Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

HAWK TALK – Independent Comics

This would usually be a skip week, but thanks to some generous donors to Equality Florida, Hawk Talk is back! This week: independent comics!

X-PLAINED

  • What makes a comic independent
  • Superbutch
  • Little Garden
  • 44 Presidents and a Letter to a Cat
  • Finder
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (again)
  • Elfquest
  • Nexus
  • Prince of Persia
  • Love & Rockets
  • Jim Ottaviani’s science comics
  • Wet Moon

407 – Freshening Up

In which X-Factor bounces from one rock-bottom to another; Sabretooth gets his (murderous) groove back; Dark Beast embraces the iMac aesthetic; the tip was righteous; Mystique multitasks like a pro; and Shard Bishop has come unstuck in time.

X-PLAINED:

  • X-Nation
  • What X-Factor’s been up to
  • X-Factor #138-141
  • Omega Red (again)
  • The Brotherhood’s new hideout
  • Mallory Brickman
  • Miles and/or Ralph Brickman
  • Gloria Brickman
  • “Freshening up”
  • Mystique, but a sitcom
  • Agent Vargas
  • Ever
  • The secret purpose of Havok’s Brotherhood
  • Exhumes vs. emplates
  • Fixx
  • Greystone
  • Archer
  • The X.U.E.
  • Bantam
  • Leisure activities
  • What would happen if the T-O virus took over Cable’s body
  • What we want from X-Men #700

NEXT EPISODE: Bishop: X.S.E.


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406 – The Most Dangerous Mini-Game

In which we disagree about the value of Stan Lee intros; everybody wants Wolverine; Mister Sinister lurks; Haley Blanding deserves better; Thunderbird fights a tiger; and Xavier and Magneto do their usual thing.

X-PLAINED:

  • The Circus of Crime
  • Stan Lee intros
  • Wolverine #-1
  • X-Factor #-1
  • X-Force #-1
  • X-Men #-1
  • Proust vs. Sartre
  • How Logan joined Alpha Flight
  • The secret origin of the word “canucklehead.”
  • USDA, Annex B
  • Myron MacLain
  • Logan’s cigars
  • Yet more continuity errors
  • Sabretooth’s ridiculous car
  • The balance of scary and silly
  • Wolverine’s cowboy hat
  • Summers family bullshit
  • The Blandings and/or Masterses
  • Vince
  • The Proudstar family
  • One or more cats named Coyote
  • The origin of Thunderbird’s totem
  • Edwin Martynec (again)
  • Chondu the Magician
  • Ringmaster
  • Yet more Xavier and Magneto flashback drama
  • The bottom of the resurrection queue
  • Good car-trip episodes

NEXT EPISODE: X-Factor continues to make poor decisions


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405 – Morally Purple

In which Jay returns; babies are bad at pretty much everything; continuity flies straight out the window; Cable should speak English with a Scottish accent; Harry Leland knows how to dress; Tanya Trask makes the same time travel mistake everyone makes; and we love Al Kennedy forever.

X-PLAINED:

  • Sentry (but not that one)
  • Babies
  • Flashback
  • Cable #-1
  • Excalibur #-1
  • Generation X #-1
  • Uncanny X-Men #-1
  • The preturn of Angus McWhirter, angry hovercraft-rental guy
  • Hippie Cable
  • Veins of science
  • Yet another time travel loop
  • What may or may not be how Nightcrawler quit the circus
  • Sabu
  • “Science”
  • A large volume of dubious continuity
  • Larry Trask (more) (again)
  • Jay’s cosplay aspirations
  • Sanctity (Tanya Trask)
  • The Twelve (somewhat)
  • A possible splinter timeline
  • The X-Men of 1602
  • Rube Goldberg

NEXT EPISODE: Flashback continues!


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404 – Marvel UK, Yes?

And now for something completely different. (Death’s Head II #1)

In which Death’s Head gets around universes; AIM fails to recognize closed narrative loops; we need more huscarls in comics; time travel occasionally solves the problems it creates; and we bid a fond farewell (for now) to Al Kennedy.

X-PLAINED:

  • Death’s Head
  • Death’s Head II #1-4
  • Marvel UK
  • Death’s Head I
  • Minion
  • Earth-8410
  • The far future of 2020
  • Dr. Evelyn Necker
  • How to dress for time travel
  • Reed Richards’s mother’s name
  • Earth-12892
  • Robin Hood of Future Past
  • Heavily armed nuns
  • Tuck
  • Spratt
  • The Lord High Protector
  • Huscarls
  • Baron Strucker V
  • Charnel
  • A large number of deaths
  • A deft solution to a complex problem
  • Essential Marvel UK
  • Marvel UK vs. Marvel US
NEXT WEEK:
Go outside and touch some grass!
NEXT EPISODE:
The return of Jay!

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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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403 – Sneaky-Peeky Stuff

Did the Astral Plane used to be this cramped? (Kitty Pryde: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #3)

In which Shadowcat gets a new miniseries; people don’t talk that way (but probably should); holograms are magic; the Helicarrier gets possessed; Wolverine fights a computer; and Miles and Al pitch live-action X-series.

