magneto – Page 20 – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 9 – Leprechaun Surprise Party

June 8, 2014 Jay 4 comments

Listen to the podcast here!

Cassandra Nova: The worst evil disembodied parasitic sister ever.

Cassidy Keep (X-Men #101)

Nightcrawler is just ridiculously charming. (X-Men #101)

I keep trying to think of a Monster in a Box joke to make about X-Men and vacations, but no matter where it goes, it’s not going to be in good taste. (X-Men #101)

Page 3 of Storm’s origin flashback. Can we talk about Dave Cockrum splash pages and how they are AWESOME? (X-Men #102)

After the “Cyclops Has a Good Day” sketchbook is full, Rachel’s going to move on to “Cyclops tells Professor X to go fuck himself.” (X-Men #102)

And then, Leprechauns. (X-Men #103)

Here, Nightcrawler. Have a new mutation. And also I guess some more Leprechauns, because, why not? (X-Men #103)

Even fake Charles Xavier is kind of a douche. (X-Men #103)

“We also know what you think about when you masturbate.” (X-Men #103)

The rad bromance of Cain Marko and Tom Cassidy. (X-Men #103)

“Whaddayamean, ‘roll diplomacy’? I put all my points into claw weapons!” (X-Men #104)

Secondary mutation: awesome villain speeches. (X-Men #104)

So, that happened. (X-Men #104)

Cockrum is REALLY into this layout. (X-Men #105)

Fun fact: Misty Knight is the only one of these characters alive in the modern Marvel universe. (X-Men #105)

Phoenix wants you heralds of Galactus off her damn lawn. (X-Men #105)

Shi’ar Trek. (X-Men #105)

AND THEN THINGS GOT AWESOME. (X-Men #107)

“While you guys were fighting the functionally omnipotent Superboy clone, I beat a guy up and stole his clothes.” Wolverine: Chaos gamer. (X-Men #107)

I’m not sure what he expects Captain America to do about this. (X-Men #107)

The Phoenix Force. (X-Men #108)

More majestic Phoenix action. (X-Men #108)

“I realized that I’d left some scenery unchewed, and that would NEVER do.” (X-Men #111)

Magneto is COMMITTED to the supervillain schtick. (X-Men #112)

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE (X-Men #112)

Okay, then. (X-Men #113)

Next week on Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men!

9 – Leprechaun Surprise Party

June 8, 2014 Jay 15 comments

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In which Rachel refuses to back down from a challenge, we reject a point of canon, Leprechauns know Wolverine’s secrets, Erik the Red is (still) awful, Professor X is (still) a dick, the X-Men are your D&D party, the Shi’ar do a Star Trek riff, Phoenix is kind of a big deal, the circus comes to town, and Magneto gets creepy.

X-Plained:

Cassandra Nova
More early Claremont
Sound effects
Cassidy Keep
Seneschals
Shillelaghs
Image inducers
Black Tom Cassidy
Supervillain bromance
Bronze-age pacing
Leprechauns
Hovercraft rental
Muir Island
The Shi’ar Imperial Guard
The M’Kraan Cyrstal
Phoenix 101
Secret volcano lairs
Magneto’s mercifully short-lived age-play fixation
The (dis)continuity of mutant powers

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Next week: Wolverine punches a pterosaur, Cyclops grows a mustache, and everyone gets possessed!

6 – Days of Future Whatever

May 18, 2014 Jay 12 comments

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In which we more or less prepare you for the upcoming feature film; Rachel Summers is a black hole of continuity; Kitty Pryde breaks the Danger Room; Earth 200500 is clearly the best earth; even the X-Men have no idea what’s going on; First Class Emma Frost is so boring that we forget she exists; wolverines are definitely not wolves; and you can have Rachel’s Community references when you pry them from her cold, dead hands.

X-Plained:

Rachel Summers
“Days of Future Past”
Gravestone engraving standards of 2013
The Mostly-New, Mostly-Different Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Another unfortunate hat
Causality in the Marvel Multiverse
Earths 811, 1191, 295, 311, and 200500
Hall monitors with laser rifles
How to fix a broken timeline
The X-Men cinematic universe, and points of divergence from the comics
The one thing X-Men: The Last Stand does right
The Xavier Index of Cinematic Continuity
The difference between Canis lupus and Gulo gulo
A Days of Future Past cinematic cram course
Fix-it fic
Blink, Bishop, and dark-future mash-ups
The enduring appeal of Earth-811
The significantly less enduring appeal of Earth-242
The Nazi Excalibur of Earth-597

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Next week: Greg Rucka, Cyclops, and Starjammers!

As Mentioned on Episode 4 – American History X-Men

May 4, 2014 Jay 4 comments

Listen to the podcast here!

The Steve Rude covers are the hands-down best part of X-Men: Children of the Atom.

Seriously. This is off the rails. Steve Rude, man.

X-Men: Children of the Atom really, really, really wants to be the Dark Knight Returns of X-Men. It’s not.

X-Men: Children of the Atom tries so hard to make Fred Duncan a noir protagonist. (Hint: nope.)

Bear in mind that Children of the Atom came out in 1999, and is nominally set in the same year.

