Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Month: January 2015

Sorry About That

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cyclops_facepalm

Sorry. I’m sorry.

It has been a hell of a January, mostly for reasons I can’t really go into here. I was going to spend this week getting caught up on the stuff that fell behind while I was putting out fires in the first half of the month; but then Miles and I both got sick; and we decided at the last minute to do a Secret Wars episode, which meant reading about twenty issues very fast; and apparently there’s something in DayQuil that really messes with the way my eyes track, which is making everything involving text and images–which is to say, everything–take about twice as long as it normally would.

All of which is to say: X-Men: Evolution recaps will begin next week. Thank you for your patience. I’m going back to bed.*

-Rachel

*JUST KIDDING! I’m going to go research, write, and record a voiceover thing; then send about a dozen e-mails and finish reading Secret Wars II. Sick days are for people with real jobs!

Rachel and Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 23

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Week of January 28, 2015.

In which we carefully avoid spoiling Uncanny X-Men and remain disappointed by the lack of Wolverines heists; and Rachel mispronounces Bachalo but doesn’t realize until she’s already editing the video (oops).

Reviewed:

  • Uncanny Avengers vol. 2 #1 (0:27)
  • *Uncanny X-Men #30 (2:59)
  • Wolverines #4 (4:17)
  • Spider-Man and the X-Men #2 (5:52)
  • Amazing X-Men #16 (6:57)

*Pick of the Week (8:22)

These video reviews are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

As Mentioned in Episode 41 – Hated and Feared

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Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 2/1/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
Not a dream! Not an imaginary story! (X-Men #193)
“The hard part wasn’t bringing you back from the dead–it was getting you into those leather pants.” (X-Men #193)
Firestar’s first comic-book appearance. We’d like to tell you it goes uphill from here, but, no. (X-Men #193)
Let’s take a moment to admire the complete impracticality of Kitty’s jacket. (X-Men #193)
“That’s right, Sam. And when you’re headmaster of your own school, you can dress however you want.” (X-Men #193)
Kitty’s jacket again, because it is just so gloriously awful. (X-Men #193)
The robot enforcers of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Or something. (X-Men #193)
Empath: Literally the worst kid. (X-Men #193)
In which Charles Xavier takes advantage of a teachable moment. (X-Men #193)
Aw, Nimrod, you’re so wacky. (X-Men #193)
It seems like a waste that this sequence isn’t accompanied by sitcom opening-credits music. (X-Men #194)
Things about Rachel Summers that are not The Saddest Thing at this point in continuity: None of them. (X-Men #194)
Really, Earth-811? Limitless budget, and you couldn’t design anything that looked better than THAT? (X-Men #194)
Voltron special! (X-Men #194)
The scene depicted on the cover ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT TAKE PLACE AT ANY POINT DURING THIS ISSUE. Good god, Marvel. (X-Men #195)
And now, an actual nightmare that you have actually had! (X-Men #195)
Seriously, what the hell, George? (X-Men #195)
Aw. (X-Men #195)
Damn, Shadowcat. That’s cold. Not entirely inaccurate, but cold. (X-Men #195)
I have no idea how they’re going to explain this one to their parents. (X-Men #195)
Next Week: Firestar!

41 – Hated and Feared

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Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 2/1/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 2/1/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.

In which Nimrod is probably an honorary Summers by this point; Claremont hits a centennial; it’s probably pretty hard to get an unconscious person into tight leather pants; the X-Men finally encounter a world that actually hates and fears them; and the Power Pack fits somewhat uneasily with the grown-up Marvel Universe.

X-PLAINED:

  • Nimrod
  • Uncanny X-Men #193-195
  • Thunderbird II (James Proudstar)
  • Situation-inappropriate attire
  • The worst Hellions
  • Firestar (Angelica Jones)
  • Why you call ahead before breaking into NORAD
  • Leadership
  • Public opinion
  • Juggernaut fights
  • How the X-Men wake up
  • Nazgûl
  • Tyranny of the Masses: The Robot
  • The Voltron Special
  • The Power Pack
  • Navigating crossovers

NEXT WEEK: Firestar!

You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Support us on Patreon!

Buy prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

Rachel and Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 22

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Week of January 21, 2015

In which All-New X-Factor ends, Iceman is his own best foil, and Jordie Bellaire is a hell of a colorist.

Reviewed:

  • All-New X-Men #35 (00:26)
  • Wolverines #3 (2:19)
  • X-Factor #20 (3:45)
  • *Magneto #14 (5:01)

*Pick of the Week (7:18)

These video reviews are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Some Very Quick Thoughts on the X-Men: Apocalypse Casting Announcement

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Rachel here! ICYMI, they’ve just announced the casting for the three new kids in X-Men: Apocalypse. Let’s take a look:

sophieturner_jean

Sophie Turner as Jean Grey:

Sophie Turner is the only one of the three I’ve seen in anything, ever; and I could not be happier to see her step into Jean Grey’s bright yellow boots. Turner’s a fantastic actress, and Sansa Stark is basically the Jean Grey of Game of Thrones: completely awesome and chronically thrown under the bus by both canon and audience. (Incidentally: talk shit about Sansa stark in the comments, and we will cut you. Sansa rules.)