X-PLAINED:
  • Possession
  • Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) (more) (again)
  • Kitty Pryde: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-3
  • A surprising helicopter
  • Frictionless bed sheets
  • S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • The word “obstreperous”
  • The nefarious doings of nasty transom peekers, envelope steamers, and door kickers
  • Larry Hama dialogue
  • Rigby Fallon
  • Yet another return of Ogūn
  • One way to get from the Brooklyn Bridge to a Helicarrier
  • Yet another fight on the astral plane
  • Wolverine vs. technology
  • The intrinsic power of life, I guess
  • Visibility of psychic powers
  • Live-action X pitches
NEXT EPISODE:
Death’s Head II!

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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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402 – What the Damn?!

Captain Mustache, Part the Second. (Excalibur #115)

In which Marvel UK was a wild ride; everyone has a definitive Kitty Pryde; Sari St. Hubbins studies her X-Men; Moira MacTaggert discovers contagion theory; ideas do not stories make; Meggan is the heart of the team; and Excalibur inches towards its finale.

X-PLAINED:
  • Marvel UK
  • Digitek
  • Excalibur #114-117
  • What Excalibur’s been up to
  • Tunnels vs. sewers
  • An unexpected callback
  • Slang
  • The mutability of Kitty Pryde
  • Friendship
  • Sari St. Hubbins
  • Fashion
  • One way to get around a power inhibitor
  • A frosted tips outline
  • Viruses
  • Phalanx love
  • Greebling
  • A substantial retcon
  • Excalibur vs. the Sidri
  • Marvel characters’ musical associations
  • Whether there have been more X-Men or Avengers
NEXT EPISODE: Kitty Pryde goes to work for The Man

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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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401 – True Tales of Double-Entry Bookkeeping

And now for something completely different. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

In which Santa Claus makes problematic choices; we make good on a promise; Sebastian is the new Deadpool; Skrulls get stuck as animals more than you’d think; Nanny and Orphan-Maker celebrate; and Jubilee stops worrying and learns to love Christmas.

X-PLAINED

  • Santa Claus’s flirtations with villainy
  • A new direction for Generation X
  • Larry Hama
  • Al vs. U.S. geography
  • Generation X #32-33
  • Generation X Holiday Special
  • New Mutants #92
  • Thing One & Thing Two St. Croix
  • The Circus of Crime
  • The Pirates of Dark Water (somewhat)
  • Hacker T. Dog
  • Why Wolfsbane is scared of clowns
  • Skrull Kill Crew
  • Carnie Voltron
  • Chief Authier
  • Phat beats
  • A reality biscuit
  • Emplate’s pocket dimension
  • Chimera and Dirtnap
  • Variant interiors
  • Nanny & Orphan-Maker (more) (again)
  • Santa Claus (in general)
  • Benefits of inconsistent characterization

NEXT WEEK: Break week

NEXT EPISODE: Excalibur!


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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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400 – Loud Noises

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

In which legacy numbering is best left alone; all roads lead to the Antarctic; we finally learn Gambit’s big secret; Erik the Red gets yet a third identity; no one soils the Juggernaut; Maggott saves the day; and we have somehow made (technically more than) 400 of these things.

X-PLAINED

  • Spat
  • The tragic loss of the Cyber Comics
  • How not to back up your work
  • Uncanny X-Men #350
  • X-Men #70
  • A shambles
  • What’s been happening since Operation Zero Tolerance
  • A very fancy cover
  • Insufficient outerwear
  • Senses
  • Justice as a decorating theme
  • Baffling statuary
  • The return of Erik the Red
  • Erik the Red (again)
  • Ferris
  • Gambit’s big secret
  • A large number of continuity errors
  • A total dick move
  • De-icing
  • Untitled Marrow Game
  • A big fight
  • Living room surgery
  • Legal documents
  • Favorite anniversary issues
  • Dangling plot threads

NEXT EPISODE: Generation X vs. Christmas


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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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399 – The Cybertronic Spree

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

In which the X-Force road trip era begins; Team X takes on a new dimension; Dani Moonstar gets her subtext back; pointing out a stereotype doesn’t excuse using it; Tabitha Smith generally deserves better; platypuses are underrepresented in the superhero genre; Hell becomes Stryfe; and Domino gets back in the game.

X-PLAINED

  • A dastardly plot
  • X-Men 2099
  • Road trips
  • X-Force #71-74
  • Team X
  • Love & Rockets reference
  • Stan and Ollie
  • The Triplets of Belleville
  • How not to fund your film
  • Michael Whitecloud
  • Project Stepladder
  • Colossal Man
  • Several references to X-Force -1
  • Platypuses
  • Edwin Martynec
  • Weaponized humming
  • The death of Warpath
  • Hell
  • Blackheart
  • Friendship
  • A mysterious villain

NOTE: Whoa, The Cybertronic Spree is actually a real band!

NEXT WEEK: The return of Erik the Red!


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

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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 TeePublic shop!