Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Tag: conventions

As Mentioned in Episode 80 – For the Mutant Who Has Everything

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Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 11/1/2015 at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
I’d like to point out that when Wolverine gets drunk, he sings show tunes. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
That’s… that’s quite a look, Horde. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
Daaaaaaaaang. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
Dear Everyone Who Thought Wolverine and Storm Hooked Up Out of Nowhere Last Year,
NOPE.
Love, R&M
(Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
This is like a Highlights for Children “What is wrong with this picture” page, and the answer is “everything.” (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
Havok really desperately needs a vacation. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
Every outfit on this page is amazing… (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
…but none of them are quite so amazing as this outfit. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
“You don’t do that! You don’t throw your skin at a person!” (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
Statue of this now, please. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
The moment where it all went wrong. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
“I feel it! I feel the cosmos!” (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
This is actually a pretty good single-panel primer for this X-team. (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
Wait, WHAT?! (Uncanny X-Men Annual #11)
Doug. Doug, no. (New Mutants Annual #3)
Oh, hi. (New Mutants Annual #3)
Screw that Mxyzptlk jerk–the Impossible Man is where it’s at! (New Mutants Annual #3)
The Impossible Man X-Plains Uncanny X-Men Annual #7. (New Mutants Annual #3)
The whole issue in a nutshell. (New Mutants Annual #3)
Graduation costumes: definitely still terrible. (New Mutants Annual #3)
‘Kay. (New Mutants Annual #3)
That last panel, tho. (New Mutants Annual #3)
These goofballs. (New Mutants Annual #3)
WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY. (New Mutants Annual #3)
Game, set, and match. (New Mutants Annual #3)
There’s really no other way this issue could have ended. (New Mutants Annual #3)
We’re going to be guests at Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival on November 7! Come say hi, buy cool stuff, and be part of our second-ever live episode!
The first episode of the Secret Convergence on Infinite Podcasts launches THIS THURSDAY, October 29, on FanBros! For more info, check out the announcement, and be sure to follow the Convergence on Twitter and Tumblr for host profiles, updates, and more!
NEXT WEEK: All-New X-Men, with Dennis Hopeless!

LINKS:

We’re Going to Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival!

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VVCBF_logo

Rachel here! We are super pleased to announce (okay, we’ve been tweeting about it for a few weeks, but STILL) that we’re guests at the 2015 Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival on November 7!

We’ll be doing two panels–including our second live episode! For those of you who caught the Rose City show, this one’s going to be a little different–more continuity, for one–so we really hope you’ll come out and join us! We’ll also be tabling all day, with t-shirts, buttons, the second printing (!) of the zine, and more!

VVCBF seems like a really cool show: free, library-run, with an awesome guest lineup. If you’re in the Vegas area, come out and say hi!!

 

Cyclops Has a Good Day (and Rachel can’t draw) at Rose City Comic Con!

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RACHEL HERE!

As long-time listeners know, I have a Cyclops Has a Good Day con sketchbook, because I am a huge and unapologetic dork (newcomers might have keyed in to that last part). I’m godawful about posting updates, so, here’s what’s new from RCCC and ECCC!

(We’ve already posted our photos from RCCC, the live episode, and the party/listener meetup, over here!)

Erica Henderson (RCCC 2015)
Dylan Meconis (RCCC 2015)
Ron Randall (RCCC 2015)
Peter V. Nguyen (ECCC 2015)
Jake Wyatt (ECCC 2015)

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Miles and I stole a page from Chris and Chad’s playbook and did terrible X-Men sketches for $1 at our table. Miles forgot to take pictures of his, which is a double shame because he’s way better at this than I am and ALSO because one of his sketches was Adam X the X-Treme riding a giant can of Mountain Dew. BUT HERE ARE MINE.

 

“Draw whoever you want” is a 100% surefire way to take home a picture of Warlock.
Damn skippy, Shadowcat!
Havok, or, How Rachel Learned that Trucker Hats Are Not Actually Easier to Draw than That Stupid Thing Silver-Age Havok Usually Wears.
Quentin Quire got kind of meta. NO REGRETS.
Beyonder poop jokes are forever.
I also did a bunch of sharpie knuckle tattoos, but only remembered to document two. CPTN MRVL!
WHAAAAT?!

