Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 319 – Giant-Size Special #9

January 3, 2021 Jay 4 comments

Listen to the episode here!

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

There’s… a lot of design happening here. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

Even if the podcast couldn’t all be ink appreciation, the visual companion can! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

Sir, this is a Wendy’s. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

LOOK AT THAT BEARD. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

THE DRAMA! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

Tremble’s collection of human curiosities. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

This might be my favorite look for Apocalypse. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

This one’s pretty sharp, too, though. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

What I’m getting here is that the Askani Sisterhood has been recruiting Asbury Park mermaids. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #2)

More artists should use color silhouettes–they can be such a cool effect! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #2)

Feelings… AND TEXTURES! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #2)

Marauder, schmaurader; I know a reaver when I see one. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

The secret origin of ruby quartz! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

“Sinister, you say? Ooh, that’s good. I should write that down.” (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

This is a bad plan and I do not want to be part of it. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

LOOK AT THIS GLAM MOTHERFUCKER (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

Aw, he’s still got a heart, maybe, kind of. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

TIME LOOP! TIME LOOP! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

LINKS & FURTHER ADVENTURES

Follow our guests on Twitter!
How to Be a Mutant

The written list of the SDAPCAfEaX winners will go up on Monday! If you are a creator who won and would like a physical award, drop us a line, and we will make it happen.

319 – Giant-Size Special #9 (feat. Vita Ayala, Tini Howard, and Leah Williams)

January 3, 2021 Jay 11 comments

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In which Jay and Miles receive a mysterious missive and are visited by three of our favorite X-writers; Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix is a pleasant surprise; Nathaniel Essex is the most dramatic man in the Marvel Universe; the sewers of Victorian London were a happenin’ place; Apocalypse isn’t even French; Beast is the flip-side of Sinister; community is for everyone; the Internet is (kind of) Krakoa; and death is fixable, but trauma might take a little more work.

X-PLAINED:

A quotation
Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4
A closed loop
Time travel with Scott Summers and Jean Grey
Mister Sinister (Nathaniel Essex)
A somewhat excessive visual aid
Beards
Cootie Tremble
The cultural context of sideshows
The first Marauders and/or Nasty Boys
Victorian Apocalypse
Strained allegories
Sanctity
Apocalypse vs. the Hellfire Club
Oscar the Somewhat Less Nasty Boy
Varyingly anachronistic costuming
The secret origin of ruby quartz
A very vague objective
A makeover
A closed time loop
Actual Cat Wizard Jonathan Hickman
Something Jay is not in fact going to pitch to Marvel
Creative dynamics and processes in the current X-line
Revolutionary joy
What’s cooler than one sword
The Sixth Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence at X-Cellence

NEXT WEEK: Jay & Miles take a break

NEXT EPISODE: Excalibur gets several Peters and a wolf!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

HAWK TALK – Surviving 2020

December 28, 2020 Miles 8 comments

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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, we talked (exhaustedly) about This Freaking Year.

Topics, roughly:

This year was pretty rough
Maybe next year will be better?
Some things are cool, though

NOTE: Miles watched Knives Out immediately after recording this episode, and Jay was right: it is delightful.

As Mentioned in Episode 318 – Leprechaun Hill

December 20, 2020 Miles Leave a comment

Listen to the podcast here.

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

We’re grateful for the covers, Chris Bachalo, but they mostly just make us even sadder that you don’t pencil these issues. (Generation X #7)

Sean’s impressively long ponytail, meet Emma’s impressively tiny undergarments. (Generation X #7)

Husk is mainly made at Jubilee for forgetting it was Giant Shirt Day. (Generation X #7)

To be fair, those moppets would make freakin’ Ultron’s heart grow three sizes. (Generation X #7)

We forgot, but Banshee does sometimes where tiny shorts – including in this very issue! Probably for the best he ditched the ponytail; no one would have been able to tell him and Forge apart. (Generation X #7)

From the finest casual fashion of the 90s… (Generation X #8)

To the finest casual fashion of the indeterminate Middle Ages! (Generation X #8)

“Don’t worry, elves and/or leprechauns! We’ll protect you! With murder!” (Generation X #8)

“You’re looking good, Eamon! But didn’t you used to be like four feet taller?” (Generation X #8)

Grand Dame (a pixie rather than an elf despite her identical skin tone) and the Glamour Machine. (Generation X #8)

Wait, the caption at the bottom references leprechauns… SO WHERE ARE THE LEPRECHAUNS?! (Generation X #8)

Tom Grummett draws a pretty great Skin. (Generation X #9)

“Acch, humans! I used to be one of you until Scott Lobdell got confused! Or maybe I didn’t! It’s ambiguous!” (Generation X #9)

“Greetings – we’re Clan O’Donnel, and we’re not entirely sure what type of fantasy creature we or our newly-retconned relative are supposed to be!” (Generation X #9)

This way, the elves and/or leprechauns can get back to hanging out in Cassidy Keep in the real world and telling readers the secret real names of various superheroes. (Generation X #9)

If Penance could speak, she’d be saying “Tee hee!” (Generation X #9)

NEXT WEEK: Hawk Talk! NEXT EPISODE: Our Seventh Annual Giant-Size Winter Special!

