recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Episode 163 - Shut Up, Conscience

## Episode Description

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.

## 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
Episode 196 - The Power Is Yours

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

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.

UPDATE: Apparently the dead mail-order monkeys were apocryphal, although we were able to dig up some fairly nightmarish accounts of live mail-order monkeys. …Yay?

## X-Plained:

* The Timebroker
* *Excalibur* #48-50
* What “fair use” doesn’t mean
* Penis bones, revisited
* Feron
* Prophylactic levitation
* Several inaccurate flashbacks
* Someone who is neither a Nazi nor Charles Xavier
* Necrom (again)
* The art of heroic exposition
* Monastic population maintenance
* Mail-order monkeys
* Widget’s new look
* Kylun’s mutant power
* Several alternate Excaliburs
* The True Secret Purpose of Excalibur
* The new Excalibur logo
* Fighting weird with weird
* A whole lot of history
* Phoenix vs. Anti-Phoenix
* Some very epic thwarting
* The end of an era
* Alan Davis’s *Excalibur*
* How we work alternate timelines into coverage
* Bishop and Deathbird as a couple

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 129 - They Don't Allow Dragons in Here (The Cross-Time Caper, Part 1)

## Episode Description

In which “Cross-Time Caper” is something of a misnomer; *Excalibur* is an awful lot of fun to summarize; none of us will ever live up to Oscar Wilde’s expectations; Captain Britain secretly derives his powers from genre; sometimes things turn out to be simple; Kitty Pryde is better at everything than you; manipulation and murder are the new flowers and candy; context may or may not ruin everything; Meggan gets a new outfit; Technet takes Brighton; and some universes are just too silly to survive.

## X-Plained

* Rick Jones, Sidekick Supreme
* The Cross-Time Caper
* *Excalibur* #12-15
* Three love triangles
* Jay’s mom’s late iguana
* Captain Marshall, Lord Champion of the Realm
* Prince William
* Butch the ogre
* Princess Kate
* Fisticuffs
* Instant air conditioning, Excalibur-style
* Bagpipe Vader
* An anticlimactic solution to a protracted problem
* *Sorcery 101*
* Several profoundly unethical ways to initiate a relationship
* Arrested *Excalibur*
* The Campsite Rule of relationships
* The logistics and social history of tarring and feathering
* A protracted parody
* A very large number and several names for it
* A theoretical team-up
* *Ultimate Hunger*
* An unidentified comic that is not *Ultimate Hunger*
* Some less-than-ideal creative choices
* A multiversal montage
* Jamie Braddock (more) (again)
* A duck
* The unenviable fate of Doctor Crocodile
* Pairing mutants with metal genres
* Inconsistent flight safety measures

## Listener Questions

* My favorite is Nightcrawler, both swashbuckler and priest. My favorite New Mutant is Magik. Given that information, Miles, what sub-genre or sub-genres of metal should I explore? Who would be a great entry band for said genre?
* Has it ever been explained why there was only one working parachute available when Scott and Alex Summers were tossed out of their parents plane?
* Favorite romantic motions from X-Men?
Episode 018 - You've Got a Dracula Problem

## Episode Description

In which Dr. Nemesis is delightful, Bill Sienkiewicz foreshadows himself, Dracula hits on absolutely everyone, Blade Godwins a crossover event, Jubilee get a jet ski, the X-Men do Castlevania 2, Rachel and Miles pick a vacation destination, and Cyclops wants you to follow your heart.

## X-Plained

* Dr. Nemesis
* A very good page of a very good comic
* Dracula variations
* X-Men #159
* Appropriate use of holy symbols
* “The D”
* Tomb of Dracula
* Bloodstorm
* Carrotstorm
* Curse of the Mutants
* Jubilee
* Crossover events
* Why we can’t have nice things
* Some really sweet weaponry
* The Dracula Reassembly Machine
* Phone sex with Gambit
* The point of being Lord of the Vampires
* X-Club
* Authorial voice in comics
* Why there probably won’t be a Starjammers movie

## Listener Questions

* What's your favorite crossover storyline? Not the most important one -- your favorite one.
* Given Marvel's decision to make a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, do you think the chances of the Starjammers or Brood ever being on screen have improved infinitesimally? I just assumed those two groups of characters and story arcs would be untouchable for movies. But if Rocket Raccoon is on screen, all bets are off.
Episode 109 - The Passion of Madelyne Pryor

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which the X-Men cinematic universe is a *really* mixed bag; Kang the Conqueror ruins everything; everyone wants a Sphinx hovercraft; Elle was right; and we bring you up to speed on all things En Sabah Nur–just in time for *X-Men: Apocalypse*!

## X-Plained

* Limbo vs. Limbo
* Hel vs. Hell
* *Uncanny X-Men* #242-243
* *X-Factor* #38-39
* A moment that does not speak eloquently for itself
* Several extended misunderstandings
* The difference between sympathetic and right
* N’astirh’s sweet ride
* A false binary
* The Goblin Prince
* Yet another reason Havok should have finished his dissertation
* The power of friendship
* The Rube Goldberg approach to combat
* Superconductivity, kind of
* Our least favorite retcon in Inferno
* The Summers brothers summed up in a single scene
* Clone ethics
* Why we like it when characters screw up
* Our favorite retcons
* How to prep for *X-Men: Apocalypse*

## Listener Questions

* Are there any retcons that you feel improved the overall continuity, or a particular story arc?
* Hey! We've just started listening recently and we love the show, but we're only at [[[Episode 030 - New-Wave Superteens in Love|episode 30]]. We won't catch up before the next movie. Anything we should listen to now so we're ready for Apocalypse?
Episode 119 - Red Night of the Soul (feat. Elisabeth Allie)

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Elisabeth hacks the Matrix; Magneto is the worst at small talk; Hela overreaches; parents just don’t understand human speech; everything is better with super-rings; Selene has a Xena moment; almost anything can be solved with a kiss; and even if you transform Doug Ramsey into a giant red murder monster, he’ll still be a huge nerd.

