sentinels – Page 4 – Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

As Mentioned in Episode 163 – Shut Up, Conscience

September 17, 2017 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the episode here.

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

Soviet Plot is my favorite porn mag. (Marvel Comics Presents #10)

In case you were wondering whether this was an Ann Nocenti story: yes. (Marvel Comics Presents #10)

This picnic is terrible. (Marvel Comics Presents #11)

“Just step out back to the kidnap van!” (Marvel Comics Presents #12)

These fuckers are the worst people in the story. (Marvel Comics Presents #13)

Okay, but seriously, I want a fort like this. (Marvel Comics Presents #11)

“We’ll talk about kyriarchy later, kiddo.” (Marvel Comics Presents #13)

“Okay, but… why did you resign?” (Marvel Comics Presents #14)

Oof. (Marvel Comics Presents #14)

In their defense, this is pretty terrifying. (Marvel Comics Presents #15)

If only they’d given him mongoose blood, he could’a gotten super speed! (Marvel Comics Presents #15)

THESE ASSHOLES, SERIOUSLY. (Marvel Comics Presents #15)

“How did your grandpa die, Zackery?” “Narrative necessity.” (Marvel Comics Presents #16)

And then nothing was ever okay again. The end! (Marvel Comics Presents #17)

Cyclops: Still the worst at vacations. (Marvel Comics Presents #17)

Fun fact: the last time Cyclops was actively hallucinating, he kicked Master Mold’s ass. FORESHADOWING? (Marvel Comics Presents #17)

Moira, this is not an acceptable way to science. Who do you think you are, Charles Xavier? (Marvel Comics Presents #18)

Okay, but did you consider that she might be like one of those cool lizards who can run on water? (Marvel Comics Presents #18)

Cyclops may be a jerk to adults, but he’s canonically pretty decent with little kids. (Marvel Comics Presents #18)

…well, fuck. (Marvel Comics Presents #18)

…well, FUCK. (Marvel Comics Presents #19)

Seriously, Dr. Mustache Guy, what the hell is wrong with you? (Marvel Comics Presents #19)

“I need helper robots. I KNOW, I’LL BUILD LITTLE NAKED ALIENS. THAT’LL BE COOL.” (Marvel Comics Presents #19)

More servitors, because if I have to see this nonsense, you do, too. (Marvel Comics Presents #20)

Shut up, Conscience. (Marvel Comics Presents #20)

“Look, they forgot I even EXISTED for three issues!” (Marvel Comics Presents #20)

“But, like, not the person. The concept. But not really in this story. Anyway, you get the idea, right? Right?” (Marvel Comics Presents #20)

This plan is terrible. (Marvel Comics Presents #21)

Aw. That’s… sort of nice? In an about-to-explode kind of way. (Marvel Comics Presents #24)

NEXT EPISODE: The Mutant Revolution, Live at Rose City Comic Con!

LINKS & FURTHER LISTENING

We talked about the Daredevil Inferno tie-ins in Episode 112 – Embers of Inferno (feat. Sam Humphries).
For a lot of discussion of the Cold War, check out Episode 114 – Meltdown.
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is seriously awesome.

163 – Shut Up, Conscience

September 11, 2017 Jay 23 comments

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In which Rose City Comic Con was in fact pretty awesome; we return to Marvel Presents; Colossus has a bad day; Ann Nocenti engages in some bipartisan satire; Cyclops has a bad day; Moira MacTaggert gets possessed again; Master Mold is really hard to kill; you should absolutely not send Jay naked leprechaun pictures; sentinels are basically rationalization engines; and that is really not how consciences work.

NOTE: In this episode, we said that the U.S.S.R. dissolved in 1989. That actually happened in 1991.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: THE NYCC PANEL HAS BEEN MOVED. IT IS ON THURSDAY, NOT FRIDAY.

