You’ve come a long way from tick-tick-boom, Tabitha. (X-Force #63)
Dammit, X-Force! You were already living in the same house as the X-Men, and now you have their color scheme too? (X-Force #63)
When continuity is character. (X-Force #63)
Oh, great, it’s that dream again. (X-Force #63)
Yep, Lila Cheney is just that good. (X-Force #63)
“Alright, Agents! Just like we practiced: POSE!” (X-Force #63)
Ah, come on, Bobby – you’ve been to space and multiple other dimensions. Get over yourself. (X-Force #64)
Meanwhile in Spookytown (X-Force #64)
GAVEEDRA BENJAMIN SEVEN YOU PUT THOSE SWORDS DOWN RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR (X-Force #64)
But… but ambush is the exact thing you just did! (X-Force #64)
We immediately love John Francis Moore’s Meltdown. (X-Force #64)
We’ve missed you, Julio. (X-Force #64)
Michael McCain, AKA Forearm, AKA a guy in a shirt best described as “normal”. (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
You put that down! Bad dog! Drop it! DROP IT! (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
Meltdown auditions for Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men. (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
Like the Rainbow Bridge but somehow more cosmic! Or at least differently cosmic. (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
Presenting Malekith the Accursed. (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
Is Caliban huge or is Shatterstar tiny? The world will never know! (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
Our high school English teacher always told us we needed to learn the rules of writing so we could more effectively break them. This page does that with its panel borders. (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
Mutants and dwarves and giants, oh my! (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
Hela: goddess of death and high fashion. (Cable & X-Force Annual 1997)
In which we begin John Francis Moore’s run on X-Force; Latveria is less fun without Doctor Doom; there may still be a tiny clone of Meltdown running around; Forearm is a good pal; Marvel Asgard is a realm of crossover fan fiction; and you should totally watch both Our Flag Means Death and Doom Patrol.
X-PLAINED:
Blackbeard, somewhat
X-Force #63-64
X-Force & Cable Annual 1997
Life after Onslaught
Dimitri Fortunov
Dr. Doom’s time podium
New costumes
Liddleville
Latveria, 1941
Sturmfanger
Valkyrie (Brunhilde)
Aragorn (but not that one)
The Mutant Liberation Front (again) (briefly)
A large dog who may or may not have eaten a horse
Valkyries (more) (again)
What all the former New Mutants are up to
Yggdrasil and the Nine Realms (again)
Malekith the Accursed
Kindra the Dwarf (again)
Skadi the Frost Giant
Hela (again) (briefly)
Doctor Who analogs
What we miss about the Silver Age
NEXT WEEK: Hawk Talk
NEXT EPISODE: Domino goes solo!
Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!
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In which Rusty is an honorary Bluth; we bid a sad farewell to Bret Blevins; Hogan the Grim is probably the best at bedtime stories; Asgard has really tight hat game; Hela is a remarkably competent supervillain; there are some sound effects you have to earn; Rusty and Skids fight the Vulture; and Miles has so many feelings about Thor.
X-PLAINED:
Cortex
Damian Tryp
Our weird 2016 recording schedule
Jay & Miles at Vegas Valley Comic Book Fest 2016
Recent ResurrXion announcements
The second half of the Asgard Adventure
The end of Bret Blevins’ New Mutants run
New Mutants #82-85
The Odinsleep
A fairly upsetting board game
Volstagg’s awesome kids
Tiwaz of the Wastes
Many excellent hats
Ula and the Savage Swarm
Garm
Miles’s favorite Fenrir story
A remarkably clever villainous plan
A signature sound effect
Karnilla the Norn Queen
Cable’s relationship to Longshot
Recommendations for a comics newcomer
NEXT EPISODE: X-Factor vs. Celestials, as Judgment War concludes!
You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!
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!
In which we get back on the continuity train; everything is the aftermath of Inferno forever; you should never fight a tractor or a horse without first putting on some damn pants; Vincent Price would’ve made a terrific Doctor Strange; Rusty Collins never really gets a fair break; Boom Boom is in over her head; and Brett Blevins takes his place as the definitive New Mutants artist.