## X-Plained

* The S-Men
* *New Mutants Forever* #1-5
* Magma’s revised family tree
* Updating the New Mutants
* The delicate balance of the *Forever* line
* The web
* Idiom confusion
* A flawed cultural analogy
* Tiberius the Generic
* Several profoundly dubious costumes
* Family resemblance
* Skull v. Skull
* The dearth of canonically asexual X-characters

## Note

*Miles here – in one of the questions for this episode, I conflated asexuality and aromanticness. Those are totally two different things. Apologies – I’m still learning!*

## Listener Questions

* Are there any asexual X-related characters?
* Is there any status quo or era that you wish could have lasted longer in an individual X-book or the X-line in general?
Episode 190 - Local Yokels

## Episode Description

In which the term “bloodlust” shows up a lot in popular culture; Wolverine pees between panels; Michael Higgins has a lot to answer for; Jay wants to fight a comic book; Nightcrawler’s limbs have never seemed more potent; Florida kids don’t understand basements; and Doug Ramsey didn’t die for this.

## X-Plained:

* Chaos War
* Destiny’s diaries
* *Wolverine: Bloodlust*
* *Excalibur: The Possession*
* Bloodlust
* Several approaches to sound effects
* The greatest sound effect
* Perfect binding
* Several men who may or may not be Santa Claus
* The Christmas spirit
* Saskia
* The Hair
* Some varyingly graphic murders
* The Alshra
* The Neuri
* Wendigo rules
* Adamantium vs. healing factor
* Where Wolverine pees
* A statement of enmity
* Potent limbs
* Mr. Kaplan
* Weird happenings
* A man who is very obviously Merlin
* Some pedagogy
* An unfavorable Ed Wood comparison
* The Changeling (again)
* X-Force P.R.
* Space bros

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 101 – Not Bad, Just Drawn That Way

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which it’s pretty much always terrible to be Magik; Y is a sometimes vowel; Wolfsbane is a secret Disney Princess; feelings ruin everything; and Gossamyr may or may not be an allegory (but is pretty interesting either way).

## X-plained

* What Lila Cheney is up to these days
* *New Mutants* #67-70
* Gratuitous space spelling
* Gossamyr
* Spyder
* The Accountants
* Magneto’s ongoing slide into supervillainy
* A few fairly specific elements of teen-girl social dynamics
* Wolfsbane’s greatest desire
* Practical logistics of teleporting aliens into a sun
* Approaching the X-books as a new writer
* Who we’d put on an all-X-Men trivia team

## Note

Special thanks to Kieron Gillen for the X-pert consult; and to Arvin Bautista for the use of “I Will Steal Your Heart.”

## InfernoWatch

* Illyana’s descent continues
* S’ym gains near-complete control of Limbo
* First instances of possessed machinery and architecture

## Listener Questions

* How does a new writer onboard onto an X-book? It seems like there is a ridiculous amount of prior knowledge needed to write an X-Men character well. I can't imagine they're required to read 60 years of backstory as a pre-req, so is there like a character boot camp or something Marvel puts them through to bring them up to speed? Or is it all on the editor make sure the plot/references/character traits make sense in the big picture?
* If you were to choose 4 X-Men for your trivia team, who would they be?
Episode 179 - Sincerely, An Evil Individual

## Episode Description

In which X-Factor gets a revamp; Larry Stroman is the best part of 1991; Havok used to have principles; Multiple Man is his own worst enemy; Jay’s *Doonesbury* knowledge finally becomes relevant; Strong Guy breaks the Washington Monument; and Val Cooper may or may not have married Mister Sinister.

## X-Plained:

* The Madrox who got away
* Alan Disambiguation
* The X-Factor that might have been
* *X-Factor* #71-75
* Banter™
* A small selection of a gratuitously large volume of pop-culture references
* An evil individual
* One of the many deaths of Multiple Man
* Larry Stroman extras
* Professor Vic Chalker
* A Sinister scheme
* The iteration of X-Factor most likely to end up naked on television
* Your real-life Jamie Madrox reference
* GeeCees
* A canonical *Doonesbury* reference
* One way to get out of writing a term paper
* The proper plural of Madrox
* Ricochet
* The Nasty Boys
* Death by irony
* The evolution of Magik’s Soul Sword
* Why female superheroes rarely date civilian men

## Listener Questions

* I know post Avengers vs X-Men, Magik suddenly had a weird-looking, Final Fantasy VII-style buster sword, compared to her more traditional Soul Sword. Was the aesthetic design change ever explained? Does this have to do with warping by the Phoenix Force, or is she just way more badass and magic?
* Your most recent episode got me thinking: Bobby dated Opal, Warren dated Charlotte, Hank dated Trish. Jean only dated Scott, right? Rogue and Gambit, Storm and Forge... have the women of X-Men ever dated a civilian?
Episode 182 - Lunch With Technet

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Alan Davis spins dangling plot threads into gold; comics artists are storytellers; Technet is a feature, not a bug; Brian Braddock’s issues reach their boiling point; if you’re going to learn about Earth from TV, you should probably stick with PBS; and our Lila Cheney t-shirts are officially canon!

