Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Tag: Sunspot

As Mentioned in Episode 464 – The Cigarettes of Damocles

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The life of a Lyft driver is wild, man. (X-Force #96)
“Weirdest cigarette I ever seen.” (X-Force #96)
So Thomas/Tyler Guthrie is the Super Saiyan version of Sam? (X-Force #96)
Somebody call Occult Animal Control! (X-Force #96)
The award for Most Dramatic Lounging goes to… (X-Force #96)
Okay, Deviants, just because you look cool doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be bigoted jerks. (X-Force #96)
Sledge is wearing his ass-kicking fringe. (X-Force #96)
Lucas owns better socks – he just wears these for effect. (X-Force #96)
What we like about Selene is that she’s subtle. (X-Force #97)
Wow, healthcare really is better in other countries. (X-Force #97)
Hey, it’s a The Predator! Hello, The Predator! (X-Force #97)
Ah, so that’s how Ash Wednesday works! (X-Force #97)
Does this junkyard robo-dog fight contribute to the plot? No. Is it awesome? Obviously. (X-Force #97)
Selene is seriously never in a normal position! And we love it. (X-Force #97)
I’m pretty sure that Odysseus’s powers just made a BOI-OI-OING sound. (X-Force #97)
GNORFF (X-Force #97)
Yeah, DaCosta is da best! (X-Force #98)
Storm : Enclosed Spaces :: Cannonball : Dying Miners (X-Force #98)
Sunspot attends Selene’s art gallery opening, Concerned and X-Treme. (X-Force #98)
I never get tired of how Mephisto wears a trenchcoat like any given World of Darkness character. (X-Force #98)
Oof, that body language. (X-Force #98)
Jeez, I guess Miles could’ve skipped those four years of psychology. (X-Force #98)
YIPE YIPE YIPE (X-Force #98)
“So you see, that’s where the trouble began. That smile. That damned smile.” (X-Force #98)
NEXT TIME: Prepare to be Astonished! Maybe!

464 – The Cigarettes of Damocles

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In which X-Force is kind of silly; that really isn’t what “quantum” means; polite and lawful are two entirely different things, and Sam Guthrie is only one of them; Selene vogues; and the Hellfire Club plays the dead girlfriend card.

X-PLAINED:

  • Blackheart
  • The Damocles Foundation (more) (again)
  • Lucas Bartholomew Guthrie
  • The difference between prisons and jails
  • X-Force #98-98
  • Whether Dr. Octopus enjoys the literary stylings of Elmore Leonard
  • One way to get out of prison
  • The Glitterbox
  • An unsuccessful heist
  • Celestial cigarettes and/or golems
  • Thomas and/or Tyler Zebulon and/or Zeke Guthrie
  • Demon Bears as urban pests
  • Selene, Always Voguing
  • Gatherers
  • Various evil scientists
  • The Sword
  • Junkyard life
  • Lenny Delmonico
  • Psychic rodeos
  • Nightmare chambers
  • Bat sex
  • An offer Sunspot can’t refuse
  • Hank McCoy’s villain arc
  • New Mutant superlatives

NEXT EPISODE: Astonishing X-Men!

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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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461 – Things to Do in Denver When You’re X-Force

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In which Magneto may be right but is also wildly impractical; X-Force goes on a sneaking mission; Magneto isn’t mad, he’s just disappointed; Rictor and Shatterstar return; Strong is not a common surname in the Marvel universe; and being a mutant on TV doesn’t mean you’re one in the comics.

X-PLAINED:

  • How Jubilee became a vampire
  • The most X-treme youth of them all
  • X-Force 94-95
  • X-Force Annual 1999
  • Genosha
  • Butler disambiguation
  • Clown jobs
  • A team-up predicated on an awkward breakup
  • Hammer Town
  • Delphi
  • Memory boxes
  • Several potential continuity error
  • Names
  • Genoshan robots
  • Archie
  • A hierarchy of potential fates
  • Vershiagen Industries and/or Vershlagen Industries
  • V2
  • Hanrancha
  • Stronghold
  • Martin Strong
  • Freddie
  • Michelle Balters (Neurotap) (more) (again)
  • Communication with X-teams
  • A sudden and depressing resolution
  • Continuity across media
  • Why Gambit doesn’t (usually) throw tarot cards

NEXT EPISODE: The Return of the Hellions (kinda)

The visual companion to this episode will be up later this week!

