Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

454 – X-Men ’97, Part 2

SPOILER WARNING: ALL OF THEM, NONSTOP

In which Barry Windsor-Smith is too sexy for television; we know what happens when unstable molecules get struck by lightning; X-Men gets political and does it spectacularly; this Captain America would not sew the cape; Magneto continues to throw things into space; and they kissed and we missed it.

X-PLAINED:

  • Fabian Cortez’s name
  • X-Men ’97 episodes 6-10
  • Lifedeath I & II: a surprising adaptation
  • Varying levels of going in blind
  • A somewhat different and possibly better Forge
  • The Adversary vs. the Owl Queen
  • Stormiest and least-Stormy costumes
  • Professor Charles Xavier, Official Space Boyfriend
  • Colonialism vs. Identity
  • Delayed catharsis
  • The narrative power of altered opening credits
  • What makes allyship effective (and not)
  • Justified mutant anger
  • The worst version of Nina DaCosta
  • What makes Prime Sentinels scary
  • Summers family feels
  • The best damned fight scenes out there
  • Bastion, robo-avatar of conservative white patriarchy
  • Simultaneous crossovers
  • A psychic gay bar
  • A last boss arena
  • Acolyte equivalencies
  • Phoenix Ex Machina
  • Crying
  • Whether Magneto was right
  • Apoca-futures and Apoca-pasts
  • A bulletin board and our hopes for its contents
  • Soft Serve
  • Kitty Pryde’s coffee shop AU
  • X-Men ’97 as the perfect gateway

NEXT EPISODE: Skrulls!


LINKS AND FURTHER READING:


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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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453 – X-Men ’97, Part 1

SPOILER WARNING: ALL OF THEM, NONSTOP

In which we put the comics on hold to take a look at X-Men ’97; it is still always Inferno in here; Wolverine is best used sparingly; a Marvel show finally embraces politics; Wolverine is best in small doses; Madeylne Pryor still always deserves better; Jubilee grows up; and we are all in on this series.

X-PLAINED:

  • “Beyond Good and Evil”
  • X-Men: The Animated Series and our respective feelings about it
  • X-Men ’97, episodes 1-5
  • Watching X-Men ’97 with and without context
  • Making animated Cyclops work
  • The Magneto’s-hair-length morality index
  • Politics
  • Voices
  • Adaptation pacing
  • Agency
  • Abcissa
  • Foreshadowing
  • Time compression
  • Horniest Rogue
  • Death in cartoons
  • A metaphor
  • Nonbinary identity in 1997
  • Character evolution

NEXT EPISODE: Episodes 6-10


No visual companion this week!

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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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As Mentioned in Episode 450 – Live at the Clinton Street Theater

Listen to the episode here.



LINKS & FURTHER NONSENSE

450 – Live at the Clinton Street Theater

In which we celebrate our tenth anniversary by X-Plaining what may be the most reviled X-arc; you should not try this at home; Mystique is so much better than this story; Azazel is a really boring devil; Nightcrawler should probably be missing a hand; the Xavier School definitely does not have an HR department; and we would prefer that you not pee on Iceman.

X-PLAINED:

  • Nightcrawler’s (most recent) parentage
  • Uncanny X-Men #428-434
  • X-Men Blue: Origins #1
  • The X-Men, like, in general
  • Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner)
  • Some narrative choices
  • Mystique
  • Baron Christian Wagner
  • Marvel Europe
  • Azazel
  • Church sex
  • Nightstreaker
  • Isla des Demonas
  • Foibles of Warren Kenneth Worthington III
  • Annie and Carter Ghazikhanian
  • Abyss
  • Kiwi Black
  • The Cheyarafim and Neyaphem
  • Bad times with psychic therapy
  • Post-traumatic supervillainy
  • Uncool Hell
  • A miracle of magnetism
  • The only cool thing in Uncool Hell
  • A very elegant retcon
  • X-Muppets
  • Characters who deserve more page space
  • Miles’s favorite X-Person
  • What the Worthington Corporation does
  • A character who could reasonably be Azazel’s kid

NEXT EPISODE: Back to X-business as usual!


