Rory Campbell – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 428 – Naked in a Cake

October 22, 2023 Miles Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

So who is that in the cake? (Excalibur #124)

A bridal shower! (Excalibur #124)

A bachelor party! (Excalibur #124)

Seriously, why is this a thing (Excalibur #124)

Yep, we’ve missed the Crazy Gang. (Excalibur #124)

Awk-ward (Excalibur #124)

To answer Suzy Eddie Izzard’s question: cake and death! (Excalibur #124)

And then Feron’s life got even worse. (Excalibur #124)

And a good time was had by all… especially Captain UK and Mimic, I assume. (Excalibur #124)

Love and chaos. (Excalibur #125)

Cameos! (Excalibur #125)

More cameos! (Excalibur #125)

I have questions about this pipe organ. (Excalibur #125)

Healthy… communication? Is that a thing in the Marvel Universe? Is that allowed? (Excalibur #125)

WHO INVITED THE NAZIS (Excalibur #125)

And have they ever earned it. (Excalibur #125)

Gatecrasher has the weeds! (Excalibur #125)

Lockheed, I know you want Piotr and Kitty to get together, but I assure you this will not work out. (Excalibur #125)

Nobody does wedding receptions like the Starlight Citadel of Otherworld. (Excalibur #125)

Man, that really is a shockingly tiny invitation. (Excalibur #125)

See, Feron? Just because everyone forgets about you doesn’t mean you have to jump out of a cake to try to murder people! (Excalibur #125)

Saturnyne, this is literally the worst possible time. (Excalibur #125)

Kurt, this is… also not a great time. (Excalibur #125)

Dammit, now I’m tearing up. (Excalibur #125)

And that, as they say, is that. (Excalibur #125)

NEXT TIME: X-Factor is back! Kind of!

428 – Naked in a Cake

October 22, 2023 Miles 9 comments

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In which you shouldn’t invite nazis to your wedding, there’s a lot of multiverse, Captain Britain and Meggan are pretty heteronormative but make it work, everybody forgot Feron, and the next husband will be Gatecrasher’s.

X-PLAINED:

Captain Britain varieties
The history of Brian Braddock and Meggan Puceanu, abridged
Excalibur #124-125
Mutants most likely to jump out of a cake
The Crazy Gang (again)
Meggan’s crush on Colossus
Colossus’s guilt about Meggan’s crush on Colossus
A surprise bridal shower
The return of Captain UK
Brian Braddock’s teetotaling techniques
Mimic’s ever-changing facial hair
Glorious, glorious chaos
Poor, poor Feron
Multiple awkward conversations
The return of Widget and also everyone else
Lightning Force (dammit)
A lengthy but not exhaustive list of Captains Britain
So many cameos
…Seriously, so many cameos
Dai Thomas’s anti-iron
Shockingly healthy communication
Bouquet brawls and garter gar-nage
A bittersweet ending
Nightcrawler’s best outfit
The universe where the X-Men X-Plain Jay & Miles
Our hypothetical post-finale Excalibur lineup

NEXT EPISODE: The return of X-Factor! Kind of!

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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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388 – Deceit and Death

October 9, 2022 Jay 18 comments

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

In which there’s a lot of good television out there; Shang-Chi says the title of the story at every possible opportunity; Wolverine is probably not a Deadhead; Sebastian Shaw thinks he’s a bigger deal than he is; and Operation Zero Tolerance officially begins.

X-PLAINED:

Storm’s ruby
X-Men #62-65
The Story So Far
Space LEGOs
Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi’s dad
An excellent fight scene
Word balloon placements
Agent Reston
Elixir Vitae
Several varyingly unexpected resurrections
Cyber Ninjas
Product placement for your own product
Bludgeon, Katana, Fist, and some other guy
Fujikawa Enterprises
Richard Fisk
Rambo heresay
Prime Sentinels
Children of Apocalypse
Carol Danvers substitutions

NEXT WEEK: Hawk talk

NEXT EPISODE: Generation X floats on

The visual companion to this episode will be up later 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 329 – Scheming and Argument

April 11, 2021 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

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

Same cover, different week. (Excalibur #94)

Rahne “Aleph from Global Frequency” Sinclair. (Excalibur #94)

Sorry. I just can’t accept this as Tangerine. (Excalibur #94)

He could totally have rocked the swim cap, though. (Excalibur #94)

Ew, they’re all goopy. (Excalibur #94)

Well, damn. (Excalibur #94)

We call that a “Muir Hello.” (X-Man #12)

It also goes PING! (X-Man #12)

Okay: That is legitimately cool. (X-Man #12)

The actual tagline of Squeezits(TM) was “Squeeze the fun out of it.” I swear to g-d I’m not making this up. (X-Man #12)

Look at those mid ’90s computer graphics! (Excalibur #95)

Moira doesn’t give a fuck if she’s not your real mom; she’s grounding you anyway. (Excalibur #95)

Oh, Rory. Buddy. (Excalibur #95)

This is also roughly how it feels to read like 20 years of X-Men in a sitting. (Excalibur #95)

What Excalibur’s thinking about. (Excalibur #95)

NEXT EPISODE: The herald of Onslaught; but also this fashion situation.

