Forge – Page 8 – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

148 – That’s So Ravens

February 27, 2017 Jay 34 comments

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Art by David Wynne. Contact David to purchase the original!

In which Archangel falls in with the LARP crowd; all yuppies are (probably) vampires; Beast is kind of a jerk; there are a lot of reasons to be mad at Forge; and you should totally come hang out with us at ECCC!

X-PLAINED:

A peculiar scheme
X-Factor #54, 56-59
Crimson
The Ravens
A gallery opening
Several varyingly tortured souls
Charlotte Jones (more)
Archangel vs. Archangel’s wings
Ethical reporting
An accidental bank robbery
The return of a long-lost villain
Timmy Jones

NEXT EPISODE: Old Man Logan!

Special thanks to Lillian Cohen-Moore!

You can find a 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.)

As Mentioned in Episode 138 – What Would Dazzler Do?

December 16, 2016 Miles One comment

Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Contact David to purchase the original.

Naked Man, you are the man! (Uncanny X-Men #259)

Freddie Stanacheck is back! From a background character to the real deal – just like Boba Feet! EXACTLY LIKE BOBA FETT. (Uncanny X-Men #259)

Starring Jack Nance as Strong Guy and Sheryl Lee as Dazzler. (Uncanny X-Men #259)

I love you, gruff-but-kindhearted-Eastern-European-guy! (Uncanny X-Men #259)

Chris Claremont, please narrate my life. (Uncanny X-Men #259)

SO MUCH COCAINE! (Uncanny X-Men #260)

This issue of Uncanny X-Men has been brought to you by Body Glove. Anywave, Anywhere! (Uncanny X-Men #260)

That’s some dedication to theme right there. Are these guys from The Warriors? (Uncanny X-Men #260)

From stalking and attempted murder to slapstick comedy: Eric Beale, ladies and gents! (Uncanny X-Men #260)

Andrea and Andreas von Strucker: the best at being the worst. (Uncanny X-Men #260)

A real American herooooooooo (Uncanny X-Men #261)

Marc Silvestri, please draw everyone’s face forever. (Uncanny X-Men #261)

I mean, geez! No eye protection in the lab? (Uncanny X-Men #261)

Hey, this wasn’t in my horoscope for today! (Uncanny X-Men #261)

Jubilation Lee: forever the best for always. (Uncanny X-Men #261)

Jean speaks for us all. Better get used to these costumes – they’ll be around for a while. (Uncanny X-Men #262)

Genosha gets scarier every time it shows up – and we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. (Uncanny X-Men #262)

Baby Forge hasn’t even started thinking about Dire Wraiths or Adversaries or mustaches. (Uncanny X-Men #262)

HEY THIS WASN’T IN MY HOROSCOPE FOR TODAY (Uncanny X-Men #262)

It’s the cowboy boots that really pull the look together. (Uncanny X-Men #262)

LEELOO DALLAS MULTITASK (Uncanny X-Men #263)

Hey, Masque got a makeover! I kind of dig it. (Uncanny X-Men #263)

“So, the, uh, conference room was taken, I guess..?” (Uncanny X-Men #263)

It’s like the cover to X-Men vol. 2 #1 except BETTER IN EVERY WAY (Uncanny X-Men #263)

I mean, I wasn’t expecting Forge making peace with his past to involve so many tentacle arms, but I’ll take it. (Uncanny X-Men #263)

Next time: the Starjammers!

138 – What Would Dazzler Do?

December 12, 2016 Jay 29 comments

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In which we continue to follow the post-Siege Perilous X-Men; Dazzler finally makes her big-screen debut; Callisto gets a day job; Colossus gets a ponytail; still more X-Men fake their deaths; Jean Grey gets tentacles; Professor Wolverine is a jerk; and Jay overthinks Community.

X-PLAINED:

The new-new Howling Commandos
Hit-Monkey
Uncanny X-Men #259-263
Dazzler: The Movie (again)
Freddie Stanacheck
Eric Beale
What Dazzler would do
Peter Nicholas
Jenny Ransome and Phillip Moreau (again)
Twin Peaks references, canonical and otherwise
Genoshan foreign policy
The value of allegory
Some regrettable X-costumes
That time Jean Grey got tentacles
Molly the cat
Dubious medical ethics
Hardcase and the Harriers
An unlikely pizza party
A theoretical Community/X-Men costume party

NEXT EPISODE: Spotlight on the Starjammers!

You can find 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.)