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As Mentioned in Episode 447 – Minor Altercation of the Mutants

Listen to the episode here.


447 – Minor Altercation of the Mutants

In which everything is an event these days; Skin may or may not have a skeleton; everyone has a crush on Synch; we are intrigued by Integer; and it’s hard to be Emma Frost.

X-PLAINED:

  • War of the Mutants
  • Generation X #50
  • X-Man #50
  • Nate Grey (again)
  • Adrienne Frost
  • Science
  • Dark Beast (again)
  • Gene Nation
  • Vessel
  • Hemingway
  • Membrain
  • Fever Pitch
  • Dark Opsidian
  • Iron Maiden
  • Wynter
  • Tattoos
  • More science
  • Integer
  • Trauma
  • Multiversal designations
  • The Morlock Tunnels

NEXT EPISODE: X-Force vs the New Hellions


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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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As Mentioned in Episode 441 – Dracu-tastic

Listen to the episode here.



LINKS AND FURTHER READING

  • We talked about Dracula here and here!
  • Wet Leg probably met Dracula too.

441 – Dracu-tastic

In which Banshee should eat the rich; the real Monet is way more of a jerk than the fake one; the Marvel Universe is the world inside your brain-case; Maggott joins and quits Generation X at almost the speed of Sunfire; Dracula gives Chamber the D; and if Jay and Miles die in this episode, they die in real life.

X-PLAINED:

  • Dracula as a universal standard
  • Earth-441
  • Generation X #48-49
  • The missed potential of 13,000-year-old teenager Gaia
  • The Jay Faerber run of Generation X
  • Emma and Banshee’s forgotten X-friendship
  • That time that Moira ripped off Banshee’s skin and wore it like a Halloween costume (again)
  • Cordelia Frost, Emma’s younger sister
  • Adrienne Frost, Emma’s older sister
  • Interpersonal arguments by way of Asgardian combat scenarios
  • Jubilee, fox; versus M, scorpion
  • Alaska, moping capital of the Marvel Universe
  • Clever scene transitions
  • Constantine Francis Slaughter IV and his mustache
  • Puberty as body horror
  • Husk’s breakup haircut
  • Slug emulation
  • Generation X / Dracula Annual 1998
  • The Council of Cross-Time Draculas
  • Chamber’s goofy face
  • Vampire fonts
  • Jubilee’s bunny slippers
  • Charlie Brown in Snow Valley
  • Count von Count (again)
  • Monsters as class metaphor
  • What would happen if Synch synced with Legion
  • Who would pronounce Cable like Britta Perry pronounces bagel

NEXT EPISODE: Victor Von Doom X-Plains the X-Men.


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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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As Mentioned in Episode 432 – Weird Little Adventures

Listen to the episode here.


432 – Weird Little Adventures

In which we reach the end of Larry Hama’s run on Generation X; Gaia remains remarkably normal for someone who has spent millennia chained up alone in a citadel; Synch practices radical forgiveness; we ponder the nature of Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy’s relationship; and Forge is extra unqualified to lecture on ethics.

X-PLAINED:

  • How Jubilee stopped being a vampire
  • The Draco, kinda
  • Generation X #44-47
  • Bianca LaNeige (again)
  • Polaroid cameras
  • Gaia (more) (again)
  • Reality warping
  • Woody and Arlo Guthrie
  • Iceland
  • Several continuity errors
  • Psi War fallout
  • Paul Weller
  • New school uniforms
  • Accreditation
  • Miss Pickwick
  • Penance’s nationality
  • Guthrie manifestation
  • Teamwork
  • Forge’s decision-making skills
  • Paradox
  • Indoor/outdoor moppets
  • Four theoretical horsemen of Apocalypse
  • Awkward family holidays

NEXT EPISODE: Jay & Miles autopsy X-Factor and Excalibur!


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!