 

Rose City Comic Con was the COOLEST

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Listen to the live episode here!

We are so ridiculously lucky: our hometown con is the coolest. It’s only a few years old, but Rose City Comic Con is one of the most fun, accessible, welcoming, and all-around celebratory comics shows we’ve ever been to. This was our first con as Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men, and our first ever live episode; and we can’t imagine a better place to start.

Click through the gallery below for photos from the con, the panel, and the party! (We’ll toss the sketches up separately tomorrow!)

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 10/4/2015 at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
Someone left Rachel alone with the button press.
More con prep.
We have a table! (Also, a lot of people were really irate about the word balloon, SIGH.)
WHOADANG, it’s the brand new zines and con-exclusive t-shirts!
Punk Cyclops was one of our favorite cosplays of the show.
Awesome going as well as coming!
Our friend Sarah–a kickass pro photographer in her own right–was cosplaying as Rule-63 Phil Sheldon of Marvels!
Rachel’s heart 100% belongs to Norita Smoeuk’s 50s Girl-Gang X-Men. These three were part of a whole group cosplaying Norita’s wildly kickass designs.
Even Marvel characters are sufficiently confused by their own continuity to need our help!
Benja Barker of Portland’s Alter Egos Society hooked us up with this incredibly cool X-Men belt buckle, which sneakily velcros around pretty much any belt.
Monsters of Podcasting celebrating at the Kaijucast booth after our Sunday panel. L to R: Rachel and Miles; Zee and Jamie of the British History Podcast; Kyle of Kaijucast (and our producer!).
“Let’s just meet at the panel room,” we told the guests. “There shouldn’t be a line or anything.”
Damn, there were a lot of you. HI, PORTLAND!
Rachel and Miles X-plain Cable and Stryfe in the live episode cold open. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Yount.)
Left to right: Ann Nocenti, Miles Stokes, Rachel Edidin, Jeff Parker, Chris Yost. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Yount.)
Annie and Miles. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Giffrow / Upswept Creative.)
Annie, Miles, Rachel, and Jeff. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Giffrow / Upswept Creative.)
Katie and Kestrel set the question bar AWFULLY high. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Giffrow / Upswept Creative.)
Custom drink menus from The Steep & Thorny Way to Heaven. (The X-Men menu was 21+; New Mutants were all-ages.)
SO. GOOD.
Magneto and friends hang the Days of Future Past wall.
(Magneto also doubled as DJ and bartender. Thank you, Myrrh!)
Live cold-open previews have been a thing since our ECCC meetup. This time, we got some help from Fern. Yes, we have TWO tiny Squirrel-Girl X-perts, and they are both THE BEST. (Photo courtesy of @pawpaw5771)
There are a LOT of variations on this photo, but I think Max and Brandon may have been the first. (Photo courtesy of Brandon Goede.)
White Phoenix has no patience for this post-apocalypse nonsense. (Photo courtesy of Cassandra Carter.)
The word balloons from ECCC were also out in force. (Photo courtesy of Cassandra Carter.)
The British History Podcast wants you to know that your dark future really doesn’t have a damn thing on the past. (Photo courtesy of Jamie and Zee.)
The team-up you weren’t expecting. (Photo courtesy of Christopher Troy.)
We’re gonna go ahead and say that “continuity” is the correct collective noun for Cyclopses. In that spirit: here’s continuity of Cyclopses. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Polier.)
Another homage to the original cover. Dave, on the left, helped build and weather the wall. Katie’s Marvel Girl is updated from the o5 group previously pictured on our blog. (Photo courtesy of the Proctors.)
This Shadowcat is not only an awesomely on-point cosplayer (that Lockheed!) but also one of the coolest teenagers we’ve ever met. (Photo courtesy of Tom Kishel.)
Two very happy, very tired X-Perts. (Photo courtesy of Myrrh Larsen.)
NEXT WEEK: Fallen Angels!

