Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we celebrate our 100 th episode with producer Matt Hunter; you should always be kind to robots; Stryfe has a lot of very petty contingency plans; Britanic is bad at helping; we explore a peculiar pairing of book and arc; Charles Xavier has his moments; and Zero and Douglock defiy destiny. X-PLAINED: The current occupant of Fanto...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Cable and Domino may or may not be very old teenagers; disguises are not Dani Moonstar’s strong suit; Empath remains awful; Shatterstar probably talks exactly like a telenovela; X-Force needs an office manager; Mothra is larger than most things; and if you get to choose between being an External or a Guthrie, always be a Guthrie...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which the Phalanx would make pretty fun novelty candy; “B-Plot” implies that we only have 26; nobody will take Jubilee to the movies; Repo Man and Repo: The Genetic Opera are in fact two entirely different films; Storm is a fashion icon; Sabretooth is the monster in the basement; it’s really rough to be the kid on the X-Men; Yuko give...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we return to our favorite convention; writer Vita Ayala remains an absolute legend; everything was always already queer; and nobody should ever have to wait 37 years for a kiss. NEXT EPISODE: Rise of the Phalanx! Check out the visual companion to this episode  on our blog ! Find us on  iTunes  or  Stitcher ! Jay and Miles X-Plai...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we explore the aftermath of Multiple Man’s death; X-Factor has a lot of feelings; it probably sucks to grieve with Charles Xavier; neither power nor responsibility is particularly fun; we finally find out who was trying to kill Polaris; Professor Power makes it to the big leagues; and the ‘90s were one long leg day. X-PLAINED: V...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which fix-it fic goes canon (or vice versa); Psylocke is a complicated individual and/or individuals; assassins have complicated personal lives; it is probably ethical to tell your teammates about your camera eyes; Beast takes over Blue Team;  we get our first tease of Generation X; Sabretooth is a surprisingly fun narrator; that Hick...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Lisa Winters pinch-hits for Jay, we take a trip to the newspaper funnies and back, Spider-Man and Beast are natural BFFs, nothing good ever happens at the Brand Corporation, and “mutant” can be a pretty fuzzy concept. X-PLAINED: Bessie the Hellcow Spider-Man: Mutant Agenda (the newspaper strip storyline) Spider-Man:...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Rachel Summers’ continuity somehow becomes even more complicated; X-Men: Phoenix is pretty much a Star Wars (minus the stars); cultural appropriation remains a problem in the distant future; we are surprisingly into the origins of the Askani; and you should totally come see us at FlameCon! X-PLAINED: Several Rachels Summers who...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which you raised a lot of money for Trans Lifeline; we continue to miss Alan Davis; Rory Campbell should not be narrating a climactic event; Daytripper needs to dial up her eldritch patter; the universe is dubiously self-correcting; Britannic is not nearly weird enough; and we have ongoing concerns about the anatomy of incarnate conce...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which the Upstarts are the worst at Calvinball; Moonstar remains a non-mystery; Speedball gets a new costume; Shinobi Shaw never gets to finish a bath; Gamesmaster comes perilously close to getting context; Cable gets a new superpower; and Rahne Sinclair is too good for your crossover. X-PLAINED: The time Husk went evil An anniversary...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Nicole Miller is fashion designer to Earth-1218 and Earth-616, Jay rejects the word “bestest”, we kind of want to just read every word of X-Men #30 aloud, One is a perfect wedding song for Scott and Jean, and you save the last dance for who brought you. X-PLAINED: The perils of animated weddings X-Men: The Wedding Album Nonstand...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which an engagement begins; Jean Grey’s Walden Puddle counterpart is definitely Nicole; Cyclops is the telepathic equivalent of a pit trap with spikes at the bottom; Charles Xavier’s subconscious is very dialogue-heavy; nobody ever has appropriate professional boundaries; Cable dabbles in passive aggression; and the best is yet to com...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Miles invokes Freddie Mercury; Polaris is more competent than the rest of X-Factor put together; Armageddon theology does not intersect well with superpowers (or politics, or anything else); Val joins a cult (kind of); Random joins the team (kind of); Haven is a surprisingly nonviolent mass-murderer; Havok is confused by women;...

