Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Tag: Demon Bear

As Mentioned in Episode 464 – The Cigarettes of Damocles

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Listen to the episode here.

The life of a Lyft driver is wild, man. (X-Force #96)
“Weirdest cigarette I ever seen.” (X-Force #96)
So Thomas/Tyler Guthrie is the Super Saiyan version of Sam? (X-Force #96)
Somebody call Occult Animal Control! (X-Force #96)
The award for Most Dramatic Lounging goes to… (X-Force #96)
Okay, Deviants, just because you look cool doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be bigoted jerks. (X-Force #96)
Sledge is wearing his ass-kicking fringe. (X-Force #96)
Lucas owns better socks – he just wears these for effect. (X-Force #96)
What we like about Selene is that she’s subtle. (X-Force #97)
Wow, healthcare really is better in other countries. (X-Force #97)
Hey, it’s a The Predator! Hello, The Predator! (X-Force #97)
Ah, so that’s how Ash Wednesday works! (X-Force #97)
Does this junkyard robo-dog fight contribute to the plot? No. Is it awesome? Obviously. (X-Force #97)
Selene is seriously never in a normal position! And we love it. (X-Force #97)
I’m pretty sure that Odysseus’s powers just made a BOI-OI-OING sound. (X-Force #97)
GNORFF (X-Force #97)
Yeah, DaCosta is da best! (X-Force #98)
Storm : Enclosed Spaces :: Cannonball : Dying Miners (X-Force #98)
Sunspot attends Selene’s art gallery opening, Concerned and X-Treme. (X-Force #98)
I never get tired of how Mephisto wears a trenchcoat like any given World of Darkness character. (X-Force #98)
Oof, that body language. (X-Force #98)
Jeez, I guess Miles could’ve skipped those four years of psychology. (X-Force #98)
YIPE YIPE YIPE (X-Force #98)
“So you see, that’s where the trouble began. That smile. That damned smile.” (X-Force #98)
NEXT TIME: Prepare to be Astonished! Maybe!

464 – The Cigarettes of Damocles

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In which X-Force is kind of silly; that really isn’t what “quantum” means; polite and lawful are two entirely different things, and Sam Guthrie is only one of them; Selene vogues; and the Hellfire Club plays the dead girlfriend card.

X-PLAINED:

  • Blackheart
  • The Damocles Foundation (more) (again)
  • Lucas Bartholomew Guthrie
  • The difference between prisons and jails
  • X-Force #98-98
  • Whether Dr. Octopus enjoys the literary stylings of Elmore Leonard
  • One way to get out of prison
  • The Glitterbox
  • An unsuccessful heist
  • Celestial cigarettes and/or golems
  • Thomas and/or Tyler Zebulon and/or Zeke Guthrie
  • Demon Bears as urban pests
  • Selene, Always Voguing
  • Gatherers
  • Various evil scientists
  • The Sword
  • Junkyard life
  • Lenny Delmonico
  • Psychic rodeos
  • Nightmare chambers
  • Bat sex
  • An offer Sunspot can’t refuse
  • Hank McCoy’s villain arc
  • New Mutant superlatives

NEXT EPISODE: Astonishing X-Men!

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

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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 460 – Setting Sons

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Listen to the episode here.

I really enjoy cover copy like this. (Generation X #52)
Synch is better at your powers than you are. (Generation X #52)
Oh, snap! (Generation X #52)
Wait, if it’s just her skin, shouldn’t we be seeing muscles and stuff under it? (Generation X #52)
What happens when you give image inducers to moppets. (Generation X #52)
TFW you just rescued a mercenary in the woods outside your boarding school, and he’s kinda hot. (Generation X #53)
The Rising Sons. (Generation X #53)
This is one of very few panels in which you can see Paladin’s whole costume. (Generation X #54)
Damn, Adrienne. (Generation X #54)
NEXT EPISODE: The return of Rictor and Shatterstar!

460 – Setting Sons

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In which Synch is better with your powers than you are; Generation X gets some actual training; Artie and Leech are fully feral; everyone gets the hots for Paladin; Zeus has probably fucked a motorcycle at some point; many countries have valleys; and Adrienne Frost is terrible.

X-PLAINED:

  • Generation X #52-54
  • Tristan Brawn (more) (again)
  • Grant Morrison on suspension of disbelief in superhero media
  • Honor vs. privilege
  • School dance themes
  • Artie and Leech’s habitat
  • Spider-Ham
  • Ducktor Doom
  • Role models
  • What Gaia is probably definitely up to
  • Paladin
  • The Rising Sons
  • Rollerblades
  • Dragon problems
  • Power emulation vs. reproduction
  • Pokémans
  • Cosplaying Emma Frost with a beard
  • Diamond Patch
  • Muir Island vs. Muir Isle

NEXT EPISODE: X-Force goes to Genosha!

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

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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 202 – Rhapsody in Blue (and Gold)

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Listen to the podcast here.

