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In which the X-Men’s membership is a complicated subject; not all angels know each other; we need to talk about Beast’s Wasp costume; Cecilia Reyes speaks for all reasonable folk; Storm gets a mysterious package; and reading comics day-and-date may not be for everyone.
X-PLAINED:
- The variable loyalties of the N’garai
- X-Men #74-76
- A somewhat atypical team lineup
- A whole lotta backstory
- How to join the X-Men
- Warren Kenneth Worthington III as a religious figure
- Flechette clean-up
- Teenage drama
- Detective Jim Logan
- A lot of murder
- The N’garai
- Beast’s Wasp costume
- Explanatory captions for real life
- The Ru’tai
- Pilgrimm
- Mai’Keth the Undying One
- The Eye of Kierokk
- Maggott’s secret origins
- X-Men cartoons for a 7-year-old
- Reckoning with loss in comics
NEXT EPISODE: Excalibur rushes toward its conclusion
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I am incredibly envious of Miles getting to go to an X-Men themed drag and dance party.
I just watched Road House for the first time today because of Terry Funk’s death this week, so I REALLY did not expect a reference to it but it gave me a genuine belly laugh.
I’ve always loved Japheth’s origin, but on reflection I’m not entirely sure why. I think it’s probably just because he’s my favorite C-tier X-Man, so I’m inclined to be into it.
Couple things:
1. As to the first listener… I started watching X-Men: TAS the night it debuted, one week before I turned 6. I am currently re-watching it with my 7-year-old. I have a little different take than J&M, so I’m going to share it, in case the listener looks here for another parent’s opinion. Given that everyone’s kids are different and this ENTIRELY comes down to what your individual kid is like, I’ll say this: I actually don’t think TAS is any darker than Evolution. Some of the themes in Evolution (Rogue & Mystique’s INCREDIBLY messed-up relationship, for example, the “death” of Mystique, other stuff not having to do with Mystique, etc.) are pretty dark, too. Once you get past season 1 (which IS very boiler-plate and little-kid-friendly), there are pretty dark themes there, too, and I don’t think they’re any less dark than TAS.
What X-M:TAS has that COULD make it confusing is that it has very high continuity expectations; there are TONS of characters introduced – far more than X-M:E ever introduces. There are lots of multi-season callbacks. They really just put the comics on the screen, and some of the narratives are quite confusing, specifically BECAUSE they were “dumbed-down” for kids.
TL;DR, I’ve both seen and shown to a 7-year-old X-M:TAS, and I think it’s fine. But X-M:E is a good choice, too. But yes, Wolverine and the X-Men is definitely the most “mature” of those shows, and should probably be avoided until/unless the others can be handled.
2. The other thing I wanted to write about was just to thank J&M for their thoughtful answer to the second questioner about the Hellfire Gala. I’m a trade-waiter, which I think is a more fun way to read comics, anyway, irrespective of the issues discussed here (though with its own drawbacks, of course), but that was really thoughtful advice, delivered deftly. You two are a treasure, and we X-Men fans are lucky to have you around!
I was at that drag dance party! It was so much fun. I was the Dazzler in the blue sequin jumpsuit. That Threnody act was so good. I was one of the people who got a free drink for knowing literally anything about Threnody.