X-PLAINED:
Mirage’s on-again-off-again Valkyrie career
Asgardia
The New Mutants’ previous Asgard adventures
The best single issue of all time
The Naglfar
A proposal for a new calendar
New Mutants #77-80
The Ust-Ordynski Collective (again) (more)
There’s Stuff Going On: The Doctor Strange Story
A very bad decision
Why unicorns are the worst
Doctor Stephen Sanders / Doctor Strange / Doctor Dad
Let’s Make a Deal
Whether arson counts as a personality trait
Several nefarious plans
Creative growth
Disaster City
Fun with the Technarchy
Mindful representation
Miles’s dad’s comics collection
NEXT EPISODE: Judgment War!
You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!
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!
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 5/3/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
The New Defenders. (Defenders #127)
Moondragon, Cloud, Gargoyle, and Valkyrie demonstrate the kind of high drama and subtext that makes three ex-X-Men feel right at home. (Defenders #127)
Warren and Bobby simultaneously contemplate one of the great questions of the universe. (Defenders #126)
Hank opens up to Vera about his shifting personality. (Defenders #116)
The end of the last issue of Defenders. Total downer (except for the puppy). (Defenders #152)
All-New, All-Different. (X-Factor #1)
The worst part is that neither of them is wrong, exactly. (X-Factor #1)
Three guys who definitely don’t want to be superheroes anymore. (X-Factor #1)
Well, this can’t possibly end badly. (X-Factor #1)
OH GOD NEVER MIND. (X-Factor #1)
Rich people are different from the rest of us. (X-Factor #1)
Goddamnit, Warren. (X-Factor #1)
Goddamnit, Scott and Madelyne. (X-Factor #1)
Later, in Apartment 3-G… (X-Factor #1)
X-Factor is just painfully awkward on so many levels, for so long. (X-Factor #1)
“Seriously, Warren, you are LITERALLY WEARING A SUPERHERO COSTUME RIGHT NOW.” (X-Factor #1)
“Look, just go walk it off for a couple weeks. You’ll be fine.” (X-Factor #1)
If we had a dollar for every job interview that ended like this… (X-Factor #1)
Iceman is just goddamn delightful. (X-Factor #1)
There are several important things going on here, but all of them are overshadowed by the fact that Warren is wearing a cape with a sweater vest. (X-Factor #1)
It’s like they know how an intervention works, but not how it’s supposed to end. (X-Factor #1)
“Also, he’ll be gradually brainwashing us all and destroying our lives for the next year and change!” (X-Factor #1)
WE’RE HERE TO BELIEVE YOU! (X-Factor #1)
It just never stops sucking to be Rusty Collins. (X-Factor #1)
No, seriously. (X-Factor #1)
“It’s almost like some outside force is manipulating our lives, making sure to stretch this dramatic tension as long as possible.” (X-Factor #1)
How no one ever recognized the X-Terminators as the original five X-Men is one of the great mysteries of the Marvel Universe. (X-Factor #1)
NOTE: The appropriate soundtrack to literally every scene Cyclops is in in this issue is “Country Feedback,” by R.E.M., on repeat. (X-Factor #1)
WHO YOU GONNA CALL? (X-Factor #1)
“I mean, it’s been solicited as an ongoing, and everything.” (X-Factor #1)
Aw, Madelyne. (X-Factor #1)
NEXT WEEK: The Beyonder ruins everything. Again.
LINKS AND FURTHER READING:
Special thanks to guest X-Pert Elle Collins. When she’s not catching us up on the Defenders, here’s where you can find Elle online:
In which the X-Men get their third ongoing series; Elle drops in to x-plain the Defenders; the band gets back together; rich people are not like the rest of us; Cyclops is in desperate need of some kind of intervention; and X-Factor is basically Ghostbusters.
X-PLAINED:
Cameron Hodge
The fairly spectacular secret origins of X-Factor
The Champions
The New Defenders
The evolution of Hank McCoy
X-Factor #1
The death throes of Scott and Madelyne’s marriage
Rusty Collins
A really bad first date
The increasingly dubious life choices of Scott Summers
The worst job interview
Sushi-a-Go-Go
How not to have an intervention
X-Factor
The X-Terminators
The Phoenix Force on Earth-811 (and its relationship to Rachel Summers)
NEXT WEEK: The Beyonder ruins everything. Again.
You can find a companion index to the material mentioned in 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!