Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Jay & Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 90

Week of June 29, 2016:

In which Apocalypse Wars continues; there’s a lot going on in Uncanny X-Men; nobody draws Venom like Humberto Ramos; Miles shows off a tattoo; and Jay has strong feelings about Power Man & Iron Fist.

REVIEWED:

  • Uncanny X-Men #9 (00:37)
  • *Extraordinary X-Men #11 (05:50)

*Pick of the Week (09:57)

Filmed at Books With Pictures in Portland, OR. Special thanks to Katie Proctor.


Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. These video reviews–and everything else here–are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Come join us on Imzy!

Buy stuff at the shop!

115 – So Many Teeth (feat. Max Carleton)

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

In which Jay and Max brave the X-Men anime; the problem isn’t in Wolverine’s pants; Xavier is for once less villainous than he seems; Emma Frost gets ruffly; Cyclops wasn’t even supposed to be here today; and we both really want to hang out with Scott Porter.

X-PLAINED:

  • Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd
  • Waiting for the Trade
  • The X-Men Anime
  • Marvel Anime
  • Scott Porter
  • Jay’s ongoing attempts to assemble a coherent X-Men/Speed Racer conspiracy theory
  • Floating Hands Theater Wolverine
  • An unlikely T.A.
  • Several recurring flashbacks
  • The U-Men
  • The other U-Men
  • Armor (Hisako Ichiki)
  • Emma Frost, but ruffly
  • Evil Moira MacTaggert (Yui Sasaki)
  • The Sasaki Institute
  • The other Inner Circle
  • Marsh
  • Rat
  • Neuron
  • Takeo Sasaki
  • Potluck night at the Hellfire Club
  • Living vs. dead Jean Grey

NEXT EPISODE: Jubilee!


You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes, Google Play, 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 prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

Jay Reviews the X-Men, Episode 89

Week of June 22, 2016:

In which Jay grudgingly reviews YET ANOTHER book with Deadpool in the title (but enjoys it); A Year of Marvels is slightly baffling; and Katie P. drops by for the panel of the week!

REVIEWED:

  • *Deadpool V Gambit #1 (00:39)
  • A Year of Marvels: The Incredible #1 (02:37)

*Pick of the Week (04:49)

Filmed at Books With Pictures in Portland, OR. Special thanks to Katie Proctor.


Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. These video reviews–and everything else here–are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Come join us on Imzy!

Susan X-Plains Prompt Critical

Kickass scientist Susan Beaver–who’s also the former associate director of the Reed Research Reactor–joined us in Episode 114 – Meltdown to talk about the actual science of nuclear reactors. Unfortunately, the downside of talking about complex science on a comics podcast is that there’s never enough time to go into as much depth as we’d like. Luckily for us–and you–Susan was kind enough to write a follow-up, discussing some of the terms and concepts we had to gloss over in the episode proper. -Jay


susie-fuel-podcast-smallerLet’s talk about nuclear fission.

As I got to say in the episode, the fourteen-page rundown of basic nuclear fission and the Chernobyl disaster that starts of Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown is surprisingly accurate, aside from attributing the human errors to a nefarious conspiracy rather than a combination of bad design and bad judgment. But one thing that the artistic overview doesn’t explain is a term that comes up a couple times in the comic, and that’s the term “prompt critical”.

It surprised me to see that term come up in the comic, since most of the time when people in entertainment industries throw around concepts regarding nuclear reactors they’re getting them wrong. (If you’ve ever had a career that gets depicted in movies and television shows–I’m looking at you, CSI techs and nurses–you know exactly what I mean.) So to see the comic getting a lot right was a welcome surprise. Radiation signs posted the correct way up instead of rotated 30 degrees! Neutron moderation! Control rods! And, of course, the sinister-sounding (not Sinister-sounding, though in this comic you have to be careful) phrase “prompt critical.”

So what happens when a nuclear reactor goes prompt critical?

