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Miles is really a clone of Stilt-Man! - No AI-generated content.
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Yesterday, I went to a wake for Krakoa at Books With Pictures in Portland, Oregon. There was a cake that said “Farewell Krakoa” in Krakoan text, viciously difficult Krakoan-era trivia from friend of the podcast Douglas Wolk (I’m a professional X-podcaster and was humbled), and some lovely musical performances.
Krakoa meant so, so much to so many of us. The setting was imperfect by design, and some amazing stories came out of that fact – but it was lovely getting to see mutants mostly get a win for the better part of five years. And the community around it! I’ve had some of the best comics-shop-line X-discussions of my life since the first issue of House of X hit the stands. (Thankfully, X-Men ’97 seems to be creating just as much conversation!) The Krakoan era got us through an especially hard era in the real world and helped us connect during a time when that wasn’t exactly easy. And hell, it may have been the most exciting time to be an X-Fan since the Grant Morrison run two decades ago.
I wasn’t so sure about the upcoming relaunch at first, but the more I learn about the new books, the more excited I’m becoming. And regardless of how it goes – hey, we’ll always have Krakoa.
That was my favorite part of Krakoa: the wins!
“The X-Men are at their best when their backs are against the wall!”
This is generally true, but it’s exhausting when their backs are always against the wall. I like dark and bleak, but not for a steady diet.
Given the depth of your knowledge, I am surprised you struggled in a trivia contest. But maybe I shouldn’t be? After all, you and Jay are constantly living in two eras: the current comics and the ones you’re covering. That’s a lot of details to keep track of.
I’m hoping I’ll be caught up by…well, not the time of the relaunch, seeing as that is basically now, but shortly thereafter. I’m still working through the Krakoan Era–I last read Trial of Magneto 1 and the Cable Reloaded one-shot. Seeing as I tested Covid-positive over the weekend and have reworked my July 4 plans to be “stay at home,” that might be a good time to catch up.
I shared my excitement for the new era previously, if a little over emphatically. Still, I’m currently most excited for Gail Simone on Uncanny X-Men. I’m intrigued by Exceptional X-Men and what Eve Ewing is doing there. It’s strange that Jed McKay’s X-Men is the team with most of my favorites but not the one I’m most looking forward to. I think, because, it’s probably the one that feels safest in terms of set-up. I’m still excited for it. Just not as much as the other two
I am disappointed that Domino is nowhere to be seen. She’s one of my top 3 X-Men and I figured she would show up somewhere. I’m secretly hoping Gail Simone will get to give her another solo series. Unlikely, but I can dream
Domino will be on the Dazzler mini
Somehow I missed her involvement in that. That should be an interesting dynamic.
I’m so excited for the new era that I’ve actually subscribed to Phoenix, Dazzler, and X-Force (Rachel and Betsy, written by a “Leverage” writer who likes Duran Duran – oh my heart/faves!) Here’s hoping for all of us!
I’m actually kind of glad Krakoa’s over. There were some creative high points even towards the end, but I think it was already getting conceptually stagnant even when Hickman was still around. We had a mutant space program that didn’t even get a full year’s worth of stories between three crossover events; the second and third Hellfire Galas were pretty weak reiterations of the first; resurrection became so “ordinary” that when the unthinkable happened and two versions of the same person were running around (Laura and Vault-Laura), it ended up not mattering at all; and while I *loved* Gillen’s work on Immortal, let’s be real, it was ultimately a reprise of his Sinister London saga, just on a much larger scale.
Sure, From the Ashes is playing it utterly, desperately safe, but at least it *knows* that. Krakoa’s going to be remembered as much for the potential it squandered as for what it actually achieved.
I can’t listen to the back catalogue of pods, is there an issue with them at the moment?
We did make some network changes recently, but everything I’ve tested seems to be working. Let’s see what we can figure out.
How are you trying to listen to the old episodes? A specific app, our website, something else?
I have the same issue. It seems that nothing before 2022 works on the website or the playerfm app. I haven’t tried anything else.
Okay, I think I found the actual problem and fixed it: a lot of the older episodes were set up in a different way than the newer ones, and I hadn’t accounted for that difference when we made our recent network changes.
I *think* it should be fully fixed now, but please let me know if not. (Note that you may need to give your podcasting apps a little time to catch up, but the site should show the changes immediately.)
Thanks, Josh and Dylan!
I too am mourning the end of Krakoa, a bit slower than I’d hoped. MU crashes whenever I try to download it, and my floppies are at my place while I’m at my SO’s for the holiday.
I want to say I really enjoyed your coverage of ’97, and I had many of the same feels. It felt epic in a manga-anime way while also still being x-men at the core.
I’m a bit older – I remember buying Mutant Massacre issues in the Stars & Stripes bookstore when my day was stationed in West Germany – so I kinda missed the OG animated series. I hadn’t realized how connected your voiceovers were to the show’s characterizations, to my ears at least.
All I’ll say about that is I always imagined Rogue having a more sultry drawl than scratchy holler, but at last I have a good Cyclops voice that’s reasonably between Silver Age bombast and what I can only describe as Schism-era tech bro.
Rogue’s voice was a lot more sultry in the original series. I’m glad the VA is back, but she sometimes sounds more like Dolly Parton than Rogue.
X – F O R C E _ (1991) 14-15
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HARRDD!!
Like a 1980s action-movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger!
“I’ll be back” !
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Toronto Canada
Unedited photograph
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GhP_zfzKs7xAu6az0cPO1zhygJTtvan2&usp=drive_fs