Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 526 – Vengeful Mutants on Drugs

May 31, 2026 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

I love these weird kids. (New X-Men #135)

It really is the same outfit with different flourishes. (New X-Men #135)

That One Shirt. (New X-Men #135)

That… is not how campfires work. (New X-Men #135)

It’s a look, alright. (New X-Men #135)

Go, Beak! (New X-Men #136)

WELL, THAT’S NOT MENACING OR ANYTHING (New X-Men #136)

“His Viennese Waltz, for instance, was terribly clumsy.” (New X-Men #137)

These kids in a nutshell. (New X-Men #137)

Why is that thing on your face, Logan? Who did this to you? (New X-Men #137)

See how much better he looks without it? (New X-Men #137)

Ouch. (New X-Men #137)

I wish these gentlemen only the best. (New X-Men #138)

SPOILER: Their kids are gonna be awesome. (New X-Men #138)

Awkward. (New X-Men #138)

NEXT EPISODE: Murder!

LINKS & FURTHER REVOLUTIONS

Wanna read more about Quentin Quire in context? Check out “You Were Never My Age: Unpacking Quentin Quire’s Problematic History.”
Wanna hear Jay talk more about this arc? Go listen to Episode 11 of Here Comes Tomorrow.

526 – Vengeful Mutants on Drugs

May 31, 2026 Jay One comment

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In which you should use drugs only with caution; a famous shirt makes its debut; Wolverine is the new Mary Worth; and you were never Quentin Quire’s age (unless you were).

X-PLAINED:

What Quentin Quire’s been up to since discorporating
New X-Men #135-138
The Special Class
Basilisk
Ernst
Dummy
No Girl
Whether the Xavier School should admit human students
Quentin’s new look
Kick (more) (again)
The Omega Gang
That one t-shirt
How to punch up your Power Point presentation
A somewhat fraught camping trip
The Special Class vs. U-Men
A secret
Some kind of weird affair
A riot, of sorts
Wolverine’s unfortunate soul patch
What actually happened to Jumbo Carnation
Telepathic deconstruction
The Cuckoos vs. Emma Frost
A somewhat mysterious secondary mutation
Denouement
The subsequent evolution of Quentin Quire
What’s happening to xplainthexmen.com when the show ends
The telepathy-telekinesis overlap

NEXT EPISODE: Murder!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog.

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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As Mentioned in Episode 525 – Beyond This Death

May 24, 2026 Jay Leave a comment

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Warren, no. (New X-Men #131)

Aw, buddy. (New X-Men #131)

<3 <3 <3 (New X-Men #131)

And then everyone immediately forgot that. (New X-Men #131)

Seriously, dick move, Emma. (New X-Men #131)

I really love this panel. (New X-Men #131)

Meanwhile in Genosha. (New X-Men #132)

The magnetic ghosts. (New X-Men #132)

Ah, man. (New X-Men #132)

The last words of Magneto, for now. (New X-Men #132)

Oh, for fuck’s sake. (New X-Men #133)

Damnit, Xavier. (New X-Men #133)

I love the idea that the Shi’ar’s collective Earth disguise is a bunch of Amish dudes.

Dust’s first (conscious) appearance. (New X-Men #133)

Jumbo Carnation! (New X-Men #134)

Quentin Quire before shit goes down. (New X-Men #134)

Seriously, Hank, uncool. (New X-Men #134)

Slick is gddamn adorable. (New X-Men #134)

Someday I will knit this sweater vest. (New X-Men #134)

NEXT EPISODE: Someday I will also knit this sweater vest.

LINKS & FURTHER ILLUSIONS:

525 – Beyond This Death

May 24, 2026 Jay 3 comments

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In which Warren Kenneth Worthington III is a terrible teacher; we are all Magneto’s children; Sooraya Qadir deserves a better origin story; teenagers have a lot of feelings; and we meet one of the modern age’s most controversial mutants.

X-PLAINED:

The destiny of Quentin Quire
New X-Men #131-134
An underattended funeral
How to fly? Kinda? I guess?
A kiss
A friendship
Another bit of ruby quartz marginalia that will never be mentioned again
A somewhat ill-founded psychic metaphor
Emma Frost’s Dark Phoenix costume
Some kind of weird affair
Echoes of 9/11/2001
Genosha, a year later
Ghosts
Polaris’s paternity
Shocker (the mutant one)
The last words of Genosha
Islamophobia post 9/11
Sooraya Qadir (Dust)
An attempted hijacking and the aftermath thereof
Some Shi’ar nonsense
X-Corporation Mumbai
Jumbo Carnation
Telepathy class
An artist’s interpretation of the fate of mankind if mutants are not driven out, as predicted by Bolivar Trask
Accountability
Professor X’s weird little paintings
X-adjectives
Best and worst X-Men with whom to share a psychic rapport

NEXT EPISODE: Quentin Quire’s teen angst bullshit gets a body count!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog.

