As Mentioned – Page 34 – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 120 – Observed by a Family of Lizard People

August 8, 2016 Jay 8 comments

Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

Hi, there. (Excalibur #8)

They’re totally a girl gang, though, right? (Excalibur #8)

Ouch. (Excalibur #8)

Hi, Brian. (Excalibur #8)

Seriously, it’s never not funny. (Excalibur #8)

I want a statue of this cover SO BAD. (Excalibur #9)

Meet Lightning Force: The Nazi Excalibur you really, really don’t need in your life. (Excalibur #9)

The many faces of Meggan (and some slightly disastrous sound effects from Brian). (Excalibur #9)

Alastaire Stuart and his banana. (Excalibur #9)

Kittys Pryde. (Excalibur #9)

HI, BRIAN. (Excalibur #10)

Just gal pals, pallin’ around. (Excalibur #11)

If I had a dollar for every time this had happened… (Excalibur #11)

Well, then. (Excalibur #11)

Sure, why not? (Excalibur #11)

NEXT EPISODE: Deadpool v Gambit, with Ben Acker!

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

How the X-Men’s Blackbird Compares to the Original SR-71

As Mentioned in Episode 119 – Red Night of the Soul (Feat. Elisabeth Allie)

August 1, 2016 Miles 2 comments

Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

“So you’re saying she’s definitely not my actual, literal grandmother, right? Cool; glad we made that absolutely, incontrovertibly clear.” (New Mutants #53)

Previously, on New Mutants… (New Mutants Forever #1)

“I mean, I know things are urgent what with the gunfight we’re trying to stop, but those old outfits were so 1987.” (New Mutants Forever #1)

Hela’s presence makes any scene in which she appears at least 20% more epic than it would otherwise have been. I mean, damn – that hat, right? (New Mutants Forever #1)

Remember when Magneto and the New Mutants were actually capable of completing a conversation without Sunspot throwing something? (New Mutants Forever #1)

Absorbing that wretch’s life-force also gave her a gift certificate to Frederick’s of Hollywood. (New Mutants Forever #1)

I personally think Warlock is hotter as a Sienkiewicz-style asymmetrical scribble-monster, but tastes vary. (New Mutants Forever #2)

Roberto’s pretty perfect, but what’s up with Warlock’s generic robot form? You’re better than this, Warlock. (New Mutants Forever #2)

Nice visual continuity work, Al Rio. Seriously. (New Mutants Forever #2)

Okay, that’s legitimately horrifying. It’s a good thing nothing bad ever happened to Doug Ramsey in mainstream continuity. (New Mutants Forever #2)

“Selene… What the hell are they wearing?” “I… I have no idea, kids.” (New Mutants Forever #3)

This would be disturbing regardless, but Rio’s rendition of Warlock as more purely mechanical makes his injuries that much more viscerally cringe-inducing. (New Mutants Forever #3)

The art / dialogue disconnect here makes me giggle every time. (New Mutants Forever #3)

Limbo as we’ve never seen it. (New Mutants Forever #3)

Red Skull, you are officially a terrible person. Ew. (New Mutants Forever #4)

Okay, that’s actually pretty awesome. A little silly, sure, but still pretty awesome. (New Mutants Forever #4)

I AM SO UNCOMFORTABLE RIGHT NOW (New Mutants Forever #4)

Cool, Warlock got Muscular Augments and Grooved Spines! (New Mutants Forever #4)

Pathos, thy name is skullified-Doug-in-tighty-whities. (New Mutants Forever #4)

Hey, Amara’s not wearing her weird Nazi fetish outfit anymore! …Oh, she’s still mind-controlled. Damn. (New Mutants Forever #4)

This battle sequence is rad, but I wish we could swap out a couple of those Nova Romans for Dani and Rahne. (New Mutants Forever #5)

Eh, it’s only a bullet to the head. She’ll be fine by the next page. (New Mutants Forever #5)

“I’ll beat you with my fists and my knowledge of first century Roman political history!” (New Mutants Forever #5)

Weirdly, the most perfectly on-model characters in New Mutants Forever aren’t actually the New Mutants. (New Mutants Forever #5)

This was a really weird episode of House, MD. (New Mutants Forever #5)

Next time: even more Nazis. (Excalibur #9)

LINKS:

Check out guest host Elisabeth Allie’s blog!
And: check out the band she represents, the Doubleclicks: a nationally touring, Billboard charting pop band with a cello, a meowing cat keyboard, and songs about Dungeons and Dragons!

As Mentioned in Episode 118 – Extrude the Grappling Arms!

