Jay & Miles X-plain The X-men

This would usually be a skip week, but thanks to some generous donors to Equality Florida, Hawk Talk is back! This week's topic was chosen by Play Comics.

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Max Carleton and Miles take a trip back to the Silver Age, the origins of Marvel Girl's telepathy are questionable, the nature of Polaris's parentage is also questionable, and the quality of Sauron's origin story shall never be questioned. X-PLAINED: The Locust (Dr. August Hopper) Uncanny X-Men #46, 52, and 60 Genuine tragedy Funereal fashion Frederick "Amos" Duncan The Juggernaut (Cain Marko) (again) The Crimson Cosmos Energy globules Charles Xavier's telepathy lending library Jean Grey, spiteful seamstress Erik the Red (the first one) (Scott Summers) Lorna Dane, fashion icon Filially-obligated villainy Psychic-delia The sadly short-lived Roy Thomas / Neal Adams run Suspension of disbelief Pteranodons Sauron (Karl Lykos, fantasy nerd) Alex Summers, perpetual captive and/or villain battery Miles's favorite two-page spread How to choose the perfect supervillain name X-Men: The Animated Series, 1

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Storm & Joseph X-Plain the X-Men, Alex Summers is not brainwashed this time, he promises, Scott Lobdell writes better moments than stories, Ed McGuinness draws very large chins, and it’s Denver the Last Dinosaur, not Denver the Lost Dinosaur X-PLAINED: Uncanny X-Men #339 Spider-Man disambiguation A. Kubert disambiguation J. Jonah Jameson (again) (hooray!) Sneaking songs The history of smoking regulation on airlines Creed disambiguation Havok’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Bonding while falling out of planes X-Men #59 The copyright status of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Well-drawn Wolverines Hercules vs The Tick Wolverine Annual 1996 The tragic death of Mariko Yashida Silver Samurai (Kuniuchio Harada) Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida) and what he’s been up to since Fatal Attractions Josef Stalin, apparently? Red Ronin and its nemesis, a time-lost dinosaur who we assure you is not Godzilla Jedi and/or samurai v

In which we return to Rutland, Vermont; Emma Frost faces her salad demons; Banshee is not even supposed to be here today; no one should ever have to drive in New York City; Fenris is both evil and obnoxious; and we’re still not over that one Senator Kelly action figure.

Sometimes when the world's a trash fire, it's hard to figure out where to start. We talk activism, figuring out how you can help, and what we're doing to fight back against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Florida. Click through here to find out more about our campaign to raise funds for Equality Florida!

In which Jay and guest X-Pert Connor Goldsmith explore approaches to podcasting about X-Men; difficult characters; costume preferences; our mutual mistrust of horses; owning our perspectives; and good on-ramps.

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which the Beast miniseries is actually a cleverly disguised Karma miniseries; Gateway’s moral alignment remains a mystery; Cannonball rocks some sideburns; there are many reasons to dislike Viper; and every #1 is somebody’s first. X-PLAINED: An off-panel death X-Force #62 Beast #1-3 Karma’s family and backstory (again) Twin absorption MacGuffins and/or children Clearcut and Mindmeld Unconsciousness Spiral (again) Marios What to do (visually) with six arms Spiral’s mutates Some very impressive body horror MId-fight stalling Misplaced revenge Hank McCoy’s multiversal offspring The history of Karma’s sexual orientation NEXT EPISODE: Jay and Connor Goldsmith X-Plain X-Plaining! Due to technical issues, 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–a

In which you can now listen to a unique episode of Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men every day for a year; Shi’ar tech support leaves something to be desired; Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau does not appear in a story; it’s Deathbird, not Dueprocessbird; Zenn-La gets destroyed a lot; and we shall never speak of this incident again.

In which we lie extensively about how comics schedules work; the Mystery School is clearly a backdoor pitch; the Wisdom family has a lot going on; red dyes fade fast; and we (roughly) calculate the odds of Cyclops having a good day.

In which standing in fields looking confused is a way of life; Psylocke gets a new superpower; when you gotta confess you gotta confess; Iceman’s dad stands up for justice; we mourn a Sentinel; and it’s probably a good thing that most companies don’t do mind melds as a team-building exercise.

