Charts – 23 January 2026
You’d think more people would see the lack of competition in January as an opportunity. But no.
I mean, seriously, brace yourself for anticlimax after the fold.
1. Dave & Tems – “Raindance”
We do have a new number one, although it’s hardly a new record. This track entered at number 5 alongside the release of the parent album back at the start of November, and has never dropped out of the top 30, even during the Christmas deluge. It’s now being promoted as an actual single, hence the video above, but it’s basically the same record that’s been hanging around the top 10 for the better part of three months. Dave’s romantic ballads never do much for me, honestly, and this strikes me as Just Fine.
It also carries the same asterisk that I’ve repeated for the last few weeks: if it wasn’t being downweighted under the ACR rules, Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” would be number one. Admittedly, it’s quite impressive that “Raindance” has been out for thirteen weeks without getting hit by ACR.
The X-Axis – 21 January 2026
X-MEN #24. (Annotations here.) This is billed as a second epilogue issue to “Age of Revelation”, though I’m not sure that’s the best way of framing it. As I’ve said before, “Age of Revelation” really works best if you think of it as a middle phase in Jed MacKay’s overarching X-Men storyline. And these two issues aren’t really epilogues, so much as characters in the present day changing direction in light of what they’ve learned from that future timeline. This is the villain issue, focussing on 3K – half of it is the remaining members of 3K’s inner circle squabbling for power in the Beast’s absence, and the other half is him returning and announcing that he knows how to create the X-virus. It’s a pretty good issue, at its best with the individual character work – although the 3K X-Men get shortchanged a bit, and I’m still not quite sure I buy the Beast having quite so much influence over this otherwise murderous assortment. Tony Daniel does a rather good take on the snow-white Beast design from “Age of Revelation”, which the Krakoan Beast has evidently decided to adopt without explaining why – we seem to be heading towards a romantic triangle with Jen Starkey and two Hanks, which is cute – and I really like the final page of the 3K base hanging serenely over a mountain landscape, with the tiniest little dot showing Schwarzchild’s body being dumped over the side.
INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #1. (Annotations here.) Last year’s X-Force didn’t really work out, being cancelled after ten issues and rushed to a conclusion. It also didn’t have much to do with the X-Force name at all. This time, Tim Seeley and Michael Sta. Maria take the more conventional route with Cable landing back in the present day and prompting recruiting Archangel, Hellverine and Boom Boom as a new version of X-Force. Despite Archangel and Hellverine being in the book, Seeley isn’t a grimdark writer, and seems much keener on the early 90s version of X-Force, which was more of a sugar rush than anything else. And I quite like the way that Cable seems to be trading on X-Force’s history and reputation as a way of encouraging the rest of the cast to stay with him (for ulterior motives); if nothing else, it provides a legitimate reason to brand this as an X-Force title.
Inglorious X-Force #1 annotations
INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #1
“A Force to be Expected”
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Michael Sta. Maria
Colour artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER: The core four members of the new X-Force. There’s a fifth character too, but we’ll get to her.
This is the first issue of a new series, which gets the “Shadows of Tomorrow” banner. The previous volume of X-Force only ran for ten issues in 2024-2025, and has nothing to do with this iteration whatsoever. It is, however, very keen to position itself as a successor to the original X-Force from the early 1990s. The cover doesn’t have a legacy number, but it would be issue #301.
The story title might be referencing the story title of X-Force #1 back in 1991 (“A Force to be Reckoned With”).
X-FORCE:
Cable. This version is looking a bit battered. He favours skulking around in a cloak, even when turning up in someone’s office, and seems to be using “synthetic flesh” to patch up the appearance of his face (presumably covering up the techno-organic virus). He still presents himself to everyone as an all-knowing authority figure with the perspective of a time traveller from the future, but there’s a definite impression here that this is partly an act and that he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does.
X-Men #24 annotations
X-MEN vol 7 #24
“Three Thousand”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Tony Daniel
Inker: Mark Morales
Colourist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: The core members of 3K, with the Chairman still in his previous body, to avoid spoilers in the solicitations.
As with the previous issue, this is billed both as a “Shadows of Revelation” issue and as an “Age of Revelation: Epilogue”.
The X-Men themselves don’t appear in this issue, which covers what was happening with 3K while the Chairman was absent in the future, and what happens upon his return.
3K:
The Chairman refers to the ruling group as the “Great Table”, a name which previously came up in issue #14, and feels like it has echoes of the Krakoan Quiet Council.
As we saw in X-Men: Age of Revelation – Finale, the Chairman’s body went into lockdown when the future Beast from the Age of Revelation timeline attempted to swap places with him. As a result, he’s missing for a week. In this time, 3K is already falling apart, with Cassandra Nova and Astra fighting one another for control; evidently this organisation depends on the Chairman to hold it together. In fact, the others seem to have remarkable deference to him.
Daredevil Villains #69: The Cossack
DAREDEVIL #217 (April 1985)
“The Sight Stealer”
Writer: Denny O’Neil
Artist: David Mazzuchelli
Colourist: George Roussos
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Ralph Macchio
We’ve jumped forward a year since the last entry, so let’s get up to speed.