X-PLAINED:

Sentinel Aesthetics
Prime Sentinels
“Colossus: God’s Country”
Butt physics
The Cold War
Colossus’s feelings about porn
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library
Some varyingly dubious politics
The Cold Warriors
Alexander, who is probably not actually either Colonel Sanders or Howard Hughes
Bipartisan satire
Jay’s grandfather
An uncomfortable picnic
Limbs
Number Six (but not that one)
Terrible neighbors
“Cyclops: The Retribution Affair”
Bobbie and Mary Campbell
Master Mold (again)
Stephen Lang (again)
Servitors
A well-honed lobster alert system
The Retribution Virus
Conscience
A terrible party
Kitty Pryde’s Gal Pal Squad
Community Organizer Magneto

NEXT EPISODE: Live from Rose City Comic Con!

You can find a 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.)

152 – Ghosts of Future Present

March 27, 2017 Jay 58 comments

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Art by David Wynne. Contact David to purchase the original!

In which Franklin Richards makes everything more complicated; Reed Richards is a terrible parent; Days of Future Present is a surprisingly good ghost story; Valeria Richards is awesome (but does not appear in this crossover); everyone’s got hounds these days; Banshee is your sad cyborg dad; Phoenix has a lot of feelings; and X-Factor once again manages to up the ante for child endangerment.

X-PLAINED:

Nightcrawler’s brief clerical career
Days of Future Present
Annuals, in general
Some extraordinarily specific Namor headcanon
Fantastic Four Annual #23
New Mutants Annual #6
X-Factor Annual #5
Uncanny X-Men Annual #14
Franklin Richards
Several statuses quo
The reproductive potential of Doombots
Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura)
Ahab
A Code Red Time Emergency
One of Jay’s dream pitches
Your sad cyborg dad
The worst tea party
One hell of a kiss
Robocop vs. Terminator

NEXT EPISODE: Excalibur gets eclectic!

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!

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.)

Rose City Comic Con was the COOLEST

September 27, 2015 Jay Leave a comment

Listen to the live episode here!

We are so ridiculously lucky: our hometown con is the coolest. It’s only a few years old, but Rose City Comic Con is one of the most fun, accessible, welcoming, and all-around celebratory comics shows we’ve ever been to. This was our first con as Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men, and our first ever live episode; and we can’t imagine a better place to start.

Click through the gallery below for photos from the con, the panel, and the party! (We’ll toss the sketches up separately tomorrow!)

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 10/4/2015 at the shop, or contact David to purchase the original.

Someone left Rachel alone with the button press.

More con prep.

We have a table! (Also, a lot of people were really irate about the word balloon, SIGH.)

WHOADANG, it’s the brand new zines and con-exclusive t-shirts!

Punk Cyclops was one of our favorite cosplays of the show.

Awesome going as well as coming!

Our friend Sarah–a kickass pro photographer in her own right–was cosplaying as Rule-63 Phil Sheldon of Marvels!

Rachel’s heart 100% belongs to Norita Smoeuk’s 50s Girl-Gang X-Men. These three were part of a whole group cosplaying Norita’s wildly kickass designs.

Even Marvel characters are sufficiently confused by their own continuity to need our help!

Benja Barker of Portland’s Alter Egos Society hooked us up with this incredibly cool X-Men belt buckle, which sneakily velcros around pretty much any belt.

Monsters of Podcasting celebrating at the Kaijucast booth after our Sunday panel. L to R: Rachel and Miles; Zee and Jamie of the British History Podcast; Kyle of Kaijucast (and our producer!).

“Let’s just meet at the panel room,” we told the guests. “There shouldn’t be a line or anything.”

Damn, there were a lot of you. HI, PORTLAND!

Rachel and Miles X-plain Cable and Stryfe in the live episode cold open. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Yount.)

Left to right: Ann Nocenti, Miles Stokes, Rachel Edidin, Jeff Parker, Chris Yost. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Yount.)

Annie and Miles. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Giffrow / Upswept Creative.)

Annie, Miles, Rachel, and Jeff. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Giffrow / Upswept Creative.)

Katie and Kestrel set the question bar AWFULLY high. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Giffrow / Upswept Creative.)

