As Mentioned in Episode 465 – Right in the Fabric

October 20, 2024 Jay Leave a comment

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Death’s new look. (Astonishing X-Men #1)

He just really likes that snowboard, okay? Leave him alone! You’re not his real dad! (Astonishing X-Men #1)

FORESHADOWING! (Astonishing X-Men #1)

The sassiest severed head since Cameron Hodge. (Astonishing X-Men #1)

Meet the Mannite moppets! (Astonishing X-Men #1)

This Final Fantasy-looking motherfucker. (Astonishing X-Men #2)

Weird but rad. (Astonishing X-Men #2)

Sausage! (Astonishing X-Men #2)

Mind control or just psychic startle? You be the judge! (Astonishing X-Men #3)

It’s fine; he’s a Skrull. (Astonishing X-Men #3)

NEXT EPISODE: All things animated Rogue, with Lenore Zann!

465 – Right in the Fabric

October 20, 2024 Jay 11 comments

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In which “Astonishing X-Men” is something of a misnomer; Death has a good look; sometimes you just need a guy who swoops; Miles stops worrying and learns to love Nate Grey; Telekinesis is silly looking; “Wolverine” dies; and nothing really changes.

X-PLAINED:

Astonishing X-Men (miniseries)
Ambience
Nina (again)
Mannites (again)
The third-best way to get out of awkward conversations
The Hulkbuster base
Bastion (again)
Bastion’s worst nightmare
Death (a new one)
Fiddly bits
Cable’s Psimitar
Telekinetic snowboarding
Headcase
Darco
Glub
Beautiful Dreamer
Grace
Totem
Things to do with a severed head
The Changing
The (apparent) death of Wolverine
How to salvage this miniseries
Hypothetical X-crossovers

NEXT EPISODE: Lenore Zann joins us to talk all things Rogue!

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463 – The Fart Ghost That Walks Like a Manhattan

September 22, 2024 Jay 5 comments

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In which Gambit is fundamentally goofy; t’ieves love research; Magneto was ripped; Professor Xavier remains a jerk; Miles attempts to convey something very fundamentally visual in an audio format; Marrow is adorable; the X-Men pretty much disband (again); and a miniseries is the opposite of a vacation.

X-PLAINED:

Where Wolverine went
Gambit Annual 1999
Uncanny X-Men #372
X-Men #92
A lot of backstory
A very cute plastic goose
What Gambit does in his free time
Those weird fluid-filled tubes they put people in all the time for some reason
Gambit’s abs
The fart ghost (Mary Purcell)
Manhattan, Indiana
A very minor continuity error
Fart ghost metaphysics
A very bad idea
A muppetworthy death
Dream’s various ends
X-pajamas
Professional dinosaurs
Thinkers
Theoretical Cyclops-Daredevil team-ups
X-characters recognizable as civilians

NEXT EPISODE: The return of the Damocles Foundation!

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454 – X-Men ’97, Part 2

June 30, 2024 Miles 13 comments

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SPOILER WARNING: ALL OF THEM, NONSTOP

In which Barry Windsor-Smith is too sexy for television; we know what happens when unstable molecules get struck by lightning; X-Men gets political and does it spectacularly; this Captain America would not sew the cape; Magneto continues to throw things into space; and they kissed and we missed it.

X-PLAINED:

Fabian Cortez’s name
X-Men ’97 episodes 6-10
Lifedeath I & II: a surprising adaptation
Varying levels of going in blind
A somewhat different and possibly better Forge
The Adversary vs. the Owl Queen
Stormiest and least-Stormy costumes
Professor Charles Xavier, Official Space Boyfriend
Colonialism vs. Identity
Delayed catharsis
The narrative power of altered opening credits
What makes allyship effective (and not)
Justified mutant anger
The worst version of Nina DaCosta
What makes Prime Sentinels scary
Summers family feels
The best damned fight scenes out there
Bastion, robo-avatar of conservative white patriarchy
Simultaneous crossovers
A psychic gay bar
A last boss arena
Acolyte equivalencies
Phoenix Ex Machina
Crying
Whether Magneto was right
Apoca-futures and Apoca-pasts
A bulletin board and our hopes for its contents
Soft Serve
Kitty Pryde’s coffee shop AU
X-Men ’97 as the perfect gateway

NEXT EPISODE: Skrulls!

