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Tag Archive for Captain Britain

As Mentioned in Episode 215 – Mon de Orb Uno

September 23, 2018 As Mentioned, As Mentioned 2 comments

Listen to the episode here!

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

While this cover may be the first story page, it still follows the general rule of Excalibur covers: It’s funny when bad things happen to Captain Britain. (Excalibur #55)

Aw, they look so fancy! (Excalibur #55)

Alan Davis hair: expressive AND extra! (Excalibur #55)

HIS FOOT POPPED. (Excalibur #55)

Remember this plot thread? Alan Davis does. Alan Davis remembers EVERY plot thread. It is his blessing and his curse. (Excalibur #55)

Speaking of threads… (Excalibur #55)

This is both an excellent disguise and a quality Cross-Time Caper callback. (Excalibur #56)

Oof. (Excalibur #56)

This party is the worst. (Excalibur #56)

Captain Britain X-Plains the Plot. (Excalibur #56)

(There’s a lot of plot.)(Excalibur #56)

On one hand, Sat-Yr-9 is very evil. On the other hand, this is still very satisfying. (Excalibur #56)

Meggan is so badass. (Excalibur #56)

There’s a Monty Python sketch about this. (Excalibur #56)

“Next, you eat the banana, thus disarming him!” (Excalibur #56)

Too little, too late, Nick. (Excalibur #56)

Remember this kid? ALAN DAVIS DOES! (Excalibur #57)

KITTY, NO. (Excalibur #57)

Cyclops X-Plains X-Factor #41-42. (Excalibur #57)

(And so forth.) (Excalibur #57)

I don’t know why this is a thing. It doesn’t actually impact the story in any significant way. (Excalibur #57)

GAMBIT, NO. (Excalibur #57)

These jerks, again. (Excalibur #58)

This is a ruse, except for the part about Cyclops’s secret boot radio, because Cyclops is a nerd. (Excalibur #58)

I really, really want to know more about Margaret. (Excalibur #58)

TEAM-UP! (Excalibur #58)

Amazing what they cover in undergrad chemistry programs these days. (Excalibur #58)

JUST USE THE PHONE YOU RIDICULOUS PEOPLE (Excalibur #58)

And they all lived happily ever after! (Excalibur #58)

NEXT EPISODE: X-Factor vs. therapy, with guest X-Pert Dr. Andrea Letamendi!

LINKS & FURTHER MISADVENTURES

You can hear all about Tom and the trolls’ first encounter in Episode 118 – Extrude the Grappling Arms!
Here is one way to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana.
The Brussels Sewer Museum is super cool, and if you get the chance, you should absolutely check it out.

215 – Mon de Orb Uno

September 23, 2018 podcasts 11 comments

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

In which we finally emerge from the other side of X-Cutioner’s Song; rich people are different from us; Brian Braddock is probably not comfortable with menstruation; Dai Thomas cleans up pretty well; someone FINALLY remembers Sat-Yr-9; Psylocke knows how to defend herself from a man armed with a banana; the (non-Internet) trolls return; and we are fairly sure that Gambit does not actually speak French.

X-PLAINED:

Winzeldorf
Excalibur (so far)
Excalibur #55-58
Lip massage
The death of Alysande Stuart
A banana fight
Alchemy (again)
Many trolls
A fairly joyous reunion
The Brussels Sewer Museum
A fake heel turn
Our hopes and worries for the New Mutants movie
Comics covers

NEXT EPISODE: X-Factor vs. Therapy, with Guest X-Pert Dr. Andrea Letamendi!

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

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)

As Mentioned in Episode 206 – Anatomy of a Phoenix

July 22, 2018 As Mentioned, As Mentioned One comment

Listen to the episode here!

