In which Extraordinary X-Men finally lives up to its name; Jay and Miles accidentally wear matching shirts (but don’t bother to change); and Jay fails to come up with something exciting to put in the video-description copy.
Reviewed:
Extraordinary X-Men #9 (Pick of the week, obviously)
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. These video reviews–and everything else here–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!
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
In which continuity has its eyes on you; the multiverse is so complex that we have to drag Al Ewing out of the audience to X-plain it; the X-Men mean a lot of different (but mostly compatible) things to all of us; we will accept any retcons necessary to maintain Magneto’s history as a Holocaust survivor; and ECCC rocks our world.
X-PLAINED:
Secret Wars
Alternate universes vs. alternate timelines
Multiversal problem-solving
New Arcadia
Definitive alternate-timeline X-Men
The weird joy of reading comics out of order
That one alternate timeline where Storm has a leather jacket and is hooking up with Wolverine
The only happy Cyclops in the multiverse
What makes the X-Men the X-Men
Intersections we’d like to see explored in canon
The appeal of universe-hopping
Relative ratios of metaphors to punching
Proof of concept in comics publishing
Battleworld characters we’d like to import into the 616.1
Which X-Men should get solo series
NEXT WEEK: X-Terminators!
CORRECTION: During the panel, Jay claimed that Spider-Man had been married for their entire life. Jay was in fact five years old when Spider-Man got married. We regret the error, but maintain our stance that Spider-Man is totally married.
You can find links to all our ECCC coverage–as well as a live video of the Hamilton cold open, from the Phoenix Comics party–on our blog!
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!
Jay here! Because a handful of people have asked for them all in one place, here are the full current contents of the Cyclops Has a Good Day sketchbook, in chronological order.
(In the name of being precise about these kinds of things, I should note that these are not all of the Cyclops Has a Good Day drawings that I have–there are a good 6-10ish that are free-floating or digital–just the ones in the official sketchbook. I may add the others later, but they’re somewhat more scattered at the moment.)
In which Uncanny X-Men gets a new artist; Old Man Logan takes our breath away; All-New X-Men gives us the team-up we didn’t know we needed; and X-Men ’92 gets the villain we’ve been waiting for.
REVIEWED:
Uncanny X-Men #6 (00:59)
*Old Man Logan #4 (05:43)
All-New X-Men #8 (09:15)
X-Men ’92 #2 (12:49)
*Pick of the Week (18:26)
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. These video reviews–and everything else here–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!
We do bad X-Men drawings for $1 at cons (although we might end up raising the price, because we spent a somewhat ridiculous amount of time on these). Here’s most of what we did at ECCC, minus a few that we forgot to photograph:
Miles starts with a classic.
Cyclops Has a Good Day, by Jay. (It seems kind of unfair to commission something that’s *my* sketchbook theme–I’m used to other people having to think of these!)
Seriously, y’all, Miles will take ANY EXCUSE to draw Adam X the X-Treme.
If you ask Jay to draw Warlock, you will get a Warlock heart. Every time.
There were a lot of Colossus requests this year! Here’s Miles’s favorite.
This person wanted a shadowcat and a Magik in her zine, so we made them a matched set: Shadowcat by Jay…
…and Magik by Miles.
Jay’s attempt to capture the grandeur of ’90s Rogue’s hair fell tragically short.
Someone wanted Miles to draw the death of Nightcrawler, so, that happened.
What happens when Jay gets tired of coloring in AoA Colossus.
Miles is all about the really sharp dudes; in this case, Stryfe.
Jay REALLY ENJOYS drawing Shadowcat with swoopy Alan Davis hair.
Miles takes a stab at Inferno Colossus.
Jay drew a Warlock that is a heart that is also a bookplate. Your argument is invalid.
