NAME: Jay Edidin
KNOWN ALIASES: @NotLasers, Pirate King of the Moon
PRONOUNS: Male
OCCUPATION: Writer / Editor
POWERS: Looks a lot like Quentin Quire
FAVORITE X-MAN: Cyclops
FIRST X-BOOK: Age of Apocalypse: Alpha
MISCELLANEOUS X-CRED: Once scored a second date by reciting the Grey/Summers genealogy from memory.
SHORT BIO: Jay spent seven years as an editor at a major comics publisher until leaving in 2013 to pursue a freelance career. As a pop-culture journalist, Jay sometimes gets paid actual, legal tender to explain the X-Men, which you can tell your parents next time they ask how knowing that Cyclops’s eyes shoot concussive force beams will help you find a job.
NAME: Miles Stokes
KNOWN ALIASES: @gjallerbru
PRONOUNS: Male
OCCUPATION: SysAdmin
POWERS: Action Beard
FAVORITE X-MAN: Longshot
FIRST X-BOOK: X-Factor #4
MISCELLANEOUS X-CRED: As a child, produced a prodigious volume of X-Men fan art, which we will definitely post if we can convince his mom to part with it for long enough for us to scan it.
SHORT BIO: Ten years ago, Miles carefully placed his psychology degree in a drawer and went to work IT because it was way easier. These days, he fixes broken things for a non-mutant-related comic-book publisher and surrounds himself with as much geekery as time allows. Buy him a drink and he’ll spend the next two hours telling you about how Chris Claremont made him a feminist and that come on, guys, Gambit’s ’90s costume isn’t that bad.
NAME: Matt Hunter
KNOWN ALIASES: @mechlo, Moon Talk
PRONOUNS: Male
OCCUPATION: Podcast Producer/Audio Engineer
POWERS: Can clip flubbed sentences with superhuman speed and accuracy
FAVORITE X-MAN: Boomer
FIRST X-BOOK: Uncanny X-Men #304 (later bought the rest of the series)
MISCELLANEOUS X-CRED: Still owns complete collections of 1993 and 1994 Fleer Marvel Masterpieces and 1994 Fleer Ultra X men trading cards.
SHORT BIO: In 2009 Matt decided to try out this whole weird podcast thing by launching his own podcast about video games, A Jumps B Shoots. It was all downhill from there. Matt then went on to co-host and produce several podcasts including the one you’re probably listening to now! When he’s not contributing to the world of podcasts Matt also enjoys making chiptune and synthpop music from his studio in Portland, OR.
I’ve recently decided to start reading X-men comics. I’ve always loved X-men from the 90’s cartoon series and now want to delve into all the lore but I have no idea how comics work. If I want to start from the beginning how can I do that without purchasing a “collectors” edition of early copies, are their reprints that are affordable? Also are they all labeled in chronological order or release date or are they all labeled as part of separate series that I’ve heard about? Any information would be great, love the show by the way.
I’d start by checking with your library and local comics shop! I know there are some black-and-white newsprint collections that are less expensive than the fancy hardcovers, but I don’t keep particularly close tabs on what’s currently in print, so on this, your google search is going to be as good as mine. Sorry!
If you want to get started at the very beginning without breaking the bank, I agree with Rachel – the b/w newsprint books are the way to go. Silver Age X-Men is collected in Essential Classic X-Men and the Bronze Age (Giant-Size X-Men and Claremont) is collected in Essential X-Men. Things get way more confusing once the spin-off books start up, but that will at least get you started!
IIRC, there are also different Essential editions, with slightly different contents, because Marvel really cannot get their shit together when it comes to collections.
Just wanted to say thanks for your podcast. I’ve been a fan of comic book/superhero movies for a long time, but have never actually read any comics. After seeing “Days of Future Past,” which I loved, I got interested in wanting to start reading some X-Men, but had no idea where to start. Looking online wasn’t really helpful, because there was JUST SO MUCH that I gave up. (And, to be honest, I was intimidated by the idea of walking into a comic book store as a totally uninformed female…) Today, on a long road trip, I was browsing podcasts, and was excited to come across yours. After listening to the first episode, I ordered “Season One” as we were driving. Then, after hearing your interview with Greg Rucka, I ordered the first two issues of “Cyclops.” It sounded really interesting, and I thought it would be good to get in on the ground floor, as it was.
So, not to be too fawning , but I can say with 100% certainty that the reason I have these books on the way is because “Rachel and Miles” took the time to “X-Plain the X-Men” to this girl. Thanks again!
Love the show you two!! You are the highlight of my week! Well you & comic book day! Just wanted to let you know there is an interesting episode (episode #49…it’s the newest episode) on Nerdist Writer’s Podcast comics edition, with Chris Claremont & Len Wein talking about Wolverine. Just thought I’d let you know, in case you missed it.
Started to read the Claremont run from the beginnig again, and having a lot of fun listening to your complementary podcast! Thank you! This is the most I’ve gotten out of these books, since first of all the X-books were really hidiously translated back in the early 80’s when they washed ashore to Finland which I’m a resident of, plus they cut tons and tons of pages out to not ‘confuse’ the readers (which in the long run made everybody even more confused). So since Marvel comics taught me English, now as an adult it’s great to back into the original English source material, having the power of internet to check absolutely anything I want to know the instant I want to know it and hearing thoughts of the X-perts after reading. Oh, and huzzah for having the whole run as Classics, so I can delve even deeper into the material!
I just want to say that I love your podcast. I have read most of the stuff you guys review between 10 and 20 years ago and rarely have time to read all the comics I love these days. It’s awesome to relive it all through your commentary. You guys genuinely seem like folks who would be a blast (near invulnerable) to chat with. Keep up the great work!
It occurs to me that the timeline was more like 30 years ago…am older than I wanna be 😉
I love the podcast; I too am a “research monster” and really enjoy the way the podcast is presented and structured. I started listening from episode 1 while doing rural fieldwork abroad last year and have been steadily getting more involved in my local comics community and familiarizing myself with the corpus/canon. Now with that preface out of the way…
This is directed a little more at Jay (because they’re doing similar work to what I’m interested in), but I gladly solicit industry advice from both of you! My question is this: what would be your top tips for a critical or editorial professional trajectory– particularly how to get started and leverage a liberal arts/academia background?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions either of you may have (especially because I know you aren’t career counselors)!
Here you go: http://xplainthexmen.tumblr.com/post/85925477466/this-is-a-question-mainly-geared-toward-rachel
I hope you 2 are proud of yourselves!! Since I started listening to your podcast (which my fiance found and recommended we listen to) I now find myself in the terribly financially-unstable position of buying every Uncanny X-men, New Mutants and Xcalibur book I can get my grubby little mitts on. My partner Laura and I love your podcast and you are awesome people! Keep up the good work 🙂 lots of love from Wales, UK. Haydn and Laura xxx
Hey Miles – Scanning and posting your childhood fan art is the best thing you can possibly do in the world that is not co-hosting this podcast. Want me to distract your mom so you can get that stash?
Have you been here?
https://www.facebook.com/YesThatKevinSmith/videos/10153947446496930/
Completely addicted to this podcast. I’m quite behind (just finished episode 59!) and looking forward to what’s ahead of me! (Crossing my fingers for a Longshot episode). Keep it up guys!
I’ve been an X-Men fan since 1990, when at 6 years old, I got a pack of Marvel trading cards from my older brother featuring X-Men vs. The Marauders and Psylocke (which I pronounced Piss-loki). My first comic was Rachel Summers arriving in 616 and getting attacked by Selene, but quickly expanded with the advent of the animated series. I read the entire initial Claremont run of Uncanny in 2017 while living in Mexico City and felt empty when it was over. I first started listening to your podcast in January or this year (2019) and just hit episode 101. You guys feel like old friends at this point, and your discussions of my favorite characters, and especially their intersection with my identity as a queer person, are the best part of my day. Thank you guys!