Sam Guthrie – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 412 – Yappin’ and Scrappin’

May 28, 2023 Miles 2 comments

Listen to the podcast here.

And then Cyclops left for Alaska again. (X-Men #71)

Dark Phoenix athleisure! (X-Men #71)

As Piglet and Tigger slowly back away… (X-Men #71)

The past didn’t go anywhere. (X-Men #71)

Between Kelly and Pacheco, that is a hell of a compelling conversation. (X-Men #71)

So, how was the trip to Counter-Earth? What was your favorite part? Didja bring us anything? (X-Men #71)

Battle of the gross bone-spikes (X-Men #72)

Marrow’s online handle is xXBloodReaper69Xx (X-Men #72)

Not a good look, Ororo. (X-Men #72)

Fun fact: every case study in Miles’s college neuropsychology text book was about a brain injury from a motorcycle accident! (Uncanny X-Men #351)

“It’s a hypnotic pterodactyl wearing jorts in a metal box, obviously!!! (Uncanny X-Men #351)

To be fair, they don’t look very nice. (Uncanny X-Men #351)

And yet, Pyro’s insurance company still would have encouraged him to go to Urgent Care instead. (Uncanny X-Men #351)

Where’s Waldo? (Uncanny X-Men #351)

Cecilia has no time for Daredevil’s bullshit… and Daredevil has a lot of bullshit. (Uncanny X-Men #351)

Jay and Miles after recording an episode. (Uncanny X-Men #351)

Oh no (Uncanny X-Men #352)

“Honey, I think the new neighbors may be… weird.” (Uncanny X-Men #352)

“…ya dick.” (Uncanny X-Men #352)

ZIELL ZIELL (Uncanny X-Men #352)

Does “evil custodians” belong in r/rareinsults or r/brandnewsentence? (Uncanny X-Men #352)

Then panel below this shows Miles’s face melting into that time he accidentally deleted his Final Fantasy VI save right after unlocking the Paladin Shield. (Uncanny X-Men #352)

See you in the desert, Sam! (Uncanny X-Men #352)

Jean Grey, action hero! (Uncanny X-Men #352)

It… it’ll be fine. Yeah, fine. Probably. (Uncanny X-Men #352)

NEXT TIME: X-Force goes to Burning Man!

Links & Further Reading

The Cyclops Cycle: A Heroic Crown of Sonnets by Brian Mackenwells

412 – Yappin’ and Scrappin’

May 28, 2023 Miles 7 comments

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In which Kelly and Seagle’s X-runs begin with immense promise; dark psychic residue gets just everywhere; Storm’s past is literally buried; Wolverine is just saying is all; Cecilia Reyes’s job doesn’t deserve her, and Cyclops and Phoenix are the worst at being normal.

X-PLAINED:

The Grey family reunion
X-Men #71-72
What counts as an Uncanny X-Men #138 cover reference
Baggage and also suitcases
Steve Seagle’s (scuttled) Phoenix plans
Bone whiskers
Telemarketer power moves
Cecilia Reyes
Marrow (Sarah)
Sam Guthrie’s tiny ponytail
The ol’ wall-of-televisions trope
The cost of one banana
Sebastian Shaw vs the IRS (maybe)
A mostly empty attic
Wolverine’s etiquette lessons
The dessert claw vs the salad claw
The physicality of Carlos Pacheco’s art
Cannonball, the grown-up in the room
Magneto’s increasingly complicated past
Magnus, Erik, and Max (again)
Uncanny X-Men #351-352
Cecilia Reyes’s return-to-office
Intersectionality
Pyro, forever dying of the Legacy Virus
Daredevil vs Cecilia Reyes’s bedside manner
Kevin, Lord of the Jungle
Ending conversations by turning into a bird
A.I.M.* (*Advanced Idea Mechanics)
Crows of Ill Portent
A Box of Entity
Condors and Cockatoos
Logan’s denim proclivities
Arcade vs. Mojo

Special thanks to Dylan Higgins for edits and production assistance!

NEXT EPISODE: X-Force goes to Burning Man!

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 401 – True Tales of Double-Entry Bookkeeping

February 12, 2023 Miles 2 comments

Listen to the episode here.