LINKS AND FURTHER READING:

The Judgment of Magneto by Asher Elbein

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453 – X-Men ’97, Part 1

June 23, 2024 Jay 21 comments

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SPOILER WARNING: ALL OF THEM, NONSTOP

In which we put the comics on hold to take a look at X-Men ’97; it is still always Inferno in here; Wolverine is best used sparingly; a Marvel show finally embraces politics; Wolverine is best in small doses; Madeylne Pryor still always deserves better; Jubilee grows up; and we are all in on this series.

X-PLAINED:

“Beyond Good and Evil”
X-Men: The Animated Series and our respective feelings about it
X-Men ’97, episodes 1-5
Watching X-Men ’97 with and without context
Making animated Cyclops work
The Magneto’s-hair-length morality index
Politics
Voices
Adaptation pacing
Agency
Abcissa
Foreshadowing
Time compression
Horniest Rogue
Death in cartoons
A metaphor
Nonbinary identity in 1997
Character evolution

NEXT EPISODE: Episodes 6-10

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As Mentioned in Episode 430 – The Bad Feelings Box

November 19, 2023 Jay Leave a comment

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It’s always awkward when you run into someone you know out of context. (Uncanny X-Men #359)

I don’t know why Rogue palming Mystique’s face like a basketball is so funny, but it really is. (Uncanny X-Men #359)

Aw, these two. (Uncanny X-Men #359)

Spoiler: They do not actually fight each other. (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

Every supervillain, ever. (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

It’s Bring-a-Twink night at the poker game! (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

Psycho Man may have his issues, but you’ve gotta hand it to his UI design. (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

I love that Kirby armor. (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

INVISIBLE BEAR TRAP (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

By this point, half the superheroes in the Marvel Universe are anxiously awaiting their turn to toss Wolverine. (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

OH NO (Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998)

Callisto looks so cool in this issue. (X-Men #79)

She knows how to flirt like a pro. (X-Men #79)

They’re spooning. (X-Men #79)

NEXT EPISODE: Miles and Al Kennedy X-Plain the Generation X Underground Special!

430 – The Bad Feelings Box

November 12, 2023 Jay 8 comments

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In which birds have no business in sex dreams; feelings are complicated and allegories are imperfect; Mystique made some valid points; Psycho-Man is good at UI; Callisto was right; and the label “Omega-level mutant” actually kind of makes sense.

X-PLAINED:

Psycho-Man
Malice (but not that one)
Hate Monger (but not that one)
Finding good comics from the ‘90s
Uncanny X-Men #359
X-Men / Fantastic Four Annual 1998
X-Men #79
The dead man’s hand
Dr. Aubrey Agee
Psi-War fallout
Dr. Bradley Beynon
Hadley the robot
Poker twinks
La Bludgeon
Psycho-Man’s Bad Feelings Box
An invisible bear trap
Marvel’s floating poker game
Officers Aguinal and Cleveland
Antagonists vs. villains
Omega-level mutants

NEXT EPISODE: The Generation X Underground Special, feat. Al Kennedy!

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As Mentioned in Episode 425 – Shooting the Moose

October 8, 2023 Jay Leave a comment

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I get Hank, but why is Warren in disguise? (Uncanny X-Men #356)

Okay, that… actually makes a fair amount of sense. (Uncanny X-Men #356)

Bachalo does Kirby! (Uncanny X-Men #356)

“You know–the usual.” (Uncanny X-Men #356)

Meet Moon Wolf. (Uncanny X-Men #356)

Ahh, Bachalo does those nostalgia moments so well. (Uncanny X-Men #357)

Meet “Ananasi.” (X-Men #77)

Get ‘im, Psylocke! (X-Men #77)

OH SHIT (X-Men #77)

Damn, Psylocke’s shadow form is badass. (X-Men #78)

NEXT EPISODE: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy…IN SPACE!

425 – Shooting the Moose

September 25, 2023 Jay 3 comments

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In which moose are nothing to mess with; Cyclops requests a reality check; Bachalo does Kirby; Rogue absorbs a catchphrase; and the Shadow King needs a villain song.

X-PLAINED:

Uncanny X-Men #356-357
X-Men 77-78
The Cable Principle
Corvid disambiguation
An aborted narrative
Moose
Sherrif and/or Officer Chris
Stacy’s sister Melissa
Cul-de-sacs
Ptarmigan Creek
Dubiously credible lies
Nostalgia
Bad times in Westchester
Bad times in space
Punching birds
Moon Wolf
An absolutely inappropriate theatrical reference
Ainet
Ananansi vs. Anansi
The Shadow King (more) (again)
Psi-War
Temptation
Shadow powers
Hair swaps
Solo Disney+ series for X-Men
How to make Gambit work onscreen

NEXT EPISODE: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy… IN SPACE!

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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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