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

Tuesday, basically. (Excalibur #51)

Meet the Excalibur of Earth-99476! (Excalibur #51)

This Sauron’s opinions on jorts are never canonically established, but I think we all know. (Excalibur #51)

I see what you did there, Davis. (Excalibur #51)

Ka-Zar, Lord of the Savage Land! (Excalibur #51)

The Fantastic Five! (Excalibur #51)

There is definitely an alternate universe that is the same as 616 in every way except that Dai Thomas ended this call by yelling, “The Aristocrats!” (Excalibur #51)

It’s true. I will pretty much always pay to watch the X-Men beat up Professor X. (Excalibur #52)

You know it’s an illusion because none of them is wearing a plaid suit. (Excalibur #52)

Several aspects of Rachel’s backstory as presented in this issue will be retconned away, but this is the most significant of those. (Excalibur #52)

WELL THAT EXPLAINS A THING OR TWO (Excalibur #52)

And then they went to space. For like a year. (Excalibur #52)

That’s our Brian! (Excalibur #54)

Spoiler: Kitty is cutting off his cast and it’s itchy. (Excalibur #54)

That’s our Brian! (Excalibur #54)

Oh, man, can you imagine Meggan at Disney World? I bet she has THE MOST fun and also gets asked to leave very quickly. (Excalibur #54)

It seems kind of ridiculous that he jumps straight to “must be an illusion” after everything he’s seen, but… That’s our Brian! (Excalibur #54)

I love the Crazy Gang and very much want them to be happy. (Excalibur #54)

The best kind of twist ending! (Excalibur #54)

The mystery deepens and gets even cooler-looking. (Excalibur #54)

As promised, here is a photograph of two-year-old Jay dressed as a compsognathus.

NEXT EPISODE: Cable: Blood and Metal!

LINKS & ADDITIONAL FUN:

You should all come hang out with us at FlameCon!
All lizards are good lizards, but this Savannah Monitor is especially excellent.
Check out the Mr. & Mrs. X preview pages.
Our Lila Cheney Live t-shirt is a staple for any well-dressed denizens of the multiverse.
Wanna hang out online with a bunch of really nice X-Men fans? Join the X-Plain the X-Men Discord!
We’ve talked a lot about the Phoenix on this podcast, but here’s where we covered some particularly significant chapters in its history:
- We covered the Dark Phoenix Saga in Episode 12 – Inner Circle Jerk and Episode 13 – Last Stand on the Moon.
- You can learn more about Rachel Summers’s history with the Phoenix in Episode 60 – Rachel Summers and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

206 – Anatomy of a Phoenix

July 22, 2018 podcasts 14 comments

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

In which you should all come see us at FlameCon; all lizards are good lizards; we recap a recap; the Phoenix force is really complicated; Earth-99476 may or may not be the secret history of Earth-616; Alan Davis takes on continuity; the X-Men fail to save the day; the Phoenix says its piece; Rachel takes a vacation in space; Captain Britain doesn’t like to be psychoanalyzed; and the Crazy Gang gets a happy ending.

X-PLAINED:

Evil Shadowcats
Jay & Miles at FlameCon
Excalibur #51, 52, and 54
A brief history of Excalibur
The Phoenix Force
A recap of a recap
What this episode isn’t covering
Lizard Excalibur
The most meta t-shirt in the multiverse
Several long-ago Halloween costumes
Dinosaurs of Earths-616 and -99476
National Lampoon Vacation apocrypha
Earth-99476 and its Savage Land
The Fantastic Five
A vow of vengeance
Feron as an antecedent to Kubark
Alan Davis’s modern authorial counterpart
A telepathic journey
The full history of the Phoenix Force (as established circa 1991)
Inherited vs. inherent mutant powers (and a No-Prize explanation thereof)
The rehabilitation of Rachel Summers
Several retcons yet to come
Jean Grey’s inconsistent relationship to the Phoenix Force
A mysterious disappearance
What the Crazy Gang has been up to
The nicest kind of twist
A very easy way to make Kitty Pryde textually queer
Differentiating X-teams
The X-Plain Discord
Strong Guy’s new hobby

NEXT EPISODE: Cable: Blood & Metal

UPDATE: Not only can birds see color, but they can see a wider spectrum than humans. THE MORE YOU KNOW!

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

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)

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

May 20, 2018 As Mentioned, As Mentioned 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.