“Jack, I served with Cannonball, I knew Cannonball, Cannonball was a brother of mine. Jack, you are no Cannonball.” (Generation X #32)

smek (Generation X #32)

David Bowie and Hacker T. Dog. (New Mutants #92)

I’ve missed 80s Boom-Boom. Yeep! (New Mutants #92)

The character find of 1990. (New Mutants #92)

“This haunted house is nuts, especially that broccoli guy! We need to tell Jean Grey about it and make sure she wears that Phoenix outfit when she comes to visit!” (New Mutants #92)

Did we cover this issue mostly for 80s Boom-Boom? Yes. Yes we did. (New Mutants #92)

And you thought Ship was cool, kids. (New Mutants #92)

Speaking of things Boom-Boom would do… (Generation X #33)

Keep an eye on this guy. (Generation X #33)

Miles totally would have stuck with hard science in college if the labs had looked like this. (Generation X #33)

No, no… The WHAT goes at the end, not in the middle! (Generation X #33)

Welcome to a dimension of pure CHAIR. (Generation X #33)

And now for something completely different. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

Now I want to see Adam Pollina draw Mystique’s creepy nephew from X-Factor. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

I believe Danish armored mother-and-son murderers refer to this as hygge. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

1 pet robot. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

Random stuff piled up outside the panels – this must be an issue of Generation X! (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

Mutant, mutant, angst, angst. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

What an obituary that would have made. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

It’s easy to forget how legitimately terrifying the Orphan Maker can be. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

So that happened. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

Better or worse than the kids that wet their pants on Santa’s lap? (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

Oh, kiddo. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

Well that’s just lovely. (Generation X Holiday Special #1)

NEXT TIME: Doctor Moira MacTaggert versus the Legacy Virus.

401 – True Tales of Double-Entry Bookkeeping

February 12, 2023 Miles 8 comments

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In which Santa Claus makes problematic choices; we make good on a promise; Sebastian is the new Deadpool; Skrulls get stuck as animals more than you’d think; Nanny and Orphan-Maker celebrate; and Jubilee stops worrying and learns to love Christmas.

X-PLAINED

Santa Claus’s flirtations with villainy
A new direction for Generation X
Larry Hama
Al vs. U.S. geography
Generation X #32-33
Generation X Holiday Special
New Mutants #92
Thing One & Thing Two St. Croix
The Circus of Crime
The Pirates of Dark Water (somewhat)
Hacker T. Dog
Why Wolfsbane is scared of clowns
Skrull Kill Crew
Carnie Voltron
Chief Authier
Phat beats
A reality biscuit
Emplate’s pocket dimension
Chimera and Dirtnap
Variant interiors
Nanny & Orphan-Maker (more) (again)
Santa Claus (in general)
Benefits of inconsistent characterization

NEXT WEEK: Break week

NEXT EPISODE: 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!

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As Mentioned in Episode 400 – Loud Noises

February 5, 2023 Miles One comment

Listen to the episode here.

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

Marauders to the left of me, X-Men to the right, and I’m stuck in the middle with you… (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Listen, Gambit, it was either this or a Tupperware(TM) for that chunk of your brain. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Their relationship seems healthy. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Eh, it’s still in better shape than the car Miles drove in high school. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Where? Oh, there. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

“He’s here again, Professor.” (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Speaking of different eras of the X-Men – check out Julian Totino Tedesco’s decade variant covers! Here’s the 60s… (All-New X-Men #18)

The 70s… (All-New X-Men #18)

The 80s… (All-New X-Men #18)

The 90s… (All-New X-Men #18)

…and the 2000s. (All-New X-Men #18)

After this, it’s off to the Justice Exhibit through the Justice Hall and then to the Justice Shop. If anyone needs the Little Justice’s Room, it’s on the left. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Thunderbird, sure… but a version of Blink from an alternate universe? (Uncanny X-Men #350)

NOOOOORM! (Uncanny X-Men #350)

I’ve never been picked during jury selection, but I’m pretty sure this is how trials work, right? (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Rogue x-plains Gambit’s dark secret. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

As little sense as Rogue’s decision makes, damn if Joe Madureira (or Andy Smith?) doesn’t make it work anyway. (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Erik the Red was really Erik the Red and Purple! (Uncanny X-Men #350)

Okay, okay – they’re no Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Thunderbird, but I like them anyway. (X-Men #70)

Dig that speech bubble transition. (X-Men #70)

Cecilia Reyes and Marrow, best of friends. (X-Men #70)

Why don’t more artists work in the telekinetic Phoenix flare? (X-Men #70)

Cecilia takes charge. (X-Men #70)

And you know Sam will 100% pay them back later. (X-Men #70)

I love these three. (X-Men #70)

The cavalry arrives. (X-Men #70)

For once, too much dialogue is a good thing. (X-Men #70)

Gross mutant powers are the best mutant powers. (X-Men #70)

Maggott 2.0, courtesy Joe Kelly. (X-Men #70)

The X-Men: often at their best when their lives are at their worst. (X-Men #70)

NEXT TIME: Generation X vs. Christmas.

