Erik the Red – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 400 – Loud Noises

February 5, 2023 Miles One comment

Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

Marauders to the left of me, X-Men to the right, and I’m stuck in the middle with you… (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Listen, Gambit, it was either this or a Tupperware(TM) for that chunk of your brain. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Their relationship seems healthy. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Eh, it’s still in better shape than the car Miles drove in high school. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Where? Oh, there. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

“He’s here again, Professor.” (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Speaking of different eras of the X-Men – check out Julian Totino Tedesco’s decade variant covers! Here’s the 60s… (All-New X-Men #18)

The 70s… (All-New X-Men #18)

The 80s… (All-New X-Men #18)

The 90s… (All-New X-Men #18)

…and the 2000s. (All-New X-Men #18)

After this, it’s off to the Justice Exhibit through the Justice Hall and then to the Justice Shop. If anyone needs the Little Justice’s Room, it’s on the left. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Thunderbird, sure… but a version of Blink from an alternate universe? (Uncanny X-Men #350)

NOOOOORM! (Uncanny X-Men #350)

I’ve never been picked during jury selection, but I’m pretty sure this is how trials work, right? (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Rogue x-plains Gambit’s dark secret. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

As little sense as Rogue’s decision makes, damn if Joe Madureira (or Andy Smith?) doesn’t make it work anyway. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Erik the Red was really Erik the Red and Purple! (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Okay, okay – they’re no Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Thunderbird, but I like them anyway. (X-Men #70)

Dig that speech bubble transition. (X-Men #70)

Cecilia Reyes and Marrow, best of friends. (X-Men #70)

Why don’t more artists work in the telekinetic Phoenix flare? (X-Men #70)

Cecilia takes charge. (X-Men #70)

And you know Sam will 100% pay them back later. (X-Men #70)

I love these three. (X-Men #70)

The cavalry arrives. (X-Men #70)

For once, too much dialogue is a good thing. (X-Men #70)

Gross mutant powers are the best mutant powers. (X-Men #70)

Maggott 2.0, courtesy Joe Kelly. (X-Men #70)

The X-Men: often at their best when their lives are at their worst. (X-Men #70)

NEXT TIME: Generation X vs. Christmas.

NOTES & FURTHER READING:

All that remains of Gambit Cyber Comic: The Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone

400 – Loud Noises

February 5, 2023 Miles 18 comments

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In which legacy numbering is best left alone; all roads lead to the Antarctic; we finally learn Gambit’s big secret; Erik the Red gets yet a third identity; no one soils the Juggernaut; Maggott saves the day; and we have somehow made (technically more than) 400 of these things.

X-PLAINED

Spat
The tragic loss of the Cyber Comics
How not to back up your work
Uncanny X-Men #350
X-Men #70
A shambles
What’s been happening since Operation Zero Tolerance
A very fancy cover
Insufficient outerwear
Senses
Justice as a decorating theme
Baffling statuary
The return of Erik the Red
Erik the Red (again)
Ferris
Gambit’s big secret
A large number of continuity errors
A total dick move
De-icing
Untitled Marrow Game
A big fight
Living room surgery
Legal documents
Favorite anniversary issues
Dangling plot threads

NEXT EPISODE: Generation X vs. Christmas

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes 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 rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

As Mentioned in Episode 370 – The Sound of Evil

April 24, 2022 Miles One comment

Listen to the episode here.

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

So sad… but so colorful! (Uncanny X-Men #46)
(M – Jean’s yellow plaid garment is what we fashionistas call a “coat.” -J)

There’s a reason the Juggernaut’s armor makes him look kinda like a mushroom. (Uncanny X-Men #46)

Angel’s normally better than his teammates at dodging, but he’s weighed down by his fashion choices. Well, Jean’s, I guess. She made his costume. Possibly out of spite. (Uncanny X-Men #46)

JEAN GREY YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS (Uncanny X-Men #46)

That’s more like it! (Continuity aside.) (Uncanny X-Men #46)

Cheer up, kids. You’ll be back together in just a few issues. (Uncanny X-Men #46)

This is pretty much how Drag Race works, right? (Uncanny X-Men #52)

Shortest cold open ever. (Uncanny X-Men #52)

“Scott, you wore that out? I just made that for you for Bedroom Time! (Uncanny X-Men #52)

I appreciate how very 60s this pair of panels is. (Uncanny X-Men #52)

More 60s! (Uncanny X-Men #52)

It’s… it’s way more complicated than that, Lorna. (Uncanny X-Men #52)

Now that is how you start an issue! (Uncanny X-Men #60)

SCOTT SUMMERS YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS (Uncanny X-Men #60)

I wish we got to see more of Jean and Lorna as buds. (Uncanny X-Men #60)

We didn’t talk about this in the episode, but I love the story the Brotherhood’s body language is telling in the foreground. (Uncanny X-Men #60)

Miles’s favorite two-page spread. (Uncanny X-Men #60)

How can something so ridiculous be so genuinely tense? (Uncanny X-Men #60)

Aww Jager (Uncanny X-Men #60)

Name a better origin story – we dare you. (Uncanny X-Men #60)

Well, it beats the costume with the suspenders. (Uncanny X-Men #60)

NEXT TIME: Kitty makes some choices.

