Mutant Studies 101

We're falling back in love students! On this sort of Episode 1.5 of season 2, your professors sit down with one of the smartest people they know to discuss how we should approach art going forward. That person? Fern of Star Wars English Class! Topics for this episode include: A lot of talk about Star Wars! Approaching media on its own terms! And how we can find ways to move forward in this beautif...

Welcome back students! For the new semester, your professors wanted to examine an important subject: What is happening in the From the Ashes era? Topics of this episode include: Why aren't these books working? What does it mean when they DO start working? How come we can't connect with these new characters but also don't understand what's happening with out old friends? and how we think we can fix...

"There's no use living with it. The killing. There’s no going back from it. Right or wrong is a brand. A brand sticks. There’s no going back. Now, you run on home to your mother and tell her … tell her everything’s alright. There aren’t any more guns in the valley." Topics for this episode include: An analysis of theme, character, and cinematic language in James Mangold's Logan (2017), this film's...

Hello again, students! For the penultimate lecture of MARCH MUTANT MOVIE MADNESS, your hosts explore the creepy boarding school of The New Mutants with special guest Justin Jordan (@freddiesroommate). Topics of this episode include: The crazy-ass production timeline of this movie! We recorded this back in January! The Return of Is It A Dazzler Song?! Dean crashes out about Sam Guthrie and Morgan d...

Get ready to break the fourth wall, students! For this episode, your professors are joined by Morgan's friend and writer Jason (@simplewrites_2.0) to discuss their very complicated feelings on the Deadpool movies! Topics in this episode include: Ryan Reynolds as an auteur, the crazy journey to get these movies to the big screen Nathan Christopher Charles Summers, how do we handle art that makes us...

Hello again, students! This week, your professors are joined by a special guest who you for sure know the work of: Ollie! (@olliephresh) They join us to discuss two much maligned movies in the franchise: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. Topics include: What happened to these movies, why are there so many characters, which of these is worse or better, a lovely tangent about Wolverine and the X-Men, and...

Get ready to go to the Great North, Students! For today's episode of MARCH MUTANT MOVIE MADNESS, your professors are joined by their friend Eileen to discuss X-Men: Origins-Wolverine, and The Wolverine! Topics for this episode include: These movies are bad, Hugh Jackman getting nominated for an Oscar and flopping, Orientalism AGAIN, fun facts about real wolverines, and a fun game! You can find lin...

Round 2, Students! For this episode, the professors are joined by returning guest Emily (@stardustem) for a new discussion on the first two films of the "reboot" series, First Class and Days of Future Past! Topics include: These movies being good but having no politics, why Kevin Bacon isn't playing Mr Sinister, the Cuba Beach Divorce, being gay, and SO much about the Kennedy's! You can find links...

Round One, Students! On this, the first proper episode of March Mutant Movie Madness, your professors are joined by friend Des (@movieswithdes) to discuss the first three X-Men movies! Topics for this episode include: How these movies came to be, our love affair with Scott Summers, how the Mutant Metaphor evolves over the course of these movies, a really fun game, and Morgan's hatred of James Came...

Welcome back, students! We're back with season 2 of Mutant Studies 101, with the beginning of our miniseries MARCH MUTANT MOVIE MADNESS! That's right, we're talking about the movies. But before we talk about that, we wanted to have a bit of coverage around some of the difficult topics we will have to discuss regarding a few of the creatives and the extensive allegations against them. Content Warni...

Happy Finals Week, Mutants! On this SEASON 1 FINALE Episode, your professors are here to talk about their single greatest passion as well as usher in the next semesters topic with a discussion of how they would bring Marvel's Merry Mutants to the big and small screen. Topics of this lecture include: The DeanMorgan X-MCU, Jack Schlossberg as the Lisan Al-Gaib, How to fix the Claremont Run, The 82nd...

Welcome Back Students! On this episode, your hosts are back and not only are they back but they have a special guest: Our good friend Emily aka StardustEm! Topics for today's episode include: A deep Dive of Zen Wells' Hellions (2020), the nature vs nurture debate, Alex Summers' terrible horrible no good very bad days, our love of Psylocke and Greycrow, and play some of the silliest games we've eve...