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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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As Mentioned in Episode 458 – Quantum Stuff

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A hell of a cover… (X-Force #91)
…and a hell of a title page. (X-Force #91)
Standard superhero comic art this is not! (X-Force #91)
I want to read an X-Force that looks like this! (X-Force #91)
For your reaction image folder. (X-Force #91)
An anticlimactic breakup. (X-Force #91)
This issue is full of unconventional and perfect panels. (X-Force #91)
Theresa versus alcoholism – with all the drama of a final boss fight. (X-Force #91)
*sniffle* (X-Force #91)
We’re pretty sure that’s actually what the door says. (X-Force #92)
Only a slightly weirder computer case design than Apple’s Power Mac G4 Cube. (X-Force #92)
Cool colors versus warm colors – FIGHT! (X-Force #92)
Domino does what we all wanted to. (X-Force #92)
*heavy sigh* (X-Force #92)
“Neena Thurman – this is your life!” (X-Force #92)
Fake-Cable does not have game. (X-Force #92)
Casual Friday has gone too far! (X-Force #93)
What a lovely and colorful bee-fight! (X-Force #93)
Electryon and Astarte. (X-Force #93)
The four humors. (X-Force #93)
…and the four elements? (X-Force #93)
FTTTT (X-Force #93)
Danielle Moonstar: as short history. (X-Force #93)
Ry’lor the Destroyer: a short history. (X-Force #93)
It’s amazing how many problems can be solved with a time bomb to the face! (X-Force #93)
“SEE YOU ON THANKSGIVING!” (X-Force #93)
NEXT TIME: Miles and Devin x-plain X-Patrol!

458 – Quantum Stuff

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In which Tommy Lee Edwards draws a damned fine everything; death gods get taken a lot less seriously when their avatars are seagulls; warm and cool colors get in a fight; Domino has no time for this bullshit; Cable and Domino wait ’til the kids are asleep; Sunspot’s alibi is too complicated; X-Force forges a pouches path; Engines are nothing but trouble; and Ry’lor the Destroyer puts himself in time out.

X-PLAINED:

  • The Norse Pantheon of 2099
  • X-Force #91-93
  • One of the best X-covers ever
  • Our favorite Siryn story
  • Jesse Aaronson, penitent chef
  • Sean Cassidy, penitent dad
  • A realistically anticlimactic breakup
  • Cassidy/Rourke history
  • Bring Your Daughter to Crimes Day
  • Napoleon Sanders
  • An epistolary montage
  • The dusty pink word balloons of Tom Waits
  • A missed Manos-portunity
  • The Chaos Engine
  • Halloween Jack
  • Domino’s varied musical tastes
  • Ry’lor the Destroyer
  • Kodo the Komodo
  • Bedlam’s extremely situational powers
  • Astarte and Electryon
  • Horniness as a superpower
  • The Temple of the Dying Sun
  • Cable & Corsair’s (lack of) history
  • Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, and Hope

NEXT EPISODE: Miles and guest host Devin talk X-Patrol, 1996’s X-Force / Doom Patrol mash-up!

Want to hire J&MXPtXM producer Matt Hunter to produce your podcast? Email him!

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!

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454 – X-Men ’97, Part 2

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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:

No visual companion this week!

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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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453 – X-Men ’97, Part 1

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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

No visual companion this week!

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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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As Mentioned in Episode 448 – Skamageddon

