Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

436 – The Feel-Good Movie of the Summer

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In which Colossus has had a rough time of it; the X-Men are at their best in bar fights; Bronze-age Wolverine was a jerk; Ursa Major deserves more page space; kids dig Nightcrawler; and we imagine an X-Men newspaper comic strip.

X-PLAINED:

  • Notable incidents in Iceman’s romantic history
  • X-Men: Liberators #1-4
  • Nostalgia
  • Friendship
  • A bar fight
  • Province 13
  • General Sergei
  • Several dead deer
  • Gregor and Valeri
  • Nikolas
  • Zener cards
  • Several children
  • Omega Red (more) (again)
  • Ariana
  • Ideal formats
  • Beast vs. Dark Beast
  • A theoretical X-Men newspaper comic

NEXT EPISODE: X-Force gets possessed!

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As Mentioned in Episode 435 – Giant-Size Special #12 (feat. Kieron Gillen)

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Listen to the podcast here! And stay tuned for details of our 10th birthday party, coming April 13 at Books With Pictures!

Illustration by David Wynne
Just look at that cover! (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
Strong Fantastic Planet vibes, no? (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
Meet the Thingee! (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
Heaven, sort of. (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
The Statler and Waldorf of Baum, Kansas. (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
Aw, Betty. (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
Bad times. (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
Residents of the Albony Avenue Sanitarium. (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
The true form of the Thingee. (Longshot vol. 2 #1)
And straight on ’til morning. (Longshot vol. 2 #1)

435 – Giant-Size Special #12 (feat. Kieron Gillen)

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Illustration by David Wynne

In which we have had an eventful year; Longshot is a classic folk hero; writer Kieron Gillen makes a triumphant and mildly terrifying return to the show; and you remain the best listeners of any podcast, ever.

X-PLAINED:

  • Our tenth birthday party!
  • 2023
  • Longshot vol. 2 #1
  • Longshot as a folkloric archetype
  • Longshot (more) (again)
  • Dismal Nitch, Washington
  • The Thingee
  • Baum, Kansas
  • Corn
  • Betty
  • Barrie, Kansas
  • The Albony Avenue Sanitarium and several of its residents
  • Innocence, broadly
  • The Wuggly Ump, by Edward Gorey
  • Love
  • Immortal X-Men
  • Nathaniel Essex and several significant clones thereof
  • Defining Mister Sinister
  • Making Charles Xavier sympathetic
  • Reset phrases
  • Eternals
  • The 10th Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence at X-Cellence
  • Many people to whom we are grateful

NEXT EPISODE: X-Men: Liberators

NOTE: If you want to avoid Immortal X-Men spoilers in our interview with Kieron Gillen, you can skip to 01:38:50 for the Corbeau Awards!

Special thanks to:

  • Matt Hunter
  • Dylan Higgins
  • Al Kennedy
  • Max Carleton
  • Kieron Gillen
  • Tea Fougner
  • Anna Stokes
  • All of our patrons
  • All of you listening, always <3

“Sinister Is Cloning This Town” performed by Steve and Erin Pence

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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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As Mentioned in Episode 434 – Return to Cape Citadel

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Happy anniversary! Have a brand-new team! (Uncanny X-Men #360)
The first of a number of Giant-Size X-Men #1-style origin stories. (Uncanny X-Men #360)
In which the long-absent Excalibur mutants remind us of the first team they were all on. (Uncanny X-Men #360)
The All-New, Slightly-Off X-Men attack! (Uncanny X-Men #360)
Meanwhile: all that’s left of the X-Men. Err, the most recent team of X-Men. Not the returning ones. Or the fake ones. Look, there are a lot of different X-Men in this issue, okay? (Uncanny X-Men #360)
Hey, looks like Thomas Wolfe was wrong! (Uncanny X-Men #360)
Who needs panel borders when you’ve got layouts like this? (Uncanny X-Men #360)
Hey, it’s like the last issue’s cover – but with actual X-Men! (X-Men #80)
Comics’ greatest superhero soap opera. (X-Men #80)
Gotta admit, this is not Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau’s greatest showing. (X-Men #80)
A lot’s changed since you’ve been gone, Pete. (X-Men #80)
*raised heavy metal horns accompany a single heavy metal tear* (X-Men #80)
They’ve been back together for only a few hours and are already dramatically posing like champs! (X-Men #80)
“Hey, that’s not Professor X! He has a… you know!” (X-Men #80)
…rocket? (X-Men #80)
More couples’ therapy should include fastball specials. (X-Men #80)
I mean, I know they were kinda jerks, but… jeez! (X-Men #80)
NEXT EPISODE: Our tenth annual Giant-Size Winter Special!

434 – Return to Cape Citadel

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In which the X-Men turn 35; we pause to celebrate the death of Henry Kissinger; Jay is a space nerd; Marrow hang-dries her delicates; space shuttles are not rockets; the band gets back together; and the Danger Room isn’t the first piece of X-tech to get sentience and a robot body.

X-PLAINED

  • How Excalibur got a Blackbird
  • Uncanny X-Men #360
  • X-Men #80
  • Many callbacks
  • The Benassi Rocket
  • The Cassini Probe
  • The All-New, Slightly Off X-Men
  • The Grey King (Addison Falk)
  • Chaos and/or Xhaos (Dan Dash)
  • Mercury
  • Rapture (Sister Joy)
  • Crux (Cristal Lemiuex)
  • Landslide (Lee Broder)
  • The Founder
  • Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau (again)
  • The Mutant Defense Net
  • Heroic narration
  • Lack of spacefaring continuity
  • Friendship
  • Technology
  • Costumes
  • All-New All-Different Dungeons & Dragons

NEXT EPISODE: GIANT-SIZE WINTER SPECIAL #10

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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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433 – Looking Back at Looking Back

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In which we take a retrospective look at X-Factor and Excalibur: where the series began, where they went, and what’s in store after the ends of their first volumes.