Oh, hi, guys. (Children of the Atom)

Charles Xavier: the worst ever, forever. (Children of the Atom)

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HIRED HITLER! (Children of the Atom)

After the Rave-Up, they’re going to go do some crimes, like go get sushi and not pay. (Children of the Atom)

Deep stealth Hank McCoy. (Children of the Atom)

Hank dabbles briefly in victim blaming. (Children of the Atom)

Jack “Tricky Dick” Winters. (Children of the Atom)

Well, yes–that’s sort of the problem. (Children of the Atom)

Magneto chews the scenery and regurgitates it into your brain like you are a baby bird of villainy and he is your mother and I think this metaphor kind of got away from me. (Children of the Atom)

Okay, that’s pretty cool: the opening narration of X-Men #1 closes Children of the Atom.

X-Men: First Class, but not THAT X-Men First Class.

Take THAT, Silver-Age gender politics! (X-Men: First Class)

Even the least creepy version of Professor X is still pretty creepy. (X-Men: First Class)

Aw, these dudes. (X-Men: First Class)

Cyclops #1–a one-shot that’s part of the First Class continuity, in which Cyclops actually has a good day.

For more fun, low-angst X-Men in the spirit of First Class, we recommend the hell out of this X-Men / Power Pack miniseries.

How much do we love X-Men: Season One? SO MUCH.

Jean Grey: Now available with a point of view and distinct personality! (X-Men: Season One)

We also appreciate that X-Men: Season One understands the importance of X-Plaining the X-Men.

This comic book, y’all. (X-Men: Season One)

Iceman: chronically under-appreciated, chronically awesome. X-Men: Season One

Most of all, X-Men: Season One is about a bunch of screwed up teenagers figuring out how to be a team. It’s a really neat book.

No one draws shifty faces like Jamie McKelvie. (X-Men: Season One)

Bobby invents Dance Pants in 2019. Don’t tell him. He needs to stumble on it himself.

Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men t-shirts: Now available! (Stickers, too.)

We Are Comics is a campaign to show—and celebrate—the faces of our community, our industry, and our culture; to promote the visibility of marginalized members of our population; and to stand in solidarity against harassment and abuse. See our full post here.

Next week on Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men!

Links and further reading:

The X-Axis Silver Age X-Men Index (archived)

Marvels

X-Men: Children of the Atom

You Sent Us Art!

May 1, 2014 Jay One comment

You sent us more art! YOU ARE AWESOME!

From Nick Johnson, care of Andrew Foley, a new Magnetostache that wins a (web-exclusive!) M&R No Prize for also explaining the streamlining of Magneto’s helmet:

And from David Wynne, who’s well on the way to becoming the unofficial illustrator of this podcast, here’s 90s-animated-series Cyclops gearing up for a good day:

Speaking of Cyclops, Alex Pappademas has written a really fantastic defense of the character over at Grantland, which we highly recommend checking out.

This week, we’re going to be wrapping up our Silver Age coverage with a look at some alternate takes on the era–so, as always, if you’ve got questions, drop ’em in the comments below or our tumblr ask-box, or tweet ’em to @RaeBeta with the hashtag #xplainthexmen!

Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men AND Cover Your Torso

April 30, 2014 Jay Leave a comment

After Episode 2, we couldn’t get this image out of our head–so we hired designer and all-around rad dude Dylan Todd to make it a reality, then slapped it on some t-shirts and stickers at our TeePublic shop!

And if you’re pining to flag our team colors, we’ve also got Ming Doyle’s sweet X-Men #137 homage pinup, likewise available as a t-shirt or sticker:

Go buy some stuff!

The Many Mustaches of Magneto / Ask Rachel and Chris

April 24, 2014 Jay Leave a comment

Wow. Wow. You wonderful weirdos. Last week, we bemoaned Silver-Age Magneto’s lack of a properly villainous mustache, and you have filled that void with distilled awesomeness. Click through for the many miraculous mustaches of the master of magnetism…

David Wynne also drew the kickass Lazerwolf we posted last week.

We’ve already posted Tyler Crook‘s novel(ty) solution to Magneto’s naked upper lip, but we love it enough that we’re posting it again. Deal with it.

Ma’at Crook explores two iconic stache styles, complete with a bonus era-appropriate plaid suit!

Vid Tuesday complements his Magnetostache with some splendid Silver-Age-style patter.

This week, Miles is off at C2E2. He’ll be working at the Dark Horse Comics booth all weekend, so if you’re there, swing by for a high five.

Meanwhile, Rachel will be holding down the fort with Emergency Backup Cohost Chris Sims, X-Plaining some of the (numerous and often terrible) X-Men animated series. If you have questions for Rachel and Chris, please stick ’em in the comments here or our tumblr ask box, or tweet ’em to @RaeBeta, with the hashtag #xplainthexmen!

Magneto’s Miraculous Mustache

April 22, 2014 Jay One comment

Friend of the X-Plainers and All-Around Excellent Fellow Tyler Crook has developed what is clearly the ideal solution to the Mystery of Magneto’s Missing Mustache:

The whole thing is pretty splendid, but I think my favorite touch has to be the wee Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in the corner. Marvel/Disney/Fox/whoever owns the relevant toy licensing rights, you need to make this wonder a reality.

2 – Sentinels in the Mist

April 20, 2014 Jay 9 comments

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In which we introduce the villains of the Silver Age: Magneto makes some valid points, Mastermind is a Nice Guy of OkCupid, the Scarlet Witch predicts Cat Breading, the Trasks should really have known better, and the Comics Code Authority is down with pterosaurs.

X-Plained: