Listen to the episode here.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
Fall of the Mutants promotional ad.
Piotr Rasputin’s run as penciller on Uncanny X-Men was brief but critically lauded. (Uncanny X-Men #225)
Featuring what we assume to be the disgruntled letterhacks of 1987. (Uncanny X-Men #225)
If I had a dollar for every time a stranger had given me an uncannily precise palm reading and then a tiny chess piece of myself… (Uncanny X-Men #225)
The players and the board. (Uncanny X-Men #225)
SFX as panel borders? Yes, please. (Uncanny X-Men #225)
It’s worth noting that at this point, the Spiral / Ricochet Rita retcon had yet to be conceived. (Uncanny X-Men #225)
Destiny wrestles with the awareness that she’s trapped in a crossover event. (Uncanny X-Men #225)
A moment of slapstick in the midst of the high-stakes drama. (Uncanny X-Men #225)
Repping the fourth estate, Neal Conan and Manoli Wetherell. (Uncanny X-Men #226)
It’s cool. It’s not a real knife. (Uncanny X-Men #226)
You’re a good dude, Colossus. (Uncanny X-Men #226)
She comes back a year later, and Forge has cannibalized his bionic parts to make a sweet Freddie Mercury costume. (Uncanny X-Men #226)
Those halcyon days when Havok’s impromptu diatribes didn’t suck. (Uncanny X-Men #226)
That’s one hell of a kiss. (Uncanny X-Men #226)
That cover. (Uncanny X-Men #227)
What. (Uncanny X-Men #227)
Well, that was unexpectedly graphic. (Uncanny X-Men #227)
“I mean, c’mon, dude. We’re in a superhero comic. You really think this is gonna last?” (Uncanny X-Men #227)
Somewhere in the multiverse, the X-Men were like, “Fuck it. Let’s just go to Disneyland.” (Uncanny X-Men #227)
Say what you will about Claremont, but he is damn good at epic ending beats. (Uncanny X-Men #227)
NEXT WEEK: It’s always darkest…
So did Jay not take a picture of Miles and his amazing hair to put up here?
Yeah, I’m missing that Miles photo too.
Also, if I could ask a question? What are your favorite retcons?
What, no mention of the fact that the second kid in from the left on the “Do you know what your children are?” poster appears to be a young Ron Howard?
(I do think the fact that Franklin was in his Tattletale costume was something of a giveaway there, to be honest)
I haven’t actually read the Fall of the Mutants (my knowledge of Claremont-era X-Men is mostly second-hand), but I wonder if the ‘you were heroes, you will become legends’ bit has been intentionally borrowed by the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow show? There’s a scene in every trailer so far, where Rip Hunter tells the team ‘Where I come from you’re not heroes, you’re legends’.
I guess I’ll rest my case if in the pilot he adds ‘body and soul’ afterwards. Which actually makes me wonder whether Firestorm is invulnerable when he’s blastin’.
Sorry, I seem to have gone off the deep end on a tangent.
I heard a joke that Spiderman’s Uncle Ben is all alone in the Marvel afterlife, since no one else seems to stay dead. Are there Xmen characters who are consistently dead? A few that have been mentioned in the podcast that seem to stay dead are Thunderbird, Proteus, and of course, tragically, Don the lobster.
Proteus didn’t actually stay dead I’m afraid. He came back in the “Kings of Pain” X-Annual crossover, fused with a small boy who is the one who had reassembled him and then they both died in order to give themselves a little peace (and possibly so as to avoid future crossovers)
Those who have stayed dead include, I think, the original Changeling (the one who impersonated Professor X). From Generation X – Blink (the original one who died in the first Phalanx story), Synch and Skin.
Jay “Icarus” Guthrie
The original Hellions (Technorganic zombie Necrosha Hellions notwishstanding)
Sammy the Fish Boy
Assorted Morlocks – Tommy, Annalee, Berzerker, Piper, Blowhard, Scaleface et al.
Thank you!
I should perhaps have said “They are dead _at _the_moment_!”
This is an important qualifier as one never knows what a next issue might reveal. (and I may have missed a few resurrections along the way) If Cypher can come back after over 20 years in the ground, anything is possible!
Oh, yes, I take that as read. But that’s why Uncle Ben is so lonely.
Not to nitpick, but Blink has been brought back in Kyle and Yost’s X-Force. She served Selene, after Necrosha she switched back to being good and was hanging out with Abnett and Lanning’s New Mutants. Technically she then transferred to the Jean Grey Institute, but she hasn’t appeared in any title that was actually set there.
Ah thanks, I didn’t realise that was the original Blink.
As has been clearly established in the podcasts, if you don’t like nitpicking, this is the wrong venue for you. Bring it on!
I’m never sure, with the age gap, if most of your listeners are aware of the ad campaign this was blatantly stolen from. The “Do you know WHERE your children are?” The time of day varied based on the market they were running in, but where I grew up, in a push to keep us latchkey kids off the streets, out of gangs, away from drugs and out of trouble, there were ads that literally just asked “It’s 3:00, do you know where your children are?” It may be common knowledge and I’m just overstating the obvious, but there was no mention made so I just wanted to throw it out there in case someone didn’t know.