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!
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!
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)
I’m gonna go ahead and say that Madelyne Pryor gets the rawest deal in X-Men, and this is only the first act. (Uncanny X-Men #223)
Oh, dear. (Uncanny X-Men #223)
SPOILER: This will not end well. (Uncanny X-Men #223)
Instead of a clever caption, I’m just gonna drop this link to Native Appropriations. (Uncanny X-Men #224)
The staging here is spectacularly classic-romance-comic. (Uncanny X-Men #224)
Even the happy moments in this arc are really damn depressing. (Uncanny X-Men #224)
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 10/18/2015 at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
In which we persevere in the face of adversity; Storm goes on a quest; Mr. Sinister makes his first appearance; Dazzler learns about teamwork (again); it still sucks to be Havok (but not as much as it sucks to be Madelyne Pryor); you should probably put down that cactus; the Murder Grampas join Freedom Force; Storm’s life is a metal-album cover; and the X-Men are doomed as hell.
X-Plained:
The Mr. Sinister / Summers family time loop
Uncanny X-Men #220-224
Actual and potential origins of Mr. Sinister’s name
How Longshot’s powers work in combat
Teamwork (again)
Representing sound and silence in a visual medium
A protracted fight
Forge (again)
Naze (kind of)
The Adversary
Eye Killers
One of many reasons not to masturbate with a cactus
The X-Men in San Francisco
Madelyne Pryor vs. fate
Storm vs. Forge
Character names vs. code names
X-Makeovers
NEXT WEEK: X-Men vs. Avengers
You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!
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!
I like this episode, because this is where Evolution starts to catch its stride and find its voice. “Middleverse” is kind of a mess animation-wise, but it’s also a one-off, a lighthearted breath of fresh air before we dive headfirst into the Big Ongoing Story next episode.
It also gets bonus points for being a Forge episode, which is almost always a plus. Comics Forge tends to be dark and brooding and at the center of convoluted storylines and soap opera, but two out of three animated Forges are uncomplicatedly delightful. The best animated Forge, of course, is Wolverine and the X-Men Forge, who just straight-up is Miles to the extent that we had his action figure in college and more than one person assumed it was a custom portrait. But Evolution Forge is pretty great, too.
Art by David Wynne. Prints, cards, and travel mugs available until 3/1/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
The first page of Lifedeath II. (Uncanny X-Men #198)
Contrast to the first page of Lifedeath I, 12 issues previous. (Uncanny X-Men #186)
Hallucinatory Forge. Check out those background textures, too. (Uncanny X-Men #198)
Barry Windsor Smith’s X-Men. (Uncanny X-Men #198)
Pretty snake. (Uncanny X-Men #198)
Isn’t it cool how when you don’t compulsively draw every woman as super sexy all the time, you can actually tell stories? (Uncanny X-Men #198)
Motion and rhythm in a still medium. (Uncanny X-Men #198)
Didn’t actually talk about these panels in the episode, but can we just take a moment to admire how splendidly Barry Windsor-Smith draws hands? And, y’know, everything else? (Uncanny X-Men #198)
SERIOUSLY, THIS COMIC. THIS IS OUR STORM.(Uncanny X-Men #198)
Tanya Moodie as Hunter in Neverwhere.
Frenzy is both rad as hell and criminally underused. ARE YOU THERE, MARVEL? IT’S ME, RACHEL. (X-Men: Legacy vol. 1 #249)
Idie Okonkwo (Oya) is awesome and adorable and also one of the best new X-characters of the last five years. (Generation Hope #10)
Next Week: A lot of Beauty and the Beast callbacks.
This didn’t actually come up in the episode, but you’ve got just under one week left to get What Would Peter Corbeau Do? t-shirts before they disappear FOREVER.
Art by David Wynne. Prints, cards, and travel mugs available until 3/1/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
In which we discard our regularly scheduled programming to focus on Storm and Lifedeath II; no one draws motion like Barry Windsor-Smith; Storm goes up to eleven; and we really wish we had the frame of reference to place this story in the larger context of diaspora literature.
X-Plained:
Forge
The Adversary
Uncanny X-Men #198 (Lifedeath II)
Storm
The narrative impact of sexualization
Barry Windsor-Smith
Extreme weather in comics
Hallucinatory X-Men
Storm in adaptation
The Storm elevator pitch
Our Storm dream casting
Mjnari
Artist editions
Colonialism
Storm as a liminal figure
NEXT WEEK: The New Mutants Go to the Arena!
