Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Jasper and Kestrel X-Plain the X-Men

Best fan video ever?

Best. Fan. Video. Ever.

We’ve written a bit about Jasper and Kestrel (they switched names for the video, for reasons that remain a mystery) over here. They belong to our very good friends Katie and Dave, and they’re pretty much the best kids ever. They’re also super into X-Men: we’re already counting the days until they’re old enough to take over the podcast.

As for the origins of the video, Katie writes:

Jasper and Kestrel have listened to the podcast in bits and pieces (they don’t have the attention span for the whole thing). Every morning this week we’ve put on music, mostly a Tune-Yards album, over breakfast– but today they asked if they could learn about the X-Men instead. Sure! As I went to put it on, I asked them if they thought they could do a show like your show.

“Yes, but at a different age than now,” said Kes.

“How do they even know so much?” asked Jasper. So we talked about how one way to know a lot about a thing is to read it from when you were a little kid, but that you guys also had to study and do research (what’s that?) to make the show. Kestrel said that she was gonna learn all about the X-Men for when she was bigger.

I put on the show, and they listened to the first few minutes of Ep 3. After the cold open & intro, Jasper asked me to stop it, and then we started playing with saying the lines to introduce the show. They asked me to make a video explicitly to send to you & M “because it would make them laugh so so much.” So. That happened.

ETA: It occurs to me that there are enough parents of young X-fans here that it might be worth setting up an open thread or something for discussion/resource pooling. Is that something people would find useful?

Rachel and Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 20

Week of January 7, 2015

In which we hit our 20th round of video reviews, G. Willow Wilson rocks X-Men, and we kind of fixate on a guy with some birds.

Reviewed:

  • *Storm #7 (00:46)
  • Death of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program #5 (3:04)
  • All-New X-Factor #19 (5:10)
  • Wolverines #1 (7:37)
  • X-Men #23 (9:51)

*Pick of the Week (14:22)


These video reviews are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Welcome, Entertainment Weekly Readers!

Art by Chris Haley
Art by Chris Haley

(There’s a “hope you survive the experience” joke in here somewhere…)

We are honored and slightly intimidated to have found ourselves on Entertainment Weekly‘s list of 20 Podcasts You Need to Hear in 2015!

If you’re new to the podcast: It’s exactly what it says on the tin. We are Rachel and Miles. We explain the X-Men, in very roughly chronological order, sometimes with the help of folks responsible for them.

For a good general introduction to who we are and what we do, we’d recommend listening to the episode Giant-Size Special #1, which covers a stand-alone story (the graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills), along with a lot of bonus material (and significantly more navelgazing than usual).

We also do weekly video reviews of current X-books, which you can find here.

Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is listener supported and ad-free. If you want to join the ranks of the rad people who make it possible for us to keep making stuff, you can do that over at Patreon!

Other varyingly relevant links:

January 2015 Shirt of the Month: LILA CHENEY!

Art by David Wynne
Art by David Wynne

Did you see David Wynne’s sweet, sweet Lila Cheney gig poster from Episode 36? Was your immediate response–like ours–“Damn, I wish I could wrap that around my torso”?

YOUR WAIT IS OVER!

Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.41.24 AM

As the name implies, this is a LIMITED RUN: T-shirts (including kids’ and infant sizes!) will be up in the shop through February 5, 2015 (after this, switches’ll happen on the first of any given month, but we’re posting this one a little late, so), then DISAPPEAR FROM THE SHOP FOREVER. (Posters and stickers may persist, depending on interest. We’ll see.)

T-shirts of the month are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

As Mentioned in Episode 38 – Welcome to Murderworld

Listen to the episode here!



Places Where You can Find Chris Sims on the Internets:

38 – Welcome to Murderworld (Feat. Chris Sims)

Art by David Wynne. Prints and travel mugs available until 1/11/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints and travel mugs available until 1/11/2015 in the shop, or contact David for the original.

In which we welcome back Emergency Backup Co-Host Chris Sims; comics writers are basically supervillains; Cyclops is not here to have fun; Spider-Man flirts with objectivism; Murderworld is probably not financially sustainable; you should totally cosplay the Proletarian; Arcade may or may not secretly be the Archie Andrews of Earth-616; and Doctor Doom remains absolutely delightful.