## X-Plained:

* An unlikely alliance
* Jay & Miles at Emerald City Comic Con
* Alan Davis’s return to *Excalibur*
* *Excalibur* #42-44
* Breakfast with Excalibur
* Hard-Boiled Henry
* Horatio Cringebottom
* Bert
* Earth-148 (Ee’rath)
* Kylun (Colin McKay)
* Unlikely houseguests
* A romance
* A fracas
* The trial of Captain Britain
* Multiversal moral relativity
* Micromax (Scott Wright)
* Lunch with Technet
* Why public television funding is important
* How Shadowcat’s phasing interacts with extreme temperatures
* Our opinions on *X-Men: Gold Annual* #1

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 246 - Foreshadow Puppets

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

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 else); small children are bad at everything; Shatterstar gets a tagline; Sam Guthrie REALLY needs a vacation; and it’s surprisingly difficult to choose a favorite resurrection.

## X-Plained

* Cortex
* The kinder, gentler Cable
* Several matters related to Nicholas Cage
* *X-Force* #27-30
* Broome jaws
* The Area jar
* The Mutant Liberation Front
* Reignfire (again)
* Hardaway
* A cyborg asshole
* Locus
* Moonstar
* “Of Faith and Fable”
* Foreshadow puppets
* Bobby da Costa’s greatest fear
* Dad jokes with Cable
* X-Force’s day off
* Shatterstar vs. Adam X the X-Treme
* Windsong
* An inevitable team-up
* A Very Special Episode moment
* The return of Wine Mom Domino
* The return of Jean Grey’s telepathy
* Our favorite resurrections

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 303 - No Simple Answers, feat. Laura Hudson

## Episode Description

In which writer and editor Laura Hudson joins us as we take a break from X-Men comics to discuss the complicated ethics of consuming and covering comics by creators we’re not comfortable promoting.

## Links

* Read more of Laura’s work!
* We were going to discuss this very germane Orwell essay but ran out of time.
* CW: Description and discussion of abuse and harassment:
	+ Many of Us
	+ overview of some of the Lobdell allegations and response to 2013 discussion of same.

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 266 - They’re Good Dogs, Miles

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Havok goes surfing; Malice eats a poodle; Strong Guy’s ex is a big jerk; Sinister’s gotta Sinister; and Miles learns about a meme.

## X-Plained

* The Puppet Master
* *X-Factor* #103-105
* Comparative Summers brooding
* Perks of being a mutant geologist and/or geophysicist
* Malice and Polaris’s complicated history
* A somewhat convoluted plan
* Several reasons to go to Rhinebeck, NY
* Friendship
* The extended Carosella family
* Candy stripers
* Mary, who is a big jerk
* A Sinister entrance
* The Nasty Boys (more) (again)
* Karate pants
* 14-year-old Chris Gethard’s feelings about Jamie Madrox
* Ionic vampirism
* Misguided vengeance
* Pushing back against whitewashing in comics

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 033 - Crossoverload

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we dive into two crossovers; our DCU is the DCAU; the Greys just cannot catch a break; Darkseid is basically Santa Claus; the Phoenix Force has Cyclops feels; Baron Karza is the sonic screwdriver of supervillains; and the Enigma Force is aptly named.

*CONTENT NOTE: The Micronauts portion of this episode involves not-particularly-graphic but still fairly involved discussions of sexual violence. If that’s not something you want to listen to, we’d recommend stopping the episode after the Teen Titans portion at 26:26, and fast-forwarding to 47:52 for conclusions, questions, and outro.*

## X-Plained

* Crossover Earth
* Amalgam
* Crossovers
* The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans
* The Teen Titans
* The One True Flash
* Cosmic Kirby
* Darkseid
* Metron
* The Source Wall
* Deathstroke the Terminator
* Ravok
* Butte sex
* Cyclops and the Phoenix Force
* The X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4
* Bill Mantlo
* The Hero Initiative
* Micronauts
* The Microverse
* Baron Karza
* Evil Xavier (more)(again)(seriously, how is anyone still surprised when this happens)
* Several moral event horizons crossed in quick succession
* Female protagonists in X-books

## Listener Questions

* Where I can find more X-stories with developed female leads? Specifically Jean Grey?
* How are X-Men operations funded? I always assumed that the Fantastic Four had income from Reed's parents and the Avengers were funded through a combination of Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. money. But what about the X-teams? Does Xavier have an inherited fortune? How is it administered since his death? Is there a trust of some sort that funds the schools?
Episode 149 - Panning for Callbacks

## Episode Description

In which *Old Man Logan* is probably better than it deserves to be; Steve McNiven is magical; the post-apocalyptic future probably belongs to the LARPers; Miles’s dad may or may not secretly be Hawkeye; all babies are supervillains; every movie should have a dinosaur chase scene; Emma Frost is our queen forever; and you should never trust a Hitler cosplayer.

## X-Plained

* Wolverine: Lord of the Vampires
* Mark Millar
* *Wolverine* Vol 3 #66-72
* *Giant-Size Wolverine: Old Man Logan*
* The Hooded Man
* “Old Man Logan” vs. *Old Man Logan*
* The difference between Logan and Wolverine
* Old-timey apocalypses
* The Hulk Gang
* Old Man Hawkeye
* The Spider-Buggy
* Moloids
* Hammer Falls
* Ultron-8
* Several generations of supervillains
* How the world fell under darkness
* President Red Skull
* Some very cathartic violence
* Narrative functions of the rampage

## Listener Questions

* What would an Old Woman Laura series be like? Or Old Wolverine Jonathon?
Episode 176 - My Flashback with Andre

## Episode Description

In which we were on public radio; it’s probably best just to ignore Romulus; Miles still hasn’t seen the *Prisoner* and should be very ashamed of himself; toy licensing is the stuff of nightmares; you can upgrade your bloodbath for an additional $1.25; Jay may or may not have family ties to Weapon X; we are suckers for die-cut covers; Wolverine knows how to commit to a gag; and you have some pretty remarkable dreams.

