House To Astonish Episode 54
We’re about to take a short hiatus because of my impending nuptials and subsequent honeymoon, so here’s an extra episode of House to Astonish to tide you through the next month. There’s chat on the closure of Wizard and ToyFare and the launch of Wizard World, David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman, the death of the Comics Code Authority, a run through April’s solicitations and some clearly-walled-off spoilery chat about the big Fantastic Four death. No reviews, but the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe drags up, and this podcast also contains Gareb Shamus’s piranha pit, Savage Sword of Ka-Zar and Paul Simon’s run on Action Comics.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud. Let us know what you think, in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page.
Thanks to all for the kind words on the wedding, and we’ll speak to you again at the start of March.
Congrats. If only we could ALL be so lucky as to find the one we’re meant to be with.
Having said that…
AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!! A month without X-AXIS?!?! THE HORROR!!!!!!!!
You’ll still get the X-Axis, the Charts posts, the wrestling commentaries, and everything else Paul writes here. You just won’t get the podcast!
Al, I sincerely wish you a happy wedding and a great trip. A travel tip: Milford Sound in the south island is worth the long trip.
I’ll say at least a few halfway kind words on Wizard’s behalf…
I probably started reading Wizard about a year after the magazine started, having gotten most of my comics news from Comic Shop News and Usenet to that point. I was never a fan of the Image junk or the “hot,” speculator driven stuff that was the bread and butter of Wizard at that time, and I was always vaguely ashamed to be buying Wizard, especially from the comparatively highbrow comic shop where I usually shop, but there was apparently something there that kept me reading it.
At some point, and I don’t know when exactly, but maybe about the time the speculator bubble collapsed and Marvel actually got good again (circa Heroes Return), Wizard seemed to actually become a decent comics magazine, with some fairly lengthy articles, interviews, profiles, etc. on creators and comics history pre-Liefeld and company.
Shockingly (I’m got a bad case of comic fan inertia, I guess), I stuck with it up to the end. If nothing else, it was good bathroom reading. But it really took a turn for the worse around the time of the format change (to full-sized magazine). The magazine seemed to lose what ACTUAL personality it possessed, in favor of a generic “boys club” editorial voice, and it shifted focus from comics toward “geek culture,” most of which I really don’t care about. But I rode it to the end, and while I can’t say that I’m really sad to see it go, I do seem to recall that there was some good stuff and some fun mixed in with the stuff that most people remember the magazine for.
Way to go out on a high note. I even got my non-comics reading husband in to listen to your Handbook entry. Couldn’t stop laughing. Thanks for giving us a comic book moment we could share.
Also, it took me a shocking amount of time to figure out why $21 was a lot of money foe 90 pages since I pay at least that for all my GNs. Oh, right, British, not Canadian. How often does someone think all foreigners are the same and compare you to the Americans?
Al,
I’m sure that I speak for all of us when I say that we’d much rather prefer you cancel the wedding and do an extra-extra episode of House!
😀
No, seriously – it’s *great* that you are getting married. May it be lovely and romantic and everything else that weddings are supposed to be!
(But hurry back from that honeymoon, okay? 🙂
All the best,
Chris
Hooray, Hooray, it’s HoA!
…
I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry.
Congrats Al, and thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to deliver sweet comicky goodness.
Wishing you and the missus a great stress-free day.
Al’s Spider-Man voice is fan-tastic.
Re: the Wonder Woman show, Al seems to have the mindset of a 12-year-old.
Al, barely anyone read Wonder Woman’s comic. Sales on it have been nearly the same for over a decade. If not even comic readers are interested in this version of the character, why would they possibly want to adapt it to TV?
My god, just think about it for one second.
A little ray of sunshine as ever, Michael.
Al,
Many congratulations and much happiness.
I got a nice piece of advice for my wedding day. AT some point, make a concious effort to stop, take a long look around and drink it all in. It’s such a whirlwind day and goes very quickly, that I found it a nice way to appreciate the moment.
Best,
Rich Larson
Congratulations, Al!
It’s funny that you mention Dragon and Dungeon, as both have been much-missed since they went online; as you say, Wizard probably won’t be missed in the same way.
The Fantastic Four are coming up for their fifty-year anniversary in November — as well as a #600 soon after, although they’ll probably fudge it so they coincide — so I don’t see the death lasting even a year.
Black ops gods? Oh okay. If anyone can pull that off it’s Gillen, but my gosh, that’s a wonky idea.
Predictably, Death’s Head turned up in one of the Hitch She-Hulk issues, written by Simon Furman as I recall.
It’s about time “Legion of the Damned” and Legion Lost were reprinted. People have been asking after them for years. I prefer Coipel’s style back then; it’s a bit too polished for my tastes nowadays.
NBC have been in a terrible state of affairs for a while and are desperate for any sort of shows that might result in even a tiny bit of success, so that’s probably why they gave Wonder Woman a second look. Although given that NBC have made a failure with their big, new début shows this year, and that’s Kelley’s newest series (Harry’s Law) got dreadful reviews, it all seems like an expected recipe for disaster.