Special thanks to a LOT of people without whom the con and show wouldn’t have been possible:

  • Panel Guests: Ann Nocenti, Jeff Parker, and Chris Yost
  • Earth-811 Craft Department: Dave Proctor and Cameron Harris
  • Everyone from Rose City Comic Con; but particularly Mikey Nielson, Ron Brister, and Paula Brister.
  • Our amazing, amazing, amazing party hosts at The Steep & Thorny Way to Heaven: Megan Skye Hale and Myrrh Larsen
  • Team X-Plain: Tina Abate, David Wynne, and Kyle Yount.
  • The Absolute Goddamn Best: Katie Moody and Anna Sheffey.
  • Last but not least: Max Carleton, Dusty Eppers, Jason Betournay, Scott Hazle, Fern, Kestrel, Jasper, and everyone who turned out to help, yell, party, and X-Plain with us at and after RCCC!

 

76 – Live at Rose City Comic Con, with Ann Nocenti, Jeff Parker, and Chris Yost

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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 10/4/2015 at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 10/4/2015 at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

 

In which we record our first live episode; Rose City Comic Con is AMAZING; Ann tells us how to torture the X-Men; Jean Grey needs more friends; Chris survives an encounter with an angry vampire; Squirrel Girl sets the high bar for questions; everyone has opinions about Longshot’s hair; Jeff gets meta; Cyclops is the best at fighting Sentinels; and Rachel ALMOST gets through an entire panel without swearing.

 

X-PLAINED:

  • Cable (Nathan Summers)
  • Stryfe (Also Nathan Summers)
  • Rose City Comic Con
  • Christopher Yost
  • Jeff Parker
  • Ann Nocenti
  • The X-Men
  • Superheroes vs. soap operas
  • Continuity vs. evolution
  • Updating the Silver Age
  • What defines an X-book
  • All of our iconic X-eras
  • Close encounters of the fan kind
  • The Continuiteens
  • Marvel Girl and Squirrel Girl team-ups
  • Narrative regrets
  • How we’d end the X-Men
  • X-Men best suited to professional wrestling
  • Our personal mutant metaphors
  • Which of the X-Men is best at fighting Sentinels

NEXT WEEK: Fallen Angels!

There’s no visual companion this week, but you can see photos from the panel, party, and more in our Rose City Comic Con roundup!

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!

 

Abs Mentioned in Episode 51 – The X-Istentialists, Featuring Kris Anka, Marguerite Bennett, Kieron Gillen, and Peter Nguyen

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Listen to the episode here!

For the record: I am not even a little bit sorry. -Rachel
Art by David Wynne. We’re not selling prints of this one, but you can still hit David up for the original!
Many thanks to Kris Anka, Marguerite Bennett, Kieron Gillen, and Peter Nguyen! (I have no idea why this photo keeps displaying upside down, but at this point, I’m just gonna keep running with it.)
NEXT WEEK: Rachel and Miles Recap 51 episodes in under an hour.

LINKS:

Special thanks to Elle Collins for the last-minute abs-sist.

 

51 – The X-Istentialists, Featuring Kris Anka, Marguerite Bennett, Kieron Gillen, and Peter Nguyen

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS

Art by David Wynne. We're not selling prints of this one, but you can still hit David up for the original!
Art by David Wynne. We’re not selling prints of this one, but you can still hit David up for the original!

In which Rachel and Miles go to Emerald City Comicon; six people try to share one microphone with varying success; you will never love anything as much as Kris loves Broo; Marguerite may or may not be a time-traveling supervillain; Peter is Laser Guy; Kieron joins an X-team; Hell is other X-Men; everyone lies egregiously; and it all comes back to Namor’s abs.

