Blog Posts – Page 31 – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 198 – How to Destroy the Universe Without Really Trying

May 20, 2018 Jay 2 comments

Listen to the episode here!

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

Alas, the Walter Simonson cover is a false alarm. (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

Sweet threads, Brigadier! (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

Life Model Decoy life is hard. (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

At this point, she should really just change her code name to “Ripley.” (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

Thiiiiiiiiis guy. (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

“Maybe, like, a buck fifty?” (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

And that’s why we don’t experiment on ourselves, Dr. Cayre. (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

Air-Walker is a cyborg who loves his work. (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

And now, a whole bunch of Lockheed making really good shifty faces! (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

Seriously, it’s basically just this for like six images. (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

What, you thought I was joking? (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

I was not joking. (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

(Okay, fine, I also threw in a Captain Britain suit on fire.) (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

But here’s one more Lockheed, for good measure! (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

“Remember when I basically destroyed the universe? Good times!” (Excalibur: Air Apparent)

Well, it’s no Excalibur #41 or 52, but I guess it’ll do. (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

He’s got style, I’ll give him that. (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

Doom is a tough audience. (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

Scott Summers: hopelessly uncool in just about any time period. (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

World War II Angel may in fact be the best Angel. Dang! (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

But what could it be?! (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

IT’S A HONKER OF DOOM! (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

Sure, why not? (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

This is one of those costumes that really only works in specific art styles; but this is one of them. (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

I mean, he is kind of a notorious dick… (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

He died as he lived: crushed under a tower of word balloons. (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

That Kitty and Bobby briefly dated later makes this much funnier. (Excalibur: XX Crossing)

NEXT EPISODE: Shattershot!

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

How to Snakes is one of the best things on YouTube. Watch, listen, and learn.
Our RoboCop Remake is amazing and ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK. You’ve been warned.
This Monty Python sketch may clarify a few of Jay’s more bizarre moments in this episode.
To learn all about Honkers, listen to Episode 197 – Wolverine and the Honker of Doom.

As Mentioned in Episode 197 – Wolverine and the Honker of Doom

May 13, 2018 Jay 6 comments

Listen to the episode here.

“Just follow your heart,” Jay told David.

We have no idea how accurate this depiction of Kamehameha Day is; but from what we’ve read, it sounds like a really cool holiday. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Our villains. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Also a villain. (The doctor, not the kid. The kid is just super doomed.) (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Nick Fury writes like a twelve-year-old girl, and that makes me so happy. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Wolverine rising from bodies of water: never not rad. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Meanwhile in a history that might have been… (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

“Turtleneck Dracula” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, bro. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

I really legitimately love this dude’s design. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Seriously. Wolverine. Moonlight. Bodies of water. It’s a thing. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Despite evidence to the contrary, Shiv’s head is neither exploding nor severed in this panel. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

It’s hard to be a grown-up, Wolverine. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

“I’m ALSO sorry that S.H.I.E.L.D. never figured out a less passive-aggressive way to apologize.” (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

“Dear Diary, nobody understands me.” (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

The second-best time Wolverine blew up a helicopter. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

And they all lived happily ever after. (Wolverine: Bloody Choices)

Damn, Fury, get some better mementos. (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

Dude sneaking up behind Wolverine is about to have the most anticlimactic day of his life. (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

Gahck is awesome. In other news, I’m really upset about the vertical spacing in that third balloon. (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

SPINY HONKER (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

Once more for the back row: THE HONKER OF DOOM! (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

I’m really just including this panel for the phrase “great rogue honker.” (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

THE HONKER OF DOOM! (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

Gahck has no time for your nonsense. (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

He looks so happy! (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

Probably feasible? Maybe? Ehh, it’s Wolverine, we’ll allow it. (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

I feel you, Robopocalypse. (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

“Once you’re one of my horsemen, of course, you’ll have access to an excellent Employee Assistance Program, as well as paid time off!” (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

Wolverine has a LOT of semicanonical kids floating around the Marvel Universe. (Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure)

NEXT EPISODE: Excalibur vs. the X-Men, kind of!

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

Come see us at FlameCon!
We covered Wolverine: Bloodlust in episode 190 – Local Yokels.
Glen Danzig was in fact briefly in the running for the role of Wolverine. (Don Adams, alas, was not.)
Dirty chai is chai tea with a shot of espresso. And now you know.
Sorry about that, Chief!
Here’s the Hawkeye fan film Miles mentioned!
Cargo Cults are really interesting.

As Mentioned in Episode 196 – The Power Is Yours

May 6, 2018 Jay 2 comments

Listen to the episode here.

