ghosts – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 444 – Damnit, Magnus

March 31, 2024 Miles Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

Domino: wine mom, but also good mom. (X-Force #86)

WRONG FREEZER WRONG FREEZER (X-Force #86)

Theresa Rourke Cassidy, mistress of disguise. (X-Force #86)

Remember how Moonstar’s weird new powers are always accompanied by a cosmic blue glow? This issue doesn’t, and is thus… confusing. (X-Force #86)

Odysseus Indigo, the most dapper of antagonists. (X-Force #86)

Some exceptionally efficient visual storytelling by Jim Cheung. (X-Force #86)

Christmas in March! Well, March for us. December for Colossus. (Uncanny X-Men #365)

Hey, it’s that thing Miles used to draw in middle school! How’d that get there?! (Uncanny X-Men #365)

In which Colossus interrupts a very manly threesome. (Uncanny X-Men #365)

The X-Men X-Plain X-Mas. (Uncanny X-Men #365)

I mean, that’s Rusty Collins, right? (Uncanny X-Men #365)

“My favorite X-Men character? You probably haven’t heard of him.” (Uncanny X-Men #365)

Oof, my emotions… (Uncanny X-Men #365)

Aww. (Uncanny X-Men #365)

Now that is a cover. (X-Men #85)

In which the first page establishes that this story will be a Big Deal. (X-Men #85)

Sorry, Bill… today’s gonna be a rough one. (X-Men #85)

We missed Alan Davis. (X-Men #85)

Uh oh. (X-Men #85)

Heroes. (X-Men #85)

This issue uses juxtaposition perfectly. (X-Men #85)

Magneto gets the answer he wants… and then the answer he doesn’t. (X-Men #85)

NEXT TIME: The Magneto War begins.

LINKS & FURTHER FESTIVITIES

RSVP to our 10th birthday party!

444 – Damnit, Magnus

March 31, 2024 Miles 5 comments

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In which it’s difficult to flee with soup; Miles may or may not be haunting the X-Men; Colossus collaborates involuntarily; Marrow is full of surprises; Magneto is a dick; Jay continues to carry a torch for Secret Wars: Siege; and you should totally come to our birthday party.

X-PLAINED:

Several rather pointed allusions
X-Force #86
Uncanny X-Men #365
X-Men #85
Almost Reno, NM
Where mutants come from
The Aguilar Institute (more) (again)
Abandoned towns
Mary the telepathic moppet (more) (again)
Odysseus Indigo
The Damocles Foundation
Sibling names
The Fundamental Attribution Error
A haunting
Christmas beer
Christmas ghost exquisite corpse
Bill Jones
A rescue mission
Essential stories of the ‘90s
Our weird favorites
Siege
Our upcoming 10^th birthday party (more) (again)

NEXT EPISODE: Magneto War begins!

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

RSVP to our birthday shenanigans!

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 440 – Fightin’ and Ballin’

February 11, 2024 Miles One comment

Listen to the episode here.

Fight fight fight, fight fight fight! (X-Men #83)

PHWOOOOOSH PKOOOM YAAIIIHEEE SWOOOOOOOOOSSS (X-Men #83)

‘Sup, demonic sperm? (X-Men #83)

From organic steel to organic… whatever that is. (X-Men #83)

What if Pinocchio but evil Colossus-bot? (X-Men #83)

The other Cerebr(o/ite) design. (X-Men #83)

Design by David Cronenberg? (Uncanny X-Men #364)

Fight fight fight, fight fight fight! (Again again again!) (Uncanny X-Men #364)

The best version of Post. (Uncanny X-Men #364)

Wolverine: vigilante relationship counselor and motivational speaker. (Uncanny X-Men #364)

Eeeuuuugghhh (Uncanny X-Men #364)

Charles Xavier: the world’s most ripped telepath. (X-Men #84)

Cerebro Prime has almost completed its Pokédex! (X-Men #84)

Colossus practices his witty banter. (X-Men #84)

Oil and razor blades and cotton candy and (X-Men #84)

The Xavier Protocols are gorier than expected. (X-Men #84)

Imagine all the people (X-Men #84)

Back home and back to the status quo. (X-Men #84)

NEXT TIME: Dracula.