198 – How to Destroy the Universe Without Really Trying

May 20, 2018 podcasts 38 comments

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

In which Excalibur goes 16-bit platformer; Alysande gets new threads; Shadowcat should probably just change her code name to Ripley; Captain Britain may or may not destroy the universe; Doctor Doom tries his hand at human resources; Excalibur is at home with weirdness; and no lizard needs breasts.

X-PLAINED:

Invisible Boy
Human heralds of Galactus
Excalibur Special Editions
Excalibur: Air Apparent
Excalibur: XX Crossing
Dr. Jonothon Cayre
Norm the LMD
Lava pits of Scotland
Some dubious herpetology
Eric the Cyborg (Coldblood-7)
Robert Cop
Special Man
Air-Walker and/or Gabriel Lam
A cosmic explosion
Captain Britain’s extra costume
Sidestep
An exceptionally awkward job interview
A counterintuitive plan
The other time-displaced X-Men
The best version of Angel
Angel’s third-greatest nemesis
Gladiator Hank
A very fancy vest
The best Excalibur Special Edition
The Phalanx vs. the Technarchy
Warlock vs. gender
Our thoughts on Avengers: Infinity War

Note: according to the letter column from Excalibur #54, at least some of the art credits for Excalibur: XX Crossing were incorrect, so some of our descriptions of who drew what in this episode are wrong. See the comments below for more information!

NEXT EPISODE: Shattershot!

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

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)

196 – The Power Is Yours

May 6, 2018 podcasts 17 comments

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

In which space bugs break time; you may already be a member of Excalibur; Earth-616 remains somewhat baffled by basic telecommunications technology; you should absolutely not order monkeys from an ad in a comic book; Widget gets a new look; Excalibur gets a new logo; Merlin X-Plains everything; and Rachel gets in touch with her roots.

X-PLAINED:

The Timebroker
Excalibur #48-50
What “fair use” doesn’t mean
Penis bones, revisited
Feron
Prophylactic levitation
Several inaccurate flashbacks
Someone who is neither a Nazi nor Charles Xavier
Necrom (again)
The art of heroic exposition
Monastic population maintenance
Mail-order monkeys
Widget’s new look
Kylun’s mutant power
Several alternate Excaliburs
The True Secret Purpose of Excalibur
The new Excalibur logo
Fighting weird with weird
A whole lot of history
Phoenix vs. Anti-Phoenix
Some very epic thwarting
The end of an era
Alan Davis’s Excalibur
How we work alternate timelines into coverage
Bishop and Deathbird as a couple

NEXT EPISODE: Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure and Bloody Choices!

UPDATE: 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?

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

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)

As Mentioned in Episode 192 – Meet the N-Men

April 8, 2018 As Mentioned, As Mentioned No comments

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.

192 – Meet the N-Men

April 8, 2018 podcasts 17 comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSS

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

In which Alan Davis’s Excalibur is a spiritual sibling to The Muppet Show; Captain Britain gets a Captain Britain lesson; Opal Luna Saturnyne has no time for your nonsense; Meggan and Rachel take a brief detour into a Hammer film; Earth-148 is extra heroic; no member of Excalibur will ever use a bathroom in peace; Cerise joins the team; Technet embraces the future; and the end of the world is nigh.

X-PLAINED:

Pixie’s powers and parentage
Several eccentricities of Jay’s apartment
Excalibur #45-47
Earth-148 (Ee’rath)
Comics pacing vs. podcast pacing
Technet (more) (again)
Amelia Witherspoon and several references related thereto
The N-Men
How to Captain Britain
The multiversal significance of the lighthouse
A portentous chess game
A particularly aggressive retcon
The return of the Neuri
The real Meggan
Necrom
A heroic death
The true curse of Excalibur
Some very specific citations
A reunion
Kylun (Colin McKay)
A blessed event
Cerise
Whether Rogue can control Cyclops’s powers
Laura Kinney’s upcoming reversion to X-23

NEXT EPISODE: Bishop joins the X-Men!

ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT UPDATE: The wall on which Jay was attempting to mount a desk turned out to be plaster over sheetrock. Office plans are being revised accordingly.

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

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

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!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)