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

We talked about the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep way back in episode 9, Leprechaun Surprise Party!

318 – Leprechaun Hill

December 20, 2020 Jay 11 comments

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In which we are broken by leprechauns.

X-PLAINED:

A very necessary title change
The leprechauns of Cassidy Keep
Generation X #7-9
How to kiss Chamber
Banshee’s epic past ponytail
Thoughts
Amiable grumbling
The evolution of Emma Frost’s ethics
Giant shirts of the 1990s
An unlikely disappearance
Rapid power creep
Another dimension
Whether or not Eamon O’Donnell is a leprechaun
Existential leprechaun uncertainty
Grande Dame
How glamour works, sort of
A dragon
Uncanny X-Men: First Class #8
Uncle Havok
Whether Kid Apocalypse is an External

NEXT WEEK: Hawk Talk.

NEXT EPISODE: GIANT-SIZE WINTER SPECIAL!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

As Mentioned in Episode 317 – Acquaintances of Humanity

December 20, 2020 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

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

Oh, c’mon, you did NOT need a double gatefold for that. (X-Men #45)

OW.

(Not a metaphor.) (X-Men #45)

Included to showcase some really damn good use of balloon and caption placement. (X-Men #45)

Aw, Rogue. (X-Men #45)

Damn, that’s good composition. (X-Men #45)

Just here to rub salt in the wound by out-glamming you. (X-Men #45)

It’s true: there’s something extra sad about brooding in shorts. (Uncanny X-Men #326)

IT SURE IS 1995 IN HERE. (Uncanny X-Men #326)

Seriously, Boomer, don’t be friends with Sabretooth. (Uncanny X-Men #326)

To those of you who get reaction images from these: You’re welcome. (Uncanny X-Men #326)

Gambit clearly subscribes to the Rory Campbell school of rehabilitation. (Uncanny X-Men #326)

Well, WE certainly recognize it! (Uncanny X-Men #326)

Now, that’s a wraparound cover! (X-Men Annual 1995)

Somebody’s been reading Age of Apocalypse. (X-Men Annual 1995)

“They’re never sure how many of them they are, and the uncertainty is difficult to live with.” (X-Men Annual 1995)

These three look like time travelers dressed in what each is certain everyone was wearing in 1995. (X-Men Annual 1995)

At least they’re stylish? I guess? (X-Men Annual 1995)

“I see hair more glam than any in this universe.” (X-Men Annual 1995)

“Several, at this point.” (X-Men Annual 1995)

Well, kinda. (X-Men Annual 1995)

Also, they all, um, teleported away. To a farm. Where they can run and play with the other villains. (X-Men Annual 1995)

NEXT: Leprechauns, obviously.

317 – Acquaintances of Humanity

December 14, 2020 Jay 12 comments

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In which Nicholas Cage is more of a concept than a human being; Rogue’s angst-fueled road trip continues; Gambit and Sinister have complementary aesthetics; there are a lot of Guthries; the Trasks are never up to any good; and whether or not it is canon, Ghost Rider has definitely teamed up with Johnny Cash.

X-PLAINED:

Ghost Rider (film)
Nicholas Cage
Rogue and Gambit
X-Men #45
Uncanny X-Men #326
Uncanny X-Men Annual 1995
A gratuitous gatefold
Alliteration vs. consonance
Osmium
Fancy captions
Aesthetics
Shorts
Gambit vs. Sabretooth
Questionable medical policy
AIDS and the Legacy Virus, revisited
Humanity’s Last Stand
Guthries
Preacher
The evolution of killer robots
Superhero-musician team-ups
Otherworld vs. the M’Kraan crystal

NEXT EPISODE: THE LEPRECHAUNS RETURN

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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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316 – Return to Megalopolis: At the Movies with the New Mutants

December 6, 2020 Jay 16 comments

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In which we review the New Mutants’ film debut.

NEXT EPISODE: Rogue, Gambit, and feelings!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

HAWK TALK – Surviving the (Holiday) Experience

November 29, 2020 Miles 18 comments

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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, we talked about holidays, winter and otherwise.

Topics, roughly:

Time, which used to make sense
Several holidays and feelings, media, and traditions related thereto
Flash Gordon
Mixed-faith families
A New York Christmas Wedding (the lesbian time travel gay dead baby angel movie)
Gingerbread
Secular rituals
Night in the Woods: Lost Constellation
The Dark is Rising (again)
The Spirit of Christmas (which is to say, exploding)
J. Michael Strazynski’s The Real Ghostbusters
Community‘s first three holiday specials
Justice League: Comfort & Joy
Passover and that time Moses gave Pharaoh a frog
Passover and Miles trying very hard to play it cool
Chocolate bunny funerals
Easter basket comics
Being excellent to each other and partying on

Links and further reading:

In Defense of Humbug by Jay Smooth

As Mentioned in Episode 315 – Theater Is Dead

November 22, 2020 Jay One comment

Listen to the podcast here.

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

That Wolverine shadow looming over the title has a serious Maurice Sendak vibe. (Wolverine and Gambit: Victims #1)

I know the whole point is for the shadow to be menacing, but how funny would it be if Wolverine were just freakin’ huge in this series, for no reason? (Wolverine and Gambit: Victims #1)