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!
Man, that cover. (X-Factor #79)
Learning at super-speed! It doesn’t work… (X-Factor #79)
…until it does. (X-Factor #79)
Pietro Maximoff: not just a jerk, but a smart jerk. (X-Factor #79)
Only in X-Factor. (X-Factor #79)
I had the same dream! (X-Factor #79)
You got your 90s in my 90s! (Did you ever feel like a page was written and drawn especially for 10-year-old you?) (X-Factor #80)
Those Stroman crowd scenes, though. (X-Factor #80)
I’m pretty sure that’s not how you fix a broken jaw. Then again, in a universe where Jack Kirby designed most early technology, I guess all bets are off. (X-Factor #80)
And sometimes, when I’m feeling frisky… (X-Factor #80)
This is pretty much what happened the one time I tried to play a harmonica. (X-Factor #80)
Not only did the Genegineer lock Rahne into her transitional wolf form and genetically bond her to a guy she’d barely met, but he made her really bad at poker! Dammit, dude. (X-Factor #80)
“And after this fight, Archangel and I have a shopping date!” (X-Factor #80)
Yep, totally a Sam Keith design. (X-Factor #80)
There are so many ways to make Havok’s powers look cool. (X-Factor #81)
I feel pretty bad for everyone here. Well, not Pietro. (X-Factor #81)
When Guido isn’t busy referencing Murphy Brown, dude can be pretty scary. (X-Factor #81)
Most people think the ubiquity of cell phones was responsible for the death of the pay phone. Nope: it was this guy. (X-Factor #81)
Respect, man. Wait… it was all a trick? Okay, different respect.(X-Factor #81)
To be honest, I’m just including this one for Titan Up the Defense listeners. (X-Factor #81)
NEXT TIME: Man, screw you, Mikhail.

202 – Rhapsody in Blue (and Gold)

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

In which music is dangerous and confusing, Jamie Madrox has a weakness for femmes fatale, the term “f-holes” makes Miles turn 12, and we bid a fond farewell to Larry Stroman.

X-PLAINED:

  • That time Havok was the nexus of all realities
  • How to get to Florida, Magneto style
  • X-Factor #79-81
  • Lesser-used applications of super-speed
  • Rhapsody (Rachel Argosy)
  • Mutant late bloomers
  • The surprising convenience and safety of fictional shop windows
  • Excalibur-weird vs. X-Factor-weird
  • Tiny cellos
  • The worst kid in the neighborhood
  • A creative use of mutant powers
  • Whether Madrox creates duplicates during sex (again)
  • Astral wheat fields
  • Musical manslaughter
  • Sean Young (who is decidedly not Catwoman)
  • Hell’s Belles
  • Rahne’s World
  • Polaris’s body image issues
  • Beefiness disambiguation
  • Wolfsbane’s conditional poker face
  • Cyber (Silas Burr)
  • Strong Guy, who just works here, man
  • Alex Summers, inspiring and/or deceptive authority figure
  • Bringing back the classics (and when not to)
  • The surprisingly homogenous Multiverse

NEXT EPISODE: Mikhail Rasputin ruins everything.

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.)

April 2015 T-Shirt & Leggings of the Month: Demon Bear

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Because you demanded* it: THE DEMON BEAR SHIRT!

Art by David Wynne!
Art by David Wynne!

When David Wynne’s gorgeous Demon Bear illustration went up with Episode 32, a lot of you asked when you’d see it on a t-shirt. We are happy to announce that your wait is over: the Demon Bear is officially April’s t-shirt of the month!

But that’s not all: we’re also doing a limited run of Demon Bear leggings! Do YOU want to wrap your entire body in a nightmare creature from dimensions beyond human ken?** CONGRATULATIONS. NOW YOU CAN.

demonbear_leggings

Demon Bear t-shirts and leggings will be available until May 1, 2015, then disappear forever. (Travel mugs will of course continue to stick around for as long as they remain hilarious.)

*Actually, you have been asking very politely for a very long time now. We appreciate that.

**Before someone asks: We did in fact try to do a Screaming Bear Crotch variant, but alas, it did not work out with the placement of the seams on Redbubble leggings.

YOU MADE ART! WE MADE MUGS!

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In Episode 31, we dropped the idea of Wolverine running an advice column, and not one but two of you magical folk sent us your versions of what that would look like!

Baum_asklogan
The column itself, by Chris Baum (text by Dear Abby).

 

A behind-the-scenes candid from Celia Connaire !
A behind-the-scenes candid from Celia Connaire !

 

SPEAKING OF ART! When we were uploading David Wynne’s gorgeous Demon Bear for the print of the week, Redbubble suddenly confronted us with a possibility we had never previously considered but found absolutely hilarious: Demon Bear travel mugs. I mean, look at this:

bearmug1

After a hurried twitter conference with David, we decided those should probably be a thing, and now they are. (Both prints and mugs will be up at the shop until Sunday, November 30, at which point the prints and probably the mugs will disappear forever.)