Custom drink menus from The Steep & Thorny Way to Heaven. (The X-Men menu was 21+; New Mutants were all-ages.)

SO. GOOD.

Magneto and friends hang the Days of Future Past wall.

(Magneto also doubled as DJ and bartender. Thank you, Myrrh!)

Live cold-open previews have been a thing since our ECCC meetup. This time, we got some help from Fern. Yes, we have TWO tiny Squirrel-Girl X-perts, and they are both THE BEST. (Photo courtesy of @pawpaw5771)

There are a LOT of variations on this photo, but I think Max and Brandon may have been the first. (Photo courtesy of Brandon Goede.)

White Phoenix has no patience for this post-apocalypse nonsense. (Photo courtesy of Cassandra Carter.)

The word balloons from ECCC were also out in force. (Photo courtesy of Cassandra Carter.)

The British History Podcast wants you to know that your dark future really doesn’t have a damn thing on the past. (Photo courtesy of Jamie and Zee.)

The team-up you weren’t expecting. (Photo courtesy of Christopher Troy.)

We’re gonna go ahead and say that “continuity” is the correct collective noun for Cyclopses. In that spirit: here’s continuity of Cyclopses. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Polier.)

Another homage to the original cover. Dave, on the left, helped build and weather the wall. Katie’s Marvel Girl is updated from the o5 group previously pictured on our blog. (Photo courtesy of the Proctors.)

This Shadowcat is not only an awesomely on-point cosplayer (that Lockheed!) but also one of the coolest teenagers we’ve ever met. (Photo courtesy of Tom Kishel.)

Two very happy, very tired X-Perts. (Photo courtesy of Myrrh Larsen.)

NEXT WEEK: Fallen Angels!

Special thanks to a LOT of people without whom the con and show wouldn’t have been possible:

Panel Guests: Ann Nocenti, Jeff Parker, and Chris Yost
Earth-811 Craft Department: Dave Proctor and Cameron Harris
Everyone from Rose City Comic Con; but particularly Mikey Nielson, Ron Brister, and Paula Brister.
Our amazing, amazing, amazing party hosts at The Steep & Thorny Way to Heaven: Megan Skye Hale and Myrrh Larsen
Team X-Plain: Tina Abate, David Wynne, and Kyle Yount.
The Absolute Goddamn Best: Katie Moody and Anna Sheffey.
Last but not least: Max Carleton, Dusty Eppers, Jason Betournay, Scott Hazle, Fern, Kestrel, Jasper, and everyone who turned out to help, yell, party, and X-Plain with us at and after RCCC!

76 – Live at Rose City Comic Con, with Ann Nocenti, Jeff Parker, and Chris Yost

September 27, 2015 Jay 20 comments

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In which we record our first live episode; Rose City Comic Con is AMAZING; Ann tells us how to torture the X-Men; Jean Grey needs more friends; Chris survives an encounter with an angry vampire; Squirrel Girl sets the high bar for questions; everyone has opinions about Longshot’s hair; Jeff gets meta; Cyclops is the best at fighting Sentinels; and Rachel ALMOST gets through an entire panel without swearing.

X-PLAINED:

Cable (Nathan Summers)
Stryfe (Also Nathan Summers)
Rose City Comic Con
Christopher Yost
Jeff Parker
Ann Nocenti
The X-Men
Superheroes vs. soap operas
Continuity vs. evolution
Updating the Silver Age
What defines an X-book
All of our iconic X-eras
Close encounters of the fan kind
The Continuiteens
Marvel Girl and Squirrel Girl team-ups
Narrative regrets
How we’d end the X-Men
X-Men best suited to professional wrestling
Our personal mutant metaphors
Which of the X-Men is best at fighting Sentinels

NEXT WEEK: Fallen Angels!

There’s no visual companion this week, but you can see photos from the panel, party, and more in our Rose City Comic Con roundup!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Rachel 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 prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

As Mentioned in Episode 70 – Forget It, Jake; It’s X-Factor

August 17, 2015 Jay 10 comments

Listen to the episode here!