X-Plained

  • Captain Britain
  • Arcade
  • Francisco Scaramanga
  • The vastly inferior Arcade of Earth-1610
  • Uncanny X-Men #123-124, 146-147, 197
  • Chris’s first X-Men
  • A really sweet truck
  • Spider-Man’s brief flirtation with objectivism
  • What the X-Men do on their night off
  • Hella nipples
  • Murderworld
  • Miss Locke
  • Mr. Chambers
  • Marvel comics in the Marvel Universe
  • A large number of elaborate deathtraps
  • Soviet Nick Fury
  • The Proletarian
  • Hostage-wrapping
  • Phil and Tobe
  • One way to celebrate your birthday
  • Avengers Arena
  • Miss Coriander
  • The best non-X Arcade stories
  • The end of Axis Sixis
  • Arcade at the Arcade

NEXT WEEK: Cloak and Dagger!


You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Support us on Patreon!

Buy prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

Happy New Year!

OH, MY GOD, LEE MOYER AND ZACH FISCHER, HOW ARE YOU EVEN REAL?

lee_x-tras

Lee–who is also the genius behindlast week’s Erik the Red-Nosed Reindeer–even sent solicitation copy to go with the art:

Janet! Harvey! Elsie Carson! Peter Corbeau! And…. Erik the Red!

Also? Michael Rossi, who’s kind of a dick. But maybe he’ll be killed in the second issue.

P.S. No new X-books this week means no video reviews, but the new podcast episode will be up on Sunday, per usual! Happy New Year!

The 2014 Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence in X-Cellence (and Coloring Contest)

corbeau

While the Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence in X-Cellence* officially made their debut in last week’s Giant-Size Special, we wanted to take a moment to revisit them: the X-books, creators, and concepts that rocked our year.

Also, there is a coloring contest.

If your name–or a project to which you contributed–appears on the list below,** and you would like an actual, physical Corbeau Award to hang on your wall, please drop us a line, and we will make and mail you one. It will be beautiful and classy as hell, it will definitely involve some glitter glue.


And so, without further ado, it is out great pleasure to present:

THE 2014 SUPER DOCTOR ASTRONAUT PETER CORBEAU AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN X-CELLENCE!

  • Best X-Writer – Brian Michael Bendis, for Uncanny X-MenAll-New X-Men, and general line architecture
  • Best X-Artist – Kris Anka, for Uncanny X-Men and general visual and costuming impact
  • Best X-Colorist – Chris Sotomayor, for Cyclops
  • Best X-Letterer (Now and Forever) – Tom Orzechowski, for everything ever forever
  • Jean Grey Award for Creative Resurrection – Nightcrawler (Amazing X-Men)
  • Best New Character – Forget-Me-Not (X-Men Legacy #300)
  • Best Complete ArcCyclops #1-5, by Greg Rucka, Russell Dauterman, Chris Sotomayor, Carmen Carnero, et. al.
  • Best Soap OperaAll-New X-Men, by Brian Michael Bendis et. al.
  • Silver Lining Award – Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #4, by Marguerite Bennett, Juan Doe, et. al.
  • Golden Retcon – X-Men: Days of Future Past
  • Irene Adler Award for Most Anticipated Future Run – G. Willow Wilson onX-Men
  • About Damn Time – Storm, by Greg Pak et. al.
  • Cyclops Has a Good Day AwardWolverine and the X-Men #40, by Jason Aaron, Pepe Larraz, et. al.
  • Best Listeners of Any Podcast Ever – YOU**

CLASSIC CORBEAUS (for older X-material covered in the podcast during 2014)

  • Harvey and Janet Award for Best Walk-On – The staff and guests of the Heartbreak Hotel
  • Lost Treasure – Beauty and the Beast, by Ann Nocenti, Don Perlin, et. al.
  • Sure, Why Not? – The Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep
  • Still the Best Issue After All These YearsUncanny X-Men vol. 1 #137

*Did you know you can just straight-up make up your own awards and give them to whomever you want? The Internet is awesome, y’all.


**LOOK! IT’S A COLORING CONTEST!

Listeners, while we love you dearly, we do not love you quite enough to make and mail all roughly ten-thousand of you your own Corbeaus. If you want a Corbeau of your very own, you’ve got two options:

1) Make your own, using the art below. We officially certify that it will be official and the Real Deal, and if anyone challenges you on that, we will glare meaningfully in their direction.