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

Look at these heroes being all heroic! (Excalibur #48)

Feron. (Excalibur #48)

Poor Rachel; like her *actual* memories aren’t traumatic enough on their own… (Excalibur #48)

Kyluun is a serious hero with serious skills… (Excalibur #48)

…mostly. (Excalibur #48)

Meet the new Widget. (Excalibur #48)

Aw, man, I LIKED that logo. (Excalibur #49)

The cross-time incursions in this issue are really fun. (Excalibur #49)

No, seriously. (Excalibur #49)

I like to imagine them all getting together and drinking tea and just sort of looking shell-shocked in quiet sympathy. (Excalibur #49)

“Quick, check for pouches!” (Excalibur #49)

Meanwhile in the multiverse… (Excalibur #49)

Ugh, THAT GUY. (Excalibur #49)

Props to introducing the new logo as a punchline to the previous cover. (Excalibur #50)

Kitty Pryde running into walls: never not funny. (Excalibur #50)

‘Kay. (Excalibur #50)

And in that moment, we were all Alistaire. (Excalibur #50)

His hands are huge and they can touch anything but themselves. (Excalibur #50)

HELL, YEAH. (Excalibur #50)

And THAT’S how you do an epic space battle. (Excalibur #50)

So there. (Excalibur #50)

UGHHHHH, THIS JERK. (Excalibur #50)

If I could remember the episode where I’d first made the “shoddy capitalist workmanship” joke, this caption would definitely be a callback to that. (Excalibur #50)

*Rimshot* (Excalibur #50)

NEXT EPISODE: Wolverine is pretty short.

LINKS & FURTHER READING

Apparently the dead mail-order monkeys were apocryphal, although we were able to dig up some fairly nightmarish accounts of live mail-order monkeys. …Yay?

As Mentioned in Episode 194 – Brood Trouble in the Big Easy

April 22, 2018 Jay 4 comments

Listen to the podcast here.

Cyclops may not have a lot of people skills, but he’s pretty good at boundaries. (X-Men #8)

Last panel of Forge being awful, I promise (for now). (X-Men #8)

Aw, they all posed. (X-Men #8)

Never meet your heroes. (X-Men #8)

Once you see the Pikachu in Psylocke’s swimsuit, you’ll never unsee it. (X-Men #8)

“We have fun, don’t we?” (X-Men #8)

And that’s why you always leave a note! (X-Men #8)

Meet Mrs. Gambit. (X-Men #8)

Trolling law enforcement is one of the subtler perks of being Ghost Rider. (X-Men #8)

“…Lord Byron!” (Ghost Rider #26)

Oh. Him, too, I guess. (Ghost Rider #26)

I mean, yeah, he’s a dick; but this is pretty excessive. (Ghost Rider #26)

The two most dramatic men in New Orleans. (Ghost Rider #26)

TBH, those outfits are pretty understated by Assassins Guild standards. (Ghost Rider #26)

AND THAT’S WHY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE A NOTE! (Ghost Rider #26)

I give him some flack, but nobody draws grossed out teenagers like Jim Lee. (X-Men #9)

The inside of Ghost Rider’s mind; and, coincidentally, the cover of his first hit single. (X-Men #9)

(It’s okay. She’ll be back later.) (X-Men #9)

Meanwhile in the upside down… (X-Men #9)

Um, yes. She does. You already know that, Wolverine. (X-Men #9)

X-Men crossovers are pretty hard on guest stars. (X-Men #9)

I’m just gonna leave this here, sans comment. (X-Men #9)

NEXT EPISODE: Mike Mignola’s X-Force!

As Mentioned in Episode 193 – Sewers of Tomorrow

April 15, 2018 Jay 8 comments

Listen to the podcast here!

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

On one hand: These dudes are pretty rad. On the other hand: being able to detect normal humans is a pretty ridiculous mutant power. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

John Romita, Jr. can be hit-or-miss, but he definitely draws some rad miscreants of the future. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

WOMP. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

Compulsory Fitzroy Hair Appreciation Moment(TM). (Uncanny X-Men #277)

The Witness, in all his really creepy glory. (Uncanny X-Men #277)

Can you imagine trying to have a conversation with this dude? (Uncanny X-Men #277)

I don’t understand what’s happening with Cyclops’s torso; and, frankly, I don’t want to. (Uncanny X-Men #278)

“Look! A distraction!” (Uncanny X-Men #278)

The first appearance of the letter… (Uncanny X-Men #278)

…and the second, FROM THE SAME FLIPPIN’ PAGE. (Uncanny X-Men #278)

Thaaaaat’s our Archangel! (Uncanny X-Men #278)

Can confirm. -Jay (Uncanny X-Men #278)

*Today, at least. (Uncanny X-Men #278)

Long Island cops are clearly unfamiliar with Cyburai. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Mystique is exceptionally bad at helping. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Damnit, Forge. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Storm’s reaction is appropriate. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Bobby. Have you MET your parents? (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Best. Date. Ever. (Uncanny X-Men #279)

Remember that time Mikhail Rasputin turned a random skater into a tree? Because that certainly happened. (Uncanny X-Men #280)

Hanging out naked in the rain? This dude is DEFINITELY learning the ropes from Storm. (Uncanny X-Men #280)

DAMNIT, Forge. (Uncanny X-Men #280)

NEXT EPISODE: Brood trouble in the Big Easy!