## X-Plained

* Wolverine’s CIA contacts
* Murder-related birthday traditions
* *Wolverine* #48-50
* The ship Righteous Indignation and the ‘ship Righteous Indignation
* Wolverine size creep
* Injudicious footwear
* Serial sidekicks
* Miles’s continual failure to watch *The Prisoner*
* The Summers Crash model of flashbacks
* Panties and/or grenades
* Several varyingly reliable flashbacks
* How memory works
* Mastodon
* Andre
* How memory doesn’t really work
* Kids’ toy licensing
* Quasimodo’s hangout
* Women in Refrigerators
* Secret agent skills
* The Dalton school of argument
* A legitimately cool cover gimmick
* Wolverine vs. the Helicarrier
* Adamantium handicrafts
* Shiva (but not that one)
* Silver Fox (again) (kind of)
* A cataclysmic memory backlash
* Antarctic X-Hijinks
* Jay & Miles’s adventures in YOUR DREAMS

## Listener Questions

* My boyfriend is in Antartica, and we listen together as a long-distance activity. What are the wackiest Antarctic X-men events/plots/villain hideouts for him to look out for?
* Not a question, but I had a dream last night that you two were working in a Greek hot dog restaurant and also selling comics under the counter. I bought the nine volumes of the Louise Simonson omnibus you had handmade. Also, Miles was a Liliputian who was swamped by his human-sized beard, and did not want to talk about it. Keep up the good work, and glad to see you have expanded to dreamspace
Episode 291 - Eat Malarkey and Die

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we celebrate a birthday; nuclear war is never a good Plan A; every Logan is Old Man Logan; we are underwhelmed by the Pretty Boys of Earth-295; Jean Grey is one hell of a pilot; there are *so many reasons* not to like Donald Pierce; teleporters are the narrative nuclei of the Age of Apocalypse; and Gateway of Earth-295 deserves significantly more in-depth exploration than we can provide.

## X-Plained

* Weapon X (Logan)
* *Weapon X* #1-4
* Irony
* Coordinating costumes to tattoos (and vice versa)
* How to ride a sentinel
* Apocalypse’s sea wall
* Mutant power classifications
* The mass human evacuation
* Nuclear war
* Magma
* A load of malarkey
* Interactions of telepathy and PTSD
* The Pretty Boys of Earth-295
* How not to jump out of a zeppelin
* What Carol Danvers smells like
* Gateway (Earth-295)
* An exceptionally high-tech guilt trip
* Unconventional navigation
* Character transformations between universes
* The complex conundrum of Jean Grey
* When humans became aware about mutants
* Logan’s D&D alignment
* Our own D&D character histories

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 226 - Les Mutants

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Havok actually used to be pretty great; there are at least four attorneys in the Marvel Universe; Genosha continues to be wildly problematic; Hieronymus Bosch was not Comics Code-compliant; Quicksilver goes on vacation; Polaris has no time for your love triangle; Wolfsbane can maul as many magistrates as she wants; and Multiple Man makes a choice.

Thanks to everyone who helped bring Jay’s weird musical dream to life:

\*Luz Bianca, Greg Black, Jeremy Borders, Lucas Brown, Kitty Byrne, \*Tina Carelton, \*Finn Carter, Everett Christensen, Veryan Croggan, Chris Eddleman, \*Christina Eddleman, edibleflowers, Sol Foster, Emily Freville, Matt Gardner, Eric Michael Gray, Pete Gresser, Becky Hawkins, Andrew Hill, Jeff Holland, Al Kennedy, Steve Lacey, Kevin Lanigan, Elana Levin, \*Alex Lundquist, Dan McMahon, William Mason, Steve Neal, notwhelmedyet (Lynn), Duck Orsino, Shannon Pack, Erin Pence, \*Steve Pence, Philthy, Mariana Poole, rainproof, Samantha Riedel, Scott Sharplin, Adam Slevison, Richaundra Thursday, Dave Tomaine, Devin Toohey, and Grace Young.

\*Soloists

Special thanks to Juliana Finch, Christian Lipski, and Laser Webber for technical advice; Christina Eddleman for recording the demo track; and Matt Gardner and Peter Gresser for [Easter egg description redacted].

## X-Plained

* Damian Tryp
* An unconventional staffing practice
* Genosha (more) (again)
* The devolution of Alex Summers’ personality
* Several attorneys in the Marvel Universe
* *X-Factor* #88-91
* Random (Marshall Stone III)
* Joe Quesada’s signature ribbons
* Checkbook heroism
* Kids these days
* Genoshan reconstruction
* Several gardens of earthly delights
* Puberty
* A mercifully abandoned plan
* A conspiracy
* A significant tonal shift
* Mutate #24601
* RoboJean
* Genosha’s sanitation system
* Dick Chalker
* *Magneto Rex*
* Humans in Magneto’s Genosha

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 042 - A Firestar Is Born

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Miles has a brush with nostalgia; Angelica Jones is secretly a Thomas Hardy protagonist; it doesn’t need to make sense if it’s awesome; and Emma Frost really needs a mustache to twirl.