Issues #206 and #210-214 are the remainder of the Micah Synn storyline. Issue #207 is HYDRA. Issues #208-209 are a fill-in story by guest writers Harlan Ellison and Arthur Byron Cover, and they involve robot assassins sent by the Death-Stalker’s mother. I’m not giving her an entry, because she’s barely in the story. Issue #215 sees Daredevil team up (kind of) with the Two-Gun Kid, Marvel’s western hero who was also a lawyer; Two-Gun’s segments are told in flashback, with Daredevil tying up the loose ends in the present day. The villains are just your standard issue corrupt businessmen, though. And issue #216 was the second Gael story.
William Johnson left as penciller after issue #207. His replacement is David Mazzuchelli, who’ll be with us through to issue #233. This is Mazzuchelli’s first major assignment for Marvel after a few fill-ins, and it’s the only lengthy run he’ll do on a superhero title in his career. Oh, and the book has changed editors once again: as of issue #212, it falls under Ralph Macchio’s office.
Charts – 16 January 2026
We’re starting to get back to something approaching normalcy – which is to say, one big name has released a single.
Two weeks, and streams are up significantly from last week. Which is a bit weird, because all the other Stranger Things tracks fall off a bit last week, and this already had a decently long run in the top 10 two years ago. It’s still number 1 with an asterisk: if it wasn’t subject to downweighting, then “Man I Need” by Olivia Dean would be number one. But not by much, in fairness.
6. Bruno Mars – “I Just Might”
28. Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – “Die With a Smile”
36. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”
Lead single from his fourth album. It’s the sort of extremely polished retro soul pastiche that you’d expect from, well, the lead single from a Bruno Mars album, but it’s hard to deny that he’s very good at this sort of thing. Maybe if you’re going to be optimistic in 2026, it helps to combine it with nostalgia.
The X-Axis – 14 January 2026
UNCANNY X-MEN #22. (Annotations here.) It’s a weird schedule, this month. You might have thought that the X-books were simply doing a soft relaunch and spreading out the launches of the new titles after “Age of Revelation”. But then you look at next week’s schedule, which has six X-books… and then the week after that seems to have just the one again. Baffling.
Whatever they’re up to, it means that Uncanny X-Men gets a more-or-less clear week for its return to regular stories. Gail Simone returns to the Mutina storyline from issues #17-18, as she shows up at Haven simultaneously threatening everyone with knives and demanding to be allowed to join the team for PR reasons, as if that was somehow a reasonable thing to request. This doubles somewhat as a Nightcrawler spotlight issue, in as much as it also features his first date with Mackenzie, and he’s the one who actually heads her off. But her storyline isn’t really tied to him more than any other regular cast member, although he is at least well placed to be the most open-minded X-Man about the possibility of redeeming her.
Uncanny X-Men #22 annotations
UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #22
“No Clean Hands”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: David Marquez
Colour artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: Mutina cuts through the cover of issue #1. The issue has the “Shadows of Tomorrow” branding, though this story doesn’t really have much to do with anything from “Age of Revelation”.
THE X-MEN:
Nightcrawler. He goes on what seems to be his first date with Mackenzie DeNeer, and shows up for it in a tuxedo. In the near-future “Age of Revelation” timeline, we saw them as a married couple in Last Wolverine #1. While attempting to talk Mutina down, Kurt sings Mackenzie’s praises as having “the kindest heart I’ve ever known”, so he seems serious.
It’s his birthday, and the X-Men and Outliers throw him a surprise party when he gets home (still referring to him as “fuzzy elf”, as Kitty used to back in the 1980s). Naturally, everyone’s very nice about him – Rogue claims that there’s no X-Men team without him, and Ransom claims that he’s everyone’s favourite X-Man.
House to Astonish Episode 216
It’s only 348 sleeps ’til Christmas, so we’re taking the opportunity to look back at the best 2025 had to offer, as we run down our pick of our three favourite comics of last year in the 14th annual Homies awards. Will your favourite make the cut? What did your fellow listeners choose? Find out here, true believer! Or in the comments for the Homies post from the start of December, I guess, for that second question at least. Here is definitely more convenient.
The podcast is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, via email, or on Bluesky, and here’s hoping you choose to stick around with us for 2026!
Daredevil Villains #68: The Gael
DAREDEVIL #205 (April 1984)
“The Gael”
Writer: Denny O’Neil
Penciller: William Johnson
Inker: Danny Bulanadi
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colourist: George Roussos
Editor: Bob Budiansky
Gather round, children! An American is going to tell us about the IRA! This always goes well!
Daredevil #205 brings in Matt’s new love interest, Glorianna O’Breen. She’ll stick around as a regular until issue #233. But we first meet her as Debbie Nelson’s photographer niece from Ireland, on the run from “terrible danger” back home. Her father Fergus is a member of the IRA – “the anti-government rebels”, as she describes them – but he’s been falsely accused of betraying the organisation, and so he’s sent her to America to keep her safe from retribution.
Soon afterwards, Daredevil stops two IRA men from trying to bundle Glorianna into a van. But of course, the IRA couldn’t possibly be doing anything bad – it turns out that they’re actually trying to keep her safe from the Gael, an IRA hit man who “went bad”. We’ve already seen the Gael in the opening scene: he’s a man in a trenchcoat who kills one of his informants for the hell of it, has a shamrock motif on his gloves, and leaves a paper shamrock on his victim’s forehead as a calling card. You’d think it would blow away. Maybe he makes them with Post-it notes.
