Blog Posts – Page 29 – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 194 – Brood Trouble in the Big Easy

April 22, 2018 Jay 4 comments

Listen to the podcast here.

Cyclops may not have a lot of people skills, but he’s pretty good at boundaries. (X-Men #8)

Last panel of Forge being awful, I promise (for now). (X-Men #8)

Aw, they all posed. (X-Men #8)

Never meet your heroes. (X-Men #8)

Once you see the Pikachu in Psylocke’s swimsuit, you’ll never unsee it. (X-Men #8)

“We have fun, don’t we?” (X-Men #8)

And that’s why you always leave a note! (X-Men #8)

Meet Mrs. Gambit. (X-Men #8)

Trolling law enforcement is one of the subtler perks of being Ghost Rider. (X-Men #8)

“…Lord Byron!” (Ghost Rider #26)

Oh. Him, too, I guess. (Ghost Rider #26)

I mean, yeah, he’s a dick; but this is pretty excessive. (Ghost Rider #26)

The two most dramatic men in New Orleans. (Ghost Rider #26)

TBH, those outfits are pretty understated by Assassins Guild standards. (Ghost Rider #26)

AND THAT’S WHY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE A NOTE! (Ghost Rider #26)

I give him some flack, but nobody draws grossed out teenagers like Jim Lee. (X-Men #9)

The inside of Ghost Rider’s mind; and, coincidentally, the cover of his first hit single. (X-Men #9)

(It’s okay. She’ll be back later.) (X-Men #9)

Meanwhile in the upside down… (X-Men #9)

Um, yes. She does. You already know that, Wolverine. (X-Men #9)

X-Men crossovers are pretty hard on guest stars. (X-Men #9)

I’m just gonna leave this here, sans comment. (X-Men #9)

NEXT EPISODE: Mike Mignola’s X-Force!

As Mentioned in Episode 193 – Sewers of Tomorrow

April 15, 2018 Jay 8 comments

Listen to the podcast here!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

On one hand: These dudes are pretty rad. On the other hand: being able to detect normal humans is a pretty ridiculous mutant power. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

John Romita, Jr. can be hit-or-miss, but he definitely draws some rad miscreants of the future. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

WOMP. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

Compulsory Fitzroy Hair Appreciation Moment(TM). (Uncanny X-Men #277)

The Witness, in all his really creepy glory. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

Can you imagine trying to have a conversation with this dude? (Uncanny X-Men #277)

I don’t understand what’s happening with Cyclops’s torso; and, frankly, I don’t want to. (Uncanny X-Men #278)

“Look! A distraction!” (Uncanny X-Men #278)

The first appearance of the letter… (Uncanny X-Men #278)

…and the second, FROM THE SAME FLIPPIN’ PAGE. (Uncanny X-Men #278)

Thaaaaat’s our Archangel! (Uncanny X-Men #278)

Can confirm. -Jay (Uncanny X-Men #278)

*Today, at least. (Uncanny X-Men #278)

Long Island cops are clearly unfamiliar with Cyburai. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Mystique is exceptionally bad at helping. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Damnit, Forge. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Storm’s reaction is appropriate. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Bobby. Have you MET your parents? (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Best. Date. Ever. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Remember that time Mikhail Rasputin turned a random skater into a tree? Because that certainly happened. (Uncanny X-Men #280)

Hanging out naked in the rain? This dude is DEFINITELY learning the ropes from Storm. (Uncanny X-Men #280)

DAMNIT, Forge. (Uncanny X-Men #280)

NEXT EPISODE: Brood trouble in the Big Easy!

LINKS & FURTHER READING

Learn all about the Cyburai in Episode 160 – Hank McCoy and the Hickey of Destiny!
Laura Dern is precious and must be protected at all costs.

Knowing Is Half the Battle (The Other Half Is Sentinels)

April 13, 2018 Jay 11 comments

Roughly a zillion years ago, we asked you to send in your ideas for public service announcements–serious or satirical–starring the X-Men. At long last, we’ve sorted out our favorites and collected them here for your exclusive edutainment!

Ready to learn about graduate student funding, traffic safety, image attribution, and parenting with the X-Men? READ ON!