## X-Plained

* Trevor Fitzroy
* Firestar (Angelica Jones)
* Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
* Nostalgia
* X-Men, if sometimes the main characters were bears
* Inexplicably Australian Wolverine
* Ms. Lion
* Marvel Divas
* Sudsy fun
* Superhero sitcoms
* Firestar #1-4
* Basic palmistry
* Generic mean girls
* Coen Brothers YA
* The reinvention of Emma Frost
* Some epic gaslighting
* Butter Rum
* Mutivac
* Miles’s favorite star-crossed ‘ship
* Why Thunderbird I has stayed dead
* Contextual definitions of “organic”

## Listener Questions

* Why didn't they bring back Thunderbird, and instead created Warpath? Isn't it strange that he's been one of the few heroes that's stayed dead all of these years?
* Colossus is always described as turning into organic steel. I'm not a metallurgist, but as I understand it, all steel is organic (in the sense of containing carbon.) This can't be what they mean though, because it would be very extremely redundant. Is it ever explained what organic steel means?
Episode 268 - Disquettes

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which *Excalibur* addresses a number of dangling plot threads, Britanic finally gets (somewhat) interesting, Kitty *really* wants Douglock to be Doug, Professor Xavier and Moira MacTaggert are the best exes, and the future has peculiar priorities.

## X-Plained

* The life and death of Jamie Braddock
* *Excalibur* #81
* Douglock (more) (again)
* Inker ambiguity
* Britanic and Meggan’s Christmas costumes
* The Excalibur Lighthouse’s sudden and inexplicable resurrection
* Mo’ time travel, mo’ problems
* 20,097 rocks on a shoreline
* Douglock: overly literal, dryly funny, or just plain thirsty?
* The Emotional Beat of Damocles
* The problems with crunch time
* Princess Diana: *Excalibur* vs. *X-Statix*
* Language and time
* *Excalibur Annual* #2
* Appropriately bombastic narration
* Fashions of the future
* Psychic psychotherapy
* Sibling rivalry
* Mr. Poo
* Braddock moppets
* Oversimplification vs. ambiguity
* Spooling chambers (more)
* *Excalibur* as an X-leftovers book
* Air travel: leg-room vs. sorcerous doom
* Hannibal King: vampire detective and/or penciler
* Shadowcat and the pain of hope
* A Doug’s-eye view of *New Mutants*
* Emma Frost and aging
* Dazzler and roller derby

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 030 - New-Wave Superteens in Love

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which the New Mutants are the Bobbsey Twins to the X-Men’s Sam Spade; Nina da Costa is Ms. Frizzle; New Mutants does a Rachel-and-Miles cold open; Selene is the Elizabeth Bathory of lava; Rahne likes Sam, Sam likes Amara, Dani likes Bobby, and Bobby likes everyone; Gil and Art are no Harvey and Janet; Miles has a Del Preston moment, Magma is a Horta; and if something super happens, you should tell a super adult.

## X-Plained

* Selene
* Externals
* New Mutants #7-17
* The da Costa family
* Axe
* Some really dubious cosmetic choices
* Nova Roma
* Amara Aquilla (Magma)
* Op-art as a superpower
* Doug Ramsey’s hair
* The Massachusetts Academy
* New-Wave Superteens
* Deflection
* The Hellions
* Not-Particularly-Secret Origins of the Hellfire Club
* Publishing schedules

## Listener Questions

* Hey guys, loving the podcast! I was wondering if you knew what was up with the pretty evident connection between the X-Men's Hellfire Club and the one from the Avengers? (The 60s British spy TV series, not those other guys.) There are too many similarities in plot and trappings (secret society for the rich and powerful, 18th century outfits, female lead brainwashed into aiding the club and simultaneously dressing up in bondage gear, character named Emma) to be coincidence. Do you have any insight into what happened there?
* Why do modern Marvel comics change artists so often? I especially noticed it on Aaron and Bachalo's run of*Wolverine and The X-Men*and found it really distracting to the story. Is there a good reason?
Episode 142 - The Monster at the End of This Comic

## Episode Description

In which Jay and Miles make a personal announcement; moles (probably) don’t lay eggs; Angel is full of angst and flechettes; there’s always room for cello; and no matter how complicated our personal lives get, X-Factor’s will always be worse!

## X-Plained

* The Tanaka family business
* Jay & Miles vs. time travel
* Some personal stuff that’s going on
* Our definitive Iceman artist
* A whole lot of child endangerment
* Two reasons not to eat cereal from the 1980s
* *X-Factor* #51-53 and 55
* Cable’s first word
* Slightly dubious zoning
* Charlotte Jones
* Opal Tanaka
* Mole
* Chicken Wings
* Grover, but not *that* Grover
* B-grade Sabretooth
* A double date
* Giant bugs
* The Locust (August Hopper)
* A walk in the park
* A failed proposal
* What we talk about when we talk about retcons

## Listener Questions

* In the cases of Psylocke and Cable, two characters with some of the most convoluted retconned and re-retconned backstories going, you've introduced the entire retcon when first covering the event that got retconned. So, with Psylocke's turning Asian, you immediately addressed that this was a body swap rather than a modification of her original body, and with Cable, you addressed his actual identity long before it was part of the actual stories. Is this a conscious choice? I wonder how different the coverage might have been if you had addressed the retcons only as they arose in storylines.
* I have a theory that Grant Morrison's *New X-Men*'s big plot twist would be better if it was a different villain like Apocalypse under Xorn's mask instead of Magneto. Does this theory check out?
Episode 031 - Chekhov’s Raygun

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which there is a whole, whole lot going on; we continue to have no use for Michael Rossi; Wolverine should be an advice columnist; Forge makes bold fashion choices; the health of a timeline is directly tied to the awesomeness of Storm’s hair; and the X-Men get their first dark-future refugee.