Links and further reading:

440 – Fightin’ and Ballin’

February 11, 2024 Miles 6 comments

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In which the Hunt for Xavier remains vaguely disappointing; Gambit is good with kids; nanomachines are the new unstable molecules; Marrow is a walking armory; and we recommend comics for babies.

X-PLAINED:

The Hunt for Xavier, Part 2
Babies and/or ghosts
Chekhov’s repowering
X-Men #83-84
Uncanny X-Men #364
Cerebro / Cerebro Prime
Cerebrite Alpha
Cerebrite Beta
X-Men serial numbers
What Gambit’s friends call him
How Miles stopped worrying and learned to love Gambit
Evil robot sperm
Mary Purcell
Multiple-monitor displays
A computer with a computer
AI
The Florida facility
Post
Pile-Driver X
A glimpse into the butt of all humanity
Comics for babies
Name-based powers

NEXT EPISODE: Generation X has Dracula problems!

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!

342 – Angry Birds

August 8, 2021 Miles 14 comments

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

In which Miles does his best, birds are weird, some of the most dangerous villains are pink, and we are in the Onslaught Zone.

X-PLAINED:

- - Malibu Comics and Marvel Comics, sitting in a (multiversal) tree, KILLING
  - Archangel: Phantom Wings
  - Unorthodox artistic decisions
  - Archangel (Warren Kenneth Worthington III)
  - Angst, renewed
  - Bird ichor
  - Tuesday Bird and her Mad Max outfit
  - How (not?) to flirt
  - Uncanny X-Men #333
  - Various Roberts Kelly
  - Graydon Creed, doin’ Mom proud
  - Bastion, Nimrod, & Master Mold
  - Operation Zero Tolerance
  - X-Teams and their lanes
  - A naked murder-uncle
  - Pink villains
  - Obscure callbacks
  - Event synergy
  - X-Men #53
  - Day to-day challenges of telepathy
  - Super-Saiyan Magneto
  - Phoenix (Jean Grey), actual adult
  - Onslaught
  - That scene from 1964’s X-Men #3
  - A surprisingly insightful look at Professor X’s dark side
  - Logan’s assorted friendships with teen girls
  - XMEN Disease

NEXT EPISODE: X-Force gets, predictably, x-treme.

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 319 – Giant-Size Special #9

January 3, 2021 Jay 4 comments

Listen to the episode here!

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

There’s… a lot of design happening here. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

Even if the podcast couldn’t all be ink appreciation, the visual companion can! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

Sir, this is a Wendy’s. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

LOOK AT THAT BEARD. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

THE DRAMA! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

Tremble’s collection of human curiosities. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

This might be my favorite look for Apocalypse. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

This one’s pretty sharp, too, though. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1)

What I’m getting here is that the Askani Sisterhood has been recruiting Asbury Park mermaids. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #2)

More artists should use color silhouettes–they can be such a cool effect! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #2)

Feelings… AND TEXTURES! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #2)

Marauder, schmaurader; I know a reaver when I see one. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

The secret origin of ruby quartz! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

“Sinister, you say? Ooh, that’s good. I should write that down.” (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

This is a bad plan and I do not want to be part of it. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #3)

LOOK AT THIS GLAM MOTHERFUCKER (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

Aw, he’s still got a heart, maybe, kind of. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

TIME LOOP! TIME LOOP! (Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #4)

LINKS & FURTHER ADVENTURES

Follow our guests on Twitter!
How to Be a Mutant

The written list of the SDAPCAfEaX winners will go up on Monday! If you are a creator who won and would like a physical award, drop us a line, and we will make it happen.

319 – Giant-Size Special #9 (feat. Vita Ayala, Tini Howard, and Leah Williams)

January 3, 2021 Jay 11 comments

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In which Jay and Miles receive a mysterious missive and are visited by three of our favorite X-writers; Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix is a pleasant surprise; Nathaniel Essex is the most dramatic man in the Marvel Universe; the sewers of Victorian London were a happenin’ place; Apocalypse isn’t even French; Beast is the flip-side of Sinister; community is for everyone; the Internet is (kind of) Krakoa; and death is fixable, but trauma might take a little more work.