Art by David Wynne. Prints and cards available until 8/23/2015 in the shop (also pencils skirts, ‘cause, why the hell not?) or contact David for the original.

SPOILER. (X-Factor #12)

Meanwhile, in a nearby sitcom… (X-Factor #12)

HI, BOOM BOOM! (X-Factor #12)

Seriously, though, THOSE DRAMATIC GESTURES! (X-Factor #12)

FUN FACT: In 1987, a sufficiently high Dig Dug score actually provided legal immunity from a number of petty misdemeanors in the state of New York! (X-Factor #12)

X-Factor: Trained superheroes; still haven’t really gotten the hang of doors. (X-Factor #12)

This will certainly end well. (X-Factor #13)

Oh, hi, that one photo of Jean! It’s been a while! (X-Factor #13)

Aw, these kids. (X-Factor #13)

I can’t figure out what kind of fish this is supposed to be, and it’s really bothering me. (X-Factor #13)

Cameron Hodge: Definitely the worst. (X-Factor #13)

Same story, different door. (X-Factor #13)

LOOK AT THAT AMAZING ZOMBIE ROBOT. LOOK. LOOK. (X-Factor #13)

Seriously, just buy some damn lockpicks already. (X-Factor #13)

Scott Summers’s life: literally an anxiety dream. (X-Factor #13)

Those Walter Simonson layouts, tho. Dang. (X-Factor #14)

Even Rusty and Skids can’t look away from the amazing soap opera. (X-Factor #14)

Aw, man. (X-Factor #14)

Trish, THERE IS A TIME AND A PLACE. (X-Factor #14)

“Oh, shit, we totally saved him from an inevitable and painful death! We’re monsters!” (X-Factor #14)

This cover is kind of hilarious. (X-Factor #15)

WHO KEEPS BRINGING HIM NEWSPAPERS? Probably Cameron Hodge. JERK. (X-Factor #15)

“Also, I think I might have a kid? I’m pretty sure there was a plot point about that last issue.” (X-Factor #15)

Caliban tries so hard. (X-Factor #15)

Due to lack of participation in X-Factor’s mandatory program of despair, Iceman has been temporary relocated to another book. (X-Factor #15)

I know this is supposed to be very poignant, but I can’t stop wondering why the hell Angel’s little private plane has fucking MISSILES. (X-Factor #15)

Well, I mean, it’s one way to get to Arizona. (X-Factor #15)

NEXT WEEK: Technoorganic blues!

LINKS, LINKS, LINKS!

Did you know there’s a ton of cool stuff to read and see at rachelandmiles.com? Obviously you do, since you’re already here.
David Wynne is the rad dude behind the illustrations you see at the top of every episode!
We have a Redbubble shop, where you can exchange money for all sorts of snazzy stuff, including a new, limited-run shirt every month…
…and if buttons are your bag, you can get those over at Strange Tomorrow!
While we’re being mercenary, you might as well go follow us on Twitter and Tumblr.

70 – Forget It, Jake; It’s X-Factor

August 17, 2015 Jay 31 comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS

In which everything is terrible; miscommunication triangles are way more awkward than love triangles; Boom Boom is universally delightful; Miles has feelings about ‘80s fashion; Apocalypse is judging your band posters; X-Factor still hasn’t gotten the hang of doors; Cyclops’s life continues to be an anxiety dream; the Twelve are better in foreshadowing than practice; and Angel dies as he lived: half-naked, at an airport.

X-PLAINED

The evolution of Angel
Cold opens
rachelandmiles.com
X-Factor so far
X-Factor #12-15
A miscommunication triangle
Boom Boom (Tabitha Smith)
Rachel’s Marc Silvestri causality loop
Boom Boom vs. Jubilee
Cameron disambiguation
Famine
Master Mold (more) (again)
The Twelve
Tanya Trask
Caliban

NEXT WEEK: Technoorganic blues!

You can find a visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Rachel 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 prints of this week’s illustration at our shop, or contact David Wynne for the original!