## X-Plained

* Dire Wraiths
* ROM
* Tailoring
* Uncanny X-Men #182-188
* Just how much story can be shoehorned into seven issues
* A dubious Silent Hill metaphor
* The people in Rogue’s head
* Inexorable momentum
* Several profoundly uncomfortable conversations
* Parallel narrative in comics
* Being friends with Wolverine
* Casual enmity
* Forge
* Miles’s X-doppelganger
* Tiny shorts
* Chekhov’s Raygun
* Rachel Summers (again)
* Timeline disambiguation
* Rachel disambiguation
* “Lifedeath: A Love Story”
* Feelings
* Storm, powers, and identity
* X-Men Mad-Libs
* Hound marks
* X-Men: The End

## Listener Questions

* So recently I've been digging Rachel Grey because of the no-adjective *X-Men* series. Forget her impossible to comprehend background story, I'm confused by her facial stripes. Sometimes she has them, sometimes she doesn't. Got an X-planation?
* Has anyone ever written an Elseworlds or alternate universe story with the characters aging normally?
Episode 071 – The Once and Fuchsia King

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which the New Mutants return from space; Professor Xavier ruins everything; Magneto is the Craig Pelton of X-Men; Cypher carouses shamefully with Hellfire tramps; Karma quits the team; and we wrap up Chris Claremont’s New Mutants run.

## X-Plained

* Leong and Nga Coy Manh
* New Mutants #51-54
* The Starjammers (again)
* The paradox of Professor X
* Several dramatic speeches
* The Hellfire Club for Creative Anachronism
* Plan Omega (but not that one)
* A fairly epic dress-code violation
* Magik vs. Limbo
* A very specific bit of fancasting
* Best Magneto
* What X-fans (may or may not) live for
* A well-wrought nightmare
* Hellion disambiguation
* Doug Ramsey’s Fancy Hair
* New Mutants X Frank Zappa
* Wacky teen hijinks at the Hellfire Club
* Carousing shamefully with Hellfire tramps
* A heroic challenge
* A counterintuitive heart’s desire
* Claremont’s New Mutants run.
* Libraries
* Emma Frost’s accent
* The sounds of blastin’

## Listener Questions

* In the first, or maybe second, issue of Grant Morrison's *New X-Men* run, Emma Frost gets into a taxi and the taxi driver asks if "that's an English accent I hear?" She replies in the affirmative. Why the hell would Emma Frost have an English accent?
* Is blastin' noisy? I know that Sam Guthrie is nigh invulnerable when he's blastin', and assumed he was pretty loud too. The attached panel seems to indicate that blastin' is, counterintuitively, pretty quiet. What say ye?
Episode 270 - X-Ray Goggles and Mail-Order Lizards (feat. Steve Stokes)

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we hear from two generations of Stokeses for the price of one, buying comics for your son is a great way to rationalize reading them yourself, you should probably be reading The Immortal Hulk, and a 30-year comics hiatus ain’t stopping Steve.

## X-Plained

* A well-loved copy of *Fantastic Four* #1
* Marvel vs. DC in the Silver Age
* Requirements for an acceptable Doctor Doom
* The perils of competitive newsstand shopping
* Comics conventions: the days before Hall H
* The Long Game
* Bill Sienkiewicz: best of the best
* The Worst Comic Book Guy
* What makes the X-books special
* The experimental storytelling of New Mutants
* The Original Five
* The Long Box (and the Easter basket)
* Contagious enthusiasm
* Returning to the Marvel Universe as a lapsed reader
* Art styles over the years
* Tragic tales of mail-order chameleons
* The joys of the mainstreaming of nerddom
* Superhero movies as message pill pockets
* Fin Fang Foom
* *HoX/PoX* freakouts as father/son bonding
* Acid in vampires’ faces and other childhood traumas

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 213 - Live from FlameCon, feat. Sina Grace, Magdalene Visaggio, and Leah Williams

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

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, Anna, the Discord crowd, and all our amazing listeners and patrons!

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Louise Simonson

## ***Louise Simonson***

### First podcast appearance

Episode 168 - Live at NYCC, feat. Chris Claremont & Louise Simonson

## External links

Marvel Database: Louise Simonson (Earth-1218)

Wikipedia: Louise Simonson

Twitter: @LouiseSimonson2

**Louise Simonson** writes comics.

## Selected X-Men related work

* X-Factor 61-64 (1986)
* *New Mutants* #55-97 (1987)
* *Havok and Wolverine Meltdown* #1-4 (198)

## X-Plain appearances

* Episode 168 - Live at NYCC, feat. Chris Claremont & Louise Simonson
* Episode 200 - Lightning in a Bottle, with Louise Simonson
Episode 245 - Natural Causes

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

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 complicated feelings about the Ultimate universe.

## X-Plained

* Rogue’s biological parents
* Marvel New Orleans
* Brood Trouble in the Big Easy
* Rogue/rogue disambiguation
* *Rogue* #1-4
* Bella Donna Boudreaux
* What may or may not happen if Rogue kisses a Transformer
* Cody Robbins (again)
* Natural causes
* Supervillain funeral crashers (again)
* Inverse Ninja Law (Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu)
* The Bill the Pony incident
* Relative culpability
* Nature vs. nurture
* Tante Mattie (Mattie Baptiste)
* Candra’s new threads
* How long it takes to drive from Westchester, NY, to Caledcott, MI
* How Jay learned to love Gambit (but not to stop worrying)
* Gris-Gris
* Lapin
* Fifolet
* Punching hallucinations
* Questa
* Knives as superpowers
* Inversions of several gendered superhero tropes
* Closure
* The limits of intent
* Magnetos’ (sometimes) kids’ hair
* Whether we’ll cover *Ultimate X-Men*

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 137 - Kicky Kinko Killers (feat. Sarah Kuhn)

## Episode Description

In which author Sarah Kuhn joins us to talk about Asian-American and Asian-British representation in superhero comics; Psylocke is the literal embodiment of British imperialism; Jubilee speaks for us all; representation isn’t a Boolean state; Wolverine fails at pop culture references; and somewhere there’s probably a really dark alternate universe where Betsy teamed up with Jamie instead of Brian.