Special thanks to Jean, who let us borrow her mic and pop filter at the very last second when we realized we’d left ours in Portland! <3

X-PLAINED:

  • Namor’s last name
  • Several Secret Wars titles
  • Wiz Kid
  • Favorite characters
  • Lady Deathstrike’s new look
  • Seanan McGuire’s cats
  • Machetes of Future Past
  • Emily Aster
  • Asteroid P
  • Secret origins
  • Points of entry
  • Headcanon
  • The Wolverine and the X-Men Season 2 that might have been
  • The pros and cons of an isolated X-universe
  • The X-Istentialists
  • Hela’s Angels
  • Namor’s abs
  • What defines the X-Men
  • Mr. Sinister
  • Our X-movie wish lists
  • Wes Anderson’s X-Men (both of them)

NEXT WEEK: Previously on Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men…

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

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Help us keep making cool stuff on Patreon!

We’re not selling prints of this week’s illustration, but you can still contact David Wynne to inquire after the original!

 

Rachel and Miles Review the X-men, Episode 30

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Week of March 18, 2015

In which Magneto remains magnificent, Cyclops pretty much ends, some very important canon is confirmed, and we can’t believe we’ve done THIRTY of these.

REVIEWED:

  • All-New X-Men #39 (0:58)
  • Guardians Team-Up #3 (2:25)
  • *Magneto #16 (4:21)
  • Wolverines #11 (7:01)
  • Cyclops #11 (9:03)
  • Storm #9 (11:04)

*Pick of the Week (13:23)

These video reviews are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Rachel and Miles at ECCC!

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RandMatECCC

FIRST, VERY OFFICIAL BUSINESS:

We are super pleased to announce the first ever Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men meetup, at Emerald City Comicon!

There will be stickers! And maybe buttons! And varyingly ridiculous photo props! And people (we hope)! And a bowl of sunglasses. And maybe a sneak preview of the episode we’ll be recording the night before? WHO KNOWS? We do not, because we are figuring all of that out this weekend! But we are pretty sure that it’ll be rad.

HERE ARE THE DETAILS!

WHAT: Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men Meetup

WHEN: Saturday, March 28, 7-8 PM

WHERE: Meetup Room 2 (TCC, level 2, room 205 – see below!)

eccc15_meetupmap

If you can’t make the official meetup and/or want to put something together off-site, we will happily signal-boost. Let us know.

WHERE ELSE WE’LL BE:

We’re not officially tabling, but we’ll both be at the con all three days. Here’s where to find us:

MILES will be working at the Dark Horse Comics booth (802) all weekend. He will be happy to say hi, give you a high five, and recommend some Dark Horse comics; but he will probably not have a lot of time to chat about X-Men on the show floor.

RACHEL will mostly be hanging out at Booth 310 on the show floor. She will give you podcast stickers (free), write on your knuckles with sharpies (price negotiable), and explain why you should buy books from the nice people who are letting her perch at their booth (free unless you take her advice).

Rachel is also on three panels, as follows:

FRIDAY, MARCH 27

  • Taking Fandom Seriously

1:50-11:40 AM
HALL I (WSCC 3A)

Join our panel of serious fans including Douglas Wolk (author, blogger, critic), Justin Warren (game blogger), Andrea Gilroy (comics teacher and graduate student), and Rachel Edidin (professional editor, critic) for a conversation about walking the fine line between geeking out as a fan and critically engaging with the material you love.

  • All Ages Comics Aren’t Limiting

11:50AM – 12:40PM
Hall E (TCC 303)

Tired of dark and gritty? Looking to expand your market share? Want to make something your kids can enjoy? Just plain curious about why you should take all ages comics seriously? Join Rachel Edidin, Jen Van Meter, Janelle Asselin, Adam P. Knave, and Lucy Bellwood for a discussion of what creates an exceptional all ages comic.

SUNDAY, MARCH 29

  • How Many Hats Can One Person Wear?

10:30AM – 11:20AM
Hall F (TCC 304)

What has three writers, one artist, two journalists, three critics, one retailer, three fans, two podcasters, six hands, and three heads? Rachel Edidin, Kate Leth, and Douglas Wolk discuss what it means to approach comics from multiple angles, balancing creative and critical perspectives, and straddling the fan/pro divide.