David drew a lot of really beautiful sketches and commissions, but for some reason, this is the only one we actually have a photo of:
And here are the newest additions to Jay’s Cyclops Has a Good Day sketchbook (the downside of working shows = very little time to run around and get commissions and sketches, alas!):
Cully Hamner
David Wynne (who has actually drawn more of these than anyone else, but also had never previously been on the same continent as the sketchbook proper! Someday I will do an all-David Cyclops Has a Good Day gallery.)
Scott Koblish
Tea Berryblue
Jessi Jordan (who was also our marvelous table neighbor!)
Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.
In which Brett White joins us for a look at the current state of the X-line; Dennis Hopeless helps shed some light on a persistent mystery; Brett has a lot of feelings about the Dark Riders; All-New Wolverine is our everything; All-New X-Men is the new New Mutants; X-Men ’92 is the prize at the bottom of the continuity cereal box; we speculate on potential fatalities in the upcoming Death of X; and everything is probably going to be more or less okay.
X-PLAINED:
Why everyone is mad at Cyclops
The Noodle Incident
How we variously define X-titles
The current state of the X-line
The 8-Month Gap
Secret Wars
Earth 616.1
Extraordinary X-Men (Current series)
Uncanny X-Men (Current series)
All-New Wolverine
Old Man Logan (Current series)
All-New X-Men (Current series)
X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever
X-Men ’92 (Current series)
The Dark Riders
Being personally invested in characters you don’t own
Favorite formats
The mystic end of the X-Men cinematic universe
Mysteries and mysteries
NEXT WEEK: Continuity Has Its Eyes on You: Live from ECCC with Kris Anka, Al Ewing, Scott Koblish, and G. Willow Wilson!
EDITED: NOODLE INCIDENT SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. We’ll be announcing the winners sometime between 4/18 and 4/22. Thank you to everyone who participated!!!
You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!
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!
Jay here! It’s 1:30 AM, I’m scrambling to get Episode 104 up, and I’m dead on my feet, so I’m gonna keep this one pretty cursory.
Four days is a lot of convention. I know there are shows where it’s standard, but we really, really felt the extra day today.
I don’t even know.
I’m really tired, y’all.
Some stuff happened?
OH! There was some really great cosplay.
And we did a bunch of sketches and forgot to take pictures of most of them.
The end of a con is always pretty bittersweet. We’re exhausted and very ready to be home, but we also had an amazing time and saw (and made!) a lot of very dear friends who we will now miss dreadfully!
Speaking of which, we have to send David back to the UK tomorrow, and that sucks, because he’s awesome. Someone invent safe and affordable teleportation now, please.
Ooh, maybe I should do a con highlights list! Yeah, I’m gonna do that.
ECCC 2016 HIGHLIGHTS:
MEETING YOU! We know our listeners are awesome, but, man, nothing drives that point home like meeting you in person. You are universally delightful. One of you brought Miles beer.
Meeting creators! Scott Koblish is a national treasure, y’all. Also, apparently a lot of people whose work we really, really love listen to the show; which is both awesome and intimidating as hell.
Seeing old friends and meeting new. Man, we’re going to miss you so much.
THE LIVE SHOW. Oh. My. God.
The Hamilton cold open actually gets its own list item, because I am incredibly proud of that ridiculousness, and because Scott Koblish is–again–a national treasure; because he not only dove headfirst into that ridiculousness, but did it again the next night at our birthday party while standing on a chair.
SPEAKING OF WHICH, our 2nd birthday party was so damn fun. Phoenix comics was amazing! You were amazing! The cake was amazing! Going to a bar and sitting down and eating non-cake afterwards and talking until stupid o’clock was amazing!
Okay, look, this is my favorite show. (Sorry, RCCC: you’re lovely and our hometown con, but ECCC got a seven-year head start working its way into my heart.) I know the people who run it. I know a ton of people who go. I know the city, and I have a great place to crash, and basically I love ECCC and I love all of you and this has been a nonstop-amazing four days. Thank you. So much.
