House to Astonish

It's New Year's Eve, and Paul and Al have the traditional year-in-review show for you, featuring the 2017 Homies Awards. They're handing out gongs for the best comics, creators and moments of the past year, and looking forward to 2018 with a mixture of trepidation, anticipation and X-Nation 2099 (one of these is not true).

Apologies for the sound issues on this episode - we'll have everything shipshape again by the time the next one rolls around.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_160_-_Jenny_Brexit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:38pm EDT

Al and Paul have been away a long old time (having a second kid will do that to you) but they're back, with theirr ninth-anniversary podcast. They're talking about DC's Eddie Berganza problem, Marvel's Brian Michael Bendis problem, Funko's IPO problem, the debut of Ken Niimura's Umami, Marvel's most recent book announcements, a quick casting update on Netflix's Umbrella Academy series, Mark Millar and Olivier Coipel's The Magic Order, and The Phoenix's US distribution deal, and they've got reviews of Coyotes and Daredevil. You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

This episode also features the full audio from the SILENCE! To Astonish panel from Thought Bubble 2017, with Gary Lactus and the Beast Must Die from SILENCE! and special guests John Allison and Kieron Gillen. It's very silly.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_159_-_The_Littlest_Lobo.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:03pm EDT

Paul and Al are back, talking about the sad death of Len Wein; IDW's Full Bleed Kickstarter and new partnership with Glenat; Madefire Comics' partnering with DC; Oni Press's Spring 2018 OGN slate and Sam Humphries and Tim Seeley's Nightwing/Green Lanterns title swap, and bringing you reviews of Retcon and Runaways. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe wants to walk like you, talk like you, too-oo-oo.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_158_-_Junior_Kickstarter.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:24pm EDT

It's the first House to Astonish following SDCC, and unusually, there's actually quite a lot of comics news to talk about. Al and Paul discuss the mooted Doctor Doom movie, the newly-released details about Doomsday Clock, Jeff Smith's upcoming Bone picture books, Arkham Asylum 2, The Terrifics, Spider-Man vs Deadpool, The Signal, Sonic the Hedgehog's move to IDW, the three newly-announced Black Crown series, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee on Captain America, the new Unicron and Visionaries books, Marvel's digital-first deal with Comixology, Ed Piskor's X-Men: Grand Design, the new creative teams on Doctor Strange and Thanos, Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larocca taking over Star Wars, the final volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the sad death of Flo Steinberg, as well as reviewing Mech Cadet Yu and Lark's Killer. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook is a cool dude with attitude, kinda groovy.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_157_-_All_The_Walls_Purple.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:58am EDT

This time round, Paul and Al are remembering Joan Lee, trying to work out what Legacy actually is, chewing over the controversy surrounding Howard Chaykin's current Image work, and chatting through Titan's upcoming Dan Dare series, DC & Archie's Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica, and Sean Murphy's Batman: White Knight. They've also got reviews of Diablo House and Green Arrow. When 900 years old the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook is, look as good it will not.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_156_-_The_Nu-Metal_Age.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:51pm EDT

Al and Paul have been away for a little while longer than usual, but that just means that there's plenty for them to talk about. They kick off by discussing the sad death of Rich Buckler, then talk a little about the extra issue recently granted to Secret Empire (as well as the execution of the story so far); the upcoming "Doomsday Clock" story (as well as "The Button" and Watchmen more generally); the abrupt cancellation of Black Panther and the Crew and what it says about Marvel's line overall; the announcements of Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa's Mech Cadet Yu, Ted Naifeh's Heroines and Tom King and Mitch Gerads' Mister Miracle; Scott Snyder's last "proper Batman" story and Sony's Venom movie, then turn their attention to reviews of Grrl Scouts: Magic Socks and Generation X. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe doesn't work, it just makes you worse. Sorry.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_155_-_Punched_To_A_Crisp.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:25am EDT

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so Paul and Al have got nearly an hour of chat about the comics news, including the sad death of Bernie Wrightson, the closing of ComicsAlliance, Marvel's four-fold woes with digital code backtracking, artists vs writers, diversity and sales, and Ardian Syaf's hidden messages, and the announcement of the New Warriors TV show, along with reviews of Royals and Eleanor and the Egret. I don't have plans and schemes, and I don't have hopes and dreams, I don't have anything, if I don't have the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_154_-_Swearing_and_Trainers.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:42pm EDT

Al and Paul are back, and this time round they're discussing Astonishing X-Men, Darth Vader, Edge of Venomverse and Marvel's current creative and sales position generally; the return of Zodiac Starforce; new creator-owned imprints led by Karen Berger and Shelly Bond, Image's announcements from ECCC; and DC's Looney Tunes crossovers, as well as reviewing Grass Kings and Redline. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is on the move, the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is loose!

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_153_-_You_Can_Use_A_Tea_Cosy_As_A_Hat.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:12am EDT

Hot on the heels of their chat with Mike Quackenbush, Paul and Al are back with another regular House to Astonish, talking about the New York Times dropping its comics bestseller charts, the lack of an Image Expo in 2017, December's sales estimates, the retirement of Bernie Wrightson, the relaunching of Rocket Raccoon, Valiant's upcoming Secret Weapons miniseries and the casting of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger and Runaways TV series, as well as reviews of Bullseye and The Spirit: The Corpse Makers. Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today, I want to be a part of it, the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Direct download: House_to_Astonish_152_-_High-Tech_Snood.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

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