Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Cyclops Has a Good Day, by Jenny Yule

Rachel here!

As some of you no doubt remember from Episode 7 (waaaaaaay back when), my con sketchbook’s theme is Cyclops Has a Good Day. While the sketchbook itself is purely physical media, you splendid folks will once in a while e-mail me a digital entry, and they are universally delightful.

This week’s comes from Jenny Yule, who has worked out what I am pretty sure is the absolute best recreational use of Cyclops’s powers AND gave me a total nostalgia rush for the weird old Ambroisia game Harry the Handsome Executive, which I would now very much like to see given a superhero revamp. BEHOLD:

Yule_Deskchair

The All-New, All-Different, All-Unofficial Kitty’s Kostume Korner!

Last week, we challenged you to help us revive that awesome ’80s celebration of Kitty Pryde’s Spectacular Revolving Wardrobe, Kitty’s Kostume Korner! Much as we love the classic yellow-and-black she’s been sporting for the last decade-plus, we remember when Kitty reinvented her costume twice an issue–and you sent us some great revamps in that tradition. Click through for the full lineup!

An additional note regarding fan art, costume design, and sourcing: There’s one image we didn’t run, because it was done directly on unsourced art by another artist. We totally get that sometimes that’s the simplest way to do a design, and the person who submitted it was in no way attempting to claim the original art or plagiarize–but if you’re submitting a piece like that, the source needs to be noted and visible in the image–and, ideally, used with the permission of the original artist–for us to run it on this blog, i.e. “Recolored from [artist] design” or “drawn over art by [artist].”

If–like us–you’re someone whose costume design aspirations outpace your drawing skills, we also recommend resources like Hero Factory (again, we recommend citing ’em if you’re using ’em, as Rick did above).

As Mentioned in Episode 25 – The Best at What He Does

Listen to the episode here!

Further Reading:

25 – The Best at What He Does

Art by David Wynne, after Katsushika Hokusai.
Art by David Wynne, after Katsushika Hokusai.

In which Wolverine gets his first miniseries, Yukio is still (and forever) the best, we categorically reject the classification “manic pixie dreamgirl,” everything is noir as hell, Wolverine gets an Iron Giant moment, Storm is too cool for your dress code, and we finally made “Probably a Summers Brother” t-shirts.

X-Plained:

  • X-23
  • The 1982 Wolverine miniseries
  • Uncanny X-Men #172-173
  • Rachel’s Wolverine feelings
  • An auspicious road trip
  • Early Frank Miller
  • A really epic team-up
  • Plug’n’play storytelling
  • How to tell a good Wolverine story
  • Mariko Yashida
  • Honor
  • Shingen Yashida
  • Yukio
  • The Inverse Law of Ninjas
  • The Forty-Seven Ronin
  • Silver Samurai
  • Viper
  • A Ninja meet-cute
  • The Cyclops / Wolverine double standard
  • The secret origins of Wolverine’s mask and hair

Next Week: The New Mutants meet Team America!


You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Support us on Patreon!

 

Last Day for Kitty’s Kostume Korner!

Last week, we asked you to send in your ideas for a new costume for Kitty Pryde – any era, any codename. We’ve gotten some very cool ones already, but we’re extending the deadline for the official roundup by one more day to give latecomers a chance to send in their designs.

For inspiration, here’s Kitty doing her best magical-girl transformation twirl in Uncanny X-Men #168:

Art by Paul Smith, from Uncanny X-Men #168.
Art by Paul Smith, from Uncanny X-Men #168.

Art, Shirts, and an Announcement

You’ve probably already seen it in the Episode 24 posts, but we are so in love with David’s Ororo: Queen of the Galaxy illustration that we’re posting it one more time for good measure. If you’re a collector of discerning taste, you can still snap up the original from David here; prints will be available here through October 5.

 

Ororo, Queen of the Galaxy, by David Wynne
Ororo, Queen of the Galaxy, by David Wynne

BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT (and we really wanted one), Probably a Summers Brother t-shirts (and stickers, and tote bags, and other stuff) are now available in several permutations at our Redbubble shop, sporting a snazzy design by Dylan Todd. Rachel will be rocking hers at NYCC:

Screen Shot 2014-09-26 at 2.02.06 PM

 

Finally, on a slightly less cheerful note, it looks like episode 24 will be our last on Comics Alliance. This is a wholly amicable split–they’re shifting some things around in terms of how they handle podcasts, and it didn’t make sense for them to keep us onboard. Rachel’s still writing for them periodically, and updates will continue here–as well as on iTunes and Stitcher–as usual.

As Mentioned in Episode 24 – Ororo, Queen of the Galaxy

Listen to the episode here!

24 – Ororo, Queen of the Galaxy

Stormerella print
Art by David Wynne.

In which Professor X is (canonically!) a jerk, Miles has Sidrian Hunter feelings, Kitty Pryde is Clarissa Darling with a dragon, we introduce a drinking game, the X-Men do Barbarella, Rachel has a ‘shipper moment, Rogue joins the team, Storm gets a haircut, Mastermind is still the worst, and Madelyne Pryor is underrated.

X-Plained:

  • Lockheed
  • Uncanny X-Men #168-175
  • Reset issues
  • A one-sided rivalry
  • The lowest-drama X-romance
  • The Cream of Wheat box as a metaphor for infinity
  • Kitty’s Kostume Korner
  • Rachel’s questionably-canon ships
  • The Morlocks
  • Class privilege and the mutant metaphor
  • Callisto
  • Caliban
  • Sunder
  • Plague
  • Masque
  • A dubbing error
  • Gender dimorphism in superhero media
  • Storm’s first major character arc
  • Our single favorite superhero artist
  • Rogue
  • Rogue’s accent
  • A Charles Xavier we can believe in
  • Yukio
  • Punk Storm
  • Madelyne Pryor
  • Closure
  • Cyclops vs. formalwear

Art Challenge: Send us your Kitty Pryde costume redesigns–any era, any codename–to xplainthexmen(at)gmail(dot)com

Next Week: Claremont and Miller’s Wolverine!


You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Support us on Patreon!