 

alexandrashipp_storm

Alexandra Shipp as Storm:

Totally unfamiliar with Shipp, but she looks like a baby Storm, and she’s not Halle Berry, so that’s two points in her favor.

 

tyesheridan_cyclops

Tye Sheridan as Cyclops:

With the caveat that I’m no more familiar with this kid than I am with Shipp, can we take a moment to agree that the correct casting for teen Cyclops is and always will be Swing Kids-era Robert Sean Leonard?

Welcome to Bayville, Rachel. Hope You Survive the Experience!

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Coming soon to R&MXtX-M: X-Men: Evolution!
Coming soon to R&MXtX-M: X-Men: Evolution!

Rachel here! As you may or may not know, Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men–the podcast, the videos, and everything we do here on the site–is entirely listener supported, via our kickass Patreon subscribers. And last night, while we weren’t looking, they unlocked one hell of a milestone goal:

Starting next week, I’ll be recapping and reviewing not one, not a dozen, but every single episode of animated high-school drama X-Men: Evolution.

It’s no secret that I love this show. I love it a lot. I love the awkward teenagers (and even more awkward early animation); the dubious fashion; the high-school angst; the godawful Season One finale. I love the way it starts terrible and then slowly and subtly gets awesome while you’re not paying attention. I love that there’s an episode where it stops being a superhero show and instead spends 22 minutes doing a straight-up homage to old-school girl-gang movies.

And I love seeing characters and premises I love reinvented and refiltered through very different sensibilities: what shifts and evolves, and what core themes persist through the changes. In a lot of ways, Evolution is the most daring adaptation of X-Men; certainly, it’s the one that moves furthest from any other incarnation of the series and team. Sometimes it succeeds brilliantly. Sometimes it fails spectacularly. But it never stops being fun.

If you want to watch along with me, you can find the full series on Marvel’s YouTube channel, starting here. I’ll be kicking off next week with Season 1, Episode 1: “Strategy X.”

As Mentioned in Episode 40 – Give Them Something to Fight (With G. Willow Wilson)

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Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints available until 1/25/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
The first issue of G. Willow Wilson’s Adler-Corbeau Award-winning run on X-Men, out this month!
Are you reading Ms. Marvel? YOU SHOULD BE. It is superlative.
G. Willow Wilson and Ming Doyle’s Nightcrawler story from Girl Comics #1.
Miles’s favorite Rachel Summers costume, from Excalibur #64.
Rachel’s favorite Rachel Summers costume, from Uncanny X-Men #207. Why has no one done a ballgown version of this yet? I mean: THAT NECKLINE!
No, seriously: Why are you not already reading Ms. Marvel? It is the best.
Next week: THIS DEFINITELY DOES NOT ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

Links and Further Reading:

  • G. Willow Wilson. Go read everything she’s written. It’s all splendid. GO. NOW.
  • You have until JANUARY 21 to send in your entries for the Corbeau Coloring Contest!
  • If you want to help support the podcast–and see Rachel recap and review all 52 episodes of X-Men Evolution–now might be a good time to click over to our Patreon.

 

40 – Give Them Something to Punch (With G. Willow Wilson)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS

Art by David Wynne. Prints and travel mugs available until 1/11/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints available until 1/25/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.

In which writer G. Willow Wilson joins us to talk about her new run on X-Men; the Future is really confusing; we consider the many iterations of Rachel Grey; Storm probably has strong feelings about climate change; and writing for a shared universe takes some seriously fancy footwork.

X-Plained:

  • Jubilee
  • Shogo (a little)
  • The future vs. the Future
  • X-Men vols. 1-4
  • The logistics of stepping into a book mid-series
  • Pigeonholing and “girl” books
  • The proper pronunciation of Kamala
  • Storm (again)
  • Psylocke
  • M
  • Rachel Grey (again)
  • Cross-title coordination
  • Writing in a shared universe
  • Super-powered ecology
  • The gender politics of telepathy
  • Writing and dialogue across media
  • Marginalization, intersectionality, and the mutant metaphor

Next Week: Pink robots from the future!

You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Support us on Patreon!

Buy prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

Rachel and Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 21

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Week of January 14, 2015

In which we continue to be frustrated by Cyclops, but everything else is pretty great.

Reviewed:

  • Wolverines #2 (00:23)
  • X-Force #14 (2:23)
  • *Amazing X-Men #15 (4:59)
  • Cyclops #9 (7:26)
  • Nightcrawler #10 (9:39)

*Pick of the week (11:24)

These video reviews are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!