As Mentioned in Episode 192 – Meet the N-Men

April 8, 2018 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the podcast here!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

All-new, all-different! (Excalibur #45)

And that’s why you don’t bring Technet on a stakeout. (Excalibur #45)

LOOK AT THESE DELIGHTFUL INDIVIDUALS (Excalibur #45)

She’s not wrong. (Excalibur #45)

Really, really good use of shadows, there. (Excalibur #45)

MEET THE N-MEN! (Excalibur #45)

Remember this guy. He’s gonna be a major antagonist. (Excalibur #45)

Ah, Joyboy, we hardly knew thee. (Excalibur #45)

Meggan contains multitudes. (Excalibur #46)

Aw, Zombie Thor looks so happy to be there. (Excalibur #46)

If things like peeing in solitude are important to you, you should probably not join Excalibur. (Excalibur #46)

Nightcrawler: canonically EXTRA heroic. (Excalibur #46)

*Rimshot* (Excalibur #46)

Sparkly! (Excalibur #46)

Meggan’s true form has SERIOUS hair. (Excalibur #46)

Aw, Widget. (Excalibur #46)

One of the all-time classic Excalibur covers. (Excalibur #47)

THE GREATEST LOVE STORY IN COMICS. (Excalibur #47)

Hi, Cerise! (Excalibur #47)

Damnit, Merlyn. This is why we can’t have nice things.(Excalibur #47)

Kurt, if you don’t know which book you’re in by now, I don’t know what to tell you. (Excalibur #47)

They do this with THE WHOLE STORY, and it warms my shriveled heart. (Excalibur #47)

NEXT EPISODE: A Bishop in the house!

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

For an introduction to Technet, check out Episode 89 – Giant-Size Special #3; and Episode 98 – Between Alien Visitations and Drunken Sulks!
The comment thread about Emilia Witherspoon’s origins
We discussed Diana: Warrior Princess at more length in Episode 34 – Mordenkainen’s Marvelous Mutants.

As Mentioned in Episode 190 – Local Yokels

April 1, 2018 Jay One comment

Listen to the episode here.

“And have you been a good or bad little, um, whatever-you-are this year?” (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

That smirk in the second panel! (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

If I had a dollar for every date of Wolverine’s that has ended like this… (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

“Time to get back to my roots: Naked in Canada.” (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

If you were wondering if these people are about to die terribly, the answer is yes. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

This could not have gotten more grim if it were an ’80s Power Pack crossover. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

Welcome to the Alshra. Hope you survive the… y’know. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

‘Kay. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

And that, kids, is what happens when your artist gets tired of drawing all the rips in the costume. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

One of the better psychic duels. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

Well, that’s convenient.

Those SFX, tho. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

nope (Excalibur: The Possession)

NEXT EPISODE: Rogue and Gambit, with writer Kelly Thompson!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming…

March 18, 2018 Jay 8 comments

Due to ~~sentinels~~ ~~clones~~ ~~doppelgängers from the future~~ ~~a technoorganic virus~~ ~~Gambit’s accent~~ an electrical fire in Matt’s studio, Episode 189 is going to be up late. It’s looking like everything should be back on schedule later this week; but if not, we’ll be sure to let you know ASAP.

Thanks for your patience!

-J&M

ECCC 2018 Gallery – Part 2 – Look at All These X-Men

March 13, 2018 Jay 4 comments

One of our favorite parts of any convention is the kickass cosplay! Here are some of the many, MANY X-Men (and a few others) from Emerald City Comic Con:

WE FOUND A HONEY BADGER!!! (Well, she found us. BUT STILL! HONEY BADGER!)

Gambit and All-New Jean!

I would 100% buy that Jubilee and Rule-63 Quentin Quire have a mermaid friend.

Speaking of Rule-63, this Emma Frost was killing it!

Janet K. Lee’s art nouveau Emma Frost! (Jay helped make this one.)

A really, REALLY good swashbuckling Nightcrawler!

We first met this punk Storm in 2015, and she continues to be The Absolute Coolest.

Okay, fine, EVERY punk Storm is the coolest. <3

(Same Storm as previous.)

We know they’re not technically X-Men, but NOBODY cosplays Clea, and when I saw this one I kind of freaked out, and she was very gracious about it. (Dr. Strange is okay, too, I guess. But CLEA!)

Several Disney-X mash-ups!

The cutest Pixie!

X-23…

…and her evolved form, Best Wolverine!

This Rule-63 Jubilee was the first X-Men cosplayer we spotted all weekend!

It’s not a convention without at least one Dazzler!

This group is SO GOOD, as is the entirely accidental Young Avengers photobomb in the background.

That shirt. THAT. SHIRT.

Gambit!

Another really good group. I don’t think Cyclops has ever had a beard in canon (not counting his terrrrrible Ultimate version), and that’s a shame.

Rogue!

There was surprisingly little Gifted cosplay, but this Polaris was cool enough on her own to more than make up for the absence of her compatriots.

Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead!

Closing with another non-X-Men costume, because this tiny Hela is amazing and we love her.

ECCC 2018 Gallery – Part 1 – We Drew Some X-Men

March 12, 2018 Jay 8 comments

We’re juuuuust about recovered from Emerald City Comic Con (be sure to check out the live episode), and finally ready to show off our mountains of photos! First up: All the table sketches we remembered to photograph!

(Not pictured: A handful of solos, a couple collaborative pieces, and the marriage proposal Jay was so bewildered that someone asked him to draw that he totally forgot to document it. If you got a sketch from us that isn’t pictured here, please feel free to share it in the comments!)

Emma Frost, by Jay

Cannonball, by Miles

Husk, by Jay

Icarus, by Miles

Boom Boom, by Jay

Maggott, by Miles

Magik, by Jay (t-shirt cribbed shamelessly from Waiting for the Trade.)

Mister Sensitive, by Miles

Warlock, by Jay, who wishes he got to draw Warlock more often

Quentin Quire, by Miles

Nightcrawler, by Jay, in one of our zines

Shatterstar-with-a-mustache, by Miles

Emma Frost redux, by Jay

Usually we only draw X-Men, but if you ask Jay to draw Lois Lane, he will draw Lois Lane.

As Mentioned in Episode 187 – Mermaids at the Center of Time

March 4, 2018 Jay 8 comments

Listen to the podcast here.

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

Spoiler: They’re not actually that secret.

This panel really never stops being satisfying.

A surprisingly elegant fall overboard.

Is this Annie’s first comics appearance?

A few variations on Jean’s origins come up over the years, but most of them hew fairly close to this one.

If I had a dollar for every time I’d woken up like that…

In the next panel, he tries to lend them a copy of Atlas Shrugged.

Not cool, Jean.

FUN FACT: Our friend Max went to college in New England, and apparently ice sculpture contests are TOTALLY A THING.

HI, BUBBA.

This looks both tremendously fun and tremendously unsafe.

He straight-up bogarted the entire winter carnival.

This gag really never stops working.

If you’ve ever wondered what sound an ice-enclosed energy-gun cane makes blowing up in the stratosphere, now you know.

Thanks to Doctor Internet, I can accurately identify Nightcrawler’s favorite movie as The Mark of Zorro.

That is quite a caption.

I’d really love to see a full-color version of this splash.

IT’S A METAPHOR.

The oracle!

Remember this from the Nightcrawler limited series?

Consider us warned.

NEXT EPISODE: Live from ECCC!

And here’s a photo of Jay’s mom cosplaying Cable:

As Mentioned in Episode 186 – Right in the Melee

February 25, 2018 Jay One comment

Listen to the podcast here!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

Sunfire’s new costume. (Uncanny X-Men #284)

Spoiler: Nah. (Uncanny X-Men #284)

The shiniest Predators. (Uncanny X-Men #284)

This is gonna seem more ironic in a few pages. (Uncanny X-Men #284)

That’s our Sunfire! (Uncanny X-Men #284)

Yep. The folks in the Predator masks look… exactly like humans. (Uncanny X-Men #284)

Spoiler: The cake is a lie. (Uncanny X-Men #285)

Interdimensional travel faces. (Uncanny X-Men #285)

A very expository landing. (Uncanny X-Men #285)

I would make a “No groveling! This is a proper Soviet household!” joke, but I feel like The Twelve Chairs might be an excessively deep cut even by my standards. (Uncanny X-Men #285)