X-PLAINED:

A quotation
Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4
A closed loop
Time travel with Scott Summers and Jean Grey
Mister Sinister (Nathaniel Essex)
A somewhat excessive visual aid
Beards
Cootie Tremble
The cultural context of sideshows
The first Marauders and/or Nasty Boys
Victorian Apocalypse
Strained allegories
Sanctity
Apocalypse vs. the Hellfire Club
Oscar the Somewhat Less Nasty Boy
Varyingly anachronistic costuming
The secret origin of ruby quartz
A very vague objective
A makeover
A closed time loop
Actual Cat Wizard Jonathan Hickman
Something Jay is not in fact going to pitch to Marvel
Creative dynamics and processes in the current X-line
Revolutionary joy
What’s cooler than one sword
The Sixth Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence at X-Cellence

NEXT WEEK: Jay & Miles take a break

NEXT EPISODE: Excalibur gets several Peters and a wolf!

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 278 – A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

December 22, 2019 Jay One comment

Listen to the podcast here.

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

Fun times with the MLF. (X-Force Annual #3)

They were really pushing the idea that he was Roberto. (X-Force Annual #3)

I get that it’s supposed to be a bad thing; but, man, Dani’s horse got AWESOME. (X-Force Annual #3)

“Of course, they won’t need to figure out my password if they walk in on me journaling in IMAX.” (X-Force Annual #3)

The Collective Man! (X-Force Annual #3)

These two are just really not good at false identities, are they? (X-Force Annual #3)

Sometimes a family is a ghost and her imaginary baby. (X-Force Annual #3)

Alas, contrary to the implications of this cover, Storm will not be seduced by a giant statue of a lady in this story. (X-Man Annual #3)

“Chess is sexy, right?” (X-Man Annual #3)

Gene Ha draws a really terrific Storm. (X-Man Annual #3)

Do they usually? (X-Man Annual #3)

“Squares.” (X-Man Annual #3)

She’s not wrong. (X-Man Annual #3)

(It’s okay; it’s only a dream.) (X-Man Annual #3)

These are the most lackluster Lords Cardinal I’ve ever seen. (X-Man Annual #3)

“Even sixth base?” (X-Man Annual #3)

I unrepentantly love this silliness. (X-Man Annual #3)

Ugh, seriously, so good. (X-Man Annual #3)

NEXT EPISODE: NEXT EPISODE: Giant-Size Winter Special, feat. Christina Strain & Chip Zdarsky…

…hope you survive the experience!

LINKS & FURTHER ATROCITIES:

Listen to Miles talk about people who turn into dinosaurs on Battle of the Atom!
Here is a fairly remarkable Marxist examination of Sex House; because, why not?
Should you be so inclined, you can watch the entire series here. It’s worth noting that the first few episodes do not reflect the tone of the series as it progresses. (Content Warning: I don’t even know anymore.)
We delved into Reignfire’s weird, weird origins in the cold open to Episode 238 – Meet Them Where They Are.
Jay co-wrote a serial Thor novel! You can subscribe to it here, if you are so inclined.

278 – A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

December 22, 2019 Jay 13 comments

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In which Moonstar really wasn’t fooling anybody; Bird Brain is somehow still alive; Cassidy Keep is weird; Gene Ha draws excellent Storm; Reeva Payge makes her sole comics appearance; and Shinobi Shaw is wrong about everything.

X-PLAINED:

A not-particularly-cunning disguise
Upcoming coverage
X-Force Annual #3
X-Men Annual #3
The MLF
Reignfire (more) (again)
Moonstar (more) (again)
An unconventional way to keep a secret diary
A bittersweet semi-reunion
3Peace
Murphy Keep
A ghost, maybe
The kind of thing that happens at Cassidy Keep
An excellent burn
Leather
“Neurotoxins”
Sex House as the definitive artifact of the 2010s
How not to draw someone having a nightmare
A very short-lived version of the Hellfire Club
How not to villain
Coming to terms with bad fictional tech

NEXT EPISODE: Giant-Size Winter Special, feat. Christina Strain & Chip Zdarsky!

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!