NOTES & FURTHER READING:

All that remains of Gambit Cyber Comic: The Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone

400 – Loud Noises

February 5, 2023 Miles 18 comments

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In which legacy numbering is best left alone; all roads lead to the Antarctic; we finally learn Gambit’s big secret; Erik the Red gets yet a third identity; no one soils the Juggernaut; Maggott saves the day; and we have somehow made (technically more than) 400 of these things.

X-PLAINED

Spat
The tragic loss of the Cyber Comics
How not to back up your work
Uncanny X-Men #350
X-Men #70
A shambles
What’s been happening since Operation Zero Tolerance
A very fancy cover
Insufficient outerwear
Senses
Justice as a decorating theme
Baffling statuary
The return of Erik the Red
Erik the Red (again)
Ferris
Gambit’s big secret
A large number of continuity errors
A total dick move
De-icing
Untitled Marrow Game
A big fight
Living room surgery
Legal documents
Favorite anniversary issues
Dangling plot threads

NEXT EPISODE: Generation X vs. Christmas

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!

As Mentioned in Episode 396 – Giant-Size Special #11

January 1, 2023 Miles Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

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

Illyana Rasputin knows what you did. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

Bernard Chang channels Bob McLeod. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

Bernard Chang channels Paul Smith. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

“Well, you would have, but you left him at the altar and Rogue and Gambit took your spot…” (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

I’ve missed these kids. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

Well, Monet is actually two kids, and… (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

Wolfsbane x-plains smooching. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

And that jerk seagull doesn’t even care. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #1)

Basically, you’re all going to end up either awesome, dead, or ignored by most writers. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #2)

“Did you bring me a present, Uncle Mikhail?” (New Mutants: Truth or Death #2)

How to make a long conversation visually compelling, part one. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #2)

Bernard Chang channels Bill Sienkiewicz. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #2)

It’s easy to forget how much more control of her powers Rahne gained over a decade of comics. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #2)

Karma: even scarier than Magik. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #2)

Aww kid (New Mutants: Truth or Death #2)

Look at all that science! (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

If this was Mystique instead of Karma, she’d turn into an eagle right after saying that. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

Now that is a title page. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

When Best Teenagers become Best Young Adults. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

How to make a long conversation visually compelling, part two. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

It’s cool, Doug, you’ll come back to life and marry a large wife. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

Aww hell yeah (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

Poor counterpart-less Magma and Karma look so bored. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

Pure, uncut nostalgia. (New Mutants: Truth or Death #3)

NEXT EPISODE: Sabretooth betrays an X-team! Again!

LINKS AND FURTHER READING:

Behold the glory that is the Hardee’s kids meal comic X-Men: Time Gliders
Subscribe to Al Ewing’s email newsletter!

396 – Giant-Size Special #11

January 1, 2023 Miles 14 comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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

In which we spend too long trying to place a time-travel miniseries in continuity, Al Kennedy does us a solid, Bernard Chang draws some excellent New Mutants young and old, Al Ewing x-plains X-Men: Red, Forearm and Random play Nintendo, and we reveal the winners of The Ninth Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence at X-Cellence!

X-PLAINED:

Jay’s spatial and temporal whereabouts
Cannonball, Mirage, Magik, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Karma, Magma, Cypher, Warlock, and Douglock
New Mutants: Truth or Death
Kitty Pryde and Illyana Rasputin, gal pals
Triple-dog dares
Nova Roma, or not
Mikhail F**king Rasputin
The arrogance of reality warpers
How to write Magma
The Technarchy and the Phalanx
Hardee’s X-Men: Time Gliders
Farmboy chic
Bernard Chang’s 21 Panels
Branching vs. overwriting timelines
The effects of de-aging and history rewriting on immunology
Found family
She Who Swam With The Acanti
Sleep-Eeze Mattresses Starring The Hulk
Arrako
Continuity synchronicity
S.W.O.R.D. as a workplace drama
The moral downfall of Abigail Brand
The leadership styles of Storm, Magneto, and Sunspot
Himbo disambiguation
The fates of Armor, Risque, and Peeper
Mysterium Clicker
Santa Claus
The Ninth Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence at X-Cellence

(Note: Our interview with Al Ewing contains spoilers for X-Men: Red!)

NEXT EPISODE: Sabretooth betrays an X-team! Again!

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!

388 – Deceit and Death

October 9, 2022 Jay 18 comments

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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.

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!