Very valid point about that Secret Avengers 0.1 issue, and if it is, as appears to be a fill-in, then presumably the next one will also be a 0.1 issue as well, which’ll just be odd. (Was a silly idea to begin with anyway.) Though Marvel putting out say 2 or 3 Avengers or Uncannys a month is a pretty good idea.
Fear Itself has a very, very good creative team on it, and in fairness it is still a while away, but there have been so many ‘events’ that I’ve been pretty much preconditioned to not care about it and know that it’ll ultimately disappoint and feature a needless death.
Regarding the FF death, yeah, I’d agree with Kelvin above in that I can’t see Marvel missing out on an anniversary (be it 50th or #600) and not having the original team there. Especially as you just know there will be oodles of variants. Shame though as the longer the person is dead, it’ll probably be for the better in the longer term. Been getting it in trades and it has been most enjoyable.
Hickman has said that the death was included in his initial pitch for FF, so I’ll be very surprised if he’s not back by the time Hickman leaves.
Thanks for the extra last-minute episode!
the handbag full of superglue bit made this the absolute best OHOTOHOTMU ever.
congrats, Al!
as for the FF, it’ll probably be “Fantastic Four” again in time for #600 (and the 50th) and the interim version will probably ship twice montly a few times in order to catch up. but if the death has been part of the plan for this run since the pitch, the dearly departed may well not be the 4th version in time for it to revert to its original numbering or the anniversary. they might just plug someone else into the role to make its title appropriate and continue to milk/build the death/return of the dead member beyond that milestone.
What is the statute of limitations here before we can discuss who is was that died?
When Paul gets his books?
I assume anyone reading this blog already knows who it is by now.
Also, I need to see the Fox team up or fight Paste Pot Pete.
If I was pitching a Wonder Woman show, “look at how the comic sells” wouldn’t be one of my lines of persuasion.
Huh. I’d always thought that the Fox from Strange Tales Annual #2 was the same guy as the Black Fox.
The Spider-Man/Human Torch story was actually a Lee/Kirby story, it was also their first team-up, so it’s been reprinted relatively frequently.
A surprise podcast? What a surprise. I wasn’t expecting one for months. Thanks guys.
Congratulations and best wishes on the wedding. I wish you both every happiness.
NBC has been desperate for a while, I think.
Paul C, I kind of liked the first episode of Harry’s Law. It is a feel-good lawyer show that goes well into the realm of absurdity, and seems like a bizarro remix of Shatner’s law role. But the second episode… The second episode showed that the writers have no concept of the fact that you can push “feel-good” too far. Even the main character couldn’t even understand how she managed to get the verdict that she got. (Basically, an old poor black woman robbed a store. She was caught on tape, and was very threatening. She admitted she did it. She specifically picked the liquor store because she had a grudge against it. She was found not guilty because…well…she was an old poor minority woman. That, and the writers wanted the audience to feel good.)
The Cape is kind of watchable, from the bits I’ve seen of it. At the very least, it seemed leagues better than the terrible No Ordinary Family on ABC. I guess both NBC and ABC are dabbling in superheroes in an attempt to catch some of the current movie craze and with Smallville ending.
I’m sure Wonder Woman will be terrible too, though. As will quite possibly be the Raven-based show, at least if it manages to get further than Aquaman, The Graysons, or Supergirl.
Congratulations, Al! Have a great time in New Zealand!
That’s the funniest OHOTOHOTMU ever: good to see you’re ending the first season on a high (and by tying up the long-running Wizard subplot).
I don’t think the .1 issues are definitely poor jumping on points yet: making Kieron Gillen’s first solo issue of Uncanny one is going to get me to pick it up, and is doing what this should be.
Heaven help the rest of Marvel’s planning…
Surely if you want a Wonder Woman TV series that actually resembles the comics your pitch is “Modern day Xena!”
If you *don’t* want a Wonder Woman series then, well, make something else. Michael might be correct that even comic fans aren’t interested, but by the same token, that means the name alone isn’t worth anything either.
The name is definitely worth something, because although not even comic fans are interested in Wonder Woman as a character, the entire world still loves her as an icon.
Successfully taking advantage of her iconography is really all the show has to do. As long as the concept is good in and of itself, add the Wonder Woman name and costume and people will embrace it, probably to the point that it becomes the modern day accepted incarnation of Wonder Woman.
Of course, if the show sucks, it’ll just be another 2004 Catwoman.
I think the main reason for a new Wonder Woman TV series is that people recognise the name “Wonder Woman”.
Very late, I know, but I’m pretty sure the Fox turned up in the 90s in one of the early issues of Spider-Man Unlimited, written by Tom DeFalco.
And, yes, it took me forever to realize that the Fox and Black Fox were two different people. (Didn’t the Black Fox show up recently with the new Ant-Man?)
Hmm, I don’t have my comics to hand but from your description, Paul and Al, the Fox does sound like the chap from recent issues of Ant Man & Wasp. That’s a fun book, worth a look.
And congrats on your marriage, Al. Hope you’re not being too buffeted by that blooming cyclone …
And it’s now been announced that Nick Spenser & Scot Eaton are actually the new creative team for Secret Avengers, and “#12.1” is the start of their run, not a fill-in…