LINKS & FURTHER READING

Learn all about the Cyburai in Episode 160 – Hank McCoy and the Hickey of Destiny!
Laura Dern is precious and must be protected at all costs.

Knowing Is Half the Battle (The Other Half Is Sentinels)

April 13, 2018 Jay 11 comments

Roughly a zillion years ago, we asked you to send in your ideas for public service announcements–serious or satirical–starring the X-Men. At long last, we’ve sorted out our favorites and collected them here for your exclusive edutainment!

Ready to learn about graduate student funding, traffic safety, image attribution, and parenting with the X-Men? READ ON!

As Mentioned in Episode 192 – Meet the N-Men

April 8, 2018 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the podcast here!

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

All-new, all-different! (Excalibur #45)

And that’s why you don’t bring Technet on a stakeout. (Excalibur #45)

LOOK AT THESE DELIGHTFUL INDIVIDUALS (Excalibur #45)

She’s not wrong. (Excalibur #45)

Really, really good use of shadows, there. (Excalibur #45)

MEET THE N-MEN! (Excalibur #45)

Remember this guy. He’s gonna be a major antagonist. (Excalibur #45)

Ah, Joyboy, we hardly knew thee. (Excalibur #45)

Meggan contains multitudes. (Excalibur #46)

Aw, Zombie Thor looks so happy to be there. (Excalibur #46)

If things like peeing in solitude are important to you, you should probably not join Excalibur. (Excalibur #46)

Nightcrawler: canonically EXTRA heroic. (Excalibur #46)

*Rimshot* (Excalibur #46)

Sparkly! (Excalibur #46)

Meggan’s true form has SERIOUS hair. (Excalibur #46)

Aw, Widget. (Excalibur #46)

One of the all-time classic Excalibur covers. (Excalibur #47)

THE GREATEST LOVE STORY IN COMICS. (Excalibur #47)

Hi, Cerise! (Excalibur #47)

Damnit, Merlyn. This is why we can’t have nice things.(Excalibur #47)

Kurt, if you don’t know which book you’re in by now, I don’t know what to tell you. (Excalibur #47)

They do this with THE WHOLE STORY, and it warms my shriveled heart. (Excalibur #47)

NEXT EPISODE: A Bishop in the house!

LINKS & FURTHER READING:

For an introduction to Technet, check out Episode 89 – Giant-Size Special #3; and Episode 98 – Between Alien Visitations and Drunken Sulks!
The comment thread about Emilia Witherspoon’s origins
We discussed Diana: Warrior Princess at more length in Episode 34 – Mordenkainen’s Marvelous Mutants.

As Mentioned in Episode 190 – Local Yokels

April 1, 2018 Jay One comment

Listen to the episode here.

“And have you been a good or bad little, um, whatever-you-are this year?” (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

That smirk in the second panel! (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

If I had a dollar for every date of Wolverine’s that has ended like this… (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

“Time to get back to my roots: Naked in Canada.” (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

If you were wondering if these people are about to die terribly, the answer is yes. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

This could not have gotten more grim if it were an ’80s Power Pack crossover. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

Welcome to the Alshra. Hope you survive the… y’know. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

‘Kay. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

And that, kids, is what happens when your artist gets tired of drawing all the rips in the costume. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

One of the better psychic duels. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

Well, that’s convenient.

Those SFX, tho. (Wolverine: Bloodlust)

nope (Excalibur: The Possession)

NEXT EPISODE: Rogue and Gambit, with writer Kelly Thompson!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming…

March 18, 2018 Jay 8 comments

Due to ~~sentinels~~ ~~clones~~ ~~doppelgängers from the future~~ ~~a technoorganic virus~~ ~~Gambit’s accent~~ an electrical fire in Matt’s studio, Episode 189 is going to be up late. It’s looking like everything should be back on schedule later this week; but if not, we’ll be sure to let you know ASAP.

Thanks for your patience!

-J&M

ECCC 2018 Gallery – Part 2 – Look at All These X-Men

March 13, 2018 Jay 4 comments

One of our favorite parts of any convention is the kickass cosplay! Here are some of the many, MANY X-Men (and a few others) from Emerald City Comic Con:

WE FOUND A HONEY BADGER!!! (Well, she found us. BUT STILL! HONEY BADGER!)

Gambit and All-New Jean!

I would 100% buy that Jubilee and Rule-63 Quentin Quire have a mermaid friend.

Speaking of Rule-63, this Emma Frost was killing it!

Janet K. Lee’s art nouveau Emma Frost! (Jay helped make this one.)

A really, REALLY good swashbuckling Nightcrawler!

We first met this punk Storm in 2015, and she continues to be The Absolute Coolest.

Okay, fine, EVERY punk Storm is the coolest. <3

(Same Storm as previous.)

We know they’re not technically X-Men, but NOBODY cosplays Clea, and when I saw this one I kind of freaked out, and she was very gracious about it. (Dr. Strange is okay, too, I guess. But CLEA!)