The Apocalypse emoji remain the best X-Men movie of this generation. We had a long conversation about Dark Phoenix ; and we have uploaded it here for your edutainment! WARNING: CONTAINS A WHOLE LOT OF SPOILERS FOR DARK PHOENIX . We were also ALL OVER THE INTERNET last week week! Here are the many places we have been talking about Dark Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Saga-related stuff: Battle of the Atom...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Jay proposes a new way of comparing superheroes; Beast faces an ethical dilemma; Mister Sinister has an Xavier moment; Sabretooth is a terrible houseguest; Cyclops totally gets what you see in Wolverine; Psylocke would absolutely be into hunting humans for sport; Sage probably vapes; rich people are definitely not like us; Shino...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which writer Fabian Nicieza joins us to talk ‘90s crossovers, narrative legacies, and what Adam X’s word balloons really sound like! Special thanks to Shatterstarologist Charlie of The Young Ones for lending their X-Pertise to the cold open! Check out the visual companion to this episode  on our blog ! Find us on  iTunes  or  Stitcher...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Sabretooth is weirdly ubiquitous; Maverick is a terrible guest; not all second chances are equivalent; Graydon Creed is the red delicious apple of people; Mystique is the master of murder monologues; and the Darkholmes give the Summers family a run for its dysfunctional money. X-PLAINED: X-Men Unlimited #3-4 Sabretooth (more) (a...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Tom Cassidy and Cain Marko may be the most stable couple in the Marvel Universe; Rory Campbell is no Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau; Siena Blaze remains a big jerk; the Cassidy family has some issues; and we are dismayed by an inexplicable dearth of leprechauns. X-PLAINED: Birthday presents What Excalibur has been up to Ex...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which the Hand probably doesn’t even offer dental; literally everyone is less creepy than the Joker and Harley Quinn; toxic masculinity is Sabretooth’s adamantium; Mark Trail is a wild ride; Wolverine trashes the dress code and gets funky; Larry Hama is your god now; and Sabretooth: Death Hunt scores a solid six on the butt-kick scale...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Danielle Moonstar is not a master of disguise; the MLF are bad enough dudes to kidnap a guy who works near the president; Tempo wasn’t even supposed to be here today; Reignfire is no Magneto; we now desperately want X-Force matryoshka dolls; Feral quits the team; Henry Peter Gyrich fails to learn from experience (or anything els...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Rogue flouts air traffic regulations; Jay is very sorry for how badly he butchers Gambit’s accent; stealth is directly proportionate to how loudly you dress; Rogue and Gambit win the gold in Pairs Punchin’; Candra is a big jerk; you should ABSOLUTELY NOT remove an impaled object; Rogue busts through some tropes; and we have comp...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which X-Men don’t get to take vacations; Jay makes a somewhat belated announcement; sometimes Gambit is legitimately pretty cool; the assassins get a day-glo-up; The Crow holds up surprisingly well; Gambit gets exiled again ; and Artie and Leech damn well better get to live happily ever after. X-PLAINED: Rogue and Gambit’s honeymoon A...

Art by David Wynne. In which we celebrate a red-letter birthday with a look back at five years of milestones, favorite moments, dubious headwear, and our own convoluted continuity! NEXT EPISODE: It Gambit time! You can find a full list of the episodes we mentioned here over 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 y...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we encounter one of comics’ greatest rarities; Spider-Man cannot actually do whatever a spider can; Flash Thompson subscribes to the X-Factor school of child endangerment; alliteration is the source of a very specific sort of powers; Spider-Man is not Phil; guilt is Spider-Man’s greatest motivator; we root for the antagonists; G...

UPDATE: Jay initially linked to the wrong episode here. Link now leads to the actual Episode 241. Sorry for the inconvenience! Dave is moving this week. We miss you, Dave! In which Quicksilver wants you to know that he’s not cool; X-Factor gets a new government liaison; a danger room on a jet is a terrible idea; this team is bad at feelings; Forge is a pretty okay boss; and it remains exceptionall...