329 – Scheming and Argument

April 11, 2021 Jay 18 comments

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In which Nate Grey has the soul of a man in a mesh shirt; Black Air is somehow even worse than you thought it was; Hulk does not want to be x-treme teen from alternate dimension; we are excited as hell for the upcoming Frasier/Ewing Gamma Flight; and Moira MacTaggert is (sometimes) the adult we need.

X-PLAINED:

Nate Grey’s (possible) demon zombie baby
What Excalibur’s been up to lately
Excalibur #94-95
X-Man #12
Yet another take on roughly the same dark future
Dark-future disambiguation
Bangs
The Black Wall
Leather vs. vinyl
Sentinels pooping sentinels
Nate Grey (more) (again)
Gamma Flight
Excessively silly diagnostic technology
Squeezits(TM)
A minor intervention
X-characters most likely to lead a successful book club
Warlock on Krakoa

NEXT EPISODE: The Herald of Onslaught (for real, this time, we promise)!

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!

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As Mentioned in Episode 320 – The Accountability Wagon

January 17, 2021 Jay One comment

Listen to the episode here.

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

I know the cover blurb isn’t actually foreshadowing, but the cover blurb is kiiiinda foreshadowing. (Excalibur #91)

There’s writing a phonetic accent… and then there’s writing someone making fun of someone else’s accent, phonetically. (Excalibur #91)

Aw. (Excalibur #91)

For your Twitter fight needs. (Excalibur #91)

This is roughly how I react to having to share personal information with colleagues, too. (Excalibur #91)

They’re good friends. (Excalibur #91)

THE SUBTITLES THO (Excalibur #91)

Creeeeeepy. (Excalibur #91)

I know his teeth are also supposed to be steel, but they look just off enough from the rest of his face that I can’t shake the idea that they’re normal teeth, which idea is profoundly and inexplicably unsettling. (Excalibur #92)

Huh. (Excalibur #92)

You sure did. (Excalibur #93)

[Music rises] (Excalibur #93)

Ah, Rahne. You’re such a good kid. (Excalibur #93)

FUCK YEAH RAHNE SINCLAIR! (Excalibur #93)

NEXT EPISODE: Same Sabretooth, different day.

320 – The Accountability Wagon

January 17, 2021 Jay 21 comments

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In which Pete Wisdom is the guy you love to glare at; Nightcrawler is right (and a delightfully complex individual); Colossus has a lot of issues; and Wolfsbane gets the confrontation we’ve been waiting for since the New Mutants graphic novel.

X-PLAINED:

Wolfsbane’s powers
Excalibur #91-93
The somewhat nebulous age of Kitty Pryde
Betrayal
What’s been up on Muir Isle
Organized sports, Excalibur-style
Pubs and what happens in them
Drinking with Excalibur
Shovel talks
Phonetic accents, redeemed
A fairly one-sided fight
Colossus’s issues (more) (again)
Anatomy and physiology of organic steel
Accountability, trauma, and their intersections
An exceptionally cathartic confrontation
A hoodie Jay desperately wants
Where cold opens come from
Whether and how Gambit passes for human

NEXT EPISODE: Same Sabretooth, different day

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!

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As Mentioned in Episode 309 – Excellent Turtle

September 27, 2020 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

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

Really, who wouldn’t fall for him? (Excalibur #87)

Okay, then. (Excalibur #87)

Sugar Man doesn’t really add anything to the Genosha storyline. (Excalibur #87)

Cover > comic. (Excalibur #88)

Seriously, WHAT DID HE WRITE WITH? (Excalibur #88)

WE HAVE FUN. (Excalibur #88)

Okay, fair. (Excalibur #89)

This is some old-school mystery comic staging, and I AM HERE FOR IT. (Excalibur #89)

Sure, why not? (Excalibur #90)

Damnit, Black Air! (Excalibur #90)

I bet they’re great at parties. (Excalibur #90)

…Okay, then. (Excalibur #90)

Ha, ha, Pete Wisdom’s life is worse than yours. (Excalibur #90)

I’m not gonna say this is the MOST ominous narration ever superimposed over a hookup, but it’s up there. (Excalibur #90)

Rory Campbell is anti-mutant, but he’s also just a raging asshole. (Excalibur #89)

DRAMATIC PARALLELS! (Excalibur #90)

NEXT EPISODE: Swingers in space.

309 – Excellent Turtle

September 27, 2020 Jay 12 comments

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In which ballistics get weird; Black Air is no W.H.O.; we have surprisingly mixed feelings about Pete Wisdom and Kitty Pryde as a couple; there is an actual creepy clown bar in Portland; blood eagles are excessively ostentatious; the Uncreated just want to be cool; and Rory Campbell continues his descent into supervillainy.

X-PLAINED:

The Forever Man
Turner D. Century
Excalibur #87-90
Excalibur (more) (again)
Genosha (more) (again)
Some extremely confusing bullets
Philip Moreau
Jenny Ransome
Black Air
Dream Nails
Spy bars
Foundations of Kitty Pryde and Pete Wisdom’s relationship
Captions
Work/life separation
A creepy clown bar
Easy Tiger
Blood eagles
Shrine
A virus and/or bacteria
The Uncreated
Gor the God-Butcher
Data security
Rory Campbell vs. Spoor
How the X-Men got their name
Terrigen toxicity

NEXT EPISODE: Starjammers!

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!

Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!