X-PLAINED:

  • What Rictor’s been up to
  • X-Factor
  • Excalibur

NEXT EPISODE: A Corbeau cameo!

The visual companion to this episode is scattered through the last eight years of visual companions, mostly under the X-Factor and Excalibur tags.

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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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As Mentioned in Episode 432 – Weird Little Adventures

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This makes it look like one of them is about to die. (Generation X #44)
The weirdest thing about Polaroids was that they could all talk. (Generation X #44)
Aw. (Generation X #44)
Siryn knows how to dress! (Generation X #44)
A plot thread that dangles to this day. (Generation X #44)
I really enjoy this credits page. (Generation X #45)
I enjoy when Monet is mischievous. (Generation X #45)
What the HELL, Sean? (Generation X #46)
Of course, it would have EMTs, but, whatever. (Generation X #46)
One way to deal with traffic. (Generation X #46)
How fast is she running?! (Generation X #46)
“I mean, they’ll have a rough time at college, but whatever.” (Generation X #46)
Forge, no. (Generation X #47)
Did… did they HAVE to live in the treehouse before?! (Generation X #47)
Later he’s going to lecture on not pissing off your girlfriend. (Generation X #47)
YOU TELL ‘IM, PARADOX! (Generation X #47)
NEXT EPISODE: X-Factor and Excalibur post mortem!

432 – Weird Little Adventures

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In which we reach the end of Larry Hama’s run on Generation X; Gaia remains remarkably normal for someone who has spent millennia chained up alone in a citadel; Synch practices radical forgiveness; we ponder the nature of Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy’s relationship; and Forge is extra unqualified to lecture on ethics.

X-PLAINED:

  • How Jubilee stopped being a vampire
  • The Draco, kinda
  • Generation X #44-47
  • Bianca LaNeige (again)
  • Polaroid cameras
  • Gaia (more) (again)
  • Reality warping
  • Woody and Arlo Guthrie
  • Iceland
  • Several continuity errors
  • Psi War fallout
  • Paul Weller
  • New school uniforms
  • Accreditation
  • Miss Pickwick
  • Penance’s nationality
  • Guthrie manifestation
  • Teamwork
  • Forge’s decision-making skills
  • Paradox
  • Indoor/outdoor moppets
  • Four theoretical horsemen of Apocalypse
  • Awkward family holidays

NEXT EPISODE: Jay & Miles autopsy X-Factor and Excalibur!

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

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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!

Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

As Mentioned in Episode 431 – Doctor Jennifer Murder’s Drop-In Deathatorium

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Alright, who stuck their surprisingly awesome fan-zine on this comics rack? (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Do the extra-long fingers help or hurt? (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Triumphant walk! (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Cibo Matto! (Generation X Underground Special #1)
“I’m just not sure about this neighborhood. Let’s head over to Crime Alley instead.” (Generation X Underground Special #1)
No notes. (Generation X Underground Special #1)
(Former since the Donut Day Riots) Detective Lucas Bishop. (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Eat your heart out, Jack Kirby. (Generation X Underground Special #1)
You and me both, random gangster. (Generation X Underground Special #1)
And, in fact, that very funk will save the day. (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Chamber’s secondary mutation is to be more heavily inked when he’s depressed. (Generation X Underground Special #1)
If you’re ever this heavily inked, please talk to someone. (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Al made a shirt and so can you! (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Beatniks vs. Hostess Fruit Pies… (Generation X Underground Special #1)
Nate is such a good dude sometimes. (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
What an oddly relevantly helpful old woman! (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
Downtown Transylvania circa 1998, I assume. (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
Hey, your face isn’t even all that bony! (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
See, kids? This is why you shouldn’t smoke. (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
She had to wait days for a lightning storm epic enough for her to make her entrance properly. (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
How has no one brought this delightful villain back since this issue?! (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
Didn’t see that one coming… (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
NO NOTES. (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
Doctor Von Mort’s home office is way cooler than mine. (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
Abysnthia Von Mort x-plains Absynthia Von Mort. (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
“Help! We’ve been filed!” (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
I’m not crying you’re crying (X-Man: All Saints Day #1)
NEXT EPISODE: Generation X suits up!

431 – Doctor Jennifer Murder’s Drop-In Deathatorium

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No notes. (Generation X Underground Special #1)

In which Synch is a more versatile character than he originally got credit for; “eep” and “eek” are likewise underused; space makes everything better; Nate Grey is the proto-himbo; and if you can decipher the secret code in this episode, you, too, can win a Silver Surfer jet ski!

X-PLAINED:

  • Diablo
  • Generation X Underground Special
  • X-Men Unlimited #30
  • X-Man: All Saints Day
  • Jim Mahfood
  • Skin’s video-game preferences
  • Strange superpowers
  • Poster pirates
  • Visual representations of the passage of time
  • “Banshee’s Angels”
  • Charlie’s Angels
  • The infamous donut-day riots
  • Perfect costumes
  • Adequate restraints for small children
  • The raw power of funk
  • Generation X vs. the Beat Generation
  • The greatest disco event in the universe
  • Nate Grey
  • Some kid named Jerome
  • Countess Absynthia Von Mort
  • Transylvania
  • Dr. Cindy’s Castle
  • The state of Phoenix affairs
  • The color bar at the top of the page in ‘90s comics

NEXT EPISODE: Generation X suits up!

Check out 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!