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Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Buy rad swag at our Dashery shop!

As Mentioned in Episode 524 – House in a House

May 10, 2026 Jay 3 comments

Listen to the podcast here.

Xorn is a junk food guy. (New X-Men #127)

I… I don’t think Snuffy really cares anymore, dude. (New X-Men #127)

The idea of Magneto making all of this up fascinates me. (New X-Men #127)

Aw, Sonny. (New X-Men #127)

This poor kid. (New X-Men #127)

“And life goes on.” (New X-Men #127)

The appropriately ridiculous first appearance of Fantomex. (New X-Men #128)

Fire, life, and silverware incarnate. (New X-Men #128)

SO THAT’S A PROBLEM. (New X-Men #128)

In which Emma sits like a dyed-in-the-wool bisexual. (New X-Men #128)

This silly, silly man. (New X-Men #129)

Corporal Animal. (New X-Men #129)

E.V.A. is so pretty. (New X-Men #129)

We have fun. (New X-Men #129)

Weapon XII. (New X-Men #130)

Absolutely, unquestionably the line of the story. (New X-Men #130)

NEXT EPISODE: A memorial of magnetism.

524 – House in a House

May 10, 2026 Jay 11 comments

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In which Xorn goes out on the town; silverware is morally neutral; Cyclops pursues dubious counsel; the X means ten; and Fantomex is eminently enjoyable.

X-PLAINED:

The parentage of Hope Summers
New X-Men #127-130
Mutant Town
A monster who is not a monster but is, perhaps, a metaphor
X-Corporation Paris
The whole Phoenix situation
Fantomex
Weapon XII
A gene-hazard
Corporal Animal
E.V.A.
The Weapon Plus program (somewhat)
The World (somewhat)
The Shi’ar Empire vs. Earth
Xorn variations

NEXT EPISODE: A Memorial of Magnetism

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog.

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Buy rad swag at our Dashery shop!

As Mentioned in Episode 523 – This World of Liars

May 3, 2026 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

Weirdly, Xorn and junk food will actually become a cover motif. (New X-Men #124)

G-Type, the LEGO guardian. (New X-Men #124)

In case you, too, were wondering what Neosaurus’s artificial brain looked like. (New X-Men #124)

Damn skippy. (New X-Men #125)

Still, it’s gotta be creepy when your inner monologue takes the form of your nude father figure in a cloud of ectoplasm. (New X-Men #125)

The best meet-cute. (New X-Men #125)

Damnit, Hank. (New X-Men #125)

Not only does he run around in those suspenders, but apparently he wore them for THE OFFICIAL SCHOOL PHOTO (New X-Men #126)

A better close-up of Mummudrai Charles. (New X-Men #126)

Never piss off a passel of teenagers. They will destroy you. (New X-Men #126)

We see what you did, there. (New X-Men #126)

So, that’s creepy. (New X-Men #126)

More ectoplasmic fun! (New X-Men #126)

Once you know about the electoral map, it’s really hard not to go straight there. (New X-Men #126)

Charles Xavier triumphant, nude. (New X-Men #126)

NEXT EPISODE: This ridiculous man.

523 – This World of Liars

May 3, 2026 Jay 7 comments

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In which Wolverine learns to fly; pants are a basic human right; we decide to cherry-pick our Xorn retcons; Xavier’s eyebrows follow his mind; and the first year of New X-Men ends with a bang.

X-PLAINED:

The origin of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard
New X-Men #124-126
The current state of Charles Xavier’s body
G-Type
Neosaurus
Plutonia
Schism
Oracle
Stuf
Gladiator (more) (again)
Angel disambiguation
Several plans
Mutant justice
Several miracles of magnetism
Mummudrai
Horror movie shit
Subtle visual foreshadowing
A ruse
Education
Long-lost family members
What may or may not come after this

NEXT EPISODE: Fantomex!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog.

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Buy rad swag at our Dashery shop!

Visuals for Audio

April 30, 2026 Miles One comment

If you follow us on a feed, you may have noticed a change in the icon that appears beside the podcast. We’ve got brand new cover art for the Morrison run, by artist and friend of the show Ramon Villalobos!

We also thought this might be a good time to take a peek back through twelve years of X-Plain art, starting with its comic-book antecedent. Click through to watch us evolve! (By completely coincidence, we’ve changed the cover art every six years. Go figure.)