Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men

June 24, 2014 7:41 PM

Every Sunday, Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men, starting at the very beginning.
posted by Deoridhe (17 comments total)

X-Men-splaining?
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:03 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

...not all X-Men?

I'll show myself out now.
posted by skycrashesdown at 8:05 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

Well, they aren't mutants but they are explaining mutants, so they're probably sapien-splaining.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:05 PM on June 24, 2014

X-men can breed with other humans and create viable offspring, so they don't count as a separate species. >.>
posted by Deoridhe at 8:24 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

So I'm listening to the one about Chris Claremont, and I love their list of Claremontisms ("The focused totality of his/her/its psychic powers;" "No quarter asked--AND NONE GIVEN!" and so on in that fashion). What I really like is their observation that sometimes during Claremont's run, the narrator--like, the actual narration box--would just angrily yell at the characters when they feel bad, and their conclusion that the narrator of the X-Men must actually just be Uatu the Watcher yelling at them because they're idiots.

These are great podcasts. Thanks for posting them!
posted by branduno at 9:02 PM on June 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

Chris Claremont had me writing very complex sentences from like second grade on. Teachers were always so happy with that, but I just thought that was how people were supposed to write.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:27 PM on June 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

I'll show myself out now.

They titled an episode "Not All Mandroids," so you're basically in the right mindset.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:39 PM on June 24, 2014

Oh my God, this could not have come along at a better time. The girlfriends seen the films, and is getting frustrated by my fractured recall of the back story. Cheers, Bub.
posted by Optamystic at 12:32 AM on June 25, 2014

I'll have to listen to the Claremont one, at least. Claremont may be unique in having gone from having the reputation as the best writer in comics (say, in the early eighties, at least) to one whose tics and tropes eventually overwhelmed that reputation. (I was going to say "one of the worst", but that's being a bit strong; he doesn't even have the rep of being the worst X-writer--that would undoubtedly be Chuck Austen.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:14 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

They're going through the whole X-Men saga in order, so for now they're talking about Good Claremont - give 'em a while (hell, maybe a few years) and they'll get to Creepy Off His Game Claremont.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:34 AM on June 25, 2014

Does every single sentence have to end on an up note?

I really love the late '70s early '80s Xmen, but hot damn, these people have a horrible podcast. Maybe I should say that they have a horrible podcast?
posted by Sphinx at 6:50 AM on June 25, 2014

Wait ... WHAT happened during Deadly Genesis?

Stopped reading X-Men in the late 80's/early 90's and apparently there have been some, um, changes ...
posted by kyrademon at 9:13 AM on June 25, 2014

"Once scored a second date by reciting the Grey/Summers genealogy from memory."

Now that's some cred.
posted by asperity at 9:14 AM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

My very first introduction to the internet was reading the rec.arts.comics.xbooks comprehensive list of (mostly Claremont's) dangling plot lines (using 'n' on a unix terminal, a completely un-threaded newsreader that was basically like trying to drink Usenet from a firehose).

I love their list of Claremontisms

See also:

"nigh invulnerable"
"We take care of our own."
"Bub"
"Flamin' muties!"
"Me an' mine."
"Comes with the uniform."
"Not today, and not by you."
"selfsame"
posted by straight at 10:20 AM on June 25, 2014

I love this podcast so much. After Greg Rucka's guest episode, I went out & got the new Cyclops #1, and I really enjoyed it. (My only previous exposure to X-Men was the early 90s cartoon & the movies.)
posted by epersonae at 3:47 PM on June 25, 2014

I especially love how their enthusiasm isn't blind. I've been struggling with loving sometimes problematic things, and Rachel and Miles are awesome role models for that.
posted by Deoridhe at 4:59 PM on June 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

This podcast is the best podcast. It's great because I think there's a lot that both an X-pert and a novice can enjoy. There's a lot of "Oh yeah! I remember that." and also a lot of "That sounds fucking crazy, I have to find that issue." (The fucking leprechauns had me on the floor)
posted by runcibleshaw at 3:44 PM on June 26, 2014