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

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More from Max Carleton:

370 – The Sound of Evil (feat. Max Carleton)

April 24, 2022 Miles 22 comments

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In which Max Carleton and Miles take a trip back to the Silver Age, the origins of Marvel Girl’s telepathy are questionable, the nature of Polaris’s parentage is also questionable, and the quality of Sauron’s origin story shall never be questioned.

X-PLAINED:

The Locust (Dr. August Hopper)
Uncanny X-Men #46, 52, and 60
Genuine tragedy
Funereal fashion
Frederick “Amos” Duncan
The Juggernaut (Cain Marko) (again)
The Crimson Cosmos
Energy globules
Charles Xavier’s telepathy lending library
Jean Grey, spiteful seamstress
Erik the Red (the first one) (Scott Summers)
Lorna Dane, fashion icon
Filially-obligated villainy
Psychic-delia
The sadly short-lived Roy Thomas / Neal Adams run
Suspension of disbelief
Pteranodons
Sauron (Karl Lykos, fantasy nerd)
Alex Summers, perpetual captive and/or villain battery
Miles’s favorite two-page spread
How to choose the perfect supervillain name
X-Men: The Animated Series, 1960s Edition
Our Silver Age X-creator wish list
Magnetism

NEXT EPISODE: Excalibur!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog.

Find us on iTunes 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 rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

191 – Unconscionably Sexy (feat. Kelly Thompson)

April 1, 2018 Jay 15 comments

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In which writer Kelly Thompson joins us to talk Rogue and Gambit; Antarctica is Earth’s answer to the Blue Area of the Moon; Kelly unfreezes one of the great X-romances; Rogue has walked a mile in everyone’s shoes; you should probably not take romantic cues from fictional characters; Gambit should always wear hot pink; and continuity is fundamentally messy.

X-PLAINED:

What happened in Antarctica
The Trial of Gambit
Rogue and Gambit
Narrative tension vs. growth
Dueling accents
Kelly’s defining Rogue and Gambit stories
The cool-versus-creepy line
Making deep cuts accessible
The evolution of Rogue
The future of the X-line
Favorite costumes
Equal-opportunity objectification
Fundamental contradictions of continuity
Hawkeye team-ups
Date night with Rogue and Gambit
MTV’s Are You the One
RomCom hybrids

NEXT EPISODE: Meet the N-Men!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes 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!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2015 Jay One comment

Art by David Wynne. Click through for full-size version!

Happy New Year!

January 2, 2015 Jay 10 comments

OH, MY GOD, LEE MOYER AND ZACH FISCHER, HOW ARE YOU EVEN REAL?

Lee–who is also the genius behindlast week’s Erik the Red-Nosed Reindeer–even sent solicitation copy to go with the art:

Janet! Harvey! Elsie Carson! Peter Corbeau! And…. Erik the Red!

Also? Michael Rossi, who’s kind of a dick. But maybe he’ll be killed in the second issue.

P.S. No new X-books this week means no video reviews, but the new podcast episode will be up on Sunday, per usual! Happy New Year!

Erik the Red-Nosed Reindeer

December 23, 2014 Jay 2 comments

We were going to save this card–from spectacular artist and all-around excellent human Lee Moyer–for Christmas proper, but it’s way too awesome not to share early. (Click through for high-res.)

lee_holidays — Art and design by Lee Moyer.

Merry holidays to you and all your bondage vikings!

Love,

R&M

Our New OTP

June 5, 2014 Jay One comment

David Wynne, you are a gift to the universe. There are not adequate words in any language we know for how happy we are about this picture.

For those of you unfamiliar with the mustachio’d gentleman standing next to Everyone’s Favorite Bondage Viking(TM) Erik the Red, that’s Italian Porno Batman, from the 1982 film Bathman dal Pianeta Eros, which at this point is best known for its bewilderingly long sequences of the Caped Crusader riding a bicycle around the Italian countryside in full costume.

…No, seriously. (Link is totally work-and-kid-safe.)