Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we finally emerge from the other side of X-Cutioner’s Song; rich people are different from us; Brian Braddock is probably not comfortable with menstruation; Dai Thomas cleans up pretty well; someone FINALLY remembers Sat-Yr-9; Psylocke knows how to defend herself from a man armed with a banana; the (non-Internet) trolls re...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which “wolves” proves a remarkably broad category in the 616; we at least nominally wrap up X-Cutioner’s Song; Stryfe could really use a style guide; we issue our first-ever music challenge; Jubilee is an agent of chaos; Gambit’s powers are a metaphor; Charles Xavier has a complicated relationship to disability...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Leah dives headfirst into the world of con panels; Magdalene will burn down your idols; Sina is a fashion icon; none of the X-Men are straight (but they do share a sweater); you can’t spell “gay sex” without X; and we are all very, VERY in love with FlameCon. Special thanks to Sina, Mags, Leah, Matt, Maya, Tea,...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which nobody but Stryfe’s diary understands him; Apocalypse is the best at what he does (and what he does is remarkably versatile); Scott and Jean weaponize their clichés; Jae Lee does his best Patrick Nagel; Apocalypse is poisonous; Cable goes full T-800; nothing good ever happens to Cyclops on the moon; Stryfe dies as passive-...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Jubilee is underwhelmed by X-Force; Havok and Gambit make weirdly good buddy cops; Department K is a hot vacation destination; Cable is secretly a Coen Brothers protagonist; you can cancel Community but you can never take away Jay’s gratuitous Community references; Rusty goes full cultist; nobody is Stryfe’s real dad...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which you may or may not have your own Black Bug Room; FlameCon was in fact every bit as wonderful as we projected (and more); Caliban hates true love; no one will ever be as extra as Mister Sinister; X-Cutioner’s Song is secretly a farce; we achieve Peak Cable; and the quintessential ’90s crossover event begins! X-PLAINED...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we welcome Marvel editor Jordan D. White to the podcast to talk about the current state of the X-Universe! X-PLAINED: The cosmic luck balance Mr. Dapples A remarkable concurrence of luck Our FlameCon live show lineup What an X-Men group editor does How X-books happen Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe Shatterstar Jordan’s...

  Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which nobody wears the pants in the X-Plain family; Havok is a remarkably okay boss; Polaris may want to find a new doctor; Quicksilver has no time for your nonsense; we are very conditionally okay with resurrections; and if you spoil Season 5 of Steven Universe for Miles, we will never ever ever forgive you. X-PLAINED: Jay &#3...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Miles has a Dracula problem; we are really, really excited about FlameCon; Fabian Nicieza is the unsung hero of the early ’90s; Jay doesn’t explain the Iranian Hostage Crisis; Cable does not have a good history with trademark disputes; Cable: Blood and Metal is secretly an allegory for the X-books of the early 1990s;...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which you should all come see us at FlameCon; all lizards are good lizards; we recap a recap; the Phoenix force is really complicated; Earth-99476 may or may not be the secret history of Earth-616; Alan Davis takes on continuity; the X-Men fail to save the day; the Phoenix says its piece; Rachel takes a vacation in space; Captain Brit...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Jay returns from Latveria; Sabretooth is significantly less menacing in French; Fabian Nicieza takes the reins; X-Force wins our hearts and minds; Gideon plunders Flash Gordon’s wardrobe; Crule does not actually rule; Rictor was right; Ship is the friend who helps you move, but better; the X-Force kids strike out on their...