July 24, 2016 Jay 5 comments

Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

Elaine Grey as drawn by Rob Liefeld. (X-Factor #40)

Perspective? What perspective? (X-Factor #40)

Remember, this is supposed to be taking place inside the cockpit of a fairly small airplane. (X-Factor #40)

Nanny, X-Plained. (X-Factor #40)

Trolls, trollin.’ (X-Factor #41)

“Just, um, don’t call Magneto. He’s a supervillain. Anything he says about us is probably a lie.” (X-Factor #41)

Well, that escalated quickly. (X-Factor #41)

Sure, why not? (X-Factor #41)

The future mutant messiah. (X-Factor #42)

Meanwhile in Excalibur, other stuff. (X-Factor #42)

This is also a problem in Portland. (X-Factor #42)

I like this kid. He makes good choices. (X-Factor #42)

NEXT EPISODE: Miles and Elisabeth X-Plain New Mutants Forever!

LINKS:

Go follow the Ravenmaster on Twitter. He is absolutely delightful.
We talked about The Dark Is Rising with Kurt Busiek in Episode 21 – Kurt Busiek at the Coffee-a-Go-Go.

As Mentioned in Episode 117 – How to Pee Like a Supervillain

July 18, 2016 Jay 7 comments

Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

Babies, amirite? (New Mutants #74)

At least we know from a previous panel that they’ve both already washed their hands. (New Mutants #74)

IT’S CANON: No fighting in the Hellfire Club bathrooms. (New X-Men #142)

Warlock is adorable and Ship is adorable and everything is adorable. (New Mutants #74)

This cannot end anything but well. (New Mutants #74)

“Have you learned nothing about foreshadowing crossover events?” (New Mutants #75)

“We’re gonna go hang out with Namor! He’d never start a war!” (New Mutants #75)

I want to go to school on Ship. (New Mutants #76)

Possibly the purest distillation of Doctor Doom as a character. (Spidey Super Stories #53)

Boom Boom, like Doom, does what she wants. (New Mutants #76)

AND THAT’S WHY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE A NOTE. (New Mutants #76)

This man is unflaggingly delightful. (New Mutants #76)

“Again?” (New Mutants #76)

NOPE. (New Mutants #76)

(2 of 2) (Astonishing X-Men #12)

NEXT EPISODE: Trolls!

As Mentioned in Episode 116 – The Pooper of This Party

July 3, 2016 Miles 9 comments

Listen to the episode here.

So gloriously tropey!

Jubilation Lee: immediately wonderful.

The comic timing on this is perfect. That last row, y’all.

The M Squad really needs their own title. At least a one-shot (since they likely wouldn’t survive longer than that).

Is it normal for department stores to have dramatically-lit Posing Curtains?

Most people don’t know that Uncanny X-Men #246 is Gambit’s actual first appearance.

So gloriously tropey x2!

Where’s Waldo?

Okay, Liefeld’s art is actually a ton of fun in this issue.

Australia: so chill. We guess?

Longshot saves the world through enthusiasm!

Wolverine plays poker hard.

Dammit, Silvestri.

The Siege Perilous: best/worst iPad ever.

Seriously, why would someone make this Senator Kelly action figure? Aside from to make sure none of us ever sleep again.

Miles wonders how much gel it would take to get his hair to do that.

One of our favorite seldom-addressed dynamics. Such good-natured jerks!

It’s hard to make talking heads interesting. Silvestri makes it look effortless.

“Everyone! Shoot all of your differently-colored lasers!”

Psylocke looks so sad. Senator Kelly looks so is-going-to-make-some-terrible-decisions.

Never change, Jubilee.

Rogue doesn’t do things halfway.

Don’t feel bad, Dazzler. You’ll get your turn.

In an unexpected twist, the firemen are watching Nanny and Orphan-Maker.

Next time: The New Mutants drop out.

As Mentioned in Episode 115 – So Many Teeth

June 26, 2016 Jay 6 comments

Listen to the podcast here.