I’m going to borrow some words from David, who’s already said it far better than I can at this point: “All in all, ECCC has been an amazingly fun adventure full of life affirming positivity. I keep wanting to do a (series of) tweet(s) acknowledging all the great people I’ve met this weekend, but there are just too many. I would inevitably forget someone, so it’s better if I don’t do it. Just know: if I spent time with you, I’m glad I did, you are awesome.”
AND HERE ARE A FEW PHOTOGRAPHS FROM TODAY:
LOOK AT THESE PUNK X-MEN LOOK HOW AWESOME THEY ARE
Someone wanted me to draw a Warlock book plate in their X-Men sketchbook. (You can only see a corner of it in this photo, but the sketch on the facing page is gorgeous X-Factor Cyclops by Ibrahim Moustafa.)Remember Tea, that terrific Namor from earlier in the show? Today she was dressed up as Little Marvels AvX Cyclops, complete with a Bucky Bear!The nice folks at We Love Fine gave me a magnetic Goat Simulator goat, which I have spent the evening gleefully attaching to every metal or metal-studded object I could find–including David, who was still wearing his con badge under his jacket.
(We didn’t try any new Lush stuff today. Also, I think we accidentally left a bunch of it back in Portland. Maybe I’ll fold the rest into the roundups of cosplay and sketches later this week…)
Jay here. It’s a little after 1 AM, and I have to be back on the con floor in about eight hours, so this is gonna be short.
Today started with the always-fantastic “Taking Fandom Seriously” panel. This is the second year Andréa has put this panel together, and it’s incredibly fun: a group of hardcore fans who also work in comics–in creative or publishing capacities, or as a field of academic study–talking about bridging and occupying those worlds simultaneously. The take-away both years has basically been “there are so many cool ways to engage with things you love.” <3
The bookend on the other end was our meetup / second birthday party at Phoenix Comics. You turned out like whoa, we reprised the Hamilton cold open from the live panel yesterday, and I GOT A COMICS SHOP FULL OF PEOPLE TO SING THE X-MEN ’92 THEME SONG TOGETHER, which was something I did not even realize had been a life goal until it had happened. And then there was SO MUCH CAKE. (For the folks who asked: the cake came from Little Rae’s Bakery, and they were awesome to work with.)
If there’s anything the party drove home, it’s how awesome our people are: the listeners who turned out, our stupendously wonderful hosts, all the friends and fans and pros and–look, I’m tired and slightly tipsy, but I’m getting kinda teary just writing this. You are amazing, and seeing y’all concentrated in one place, celebrating and being splendid, was a pretty damn special way to close out the night.
(Actually, we closed out the night by migrating to a nearby bar and getting fancy Scotch and absolutely brilliant breaded-tofu sandwiches. I realize that doesn’t sound very appetizing, but trust me: they were stupendous.)
PHOTOS AHOY:
On my way back from the panel, I picked up a Monster Scouts “Wicked Specs” merit badge. (And then I colored ’em in with a red sharpie. Is anyone surprised? Yeah, I didn’t think so.)The sharpie kinda bled, but I’ve decided I can No-Prize that away as energy spillover.Speaking of sharpies, I’m really happy with the L in this knuckle tat, for my friend Ryan. (It’s a reference to his game Katanas and Trenchcoats.)People kept telling me about the X-Men dogs, but I only saw them in passing until today. In addition to being ridiculously adorable, they are also super chill and friendly.We did a BUNCH of bad X-Men sketches, but this matched set, in someone’s zine, are my favorites of the day: My Shadowcat……and Miles’s Magik.Allison, as our Sunglasses fairy, at the party!CAKE!With Nick and Simon, our awesome hosts at Phoenix Comics!Lush stuff I tried today: The Hand of Friendship soap smells a LOT like cherry Starbursts; and the Cynthia Sylvia Stout shampoo + Veganese conditioner combo left my hair ludicrously soft and smelled pretty great.