## X-Plained

* Crimson Dawn
* Sarah Kuhn
* Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #256-258
* A proactive approach to career advancement
* Matsuo Tsurayaba
* The Mandarin
* A highly symbolic dream sequence
* A controversial transformation
* Kwannon
* What badass looked like in 1990
* Several varyingly successful Batman references
* Rose Wu
* A fairly novel approach to hallucination
* Some high-quality invective
* Psylocke as a villain
Episode 216 - X-Amining X-Factor (feat. Dr. Andrea Letamendi)

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Dr. Andrea Letamendi of *Arkham Sessions* joins us to analyze some analysis; Doc Samson has major scope-of-practice issues; *Ren & Stimpy* references continue to fail to age well; it’s hard to be Quicksilver; Val Cooper is not your friend; Polaris pretty much always deserves better; Charles Xavier should not be allowed to inhabit positions of power; and labels are often not the best tools for good representations of mental illness and neurodivergence.

## X-Plained

* A very high-stakes 3-D puzzle
* *X-Factor* #87
* Doc Samson
* Making talking heads interesting
* Wolfsbane’s relationship to pop culture
* Appropriate boundaries
* Several remarkable fashion choices
* Pietro Maximoff in perspective
* Therapeutic assessment vs. intervention
* The extremely tragic backstory of Jamie Madrox
* Imposter syndrome
* A brief history of Polaris’s brushes with possession
* A really poorly planned and presented sequence
* Consequences of armchair diagnosis
* Interactions of telepathy and psychology
* Legion as a portrayal of mental illness
* Writing mental illness in fiction

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 035 - Post-Disco Panic

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which literally every character in Dazzler: The Movie is the absolute worst; Beauty and the Beast is secretly kind of awesome; Ann Nocenti is an editorial war-bard; Rachel issues a hat-related retraction; and we would read the hell out of Tales from the Heartbreak Hotel.

## X-Plained

* The many mutations of Hank McCoy
* Alison Blaire
* Dazzler: The Movie
* Dazzler’s corporate origins
* The original plans for the actual unmade Dazzler movie
* Severely off-model Storm
* Ziggy the Butler
* Several frankly horrifying courtships
* Roman Nekoboh
* Eric Beale
* Beauty and the Beast (but not that one)
* The correct way to open a miniseries
* Ann Nocenti
* Alexander Flynn
* The importance of voice in writing Beast
* Max Rocker
* The Heartbreak Hotel (but not that one) and its residents
* Nocenti narration
* Some really dubious underground theater
* The worst hat
* What Dazzler’s been up to lately

## Art Challenge

Join us in a world where Beauty and the Beast spin-off Tales from the Heartbreak Hotel is a real, published comic.

## Listener Questions

* I finally picked up the Longshot miniseries you guys recommended but there's something I don't quite understand here - where's Dazzer? Did they break up at some point between the 80s and now? Is she dead? What's she been up to? If it's really bad, you could probably make a fun cold open out of it.
* What current Marvel books are you guys reading? I'm actually really interested to see how the X-perts experience the Marvel Universe.
Episode 275 - End of the Summer

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Professor is too cool for the Phalanx; fatphobia is significantly more dangerous than Fred Dukes; Strong Guy catches a plane; Emma Frost will not let you coast; Jubilee says goodbye to the X-Men; and it’s probably for the best that we have avoided corporate advertisers.

## X-Plained

* Mr. M
* *Thor: Metal Gods*
* Ship (more) (again)
* The Phalanx vs. the Borg
* Several cover homages
* *X-Force* #39
* *X-Factor* #107
* *Uncanny X-Men* #318
* Prosh
* The myriad delights of embodiment
* A complex theory about Leprechauns
* Benefits of single-issue stories
* Strong Guy vs. the Blob
* Strong Guy vs. Gravity
* Strong Guy vs. an airplane
* Strong Guy vs. biology
* Several explosions
* The kids of Generation X
* Deluxe-format comics
* The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning
* Goodbyes
* Dazzler’s relative immortality
* Jay’s X-Men Happy Meal Toy wish list
* How to make a page-accurate Warlock toy

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 287 - Welcome to the Age of Apocalypse

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we enter the Age of Apocalypse!

Special thanks to Logan Bonner for the X-Men roleplaying assist!

## X-Plained

* One way to solve a problem
* The story so far
* Earth-295
* *X-Men: Alpha*
* *Age of Apocalypse Collector’s Preview*
* What makes Age of Apocalypse a surprisingly good jumping-on point to the X-Men
* The story so far
* AoA vs. the Clone Saga
* An Age of Apocalypse that might have been
* AoA vs. Earth Askani
* The X-Men of Earth-295
* Fashion motifs
* A dubious hairstyle
* Facial tattoos
* Wild Child
* Blink (but a different Blink)
* Morph
* Character designs as storytelling
* Baby Charles
* Magic of magnetism
* Dark Beast
* The Prelates Summers
* The Horsemen of Earth-295
* The Bobby Newport of the Age of Apocalypse
* Heaven
* The Human Council
* What’s coming
* Characters we’d like to retroactively import to AoA
* Tabletop X-Men

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 024 - Ororo, Queen of the Galaxy

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Professor X is (canonically!) a jerk, Miles has Sidrian Hunter feelings, Kitty Pryde is Clarissa Darling with a dragon, we introduce a drinking game, the X-Men do Barbarella, Rachel has a ‘shipper moment, Rogue joins the team, Storm gets a haircut, Mastermind is still the worst, and Madelyne Pryor is underrated.