No gallery this week–instead, Max put together a visual addendum covering stuff we talked about while watching but forgot to mention in the episode:

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

As Mentioned in Episode 114 – Meltdown

June 20, 2016 Jay 10 comments

Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

Welcome to your new favorite miniseries. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1)

The first 14 pages are a primer on reactor physics and the Chernobyl disaster. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1)

Also some vaguely sinister chess-playing. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1)

No, seriously: that’s just straight-up James Dean. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1)

If you’re not sold on the book by now, please reconsider your priorities. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1)

Move over, Neal Adams. This is our definitive representation of Havok’s powers. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1)

Kent Williams is terrifying and wonderful. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1)

Why, yes, we are going to include every cover. Why? (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #2)

Look at how much information this panel conveys. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #2)

General Meltdown! (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #2)

Wait for it… (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #2)

…and done. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #2)

Havok latches onto genre conventions like a baby duck impressing on the first thing it sees. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #2)

It was really, really hard not to just include the whole damn miniseries in this visual companion. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #2)

(Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #3)

Well, then. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #3)

I cannot get over the way Muth paints Scarlett’s hair. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #3)

One of my favorite sequences from the entire series. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #3)

Dr. Meltdown and his trusty overlays. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #3)

Best image of Havok, or best image of Havok? Hint: Best image of Havok. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #3)

The palpable violence of the action sequences is really, really spectacular. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #3)

And onward. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

In which Havok transforms from James Dean to a young Peter Capaldi. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

THIS PAGE (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

So, so doomed. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

No narrative reason for including this. I just really, really love the art. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

The problem with falling too deeply into a character is that you also end up with their genre-specific weaknesses. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

Ouch. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

Well, that’s one way to do it. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

The way Havok’s powers change when they go out of control is really, really amazing. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

No, seriously. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

HOW COULD NO ONE HAVE REACHED BACK TO THIS SERIES? IT’S A GOLDMINE. (Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #4)

NEXT EPISODE: The X-Men Anime.

As Mentioned in Episode 113 – Play It Again, Patch

June 13, 2016 Jay 6 comments

Listen to the episode here.

NOTE: Normally the visual companion is annotated; but frankly, I don’t have it in me to be witty about Wolverine today. Sorry. -Jay

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

Wolverine #1

Wolverine #2

Wolverine #3

Wolverine #4

Wolverine #6

Wolverine #8

Wolverine #10

NEXT EPISODE: Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown

As Mentioned in Episode 112 – Embers of Inferno (feat. Sam Humphries)

June 10, 2016 Jay 4 comments

Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

“So, y’know–business as usual.” (Amazing Spider-Man #313)

The Ghostbusters references just keep coming! (Amazing Spider-Man #313)

HE’S NOT WRONG. (Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #146)

This is in fact literally what it is like to work in publishing, all the time. (Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #147)

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW JARVIS’S MOM IS A HUGE WRESTLING AFICIONADO? (Avengers #298)

Well, then. (Avengers #298)

He does this every time he fights a possessed machine. (Avengers #298)

No, seriously. Every time. (Avengers #299)

Stories involving Nanny and the Orphanmaker are never not super sad and messed up. (Avengers #299)

That one time the Avengers got back together in a tie-in to someone else’s crossover event. (Avengers #300)

Never leave your house. Seriously. (Power Pack #42)

Actually, no. Your house isn’t safe, either. (Power Pack #42)

And then a group of young children looked back nostalgically at the time they fought Sabretooth in a sewer. (Power Pack #44)

Aw. (Power Pack #44)

LIES. (The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #4)

For full effect, you have to imagine the narration being read by David Attenborough. (Daredevil #262)

And that was how Daredevil beat up a vacuum cleaner. (Daredevil #262)

It’s actually pretty surprising that no one else thought to do anything with possessed hospital equipment, because that is TERRIFYING. (Daredevil #263)

Officer Drillbit, in all his glory. (Daredevil #265)

For 1989 Daredevil, this ending is positively chipper. (Daredevil #265)

NEXT EPISODE: So. Much. Wolverine.

As Mentioned in Episode 111 – You’ll Have to Look Inside for That

May 30, 2016 Jay One comment

Listen to the podcast here.

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

The greatest comic-book cover of all time. (Excalibur #4)

This guy, man. (Excalibur #4)

The fashion! The feelings! DAMN, I love Excalibur. (Excalibur #4)

SPOILER: This kiss does not actually happen. (Excalibur #4)

It’s awfully nice of Arcade to put those recaps up on the monitors! (Excalibur #4)

Courtney Ross: Just. That. Good. (Excalibur #4)

Excalibur is perpetually one tastefully-framed quick-change away from being a sex farce. (Excalibur #5)

Check out the visual language on the body-swapped Excalibur and Crazy Gang. (Excalibur #5)

Arcade vs. Murderworld. (Excalibur #5)

It’s our favorite fictional-but-also-real band, Cats Laughing! (Excalibur #5)

MURDERWORLD , Y’ALL. (Excalibur #5)

Yeah, Inferno’s basically just gonna be business as usual for Excalibur. (Excalibur #5)

I accept on faith that there are people who read this and assumed that Kitty and Rachel didn’t have a romantic relationship, but it still kind of baffles me. (Excalibur #5)