Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Month: January 2026

As Mentioned in Episode 512 – You Can Get Anything You Want at Stryfe’s Restaurant

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Collector’s got nothin’ on the Witness. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #3)
Honestly, I would read seven issues of just these weirdos hanging out in a diner. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #3)
Thank you for that helpful visual, Bishop. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #4)
Of course. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #4)
IT JUST DOESN’T STOP BEING FUNNY. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #4)
And that’s why you always leave a note. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #4)
Cable’s costume at least implicitly places this series before The Search for Cyclops. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #5)
Stryfe X-Plains Le Bête Noir. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #5)
*not a euphemism (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #6)
Next time we see Stryfe, he’ll be back at his old-school villainous ways. (Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #6)
NEXT EPISODE: Summers family bullshit.

512 – You Can Get Anything You Want at Stryfe’s Restaurant

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In which it’s rude to eat in a helmet; Cable does his best villain bit; Bishop is clearly unfamiliar with early X-Force; we’re pretty sure clones still count as people; and Stryfe is the surprise MVP of Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom.

X-PLAINED:

  • Another time Stryfe and Bishop teamed up
  • Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #3-6
  • Some of the Witness’s fancy swag
  • An extremely awkward meal
  • Stryfe in four pages
  • Unsubtle foreshadowing
  • The relative ethics of killing Stryfe
  • A visual representation of time
  • Somewhat logical consequences
  • Bad clone ethics
  • Future uncertainty
  • Le Bête Noir
  • Hell-lord / anti-Phoenix disambiguation
  • A fancy t-shirt
  • The appropriate amount of mean to be to Stryfe
  • When Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom takes place relative to The Search for Cyclops (more) (again) (inconclusive)
  • Reasons not to live under a crypt in New Orleans
  • Betty Noir’s
  • Relative (fictional) body counts
  • Business-casual Stryfe
  • Lucas Bishop, kitten guy
  • Relitigating the X-traitor

NEXT EPISODE: Eve of Destruction (and some bonus Summers family bullshit)

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

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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!

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As Mentioned in Episode 511 – Night Science

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I feel like this is a motif that’s shown up on more than one cover, but I can’t remember the others off the top of my head. (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom Alpha)
That’s rough, buddy; but also the top panel has significant clues to both the series’ place in continuity AND what’s up with Bishop! (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom Alpha)
Ah, yes, the famous tiger-print symbiotes. (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom Alpha)
Daaaamn, Jeanty. (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1)
Well, that certainly is a device. (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1)
A somewhat less silly view of Bishop’s symbiote. (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1)
Because who doesn’t need a picture of Charles Xavier getting kicked in the head every now and then? (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1)
Cute, but would’ve been better with little birdies. (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1)
NOW KISS (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1)
I love his entirely pointless voluminous curtains. (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #2)
Right hand of doom! (Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #2)
NEXT EPISODE: Stryfe in a diner!

LINKS & FURTHER HORRORS

511 – Night Science

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In which we unapologetically ship Gambit and Bishop; pelicans are deeply alarming birds; Charles Xavier watches your sex dreams; the Witness is a Whole Continuity Thing; and the T’ieves Guild is really just here to steal your stuff.

X-PLAINED:

  • Destiny’s frequently retconned diaries
  • Midi series
  • Gambit (more) (again)
  • Bishop (more) (again)
  • Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom Alpha
  • Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1-2
  • When Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom takes place relative to The Search for Cyclops
  • Some things pelicans get up to
  • An upsetting dream
  • Ethics of telepathy (more) (again)
  • Night science
  • Some of what Stryfe has been up to
  • French nouns
  • A theoretical Orphan Black video game
  • The Witness (LeBeau) (more) (again)
  • The Witness Cave
  • How to make Bishop a more central X-character
  • The relative importance of T’ieves Guild continuity

NEXT EPISODE: Stryfe in a diner!

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

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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 Dashery shop!

As Mentioned in Episode 510 – Giant-Size Special #14 (feat. Alex Paknadel)

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Well backgrounded, Tom Raney! (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1)
And then Jean holographically re-traumatized herself. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1)
And then Cable holographically re-traumatized himself. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1)
That monkey is INTO THIS. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1)
Time to switch lip balm brands, my friend. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1)
Scott Summers: great at boats. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1)
Okay, this doesn’t literally happen in this issue, but it looks pretty rad. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #2)
Angry mobs: a core feature of any historical period or geographic locale! (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #2)
Bad kitty. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #2)
As if his day couldn’t get any worse… (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #2)
It’s easy to forget how well Apocalypse rocks that heavy metal haircut. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #3)
“I’m not even supposed to be here today! (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #3)
“Hey, who turned out the lights?” (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #3)
(Cue goofy Hanna-Barbera chase music) (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #3)
“Your butt was really different the last time we hung out!” (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #3)
<3 (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #3)
“Sorta-mom, didn’t your sorta-daughter wear that same color when she was old in the future that is my past?” (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #4)
Now that’s how you enter a panel! (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #4)
Jean is having a day. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #4)
Jean Grey and her weaponized feelings. Hell yeah. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #4)
Okay, that’s legit cool. If also a little silly. (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #4)
“…at least until our relationship falls apart in New X-Men.” (X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #4)
NEXT TIME: Gambit and Bishop get their own series!

Find Alex Paknadel on Bluesky and Instagram!

510 – Giant-Size Special #14 (feat. Alex Paknadel)

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In which we attempt an all-Cyclops Winter special; X-Men are bad at processing grief; writer Alex Paknadel X-Plains his upcoming Cyclops miniseries; every character (except Cameron Hodge) is someone’s favorite; and you remain the best listeners of any podcast, ever.

X-PLAINED:

  • Clones of Cyclops
  • Gwen Warren
  • Our year in review
  • X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1-4
  • Ahmed and his mustache
  • Emotional support boats
  • A monkey
  • Apoca-lips
  • Anias
  • Boxes of fire
  • One way of coping with trauma
  • Ozymandias (more) (again)
  • The relative criminality of a trail of questions
  • Cat lady problems
  • Twice as many cat ladies named Anias as you’d expect
  • Terrible logic
  • Caliban (more) (again)
  • Several unpleasant reunions
  • Alex Paknadel’s definitive Cyclopses
  • Fun with minor characters
  • Proxy characters and “highly polished surfaces”
  • Characters to revisit
  • Sentinels
  • Cyclops vs. his own powers
  • Cyclops’s powers vs. continuity
  • Who Scott Summers is when he’s alone
  • The punch dimension
  • The 11th Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence at X-Cellence
  • Many people to whom we are profoundly grateful

NEXT EPISODE: Gambit & Bishop: Now Kiss Sons of the Atom

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

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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 Dashery shop!