As Mentioned in Episode 131 – The Reaver Bunch

October 24, 2016 Jay 12 comments

Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

That cloak! Those Kent Williams inks! (Uncanny X-Men #252)

These are not the foundations of a healthy relationship. (Uncanny X-Men #252)

Ah, yes, the old-fashioned way. With robot dingos. (Uncanny X-Men #252)

Man, Lady Deathstrike is so cool. (Uncanny X-Men #253)

Emergency medicine must be a pretty different field in the Marvel Universe. (Uncanny X-Men #253)

Really? REALLY? (Uncanny X-Men #253)

Never change, Callisto. (Uncanny X-Men #253)

“Wait, what’s this over here? A stack of books. They all say… Complete Handbook of the Marvel Universe?” (Uncanny X-Men #253)

Hope you survive the experience! (Uncanny X-Men #254)

MOIRA THAT IS NOT SAFE LAB WEAR (Uncanny X-Men #254)

Remember that time the Morlocks brought Professor Xavier back from the dead and then dressed him in bondage gear? Good times. (Uncanny X-Men #254)

Well, THAT’S ominous. (Uncanny X-Men #254)

Relationship goals. (Uncanny X-Men #254)

There’s such a thing as trying too hard. (Uncanny X-Men #254)

LOOK AT HIM MUGGING GOOFILY AT THE SECURITY CAMERA (Uncanny X-Men #255)

Aw, man. (Uncanny X-Men #255)

Aw, man. (Uncanny X-Men #255)

NEXT WEEK: Back to Asgard!

131 – The Reaver Bunch

October 24, 2016 Jay 18 comments

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In which Jubilee is the sassiest Xenomorph; Lady Deathstrike is way too good for the Reavers; Wolverine gets a sidekick; Forge arm wrestles the Shadow King; Moira takes a cavalier approach lab safety; Magneto’s motives get kind of reconciled; Legion is a chaos gamer; Mystique and Destiny break our hearts; queer erasure in fiction reflects erasure in life; and the Shadow King is not even a little bit subtle.

X-PLAINED:

That one time Donald Pierce pretended to be Cyclops for like a year
The post X-Men X-Men
What may be our deepest cut yet
Uncanny X-Men #252-255
Where’s Wolverine?
The Reaver Bunch
Major-League lumpoids
Robot dingoes
A prescient vision
Trouble at sea
Several significant deaths
Subtext and queer erasure
The key of agony
Smile noises
Non-mutants we’d team up with the X-Men

NEXT WEEK: Back to Asgard!

You can find a 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 prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

93 – The Discreet Charm of the Brood

January 24, 2016 Miles 21 comments

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In which airplanes are really dangerous if you’re a mutant, Magik remembers that time she dreamed about remembering a dream, those who live by mystically bad judgment die by mystically bad judgment, It’s Always Mystique (TM), and everything leads to Inferno.

X-PLAINED:

Forge’s moral compass
New Mutants #62-63 and #65-66
Empath and irredeemable vs. sympathetic villains
Magical postal eagles
Nova Roma
Jag-u-ars
Art as era signifier
Time travel nightmare logic
Sharpiemancy
The “last” Brood
Jerk headmasters who won’t even let you commit murder
A long-awaited roomie reunion
Bret Blevins’s mad Limbo skillz
Claremont / Simonson character maturity equilibrium
Astrally furry pants
Loyalty to the living versus loyalty to the dead
The Ultimate Darkchilde
Wolverine’s surprisingly non-metallic teeth
Partying with the New Mutants

NEXT WEEK: Pryde of the X-Men.

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!

As Mentioned in Episode 86 – Legends

December 6, 2015 Jay 13 comments

Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

Fall of the Mutants promotional ad.

Piotr Rasputin’s run as penciller on Uncanny X-Men was brief but critically lauded. (Uncanny X-Men #225)

Featuring what we assume to be the disgruntled letterhacks of 1987. (Uncanny X-Men #225)

If I had a dollar for every time a stranger had given me an uncannily precise palm reading and then a tiny chess piece of myself… (Uncanny X-Men #225)

The players and the board. (Uncanny X-Men #225)

SFX as panel borders? Yes, please. (Uncanny X-Men #225)

It’s worth noting that at this point, the Spiral / Ricochet Rita retcon had yet to be conceived. (Uncanny X-Men #225)

Destiny wrestles with the awareness that she’s trapped in a crossover event. (Uncanny X-Men #225)

A moment of slapstick in the midst of the high-stakes drama. (Uncanny X-Men #225)

Repping the fourth estate, Neal Conan and Manoli Wetherell. (Uncanny X-Men #226)

It’s cool. It’s not a real knife. (Uncanny X-Men #226)

You’re a good dude, Colossus. (Uncanny X-Men #226)

She comes back a year later, and Forge has cannibalized his bionic parts to make a sweet Freddie Mercury costume. (Uncanny X-Men #226)

Those halcyon days when Havok’s impromptu diatribes didn’t suck. (Uncanny X-Men #226)

That’s one hell of a kiss. (Uncanny X-Men #226)

That cover. (Uncanny X-Men #227)

What. (Uncanny X-Men #227)

Well, that was unexpectedly graphic. (Uncanny X-Men #227)

“I mean, c’mon, dude. We’re in a superhero comic. You really think this is gonna last?” (Uncanny X-Men #227)