As Mentioned in Episode 15 – The Ballad of Harvey and Janet

July 20, 2014 Jay 16 comments

Listen to the podcast here!

Angelica of the D’Urbervilles.

Starting July 31, new episodes of Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men will be available every Thursday at Comics Alliance! We’ll also continue to release them every Sunday–along with the visual companion–at our site, as well as iTunes, and Stitcher, ; but if you want to be the first kid on the block to hear ’em, head to ComicsAlliance.com on Thursdays!

Meanwhile, want to help support the podcast–and get additional content and cool swag? Please take a minute to check out our Patreon campaign! We’ve got some very cool rewards, but the best part–we think–are the Milestone goals, which are sort of like the X-Men team-up moves of Patreon: giant-size annuals, written posts, original art, a print zine, and more!

“What wardrobe?” “My point exactly.” (X-Men #148)

Lee Forrester: The Best Ever. (X-Men #148)

Good luck with that, buddy. (X-Men #148)

“No, but you’ll be a sorcerer with your own Hell dimension! Won’t that be nice?” (X-Men #148)

Hi, Siryn! (X-Men #148)

Caliban and the Morlocks: Introducing the concept of passing privilege to the mutant metaphor. (X-Men #148)

last-page-of-the-issue Magneto reveals are the gift that keeps on giving. (X-Men #148)

Professor Xavier, doing our job for us. (X-Men #149)

KITTY PRYDE, YOU ARE DELIGHTFUL. (X-Men #149)

Prydeslaught, by Logan Bonner: Professor X’s unchecked rage, plus the id of a 13-year-old Kitty Pryde. We dearly wish this were canon.

Let us never speak of this again. (X-Men #149)

Still kinda bummed we didn’t make more Ann Veal jokes about this guy. “Who?” (X-Men #149)

Even his villain speech is kinda forgettable, but we will take literally any excuse to post more pictures of Kitty’s amazing outfit, so. (X-Men #149)

Phaseball Special! (X-Men #149)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA(X-Men #149)

We appreciate how obviously Lee is trying not to laugh in this panel. (X-Men #149)

There’s… a lot going on on that cover. (X-Men #150)

Magneto’s dastardly plan is basically peaceful nuclear disarmament. (X-Men #150)

Dr. Peter Corbeau: That one NPC your DM clearly rolled up as a PC in another campaign but never got to play so instead rolled into his campaign as an overcompetent badass. (X-Men #150)

The Voyage of the Mimi was an educational show, featuring a very young Ben Affleck and an ungodly earworm of a theme song. We both watched a lot of it in middle school science classes.

Wolverine with wet hair. You’re welcome. (X-Men #150)

“Also, man, he’s got killer abs.” (X-Men #150)

If there were an X-Men drinking game, “Dark City-style brain-ray psychic duel” would definitely be on the list. (X-Men #150)

Magneto: Now available with nuance and additional backstory! (Asteroid base sold separately.) (X-Men #150)

Having taken over Storm’s body, Emma Frost celebrates by, um, quoting King Lear. (X-Men #151)

HARVEY AND JANET, WE LOVE YOU. (X-Men #151)

This week in Scenes Only Chris Claremont Could Have Written: A giant robot busting through a ceiling and telling the shocked people inside, “Fear not! All will be revealed in due course!” (X-Men #151)

HARVEY AND JANET FOREVER! (X-Men #151)

Note the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends ad at the top! (X-Men #152)

Wolverine has a progressive attitude about transhumanism. (X-Men #152)

Well done, Wolverine. (X-Men #152)

How X-Men #137 could net you $2500. (Thanks to Carl Horn for finding this for us!)

15 – The Ballad of Harvey and Janet

July 20, 2014 Jay 9 comments

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In which we announce exciting new developments, the ASPCA should probably have a word with Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde gets a new costume, Lee Forrester is still the best, Cyclops has an octopus on his chest, Magneto has a change of heart, and Wolverine embraces transhumanism.

X-Plained: