334 – Genetic Nonsense
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In which William Stryker is exceptionally difficult to kill; the terminology around Emplate’s powers is absolute nonsense even by comic-book standards; inkers deserve more credit; we would totally read comics about Murmur the Softpoken Mummy; Bishop comes to the rescue; and nothing really resolves.
X-PLAINED:
- What happened to William Stryker
- Gratuitous use of the adjective “genetic”
- Emplate (again)
- Generation X #12-14
- Inks
- Penance’s original backstory
- Pining
- A really unpleasant reunion
- Accent problems
- Gayle Edgerton
- Vincente
- Bulwark
- D.O.A.
- A somewhat chaotic victory
- Mutant teams from non-anglophone countries
- X-characters Miles would like to write
NEXT WEEK: HAWK TALK
NEXT EPISODE: ClanDestine!
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As Mentioned in Episode 333 – Fight Train
333 – Fight Train
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In which Miles discovers owl legs; Iceman dwells in subtext; Dark Beast overperforms; Daredevil is a delightful trash fire of a person; Graydon Creed’s presidential run is somewhat less shocking in 2021; Rogue does not enjoy playing ‘Got your nose’; and Mister Sinister is not a friend to public transportation.
X-PLAINED:
- Post-Decimation resurrections
- Owl legs
- Uncanny X-Men #331
- X-Men #51-52
- Iceman’s complicated personal life
- Casual crossovers
- The facial hair of Warren Kenneth Worthington III
- The terrible decisions of Matt Murdock
- How to subtly test your in-laws for mutant powers
- What Mister Sinister sounds like
- A bad plan
- The debut of Bastion
- DNA
- Foreshadowing
NEXT EPISODE: Emplate Sucks
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As Mentioned in Episode 332 – Gideon Falls
332 – Gideon Falls
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In which Swimsuit Catalog is not an actual style of martial arts; Onslaught dabbles in vandalism; Crule is a special guy; we identify briefly with X-Force; and Charles Xavier is the Keyser Soze of Onslaught.
X-PLAINED:
- Externals on Krakoa
- Relative levels of violence in X-books
- X-Force #52-54
- Camp Hayden, KY
- Onslaught-facilitated power-ups
- Gideon (again)
- At least one apparent death
- How it feels to be us
- Businesswear
- Whether Cannonball is an external
- Nazis in the Captain Britain Corps
- Doop
NEXT EPISODE: Sinister vs. Public Transit
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HAWK TALK – Hack the Planet
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This would usually be a skip week, but the world is still being a jerk, so we made you a bonus, entirely unedited, and almost entirely off-topic episode. This time, in honor of the 1995 film’s 1337-week anniversary, we talked about the finest movie about technology ever made, Hackers.
Topics, roughly:
- Hackers
- Mister The Plague
- What David Bowie and Angelina Jolie have in common
- Razor & Blade
- The glory of Matthew Lillard
- Counterculture
- Queer (sub)text
- Focal characters
- Jay’s sequel pitch
In retrospect, we should have talked way more about Phreak, played amazingly by Renoly Santiago. Sorry, Renoly! That’s what we get for doing Hawk Talk without our usual outlines.
As Mentioned in Episode 331 – Surprised by Brood
Listen to the episode here.
LINKS & FURTHER INFESTATIONS:
- Learn more about Hannah’s origins in Episode 95 – Earthfall!
331 – Surprised by Brood
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In which we take a break from the lead-up to Onslaught; Hannah Conover is the queen of dangling plot threads (and also of the Brood); Wolverine is the strangest angel; William Conover is the chillest minister in the Marvel Universe; and Excalibur writer Tini Howard gives us the inside scoop on Gambit’s trench coat.
X-PLAINED:
- Mutant Brood
- The Brood vs. Brood X cicadas
- X-Men vs. Brood: Day of Wrath #1-2
- Theological origins of John Ostrander
- Hair
- An unspoken motif in pin-up art
- Reverend William Conover (more)(again)
- Hannah Conover (more)(again)
- The Brood (more)(again)
- The Brood Empress
- The Firstborn
- Atypical Queen-Broodling power dynamics
- Brood of the future
- A strange angel
- What Gambit’s trench coat is made of
NEXT WEEK: Hawk Talk
NEXT EPISODE: The end of the Externals!
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Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!
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