## X-Plained

* Lockheed
* Uncanny X-Men #168-175
* Reset issues
* A one-sided rivalry
* The lowest-drama X-romance
* The Cream of Wheat box as a metaphor for infinity
* Kitty’s Kostume Korner
* Rachel’s questionably-canon ships
* The Morlocks
* Class privilege and the mutant metaphor
* Callisto
* Caliban
* Sunder
* Plague
* Masque
* A dubbing error
* Gender dimorphism in superhero media
* Storm’s first major character arc
* Our single favorite superhero artist
* Rogue
* Rogue’s accent
* A Charles Xavier we can believe in
* Yukio
* Punk Storm
* Madelyne Pryor
* Closure
* Cyclops vs. formalwear

## Listener Questions

* Rogue was raised by Mystique and Destiny, neither of whom appear to have the colorful language and thick accent that Rogue does. So where did Rogue get it from?
* Is there an in-­canon (or out ­off ­canon) term to describe those middleground mutants? Those who fall somewhere between mutants who can "pass" for homo sapiens, and those who we'd describe as Morlocks?

## Art Challenge

Kitty Pryde costume redesigns any era, any codename
Episode 121 - Two Sides of a Narcissistic Coin (feat. Ben Acker)

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Jay may or may not have sold their voice to a sea witch; Gambit and Deadpool are somewhat lackadaisical superheroes; everything Fat Cobra does is amazing; Miles is a prepared gentleman; Gambit is there to look pretty and throw something; and there is now a Ben Acker vocaloid hovering around the studio.

## X-Plained

* Acker & Blacker
* *Thrilling Adventure Hour*
* *X-Men* #214, but not the real one
* *Deadpool v. Gambit*
* As-needed approach to continuity
* The ontology of Deadpool
* The time the Absorbing Man turned into cocaine
* *Wolverine Season One*
* What makes Gambit creepy
* The roadtrip miniseries you didn’t know you needed
* A theoretical poker game and its theoretical outcome

## Listener Questions

* Is there a reason why everyone seems to hate Gambit? All I can gather is they keep calling him sleazebag, which I can infer is referencing his womanizing traits, including that dump pheromone power he has / had. But is that really it?
* Gambit, Deadpool, Sparks Nevada, and Frank & Sadie Doyle (who, for people aren't familiar, are from *Thrilling Adventure Hour*) are playing poker. Who wins, and why?
Episode 098 – Between Alien Visitations and Drunken Sulks

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we continue our coverage of pre-Excalibur Captain Britain; S.T.R.I.K.E. is D.U.C.K. is W.H.O.; the R.C.X. is one lapse in judgment away from on-the-job cosplay; Meggan levels up; your name will never be as cool as Doctor Crocodile’s; Technet writes their own cold opens; and we announce the upcoming debut of Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men!

## X-plained

* A large number of acronyms
* Irony
* Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men
* *Mighty World of Marvel* #14-16
* *Captain Britain* #1-14
* The aftermath of the Jaspers Warp
* Inspector Dai Thomas
* How to work out a superhero’s secret identity
* The Crazy Gang (more) (again)
* Slaymaster
* Captain Britain’s costume
* Sidney Crumb
* Gatecrasher’s Technet (more) (again)
* Earth-794
* Kaptain Briton
* Sat-Yr-Nin
* The R.C.X.
* Agents Gabriel & Michael
* The Warpies
* The Cherubim
* Meggan (more) (again)
* Doctor Crocodile
* Jamie Braddock
* Betsy Braddock’s short and calamitous tenure as Captain Britain
* Women in Refrigerators
* Our thoughts on the X-movies
* Mutant heredity

## Listener Questions

* I'd like to know: what's your opinion about the X-Men movies so far, especially how the characters are portrayed? Who do you think gets the worst deal?
* Do mutant couples exclusively give birth to mutant children, or is it possible for a mutant and a mutant to produce a human child? I had thought that Luna qualified, but I realized recently that her mother was an Inhuman, not a mutant.
Episode 219 - Brutal Hearts: An Appreciation of Emma Frost (feat. Seanan McGuire, Leah Williams, Tea Fougner, Kel McDonald, and Diana Fox)

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Jay recruits X-writers Seanan McGuire and Leah Williams, cosplayer Tea Fougner, and innocent bystanders Kel McDonald and Diana Fox, for a night of Emma Frost appreciation.

* 1.5 oz gin
* .5 oz rose elderflower syrup
* Splash of elixir vegetal
* Prosecco to fill glass

Top off with:

* Smoke bitters

## X-Plained

* Why Emma Frost is amazing; why we love her; and why you should, too.

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
David Wynne

David Wynne is the official artist for Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men. He designed the main logo, and following Episode 020 has provided art for all but four episodes.

He runs a webcomic called Spacescape and has a website to sell his art, including the originals of every Jay and Miles episode cover, found here. His twitter is @davidwynne.
Episode 284 - Precious Baubles, feat. Chip Zdarsky

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we sit down with writer Chip Zdarsky to talk crossovers, continuity, metaphors, and *X-Men/Fantastic Four*!

## X-Plained

* *X-Men/Fantastic Four*
* A reunion
* Richards kids
* The state of Franklin Richards’ powers
* Balancing characters in team books
* Superhero teams as families
* Several metaphors
* Chip’s definitive X-Men
* Reed Richards vs. Charles Xavier
* Doom
* Krakoan fashion
* Switching gears
* An exchange of portraits
* Whether Garfield is a mutant
* Evolution

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.