Tag: origin stories
5 – The Retcon That Walks Like a Man
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In which the Bronze Age begins; Dave Cockrum is your god now; the band gets together; Sunfire joins the team; cultural sensitivity is not Marvel’s strong suit; Sunfire quits the team; it sucks to be Cyclops; Professor X crosses a moral event horizon; Sunfire joins the team; Ed Brubaker channels Thomas Hardy; you are probably a Summers brother; and Sunfire quits the team.
X-Plained:
- Bamf-Voltron Nightcrawler
- Giant-Size X-Men #1
- The worst hat of the Marvel Universe
- The Mostly-New, Mostly-Different X-Men
- A business-casual angry mob
- The limits of creative good intentions
- Tractor punching on the Ust-Ordynski Collective
- The correct spelling of “fine”
- Canada
- Sunfire’s utter disdain for everything, including you
- Krakoa: The Island That Walks Like a Man!
- Characteristics of good X-fights
- Yet another miracle of magnetism
- X-Men: Deadly Genesis
- Summers Family Continuity (Introductory)
- More hats
- The Muir-MacTaggert Research Facility
- Summers Family Continuity (Intermediate)
- The Charles Xavier Scale of Supervillainy
- Relative immunity
- Wolverine’s ubiquity
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION:
- What would you do with thirteen X-Men?
- Help us find all-ages-friendly Marvel Girl stories!
You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.
As Mentioned on Episode 4 – American History X-Men
2 – Sentinels in the Mist
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In which we introduce the villains of the Silver Age: Magneto makes some valid points, Mastermind is a Nice Guy of OkCupid, the Scarlet Witch predicts Cat Breading, the Trasks should really have known better, and the Comics Code Authority is down with pterosaurs.
X-Plained:
- Common characteristics of enduring X-villains
- Mutant identity politics and moral relativism
- Context-agnostic Juggernaut flashbacks
- An unorthodox approach to anthropology
- Cyclops’s greatest diplomatic achievement
- Silver-Age haberdashery
- An innovative modification to vampire mythology
- Cultural assimilation
- The propaganda-and-sweater-vest machine
- Hex bolts
- Supplemental reading
You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.
1 – The Strangest Podcast of Them All
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In which we begin at the beginning: everything clicks with #3, Professor Xavier is a jerk, Magneto is a fearless fashionista, Cyclops gets a name, Jean Grey has a chronic case of the Silver Age, and allegorical diversity is not enough.
X-Plained:
- Mutant genetics and taxonomy
- Practical semantics of “X-Men”
- Charles Xavier’s equally dubious ethics and decorating choices
- Superhero couture of the Atomic Age
- Why Cyclops can’t control his powers
- The miracle of comic-book magnetism
- A problematic analogy
- X-books for beginners
- Snow grenades
- The word “yaybo”
- The mystery of the ubiquitous plaid suit
You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.