As Mentioned in Episode 32 – Off the Map

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Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints available here through November 30, or contact David Wynne for the original!
Bill Sienkiewicz on Moon Knight.
Rachel’s other convention sketchbooks are all self portraits. Here’s Bill Sienkiewicz’s.
Sienkiewicz’s last stint on an X-book before New Mutants #18 was Uncanny X-Men #159.
The first page of Sienkiewicz’s run. (New Mutants #18)
The death of Charles Xavier of Earth-811. (New Mutants #18)
The New Mutants in the Danger Room. (New Mutants #18)
LOOK. AT. THIS. PERFECT. PAGE. LAYOUT. LOOK. AT. THIS. PERFECT. SPACE. TEENAGER. (New Mutants #18)
The first full reveal of the Demon Bear. (New Mutants #18)
Gradually, across the Demon Bear Saga, the strangeness bleeds out from the panels and into the design elements. The corner square of New Mutants #18 was a Bob McLeod team portrait. This is the corner square from New Mutants #19.
The same thing is happening on the credits pages–in this case, the title, but just wait ’til you get to next issue… (New Mutants #19)
Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander are both charming and in serious trouble. (New Mutants #19)
Those sound effects. Those colors. That layout. (New Mutants #19)
The Demon Bear is less a creature than a space: looming, protean, with very little detail save for its eyes, teeth, and claws. (New Mutants #19)
Illyana’s soul armor makes its first appearance. (New Mutants #19)
And then that happened. (New Mutants #19)
The cover of New Mutants #20. We have no idea what’s going on in the corner square.
It’s worth remembering, as you flip through these, that you’re watching the definition and scope of superhero comics change and stretch. We are–literally and figuratively–off the map. (New Mutants #20)
Map detail. (New Mutants #20)
Later in the same issue. (New Mutants #20)
And finally. (New Mutants #20)
Sienkiewicz’s art gets a lot of attention, but Glynis Wein’s colors are absolutely critical to what the Demon Bear Saga accomplishes visually. (New Mutants #20)
Illyana’s soul armor spreads. (New Mutants #20)
Corsi and Friedlander, in their demon forms. (New Mutants #20)
The Demon Bear breaks down. (New Mutants #20)
Whoa. (New Mutants #20)
New Mutants: generally pretty okay with race and culture issues, but when it fails, it fails HARD. (New Mutants #20)
“Also, I recently leveled up and learned Cure Moderate Wounds.” (New Mutants #20)
One of the best covers of all time. (New Mutants #21)
Actually, let’s take a moment to look at that without the design elements, too, because it’s just that gorgeous. (New Mutants #21)
The “don’t let the normal kids see” joke kinda never gets old. (New Mutants #21)
Binary’s hair, tho. (New Mutants #19)
In case you were wondering, this is why Lee Forrester ends up finding Magneto in the middle of an ocean in Uncanny X-Men #187. (New Mutants #21)
TEENAGERS. (New Mutants #21)
Scariest makeover ever. (New Mutants #21)
YAY FOR ROCKY & BULLWINKLE REFERENCES! (New Mutants #21)
Warlock wakes up. (New Mutants #21)
It’s theoretically possible to imagine Warlock designed by an artist other than Bill Sienkiewicz, but why would you ever want to? (New Mutants #21)
Can we take a moment to acknowledge the self-restraint we are demonstrating by not just filling this entire gallery with pictures of Warlock? (New Mutants #21)
Warlock trying to make friends with inanimate objects is the gift that keeps on giving. (New Mutants #21)
Doug Ramsey X-plains proportionate response. (New Mutants #21)
“Can we keep him?” (New Mutants #21)
Next Week: Crossovers!

Special thanks to Andrew Vestal for help assembling the images for this post.

 

32 – Off the Map

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Art by David Wynne
Art by David Wynne

In which we hit the definitive arc of New Mutants; Bill Sienkiewicz blows our minds; Rachel gets choked up over a credits spread; Rahne gets a makeover; Doug Ramsey is justifiably flustered; and Warlock is a friend to household appliances.

NOTE: This episode includes a lot of art talk. While doing so is not strictly necessary to follow the discussion, we recommend listening with the visual companion open.

X-Plained:

  • Warlock
  • The transmode virus
  • New Mutants #18-21
  • The Demon Bear Saga
  • Bill Sienkiewicz
  • Task leaders vs. social leaders
  • Page layout as a storytelling tool
  • Soul armor
  • The Demon Bear and its shadow
  • One of the best covers of all time
  • Makeovers
  • The deeply problematic fate of Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander
  • What the New Mutants are up to these days

Next Week: Crossovers!

You can find a visual companion to the episode on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Support us on Patreon!

Buy prints of this week’s illustration here, or contact David Wynne for the original!