Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned In Episode 54 – Who You Gonna Call? (feat. Elle Collins)

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11 comments

  1. But someone DOES the connection! Phil Sheldon does! And he’s kind of annoyed no one else notices it (I love Marvels)

  2. Maki, ya beat me to it! Clearly Kurt Busier agreed with you about that one, Rachel.

    So regarding the “did the Phoenix force replace Jean in Earth-811” issue, was this ever addressed later, one way or another?

  3. Oh dear god…the rabbit hole that is “Secrets behind the x-men” is going to destroy my productivity. 🙂

    Thanks for linking it.

  4. The thing that gets me about the early issues of X-Factor is what a monumentally bad idea it is to be stoking the fires of anti-mutant hysteria in the name of helping a few mutants. Seriously, they rescue how many mutants, six? And how many instances of mutant-bashing would their ad campaign have provoked?

    When Hodge did his heel-turn and revealed that the whole thing wasn’t actually meant to help mutants, that was a relief, but why didn’t any of the supposedly smart superheroes figure it out before then?

    1. One of them trusted Hodge blindly and implicitly; two others were professionally frustrated and desperate to get back into the superhero game with their friends; another was profoundly at sea in the modern state of things and bereft of most of the skills she’d previously leaned on for people-related decision-making; and the fifth–to whom the other four had usually looked as the voice of reason–was in the middle of a massive breakdown.

      (I mean, yeah, X-Factor’s shell structure is the worst idea ever, and they still should have caught it, but they’re not exactly a team poised for good decision-making.)

      1. I agree with Rachel, the core structure of the original X-Factor was a flawed idea. You’d think the O5 would be smarter than that. Part of my dislike for the first few issues of “X-Factor” is that I feel Bob Layton just didn’t get the O5’s voices right. But Louise Simonson, who took over the title, had on the characters before so she righted the ship.

        Hehe, “Ship.” That was unintentional but funny.

        But I think in-story, or my head canon at least, here are 5 people in their early 20s (Marvel time; remember the O5 are the same age as Spider-Man and the Human Torch) who have spent much of the past few years in a weird boarding school with one adult, followed by interdimensional gallivanting. Some naivety, lack of social and business skills. could be involved here. It could be they’re letting their hearts (Jean is back!)override their logic (Hodge is CLEARLY playing them).

        But at the very least Cyclops and Beast, the two with uninterrupted super-heroing careers and experience with dealing with two-faced people (like Moondragon) should know better.

    1. I haven’t read any of the Champions, but there were some great runs on the Defenders. Englehart, Gerber and DeMatteis all are very enjoyable.

      Rachel & Jeff bring up some very good points about why the team didn’t catch on to what Hodge was up to.

      In an unrelated matter, I have found another instance of “Yaybo” in a comic! http://eclecticpjf.tumblr.com/post/117607358056/now-theres-a-bit-of-slang-you-dont-see-every
      It’s from an issue of Doc Savage from the 70s.

  5. Late to the game, but I’ve been wanting to read X-Factor vol. 1 and it looks like it’s only been collected in those cheap b&w Essential books? No collections in color? Does this mean I’ll be hunting down all the back issues?! :\

  6. “It’s almost like some outside force is manipulating our lives, making sure to stretch this dramatic tension as long as possible.”

    Hard to tell if that caption is referring to Cameron Hodge or the Marvel editorial staff.

    PS: Aimee, I really liked the Defenders too, especially the DeMatteis run.

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