Hello again students! This week, your professors are talking all about THE mother of mutantkind, Ororo Munroe, the hero known as Storm! Topics for this lecture include: Storm (2023), Storm (2024), How Ororo has evolved as a character over the last 50 years, her relevance to the culture at large, our hatred of flashback mini-series by legacy writers, and a brief tangent about her greatest love inte...

Hope you're ready to face the music, students! On this episode, your professors dig deep once again into Dazzler, but this time with a more cultural lens. Topics of this lecture include: Chappell Roan and rapid rises to fame, how the mutant metaphor works (and doesn't work) in the context of fame, why we keep placing celebrities in positions to make political statements, a diatribe about the DFW v...

Happy Reading, Students! This week, your professors dive into the August releases for the new X-Line, including: Exceptional X-Men 1, X-Men 2 and 3, Uncanny X-Men 1, X-Force 1, Phoenix 2, and NYX 2. Topics of this episode include: Kitty Pryde being back in Chicago and feeling it, protecting Black children, espousing the gospel of Victor LaValle's Sabretooth work, Dean crying about Cyclops, Morgan...

Welcome Back To Class, Students! For todays lecture, your professors are kicking off the semester with a close reading of one of our favorite under appreciated gems of the Krakoa era: Vita Ayala, Bernard Chang, and Paco Medina's Children of the Atom! Topics in this episode include: Who are the Children of the Atom? How can the Mutant Metaphor evolve when placed under the lens of those without an X...

Welcome to a new semester, students! Your professors are gearing up for this new era with a read-along of X-Men, Phoenix, and NYX #1! Highlights of this lecture include: Mourning the era that was while celebrating the new one, things we are excited about for this era, how we're feeling about the X-line as a whole, and who will be Marvel's first gay divorce! Content warning: some of the discussions...

Hope you have all your memories Students! Your professors are BACK and this time they're talking about one of the great loves of their lives: Logan Wolverine and his time as the elusive Patch! Highlights of this lecture include: Examining the issues of Orientalism surrounding Wolverine, how he fits into archetypal pop culture roles in the 20th century, exploring what it means to have a Japanese wr...

Welcome Back Students! after a brief hiatus, your favorite professors are back and ready to take office hours again. Tune into the first episode of our series Recitations, where we bring on a friend and explain a crazy X-Men plot to them! This week: The Mojoverse featuring our good friend Claire (@clairekryze)! Highlights of this lecture include: What is the Mojoverse? How does Longshot's story an...

Happy Pride, Students! In today's lecture, in honor of her new solo series coming this September, your professors confess their love, admiration, and slightly too convoluted feelings about one of the greatest cultural exports of mutant kind: Alison Blaire, the Disco Dazzler! Topics in this episode include: Who is Dazzler and why should you care? What is Morgan doing that will get this show cancell...

Welcome Back Students! In today's lecture, the first in a miniseries we will do that we are affectionately calling "Everything Is X-Men", Morgan lets Dean ramble on about one of his great loves: professional wrestling and how it is connected to the X-Men! Topics for this episode include: What is professional wrestling? How does professional wrestling use the same storytelling techniques as comics...

Welcome Back Students! In today's lecture, we take a deep dive into one of the most complicated characters in the story of the X-Men, Madelyne Pryor and her journey leading up to and through the classic story Inferno. Topics in this episode include: Who is Madelyne Pryor and why should you care? How she both plays into and subverts tropes that have historically been used against women, how differe...

Welcome Back Students! For today's lecture, your esteemed professors take a deep dive into a seminal text of The X-Men and a foundational reading of this podcast: Jonathan Hickman's 2019 dual-comic series House of X/Powers of X. Topics in this episode include: How this comic plays with both the form and content of a superhero story, Moira McTaggert's lives and how this was the most radical change...

Class is in session! Welcome students to Mutant Studies 101, a podcast where Dean (@Dean_of_X) and Morgan (@beakerbarnes) answer the question, "does the world really need another X-Men podcast???" Join two of your fellow mutants as they break down everything they love (and some things they hate) about the X-Men. ON THIS EPISODE: Our origin stories with the X-Men! How EVERYTHING is the X-Men! What'...