Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Tag: comics

X-TRA: Jay, Miles, and Jonathan Hickman Spoil the Hell out of Inferno

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Inferno #4 is out; and, as promised, we’ve got a bonus interview with Jonathan Hickman–unedited this time, so please forgive the audio–going into the gory details of the miniseries and its finale! (Again, spoiler warning–we can’t emphasize this enough–we spoil Inferno, including its ending, real hard. Listen at your own risk.)

303 – No Simple Answers, feat. Laura Hudson

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In which writer and editor Laura Hudson joins us as we take a break from X-Men comics to discuss the complicated ethics of consuming and covering comics by creators we’re not comfortable promoting.

LINKS:

No visual companion to this one, for obvious reasons; see the links listed above.

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 294 – The Infernal Gallop

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Listen to the podcast here!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!
Man, I love this cover. (X-Calibre #1)
Cain Marko, man of peace. (X-Calibre #1)
Welcome to Avalon. (X-Calibre #1)
That is an EXCELLENT point. (X-Calibre #1)
I don’t remember Thunderbird having that many muscles or, y’know, being white. (X-Calibre #1)
“Sure thing! That’s BLAMM with two Ms?” (X-Calibre #2)
Aw, buddy. (X-Calibre #2)
But shouldn’t that be Rusty Collins’s icon? (X-Calibre #2)
…well, shit. (X-Calibre #2)
Almost our Kurt, and very much not our Kurt. (X-Calibre #2)
OH HELL YEAH (X-Calibre #3)
TFW Magneto forces you to visit your One Big Ex’s intentional community. (X-Calibre #3)
They have fun. (That is a lie. They do not have fun.) (X-Calibre #3)
Oh, come on. (X-Calibre #3)
AND THAT’S WHY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE A NOTE (X-Calibre #4)
Not AGAIN. (X-Calibre #4)
Welcome to the Age of Apocalypse!
NEXT EPISODE: these goofs, in space

LINKS & FURTHER ALLUSIONS

294 – The Infernal Gallop

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

In which a whole lot of things burn; Nightcrawler gets gritty; it’s hard to be Dead Man Wade; Apocalypse’s IT department has some explaining to do; Mystique is the most mom of all moms; Doug Ramsey dies (again); and Jay will fight anyone who says comics can’t be “real” literature.

X-PLAINED:

  • Damask
  • X-Calibre #1-4
  • Switchback
  • Cain Marko of Earth-295
  • Avalon
  • Destiny of Earth-295
  • Nightcrawler of Earth-295
  • Ghost Dance (actual)
  • Ghost Dance (fictional)
  • John Proudstar of Earth-295
  • The Infernal Gallop vs. the Infernal Galop
  • Moonstar of Earth-295
  • Dead Man Wade
  • The Pale Riders
  • Videoconferencing software of Earth-295
  • The Excalibur
  • Walter Newell
  • Callisto of Earth-295
  • A lot of murders
  • A really dark historical precedent
  • Parenthood
  • Death by existential crisis
  • The worst plan
  • Variations on the death of Doug Ramsey
  • Geography of the Age of Apocalypse
  • The rest of the Marvel books during the Age of Apocalypse
  • Jay vs. Western canon

NEXT EPISODE: Gambit and the X-Ternals

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 209 – To Me, My X-Books

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Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!
COME SEE US AT FLAMECON! SERIOUSLY! IT’LL BE RAD AS HELL!
Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe is a delightful series and you should all go read it immediately.
You heard it here first: No wang beams.
NEXT EPISODE: X-CUTIONER’S SONG BEGINS!

LINKS & FURTHER DIVERSIONS:

209 – To Me, My X-Books; feat. Jordan D. White

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

In which we welcome Marvel editor Jordan D. White to the podcast to talk about the current state of the X-Universe!

X-PLAINED:

  • The cosmic luck balance
  • Mr. Dapples
  • A remarkable concurrence of luck
  • Our FlameCon live show lineup
  • What an X-Men group editor does
  • How X-books happen
  • Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe
  • Shatterstar
  • Jordan’s history with X-Men
  • Uncanny X-Men: First Class
  • Wolverine: First Class
  • Whether Deadpool is an X-Man (No.)
  • Mercurial mutancy
  • What defines the X-Men
  • Queer X-characters (and their absence)
  • Problematic namesakes
  • Sailors X
  • Drawing lines on social media
  • Why to read modern X-Men
  • Uncanny X-Men

NEXT EPISODE: X-CUTIONER’S SONG BEGINS!

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!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)

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

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

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!

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As Mentioned in Episode 61 – Even Horses