You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!
You can get prints of David Wynne’s “Back to the Future Past” art here, or contact David for the original!
This guy.
We searched for the source for this for like an hour, with no luck. Wherever it comes from, we would very much like to send it back. (Update: It’s from X-Factor #69, with art by Whilce Portacio. Thank you, Breadcrumb!)
Rogue, no! He’s not worth it! He’s not even a Super Doctor Astronaut! (Uncanny X-Men #182)
Rogue’s schtick was–very briefly–throwing silver dollars. It did not last. (Uncanny X-Men #182)
Ooh, moral awakening! (Uncanny X-Men #182)
Aw, Kitty. Also, ace tandem use of speech and thought balloons. (Uncanny X-Men #183)
Remember when artists used to draw Wolverine at the proper height? (Uncanny X-Men #183)
SUNDAY PUNCH. Juggernaut, you delightful scamp. (Uncanny X-Men #183)
Wolverine is full of valuable life lessons, a remarkable number of which involve massive real-estate damage. (Uncanny X-Men #183)
Forge’s sweet, sweet pad. (Uncanny X-Men #184)
LOOK AT THIS DELIGHTFUL GENTLEMAN AND HIS DELIGHTFUL SHORTS (Uncanny X-Men #184)
Fun fact: Wolverine and the X-Men Forge is an unsettlingly accurate Miles doppelgänger.
He’s a nice dude. Too bad he’s SUPER DOOMED. (Uncanny X-Men #184)
Pro tip: the better Storm’s haircut, the better the general state of the timeline. (Uncanny X-Men #184)
Rachel Summers: THE SADDEST TIME TRAVELER. (Uncanny X-Men #185)
And that’s why you always leave a note. (Uncanny X-Men #185)
And now, Barry Windsor Smith! (Uncanny X-Men #186)
God, that opening. (Uncanny X-Men #186)
Storm does not need superpowers to be more badass than you. (Uncanny X-Men #186)
Straight talk. (Uncanny X-Men #186)
In a lot of ways, Storm’s arc over the last twenty or so issues has equipped her with the tools to get through this. (Uncanny X-Men #186)
Straight talk, part two. Love that “Lifedeath” is veyr much a love story that very much doesn’t resolve as such. (Uncanny X-Men #186)
Let’s take a moment to consider the logistics of this kick, shake our heads, and weep quietly. (Uncanny X-Men #187)
SHADOW PTEROSAURS (Uncanny X-Men #187)
Yukio callback! (Uncanny X-Men #187)
The best part is that he dressed up as a pilot, like that will somehow make this less conspicuous. (Uncanny X-Men #187)
Colossus: Terrible boyfriend, pretty great brother. (Uncanny X-Men #187)
As it happens, Magneto’s asteroid got knocked out of orbit by THE BEST SPACE-ROBOT TEENAGER EVER, but we’ll get to that next episode. (Uncanny X-Men #187)
Seriously. Saddest time traveler. (Uncanny X-Men #187)
Next episode: Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.
In which there is a whole, whole lot going on; we continue to have no use for Michael Rossi; Wolverine should be an advice columnist; Forge makes bold fashion choices; the health of a timeline is directly tied to the awesomeness of Storm’s hair; and the X-Men get their first dark-future refugee.
X-Plained:
Dire Wraiths
ROM
Tailoring
Uncanny X-Men #182-188
Just how much story can be shoehorned into seven issues
A dubious Silent Hill metaphor
The people in Rogue’s head
Inexorable momentum
Several profoundly uncomfortable conversations
Parallel narrative in comics
Being friends with Wolverine
Casual enmity
Forge
Miles’s X-doppelganger
Tiny shorts
Chekhov’s Raygun
Rachel Summers (again)
Timeline disambiguation
Rachel disambiguation
“Lifedeath: A Love Story”
Feelings
Storm, powers, and identity
X-Men Mad-Libs
Hound marks
X-Men: The End
Next Week: THE DEMON BEAR SAGA!
You can find a visual companion to the episode – as well as links to recommended reading and the winners of the stealth / plainclothes cosplay contest – on our blog.