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Chris Bachalo draws excellent critters; Bastion is a terrible boss; everyone fucks in the Danger Room; Jubilee fails a midterm; and humans were the real monsters all along. X-PLAINED: The worst mutant power Generation X #20-21 X-Factor #127 Bachalo critters Bastion (more) (again) Daria (but not the one you’re thinking of) Chevy the janitor (again) Mean Cuisine Harker the cat A threatening salad Yet another time-traveling Nate Flirting A movie reference U.S.1 and Baron von Blimp Several ways to fail a midterm “Autism” Miguela Torres Trevor Chase A series of interviews Richard Starkings and Comicraft Destiny’s absence from film NEXT EPISODE: Baseball! Check out the 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

In which the 1990s were full of miniseries; Mystique and Sabretooth take a sabbatical from X-Factor; Mystique’s powers are wildly inconsistent; we meet a second Cypher; most secret agents are Mystique; and you should never tell Sabretooth about your girlfriend.

In which history gets rewritten (again); Shatterstar definitely knows how to dance; and everyone gets extremely grumpy about Loeb’s final X-Force arc.

In which Excalibur has a lot going on; Margali Szardos is never up to any good; Nightcrawler grows into leadership; we delve into the politics of superheroism; Pete Wisdom earns his keep; Miles catches a Prisoner reference; and we reach the end of Warren Ellis’ Excalibur.

Inferno #4 is out; and, as promised, we've got a bonus interview with Jonathan Hickman--unedited this time, so please forgive the audio--going into the gory details of the miniseries and its finale!

In which Hub & Lisa X-Plain Howard the Duck; Jay & Miles X-Plain Daydreamers; and Jonathan Hickman X-Plains his tenure on the X-line!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which Professor X has no time for your sympathy; there are too many people in the bathroom; everything’s more fun with J. Jonah Jameson; psychologists dress better in the 616; the Rainbow Bears have your back; and Onslaught finally, actually, for-real ends. X-PLAINED: How Logan got his adamanitum back (again) Onslaught (briefly) Uncanny X-Men #337 X-Men #57 Onslaught Epilogue #1 What we wish Onslaught had been The anti-mutant agenda Alarm clocks Ruby quartz storage and cleaning Optic-blast sound effects Googol vs. google Breakfast A familiar cover homage The semiotics of regret Disappearance-montage photos Accountability Polychromatic world-building Prisoner M-13 Prisoner M-9 (Nina) The Manite Project The Rainbow Bears Renee Majcomb Getting through Operation Zero Tolerance Our favorite continuity tangles NEXT EPISODE: GIANT-SIZE WINTER SPECIAL (feat. Jonathan Hickman) Check out the visual com

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which it’s hard to be Joseph; we do our best to explain the inexplicable; Miles is full of feelings; Hulk smashes; and Onslaught finally (mostly) ends. X-PLAINED: Heroes Reborn Return Wild times with the Dreaming Celestial Onslaught so far X-Men #56 Onslaught: Marvel Universe Jay’s definitive Bond Joseph (more) The physical evolution of Onslaught Sense of scale Hawkeye (TV series) Onslaught’s goals, to what extent they exist The three genders A really big fight A miracle of magnetism The (nominal) end of the Age of Heroes Beast’s scientific career Chamber’s voice NEXT EPISODE: Several epilogues Check out the 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! Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! In which we take a break from X-Men to talk Onslaught tie-ins; Miles learns about coffee shop AUs; Sentinels are very large; there are no bystanders in a crossover event; we are really not Punisher people; and all the bad guys have plans. X-PLAINED: The Clone Saga (briefly) How not to dispose of a dead clone Ben Reilly Amazing Spider-Man #415 Spider-Man #72 Green Goblin #12 Punisher #11 Onslaught’s increasingly nebulous goals Sentinel timing Coffee shop AUs Sentinels in Manhattan Several fights with Sentinels Green Goblin (Phil Urich) Uncles Ben The Lunatic Laugh Punisher (Frank Castle) (briefly) Yet another helicarrier crash The happiest cannon fodder The Junkyard Dogs Rashid Hammer Jones The surprisingly exciting world of NYC maritime salvage Make-believe superpowers Deadlines NEXT EPISODE: A Big Fight Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog! Find us on iTunes or Stitcher! J

This would usually be a skip week, but the world is still being a jerk, so we made you a bonus, entirely unedited, and almost entirely off-topic episode. This time, Jay and Miles talked about Hawk Talk.