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Listen to the podcast here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 6/21/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
So much love for this cover. (New Mutants #41)
Danielle Moonstar on cultural identity. (New Mutants #41)
I guess when you’ve spent ten years trapped in a demon bear, it’s easier to take things like flying horses in stride. (New Mutants #41)
“Ill wind.” Who even says that? (New Mutants #41)
SPOILER: This does not end well. (New Mutants #41)
Yeah, I can see how that might put a crimp into a friendship. (New Mutants #41)
Oof. (New Mutants #41)
How badass is Dani? BADASS ENOUGH TO SHOUT DOWN DEATH. (New Mutants #41)
On the list of iconic showdowns of New Mutants, this one will always be near the top. (New Mutants #41)
A very different brush with death. (New Mutants #41)
There’s a lot going on here, but the best part is that Lila is wearing a Lila t-shirt. (New Mutants #42)
AW, SAM. (New Mutants #42)
Headcanon: Sam never has any idea what his mom’s going to look like when he gets home. (New Mutants #42)
In Joshua’s defense, his fears will turn out to have been ENTIRELY JUSTIFIED. (New Mutants #42)
Damnit, Sam. (New Mutants #42)
Later, he’ll sprout wings, but we try not to talk about that story. (New Mutants #42)
Lila goes and changes, but seriously, how great is this look? SO GREAT, RIGHT? (New Mutants #42)
This does not seem like safe behavior around an aircraft in flight. (New Mutants #43)
In which Sunspot does his best Miles. (New Mutants #43)
Aw, they’re so happy. About revenge. (New Mutants #43)
In the New Mutants’ defense, Empath is in fact the literal worst. (New Mutants #43)
Have I mentioned recently how goddamn underrated Doug Ramsey is? Doug Ramsey is so goddamn underrated. (New Mutants #43)
Moment of silence for Dani’s super awesome Kyle Baker-inked hair. (New Mutants #44)
Illyana’s door signs are pretty priceless. (New Mutants #44)
Friendship! (New Mutants #44)
Kinda love the team reaction shot going on here. (New Mutants #44)
If Reverend Craig were an ice cream flavor, he’d be Presbyterianism and dick. (New Mutants #44)
Changing in a parking lot on the way to a school dance is about as New Mutants as it gets. (New Mutants #45)
Our first introduction to Larry Bodine. (New Mutants #45)
They’re talking about two entirely different things, but only one of them realizes it. (New Mutants #45)
THESE jerks. (New Mutants #45)
X-Factor keeps popping up as the off-screen bogeyman in other titles. (New Mutants #45)
Oh, Larry, no. (New Mutants #45)
(New Mutants #45)
Warlock trying to understand death is pretty much always the saddest thing. (New Mutants #45)
Aw, Kitty. (New Mutants #45)
Aw, everyone. (New Mutants #45)
Trivia: This scene has been referenced in a number of flashbacks, but it’s almost always misidentified as Doug Ramsey’s funeral. (New Mutants #45)
It’s really remarkable how consistent the evolution of Kitty’s feelings about identity politics has been, from here, through Mekanix, and into All-New X-Men. (New Mutants #45)
Next Week: GIANT-SIZE SUMMER SPECIAL SUPER TABLETOP TEAM-UP!

LINKS AND FURTHER READING:

61 – Even Horses

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 6/21/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 6/21/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.

In which the band gets back together; Dani faces down Death; Sam takes Lila home to meet his mom; revenge is a dish best left unserved; there is nothing sadder than Warlock confused by the concept of death; Kitty Pryde has a some opinions about identity politics; and X-Men has not been great with textual representations of neurodiversity.

NOTE: Given some of the material covered in this episode, we wanted to link a few resources below, for anyone who might need them:

X-PLAINED:

  • The rotating members of the Guthrie family
  • New Mutants #41-45
  • One way to end a friendship
  • A respectable number of dubious decisions enacted over several issues
  • An epic showdown with an anthropomorphic personification
  • Additional Guthries
  • The Xavier Institute PTA
  • The worst Hellion (more) (again)
  • Legion (more) (again)
  • The second-saddest issue of New Mutants
  • The life and death of Larry Bodine
  • A somewhat bleak recurring continuity error
  • Depression and mental illness in X-canon
  • Care and storage of comic books
  • Autism in X-canon

NEXT WEEK: GIANT-SIZE SUMMER SPECIAL SUPER TABLETOP TEAM-UP!

You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Rachel 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 prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

FAQ, Part One: Content

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Cyclops #3. W: Greg Rucka; A: Russell Dauterman; C: Chris Sotomayor
Cyclops #3. W: Greg Rucka; A: Russell Dauterman; C: Chris Sotomayor

We get questions.

We get a lot of questions.

But there are some questions we get more than others.

This is the first of a multi-part series. As we post questions and answers on the blog, we’ll also add them to the FAQ page!

Today, we’re going to cover content:

 

 

Why haven’t you covered my favorite story / character / miniseries yet?

We are working our way through hundreds of characters and thousands of comics. Be patient. We’ll get there.

 

Are you going to cover [specific story arc / X-related series like Excalibur, New Mutants, Fallen Angels, X-Factor, &c.]?

Probably. See above.

 

When are you going to get Brian Bendis / Matt Fraction / Chris Claremont / other X-writer or artist on the show?

When they return our e-mails. *rimshot*

Nah, seriously, we do have a long wish-list of guests–and some very cool ones confirmed for future episodes–but we try to make sure they’ve got a reason to be there, either because they’ve got a relevant book coming out, or because they’ve got a particular connection to territory we’re covering in a specific episode.

 

I am a writer, artist, editor, or other creative professional with experience on X-Men stuff, and I would like to be on your podcast!

Awesome! Please drop us a line!

 

Will you be guests / guest hosts on my podcast / YouTube channel / blog?

Maybe? We are pretty busy, but drop us a line, and we can talk.

 

Can I be a guest or Emergency Backup Co-Host on Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men?

Probably not unless you are an X-book writer, artist, or editor; a very good friend of ours with a lot of podcasting experience and X-know-how; or both.

 

Will you publish my article or guest post?

We are not currently accepting unsolicited pitches or submissions.

 

Will you post my fan art?

If it’s podcast pertinent, totally (we don’t usually post general X-Men fan art, though). E-mail it to xplainthexmen(at)gmail.com.