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The two Emma Frosts: Shadowy and Pouty. (X-Force #87)
James Proudstar x-plains Uncanny X-Men #281. (X-Force #87)
Reconnecting via X-Factoring. (X-Force #87)
Now that is a lair. (X-Force #87)
Magma’s back! And she’s a jerk! (X-Force #87)
Meet Paradigm. (X-Force #87)
The New New Mutants vs. the New Hellions. New. (X-Force #88)
We can accept covering Empath’s face with word balloons – but hey, show some respect to Firestar! (X-Force #88)
Feral’s back – just in time to wreck Jay’s voice again! (And Siryn’s, but we’ll get to that later.) (X-Force #88)
Life got complicated since the last time these two saw each other. (X-Force #88)
X-Force’s x-treme tactics have just saved us like half an issue of misunderstandings! (X-Force #88)
The techno-organic virus: bad for free will and not great for skin health. (X-Force #88)
Paradigm x-plains X-Force. (X-Force #89)
This party sucks! (X-Force #89)
Blood relation has no inherent virtue. (X-Force #89)
Aww, there’s plenty of logic! Just look at the little manual that comes with most Tarot decks! (X-Force #89)
Among Dani’s new powers is the ability to turn robot-guys into eggs. (X-Force #89)
Kind of a weird font choice. Times New Armageddon? (X-Force #89)
Feral never misses an opportunity to learn the worst possible lesson. (X-Force #90)
Tarot, is that really a new manifestation of your mutant power, or did you just rob a Spirit Halloween? (X-Force #90)
Welp, I guess the entire West coast is completely demolished and will take decades to rebuild. Funny how no other comics have mentioned that… (X-Force #90)
Sorry, Jesse. Your brother is the absolute worst. (X-Force #90)
Sam Guthrie: annoying people into virtue since 1980-something. (X-Force #90)
BADDA BOOM (X-Force #90)
Aww. (X-Force #90)
NEXT TIME: Talking X-costumes with Russell Dauterman!

LINKS AND FURTHER READING:

448 – Skamageddon

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Feral’s back – just in time to wreck Jay’s voice again! (And Siryn’s, but we’ll get to that later.) (X-Force #88)

In which timeline math is almost never worth it; Tarot comes back from the dead (kind of) (maybe); Magma makes a heel turn; “King Bedlam” would be a great name for a ska band; not every nude man can turn into a bear; and you don’t have to talk to your supervillain relatives.

X-PLAINED:

  • The Triune Understanding
  • Birthday party follow-up
  • X-Force #87-90
  • Legacy and continuity
  • Bedlam (Jesse Aaronson)
  • Tarot (Marie-Ange Colbert)
  • Goat Simulator
  • King Bedlam (Christopher Aaronson)
  • The New Hellions
  • Perils of body-swapping
  • Linear time
  • Science
  • Armageddon Man
  • Paradigm
  • Senator Owen Danville
  • Family
  • A fancy hat
  • Madame Web
  • Many natural disasters
  • Early Genoshan history
  • Longshot as a villain

NEXT EPISODE: Dressing the X-Men with Russell Dauterman!

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!

As Mentioned in Episode 437 – Dismember the Titans

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“Hot Topic Rennfaire” was a somewhat controversial choice for X-Force’s prom theme. (X-Force #85)
I’m impressed Pandemonia is so well put-together after 600 years in captivity! I was wearing pajama pants by day three of the pandemic. (X-Force #85)
“I’ll never forget that day… Rusty was inexplicably blonde, I was in a costume I wouldn’t have for months, and all was right in the world.” (X-Force #85)
You can tell Sam and Dani are in great shape: they’re having a conversation about feelings and continuity during a run while most of us couldn’t manage more than “*wheeze* *cough*” (X-Force #85)
“This place seems different! Did somebody replace a lamp or something?” (X-Force #85)
…How long have they been posing like that? (X-Force #85)
Nice fight scene, Angel Unzueta! (X-Force #85)
As distinct from prolific video game voice actress Jennifer Hale! (X-Force #85)
Say it, Dani! Focused totality… you know the next part… (X-Force #85)
“We’re here to cast glamours and rock out for Satan, and we’re all out of glamours!” (X-Force #85)
Pictured: Hades in disguise, Hades’s girlfriend, and Hades’s surprisingly detailed and colorful statue of Hades. (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
It’s no Larry Stroman crowd scene, but still, pretty great! (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
Cannonball wants to axe Meltdown what she was thinking. (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
“Well, at least it’s not a, you know.” (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
To Meltdown’s credit, that lady does seem like she’s about to take a bite out of Cannonball. (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
“Why were we the members of this team? Well, we happened to all be free on a Tuesday.” (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
Magic! Flirtation! Fonts! (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
“Happy tenth high school reunion, everybody!” (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
Now THAT’S playing the long game. (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
Don’t feel bad, I always mix them up with the Defenders too. (X-Force & Champions Annual 1998)
NEXT TIME: A very Wolverine Wolverine story.