLetterer: Cory PetitEditor: John BarberThe launch of Wolverine: Weapon X has been less than auspicious. By all appearances, the big idea was to soft-launch a new Daken title. They've done this before, when Incredible Hulk was renamed as Incredible Hercules and became an entirely different book. But, because it seemed

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-24917265694985970442009-11-01T17:28:00.006+00:002009-11-01T21:24:38.628+00:00

Right, then... I am honestly, definitely, genuinely going to catch up on reviewing some recently-completed storylines. There's a pile of them building up next to my desk, "The Adamantium Men" from Wolverine: Weapon X #1-5, "Romulus" from Wolverine: Origins #37-40 and the GeNext United miniseries being particularly overdue.But first, let's round up this week's books. By the way, my copy of the

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-64248774399327641512009-10-26T12:00:00.003+00:002009-10-26T17:22:45.582+00:00

It's hard to overstate just how much The X-Factor dominates the charts at this time of year. For the benefit of the Americans reading, The X-Factor is the show that replaced Pop Idol a few years ago. It's essentially the same format with a few tweaks. The main difference is that The X-Factor has four categories - boys 16-24, girls 16-24, 25+ and groups - and four judges, each "mentoring" their

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-41941389575066164602009-10-25T18:50:00.003+00:002009-10-25T20:29:40.531+00:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I've written one of these, so we've got something of a backlog to get through. And of course, as always, don't forget to check out the podcast for more talk about Anchor, Sugar Shock and Azrael. I'll come back, I think, to Chew #5, Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #6 and GeNext United #5 once I've had a chance to re-read the whole storylines. But for now...Anchor

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-37215312851234553902009-10-25T10:46:00.002+00:002009-10-25T10:48:13.111+00:00

This week, con wars, turtles, solicitations, and reviews of Anchor, Sugar Shock and Azrael. Download it here, or visit the podcast webpage, or subscribe via iTunes.

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-89105328806717894992009-10-24T16:52:00.003+01:002009-10-24T17:55:09.517+01:00

The WWE's over-packed pay-per-view schedule means that we've got another show this weekend, only three weeks after the last one. A three week build is absurdly short for any show, and I'm pretty sure they'd be better off dumping some shows altogether, leaving time to promote the remaining ones properly. Fortunately, after this point, things calm down a bit - it's a monthly schedule through to

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-25358538290940369282009-10-21T13:37:00.003+01:002009-10-21T13:48:22.711+01:00

The generic solicitation for January's Marvel Index #13 promises to cover Spider-Man starting from Amazing #523, Iron Man from Invincible Iron Man #2, and X-Men from Uncanny #514. Granted, the exact issue numbers in a given issue of Marvel Index often change from the solicitations, because they have to write the solicitations before they know for sure how much the preceding issues will cover.

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-85520074287269935712009-10-17T15:57:00.002+01:002009-10-17T16:01:13.991+01:00

There won't be any capsule reviews this weekend, since I won't get a chance to read this week's books until Monday. Might do the first arc of Wolverine: Weapon X if I get the time.

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-43868441929627795602009-10-17T11:59:00.003+01:002009-10-18T21:12:44.991+01:00

This one's so predictable, I wrote most of it yesterday...It's a two horse race this week, but not a very close one. The new number one single is Alexandra Burke featuring Flo Rida, "Bad Boys". The video is here, but it's not embeddable, so instead we'll go with her appearance on the X-Factor results show last week, which is.Alexandra Burke was the X-Factor winner in 2008, and already picked up

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-3053023091378645142009-10-15T18:53:00.004+01:002009-10-15T21:32:33.166+01:00

"Utopia"Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: UtopiaUncanny X-Men #513-514Dark Avengers #7-8Dark Avengers/Uncany X-Men: ExodusWriter: Matt FractionPencillers: Marc Silvestri, Terry Dodson, Luke Ross and Mike Deodato (with Michael Broussard, Eric Basaldua, Tyler Kirkham and Sheldon Mitchell)Inkers: Joe Weems, Rachel Dodson, Rick Magyar, Mark Pennington and Luke Ross (with Marco Galli, Eric Basaldua, Rick

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-30066085512716271692009-10-14T18:19:00.002+01:002009-10-14T19:07:04.118+01:00

Taio Cruz finally interrupted the hectic weekly turnover of number one singles, by hanging around for three weeks. But here we go again...That's Chipmunk, "Oopsy Daisy." He's eighteen, and he's yet another in this year's parade of UK grime/urban acts bailing out of their genre in search of mainstream pop success. See also Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal and Taio Cruz, all of whom had number one