In which Jay runs away to Latveria (but Hub is here to save the day!); you shouldn’t eat the brown promethium; Magneto and Cap fight over the world’s tiniest man; Rom is somewhat set in his ways; all anyone in the 616 really wants out of a disguise is plausible deniability; and Hub was inside your heart all along (and you might want to see a doctor about that). X-PLAINED: Several Limbo...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which the Morlocks used to have more agency, we have a surprising amount to say about the Rat King from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , Archangel receives some exceptionally disturbing news, and 90s comics are all about finding the parts you love. X-PLAINED: Marrow’s internal organs The post-Image Exodus era Judging books by their cove...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which music is dangerous and confusing, Jamie Madrox has a weakness for femmes fatale, the term “f-holes” makes Miles turn 12, and we bid a fond farewell to Larry Stroman. X-PLAINED: That time Havok was the nexus of all realities How to get to Florida, Magneto style X-Factor #79-81 Lesser-used applications of super-speed R...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we begin our third podcast century; Cyclops is bi-inclusive; we have high standards for Mojoworld; Dazzler can survive your big-budget horror show; Jim Lee makes his exit; video games that involve Protomen are better than video games that don’t; and plasma is the new magnetism. X-PLAINED: Carter Ryking and his Very Durable...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we celebrate a major milestone with the coolest person ever to work on the X-books and look back at the last four-plus years of the podcast; and nobody ends up on trial at the Hague. NEXT WEEK: Jay & Miles take a much-needed vacation. NEXT EPISODE: The X-Men take the fight to Mojoworld! Check out our blog for links to the st...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Shattershot is definitely better than the Cold War; Beast X-plains the X-teams; Cyclops is a tired babysitter; sustenance is not frivolous; Jim Henson is the hero that Mojoworld needs; Shatterstar is not a great head of state; it’s hard to be Val Cooper; and Cable has definitely figured out how to take you (yes, YOU) out....

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Excalibur goes 16-bit platformer; Alysande gets new threads; Shadowcat should probably just change her code name to Ripley; Captain Britain may or may not destroy the universe; Doctor Doom tries his hand at human resources; Excalibur is at home with weirdness; and no lizard needs breasts. X-PLAINED: Invisible Boy Human heralds o...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Wolverine is an eternal teenager; most of what Jay knows about Hawaii comes from Lilo and Stitch ; Shiv is a complicated fellow; Nightcrawler represents an unattainable beauty standard; the Easter Bunny flies at dawn; Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure is delightful; Logan inadvertently starts a cult; Gahk does as she pleases; Jay...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which space bugs break time; you may already be a member of Excalibur; Earth-616 remains somewhat baffled by basic telecommunications technology; you should absolutely not order monkeys from an ad in a comic book; Widget gets a new look; Excalibur gets a new logo; Merlin X-Plains everything; and Rachel gets in touch with her roots. X-...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Jay may have Stockholm syndrome; Nick Fury is objectively sillier than G. W. Bridge; we get a brief artistic reprieve; Cable’s legal expertise does not extend to trademarks; our favorite Ship returns; Miles’s grandmother calls it like it is; Sauron is bad at taxonomy; and Garrison Kane is basically a very violent Ins...

In which Ghost Rider has some fairly serious medical issues; you should probably never invite Bishop to a picnic; Gambit’s past catches up with him; it’s always Mardi Gras in Fictional New Orleans; Wolverine is thrilled; and Jay swears a solemn vow. X-PLAINED: The Tithe The Momentary Princess The T’ieves Guild Why real New Orleans doesn’t have catacombs X-Men #8-9 Ghost Rid...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we pour one out for Malcolm and Randall; Cyclops is the worst at fun; Storm is better than you and always will be; Bishop forgets his first name; the X-Men can’t tie bow ties; Iceman’s dad is spectacularly awful; Mikhail Rasputin may have some lingering issues; and Doug Ramsey would probably have been pretty entertai...

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Alan Davis’s Excalibur is a spiritual sibling to The Muppet Show ; Captain Britain gets a Captain Britain lesson; Opal Luna Saturnyne has no time for your nonsense; Meggan and Rachel take a brief detour into a Hammer film; Earth-148 is extra heroic; no member of Excalibur will ever use a bathroom in peace; Cerise joins the...

In which writer Kelly Thompson joins us to talk Rogue and Gambit ; Antarctica is Earth’s answer to the Blue Area of the Moon; Kelly unfreezes one of the great X-romances; Rogue has walked a mile in everyone’s shoes; you should probably not take romantic cues from fictional characters; Gambit should always wear hot pink; and continuity is fundamentally messy. X-PLAINED: What happened in...