2) Show us your coloring skills. That’s right. It’s a CORBEAU COLORING CONTEST. Color the following image using in any medium you want: digital art, crayons, spray-painted macaroni–the sky is the limit. E-mail us a picture of your work at xplainthexmen(at)gmail(dot)com, with the subject line CORBEAU COLORING CONTEST, by January 14 January 21. The listener whose Corbeau comes closest to the transcendent perfection of its namesake will receive a physical Corbeau–glitter glue and all–to hoard privately or share with their remaining nine-thousand-odd peers at their discretion.

corbeau

 

Alternately, Rachel made this in Blingee. Use it as you see fit:

corbeau_blingee

As Mentioned in Episode 37 – Giant-Size Special #1

Listen to the episode here!



THE 2014 SUPER DOCTOR ASTRONAUT PETER CORBEAU AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN X-CELLENCE

corbeau

  • Best X-Writer – Brian Michael Bendis, for Uncanny X-MenAll-New X-Men, and general line architecture
  • Best X-Artist – Kris Anka, for Uncanny X-Men and general visual and costuming impact
  • Best X-Colorist – Chris Sotomayor, for Cyclops
  • Best X-Letterer (Now and Forever) – Tom Orzechowski, for everything ever forever
  • Jean Grey Award for Creative Resurrection – Nightcrawler (Amazing X-Men)
  • Best New Character – Forget-Me-Not (X-Men Legacy #300)
  • Best Complete ArcCyclops #1-5, by Greg Rucka, Russell Dauterman, Chris Sotomayor, Carmen Carnero, et. al.
  • Best Soap OperaAll-New X-Men, by Brian Michael Bendis et. al.
  • Silver Lining Award – Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #4, by Marguerite Bennett, Juan Doe, et. al.
  • Golden Retcon – X-Men: Days of Future Past
  • Irene Adler Award for Most Anticipated Future Run – G. Willow Wilson on X-Men
  • About Damn Time – Storm, by Greg Pak et. al.
  • Cyclops Has a Good Day AwardWolverine and the X-Men #40, by Jason Aaron, Pepe Larraz, et. al.
  • Best Listeners of Any Podcast Ever – YOU*

*Details of the Corbeau Coloring Contest will go up on Monday, because Rachel’s parents are visiting this weekend. We appreciate your patience.

 

CLASSIC CORBEAUS (for older X-material covered in the podcast during 2014)

  • Harvey and Janet Award for Best Walk-On – The staff and guests of the Heartbreak Hotel
  • Lost Treasure – Beauty and the Beast, by Ann Nocenti, Don Perlin, et. al.
  • Sure, Why Not? – The Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep
  • Still the Best Issue After All These YearsUncanny X-Men vol. 1 #137

LINKS AND ADDITIONAL READING

37 – Giant-Size Special #1

Art by David Wynne. Prints available until 1/15 in the shop, or contact David for the original.
Art by David Wynne. Prints available until 1/15 in the shop, or contact David for the original.

In which we launch our first-ever giant-size special; God Loves, Man Kills is the definitive X-Men story; Bobby makes his R&MXtXM on-air debut; we repopulate the world with X-writers; Rachel is really excited about x-plaining X-Cutioner’s Song; Miles takes a strong stance on Wolverine’s mask; we award some awards; and it’s all your fault.

 

X-Plained

  • God Loves, Man Kills (Marvel Graphic Novel #5)
  • William Stryker
  • An inappropriate analogy
  • Keeping it interesting
  • Favorite episodes
  • Bridging the fan/critic divide
  • Our ongoing obsession with bit characters
  • The challenge of keeping Charles Xavier relevant
  • X-Planation Curation
  • Several stories we’re really looking forward to covering
  • X-Writers on a desert island
  • Internet fights
  • Favorite stories vs. best stories
  • Stupid hats of the Marvel Universe
  • Dr. Doom as Tim Gunn
  • Havok vs. ceiling fans
  • Educational standards of the Marvel Universe
  • The First Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence in X-Cellence

NEXT WEEK: Rachel and Chris Sims X-Plain Arcade

CORRECTION: In this episode, Rachel claims that there is only one Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau in the Marvel Multiverse. This is patently untrue. There are numerous versions of Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau in the Marvel Multiverse, who may or may not be able to combine Voltron-style into a giant Corbeau Singularity.


You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Support us on Patreon!

Buy prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!