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-17404742246489714082009-10-11T10:41:00.003+01:002009-10-11T19:43:08.945+01:00

There's not too many X-books this week (which is good, since I've still got a backlog of storylines I wanted to review in full), but we do have a ton of other stuff.Obligatory plug time: don't forget to listen to this week's episode of House to Astonish, where Al and I review Planetary, Dr Voodoo and Haunt, as well as the usual news and talk. Download it here, or visit the podcast webpage, or

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-32320165367981762242009-10-10T18:55:00.002+01:002009-10-10T18:59:03.412+01:00

With Al back from his holidays, we return to our normal schedule with a new episode of House to Astonish. This week, we've got the usual news round-up plus reviews of the final issue of Planetary, and the first issues of the surprisingly similar Dr Voodoo and Haunt. Download it here, or visit the podcast webpage, or subscribe via iTunes.

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-33127257748485061572009-10-05T21:17:00.003+01:002009-10-05T22:24:00.521+01:00

"Old Man Logan"Wolverine #66-72, Giant-Size Wolverine: Old Man LoganWriter: Mark MillarPenciller: Steve McNivenInker: Dexter Vines (with Mark Morales and Jay Leisten)Letterer: Cory PetitColourist: Morry Hollowell (with Christina Strain, Justin Ponsor, Jason Kieth, Paul Mounts and Nathan Fairbairn)Editor: John BarberFrom time to time, I complain about writers and publishers losing sight of the

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-66083729970935400632009-10-04T22:44:00.002+01:002009-10-04T23:55:25.625+01:00

I was planning to get around to that "Old Man Logan" review today but... well, yeah, maybe tomorrow. And thanks to Marvel's ever-crunched publishing schedule, two more Wolverine storylines wrap up this week: "The Adamantium Men" in Wolverine: Weapon X #5 and "Romulus" in Wolverine: Origins #40. So we'll get back to them. In the meantime, though...Echo #15 - Terry Moore hasn't exactly been racing

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-82315206538233832632009-10-04T12:08:00.003+01:002009-10-04T13:33:59.597+01:00

It's been a while since I've done one of these. That's not because they've eased off on the pay-per-view schedule; it's because the last show was during my holiday. Actually, the schedule remains as crammed as ever, with another show due in three weeks time.As I may have mentioned before, the WWE has a new strategy for the second-tier pay-per-views. The current theory is that except for the

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-71516918108824282862009-09-30T09:00:00.003+01:002009-09-30T09:00:04.325+01:00

Because you demanded it... "Love -- and Loss!"Writer: Chris ClaremontPenciller: Tom GrummettInker: Cory HamscherLetterer: Tom OrzechowskiColourist: Wilfredo QuintanaEditor: Mark PanicciaX-Men Forever must hold some sort of record for the most convoluted premise of an ongoing Marvel series. It's an X-Men series, of course, but not just any X-Men series. No, this is an X-Men series written by

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-60302696273677079202009-09-29T19:44:00.003+01:002009-09-29T20:07:45.802+01:00

I'm not convinced.They were trailing this show almost incessantly while I was in America. It's clearly a big deal for the network. Presumably it didn't impress the British so much, since it's ended up on Five. And I can see why. Sure, it's got a fun high concept - whole human race blacks out, has flash forward to next April, wakes up again. And it's got a decent cast. But it feels like a show

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-77497631328950820932009-09-27T17:22:00.005+01:002009-09-27T19:56:02.866+01:00

Thank heavens for Diamond UK. This would have been a rather heavy week for me, but fortunately the brave distributors have managed to lose Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine: Origins (along with six other Marvel books). Apparently we'll get them next week, once everyone at the warehouse has had a thorough search behind the sofa. But for once, Diamond have actually done Marvel a favour, since that still

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15446937.post-50140578971010548582009-09-21T20:49:00.007+01:002009-09-23T16:52:36.785+01:00

The rapid turnover continues, with yet another new number one. Actually, a new number one was virtually inevitable this week, because Pixie Lott's "Boys and Girls" crashed to number 6 in its second week on sale. That's not a good sign for her; that's what happens to records that are selling on the strength of the hype, but aren't gathering any momentum through word of mouth.Or here's the YouTube

Paul O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07432143460901363448noreply@blogger.com0