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WELL, THEN. (X-Men #161)
SPACE FASHION! (X-Men #161)
Stun bombs are to comics as knockout spray is to cartoons. (X-Men #161)
We really only included this to point out the smoke coming from Wolverine’s underwear. (X-Men #162)
And that’s how you do a cold open. (X-Men #162)
Remember this space whale. It’ll be important later. (X-Men #162)
So, that’s a little creepy, and… (X-Men #162)
…AUGH WAIT WHAT THE HELL?! (X-Men #162)
Fang just cannot catch a break. (X-Men #162)
This is one of very, very few times when Wolverine’s healing factor has been written as at all under his control. (X-Men #162)
How cool would it have been if he’d kept this look? Hint: So cool. (X-Men #162)
Fair warning: This visual companion is basically an excuse to post a lot of really awesome Carol Danvers moments. (X-Men #163)
Cyclops successfully completes TWO whole hugs during the Brood Saga! Also: space fashion. (X-Men #163)
So, THAT’S CREEPY. (X-Men #163)
Remember that thing about how this visual companion is mostly an excuse to post pictures of Carol Danvers being awesome? That. (X-Men #164)
ROCKET SHARKS. (X-Men #164)
Including this just for the dozen people who have written us to ask if Storm’s powers work in space (also covered in the Phoenix Saga, incidentally). (X-Men #164)
In which Claremont and/or Cockrum seem to forget that Kitty’s powers fry electrical systems. (X-Men #164)
BINARY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. (X-Men #164)
Imagine how much of Inferno could have been avoided if the Professor had decided to press this point. (X-Men #164)
AUGH GOD BINARY IS SO AWESOME. (X-Men #164)
Not that Cockrum’s not great, but can we have a moment of silence for how amazingly Neal Adams would’ve drawn this specific panel? (X-Men #164)
If you like the Brood Saga, you should be reading the current Captain Marvel series (and vice versa). This is very much the Carol Danvers of both. (X-Men #164)
That moment when the Brood Saga could’ve become a really heavy-handed reproductive-rights allegory, and we’re all really grateful that it didn’t. (X-Men #164)
Well, fuck. (X-Men #164)
Binary: Too awesome for your stupid airlock. (X-Men #164)
That time Moira MacTaggert manipulated Charles Xavier into starting a second ongoing X-book. (X-Men #165)
Welcome to X-Men, Paul Smith! Hope you survive the experience! (X-Men #165)
Faced with certain and inevitable death, the X-Men decide to go kill some Brood. (X-Men #165)
Rad bromance. (X-Men #165)
CORRECT CHOICE, COLOSSUS. (X-Men #165)
Remember that time Storm became a space whale and quoted Phoenix? (X-Men #165)
Seriously, though: Binary. (X-Men #166)
WELL, THEN. (X-Men #166)
Mostly in here to point out that Kitty’s impending death has not cooled her affection for the Shi’ar fashion machines. (X-Men #166)
Storm X-plains the Acanti, part one. (X-Men #166)
Storm X-plains the Acanti, part two. (X-Men #166)
Our episode outline addresses this panel as follows:
- KITTY YOU ARE THE BEST NERD
- DOES CYCLOPS WATCH STAR TREK? DISCUSS. SHOW YOUR WORK.
(X-Men: Evolution Cyclops definitely watches Star Trek, for the record.)
In addition to the shocking reveal, this moment leads to one of stupidest and most avoidable minor continuity errors of the issue. (X-Men #166)
Best Brood moment? Best Brood moment. (X-Men #166)
LOCKHEED! (X-Men #166)
And they all lived happily ever after. (X-Men #166)
OH, WAIT. (X-Men #166)
Just in case you haven’t caught on to the fact that this is an extended thematic and structural riff on the Dark Phoenix Saga. (X-Men #167)
Can we talk about the New Mutants’ adorable collective crush on Magnum, P.I.? (X-Men #167)
THAT SUBTITLE. (X-Men #167)
Kitty’s got a new outfit. Take a drink. (X-Men #167)
Okay. This looks bad. (X-Men #167)
Speaking of the Dark Phoenix Saga… (X-Men #167)
Cyclops has a good day (and completes an unprecedented SECOND successful hug in the same story!), but this plot thread is going to lead straight to Madelyne Pryor, so, that’s probably a net loss. (X-Men #167)
That time Empress Lilandra projected into Reed and Sue Storm’s bedroom to scold them in the middle of the night. (X-Men #167)
Professor Xavier returns to life, and Kitty gets yet ANOTHER new outfit. Two drinks. (X-Men #167)
In which Kitty learns what the reader has known all along. (X-Men #167)
Next Week: Back to the Silver Age (and a very important retcon) with Kurt Busiek!