Somewhere in the multiverse, the X-Men were like, “Fuck it. Let’s just go to Disneyland.” (Uncanny X-Men #227)

Say what you will about Claremont, but he is damn good at epic ending beats. (Uncanny X-Men #227)

NEXT WEEK: It’s always darkest…

86 – Legends (Fall of the Mutants, Part 1 of 3)

December 6, 2015 Jay 30 comments

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In which we begin our 3-part coverage of Fall of the Mutants; Roma is very good at her job; strange things are afoot in Dallas; Mystique’s parenting skills are somewhat lopsided; Neal Conan is awesome; Havok gets a soapbox; Storm and Forge flirt with godhood; Rogue’s costume exists in a state of quantum uncertainty; Colossus is the organic steel wrench in the gears of chaos; and the X-Men die for real (but get better).

X-PLAINED:

Crossovers vs. events
The Fall of the Mutants
Uncanny X-Men #225-227
A really great marketing campaign
The Adversary (again)
Roma
The Starlight Citadel
Retcons as applied pareidolia
A metaphor that is also a real chess piece
A sort-of stabbing
Neal Conan & Manoli Wetherell
Literally hard-hitting journalism
A whole new world
Another variation on the Rogue’s-costume drinking game
A really improbable plan
The death and resurrection of the X-Men
Mutant metabolisms

NEXT WEEK: It’s Always Darkest…

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!

Halloween X – 2015

November 2, 2015 Jay 14 comments

As is our annual tradition, we put out a last-minute call on Twitter for pictures of your X-Men Halloween costumes, and dang are you a stylish bunch! Check out the full roundup–along with some really spectacular jack-o’-lanterns–below!

@kissmyrice specified that she is nice Emma Frost, not the one who’ll blow up your pony without a second thought.

The new X-kids never get enough love, so we were super psyched to see @MutantAnomaly‘s kickass Nature Girl!

@speedheart takes Ororo’s rebellious phase in a different direction with Storm: The College Years!

Speaking of X-Men who don’t get nearly enough cosplay love, check out the always-awesome @Elana_Brooklyn and her husband as Siryn and Forge!

@Elana_Brooklyn tells us that the costumes were for an X-themed party, which–appropriately–involved at least one awkward family reunion!

@galaxytravelin‘s stylin’ Skids makes us SO happy.

@JeffLoveness, who wrote one of our favorite Cyclops stories of the past year, is NOT throwing away his shot as Hamilclops. (Alas, Loveness tells us there was no Burrverine. Maybe next year!)

Not only did @rememberyhorsenail Quentin Quire’s signature look, but he’s got the glare down to a science!

@punkerthanthou (as Cyclops, appropriately!) organized this kickass X-group!

A Phoenix jack-o’-lantern where the firebird aura is actual fire? Yes, please, @eisoj5!

Another really spectacular use of the medium–and the best Cyclops costume–from @half_panda22!

There are better pictures of our costumes (Wirt from Over the Garden Wall, and Speed Racer, respectively), but we couldn’t resist the accidental glowing red eyes in this one.

ETA: I know I missed a handful–and a few came in after the post was done–so if you’ve got an X-costume that’s NOT here, please drop a link in the comments below!

As Mentioned in Episode 78 – The Eye Killers and Other Cautionary Tales

October 11, 2015 Jay 8 comments

Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 10/18/2015 at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

We missed you, hawk ‘hawk! (Uncanny X-Men #220)

Well, THAT can’t be good. (Uncanny X-Men #220)

It’s somehow creepier that he turns out to be a hologram. (Uncanny X-Men #220)

Mugging at the camera and grinning evilly is a big Naze thing. (Uncanny X-Men #220)

Mister Sinister’s full-page debut! (Uncanny X-Men #221)

Look at this glorious sonofabitch. (Uncanny X-Men #221)

“Spirit and soul” still counts. Take a drink. (Uncanny X-Men #221)

Madelyne Pryor is no one’s damsel in distress. (Uncanny X-Men #221)

Depictions of sound in visual media are really fascinating. This is one of the cooler effects! (Uncanny X-Men #222)

More sound and speech balloons. (Uncanny X-Men #222)

In case you need an additional reason not to masturbate with a cactus: apparently that’s how you get eye-killers. (Uncanny X-Men #222)

“Also, you’re lousy in bed and you’re never going to finish your dissertation.” (Uncanny X-Men #222)

Things more metal than this cover: NONE OF THEM. (Uncanny X-Men #223)

HI, MURDER GRAMPAS! We missed you! (Uncanny X-Men #223)

Well, shit. (Uncanny X-Men #223)

That time Storm caught a fish like a bear. (Uncanny X-Men #223)

One of my favorite weird details of this era is Wolverine wearing that cowboy hat all the damn time, and no one ever commenting on it. (Uncanny X-Men #223)