Continue reading

As Mentioned in Episode 114 – Meltdown

Listen to the episode here.


114 – Meltdown (feat. Susan Beaver)

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

In which Havok and Wolverine head to Mexico; Havok tries his hand at noir; Wolverine gets serious about hair gel; Meltdown is probably not actually a common Russian surname; Susan X-Plains nuclear reactors; and we are pretty thoroughly besotted with Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown.

X-PLAINED:

  • Age of Apocalypse Corsair
  • Epic Comics
  • Marvel Comics Presents #24-31
  • Leila O’Toole (Plasma)
  • The Cold War
  • Samantha Smith
  • Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4
  • General Meltdown
  • Dr. Neutron
  • The varying deadliness of vices
  • Scarlett McKenzie (Quark)
  • Some exceptionally gorgeous artwork
  • Why we love Havok
  • Chernobyl
  • How nuclear reactors do and don’t work
  • Other characters we’d like to see in Meltdown-type stories
  • Adamantium vs. vibranium

NEXT EPISODE: The X-Men Anime


Special thanks to guest reactor X-Pert Susan Beaver!


You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes, Google Play, 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 prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

Jay & Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 88

Weeks of June 8 & June 15, 2016:

In which the X-Men join Civil War II; Uncanny X-Men is baffling but compelling; and there’s FINALLY an interesting story about Apocalypse!

REVIEWED:

  • Civil War II: X-Men #1 (00:41)
  • Uncanny X-Men #8 (05:17)
  • *All-New X-Men #10 (09:00)

*Pick of the Week (12:46)

Filmed at Books With Pictures in Portland, OR.


Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. These video reviews–and everything else here–are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Come join us on Imzy!

As Mentioned in Episode 113 – Play It Again, Patch

Listen to the episode here.


NOTE: Normally the visual companion is annotated; but frankly, I don’t have it in me to be witty about Wolverine today. Sorry. -Jay


113 – Play It Again, Patch

CONTENT NOTE: Episode 113 contains fairly extensive discussions of fictional violence, including gun violence. If you don’t want to listen to that right now, that is absolutely okay. If you want to listen to it later, it’ll still be here. And if you never want to listen to it, that is absolutely okay, too.

We were on the fence about whether to post this episode today. We ultimately decided to go ahead, for two reasons:

There’s value in routine in the face of tragedy.

There are times when continuing to exist visibly and publicly is itself an act of defiance.

Love and solidarity to everyone who’s grieving right now, and especially to our Florida friends and family, and to fellow members of the queer community.

-Jay & Miles

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EPISODE 113: PLAY IT AGAIN, PATCH

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

In which Wolverine gets an ongoing series; the constitution of Madripoor is probably just a list of pulp noir genre conventions; Tyger Tiger is a kinder, gentler crimelord; Jessica Drew gets possessed a lot; the Silver Samurai and Lindsay McCabe are our dream team; Joe Fixit is a font of endless delight; and someone should probably sit Wolverine down and explain how disguises work.

X-PLAINED:

  • The Murasama
  • The other Murasama
  • Life after Inferno
  • Madripoor
  • Wolverine #1-10
  • The Princess Bar
  • O’Donnell
  • The hierarchy of Casablanca references
  • Roche
  • Razorfist
  • The Inquisitor
  • Sapphire Styx
  • Tyger Tiger
  • What makes a good solo series
  • Lindsay McCabe
  • Wolverine’s signature drink
  • Possession pants
  • Silver Samurai (again)
  • Patch
  • Bloodsport & Roughouse
  • Archie Corrigan and his plane
  • Landau, Luckman, & Lake
  • Chief Tai
  • General Nguyen Ngoc Coy
  • Prince Baran and His Remarkable Pants
  • Joe Fixit
  • The worst possible way to celebrate someone’s birthday

NEXT EPISODE: Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown!


You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes, Google Play, 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 prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!