Further reading:
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien.
Thanks for another great episode. I really enjoyed the analysis from you both on the Brood saga – especially about some of the echos and nods to the Dark Phoenix saga that Rachel brought up. These seem intentional and obvious now that I’ve listened to this episode, but I don’t know I ever noticed or considered them as such before. So thanks a bunch for that.
Quick question on the outline/scripting process. There seem to be bits that come up frequently (often voiced by Miles) that take the discussion off on real world tangents (for lack of better term). Examples from this episode are the prog Acanti band, and upgrading your next vehicle to a space shark. I believe he brought up disco dinner theater as a career option in the past. I’m not familiar with The Things They Carried (thanks for the link), but this is an example of Rachel speaking on one of these bits. My question is: are these loosely scripted in the outline, and is it a stylistic choice (similar to the cold opening WHAT?!) to have Miles bring them up? I only ask because Rachel has noted that the cold openings are scripted and take a lot of time to get right, and these bits seem similar. Mostly, I wanted to express a big ‘Thank you!’ for the work on the cold openings and these bits. They are consistently delightful and hilarious. If the bits are not scripted, I’m even that much more impressed and grateful.
I look forward to each episode’s release, and am anticipating upcoming episodes and guests. Thanks so much!
We generally don’t script anything but the cold opens, although I did write out the Things They Carried riff in advance this time.
This is probably also a good time to note that there are tiers of our Patreon that give you access to a backstage blog, which includes the episode outlines we record from. =)
I’d love if you put the issues you’re covering in the podcast description or the further reading one the blog, the brood arc sounds amazing but you never specified where it starts. Especially now that we’re getting the point where there’s multiple series’s going on parallel to each other
Oh hey look, you’ve already started doing that, awesome
Looking forward to this as soon as it hits Itunes. You’ve reached my starting point from May 1983: X-men #166.
hi rachel and miles!
i randomly came across your podcast last week. i then listened to about a third of your podcasts over the weekend.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOUR SHOW! NEVER STOP!
BY THE BLACK NEBULA! has to be reference to the home nebula of the Dire Wraiths! Or at least, I have decided it definitely is, thus linking the Brood to one of my all-time favorites, Rom.
I am still confused as to how Storm got her body back.
Listened today. Must agree with everything you guys said. Especially the Stuff about Paul Smith’s artwork. 166 will always be my favorite X-men issue. it was my first and the artwork was phenominal. Keep up the amazing podcast.
Found your podcast about a month ago, an am slowly catching up – I’ve paused listening to take your advice and read the Dark Phoenix sage, as well as Season One, and the six issues of Children of the Atom are en route. Where to start? Based on my limited experience of podcasts, yours is hands down the best comic book discussion, period. Focused, fast-paced and brief – I can indeed listen on my lunch break, and there are so many podcasters out there that should take a page or two from your playbook. I grew up reading DC, and the Legion of Super-Heroes was my adolescent book in the 1980s, and I just wish there were a similar podcast covering the Legion. Sigh. I found a few that purport to, but let’s just say that you guys have set the bar high. But X-Men. I read the Joss Whedon run a few years back in its collected form and loved it, but that’s the only X-Men experience I had before your poscast. (Well, that and the first three movies.) I’m now reading some collections (Marvels, and I have the Grant Morrison Omnibus) and watching more movies (one more to go – Days of Future Past, though I skipped the Wolverine/Origins flic), and am basically delighted to have been introduced to this series with such context and conviviality! Look for me to show up as a Patreon contributor, where I am headed now to sign up…