In which we begin at the beginning: everything clicks with #3, Professor Xavier is a jerk, Magneto is a fearless fashionista, Cyclops gets a name, Jean Grey has a chronic case of the Silver Age, and allegorical diversity is not enough.

X-Plained:

• Mutant genetics and taxonomy
• Practical semantics of “X-Men”
• Charles Xavier’s equally dubious ethics and decorating choices
• Superhero couture of the Atomic Age
• Why Cyclops can’t control his powers
• The miracle of comic-book magnetism
• A problematic analogy
• X-books for beginners
• Snow grenades
• The word “yaybo”
• The mystery of the ubiquitous plaid suit

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

In which we introduce the villains of the Silver Age: Magneto makes some valid points, Mastermind is a Nice Guy of OkCupid, the Scarlet Witch predicts Cat Breading, the Trasks should really have known better, and the Comics Code Authority is down with pterosaurs.

X-Plained:

• Common characteristics of enduring X-villains
• Mutant identity politics and moral relativism
• Context-agnostic Juggernaut flashbacks
• An unorthodox approach to anthropology
• Cyclops’s greatest diplomatic achievement
• Silver-Age haberdashery
• An innovative modification to vampire mythology
• Cultural assimilation
• The propaganda-and-sweater-vest machine
• Hex bolts
• Supplemental reading

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Featuring Emergency Backup Co-Host Chris Sims!

In which Rachel and Chris X-plain three cartoons and track a disagreement to its source; Gambit is definitely the worst person you know; Broadcasting Standards and Practices is tired of your death ceremonies; Storm doesn’t have an inside voice; and we finally get around to mentioning that one dude with the claws.

X-Plained:

• Weaponized creepiness
• The evolution (and Evolution) of X-Toons
• Why you hate Cyclops (and Rachel doesn’t)
• Adaptation overload
• Broadcast standards, practices, and laser rifles
• How to order pizza like a weather goddess
• A paramilitary after-school club
• G-Rated Wolverine
• Comics based on cartoons based on comics
• Morph
• The Batman Standard
• The Wolverine and the X-Men trifecta of perfection
• Why the Mojoverse works better on TV
• Dazzler’s secret second job
• Basic jacketry

CORRECTION: In this episode, Rachel mentions that Morph’s first comics appearance is in Exiles. It’s not: he’s in Age of Apocalypse. Mea culpa.

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

In which Rachel finally gets to say “WHAT?!,” we examine three variations on the Silver Age, Twin Peaks is reality TV, we can’t believe you hired Hitler, Angel is not Batman, even the most sympathetic Xavier is still pretty creepy, Cyclops has a good day, Marvel Girl is not going to throw a dinosaur for you, Iceman is the Troy Barnes of the X-Men, and we say a fond farewell to the Silver Age.

X-Plained:

• The X-Axis
• X-Men: Children of the Atom
• Hard-sell noir
• How to party like it’s sometime between 1986 and 1991, as filtered through 1999
• The perils of over-referencing
• Why Marvel is in the Tommy Westphall Universe
• The worst guidance counselor ever
• Villain speeches
• X-Men: First Class (but not that one)
• Fun, and several places to find it
• Angst-free X-Men
• Gender politics of superheroism
• X-Men: Season One
• Teenagers
• The solution to the Silver-Age-Jean Grey problem
• Why Iceman matters
• The Silver Age cram book

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

In which the Bronze Age begins; Dave Cockrum is your god now; the band gets together; Sunfire joins the team; cultural sensitivity is not Marvel’s strong suit; Sunfire quits the team; it sucks to be Cyclops; Professor X crosses a moral event horizon; Sunfire joins the team; Ed Brubaker channels Thomas Hardy; you are probably a Summers brother; and Sunfire quits the team.

X-Plained:

• Bamf-Voltron Nightcrawler
• Giant-Size X-Men #1
• The worst hat of the Marvel Universe
• The Mostly-New, Mostly-Different X-Men
• A business-casual angry mob
• The limits of creative good intentions
• Tractor punching on the Ust-Ordynski Collective
• The correct spelling of “fine”
• Canada
• Sunfire’s utter disdain for everything, including you
• Krakoa: The Island That Walks Like a Man!
• Characteristics of good X-fights
• Yet another miracle of magnetism
• X-Men: Deadly Genesis
• Summers Family Continuity (Introductory)
• More hats
• The Muir-MacTaggert Research Facility
• Summers Family Continuity (Intermediate)
• The Charles Xavier Scale of Supervillainy
• Relative immunity
• Wolverine’s ubiquity

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION:

• What would you do with thirteen X-Men?
• Help us find all-ages-friendly Marvel Girl stories!

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

In which we more or less prepare you for the upcoming feature film; Rachel Summers is a black hole of continuity; Kitty Pryde breaks the Danger Room; Earth 200500 is clearly the best earth; even the X-Men have no idea what’s going on; First Class Emma Frost is so boring that we forget she exists; wolverines are definitely not wolves; and you can have Rachel’s Community references when you pry them from her cold, dead hands.

X-Plained:

• Rachel Summers
• “Days of Future Past”
• Gravestone engraving standards of 2013
• The Mostly-New, Mostly-Different Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
• Another unfortunate hat
• Causality in the Marvel Multiverse
• Earths 811, 1191, 295, 311, and 200500
• Hall monitors with laser rifles
• How to fix a broken timeline
• The X-Men cinematic universe, and points of divergence from the comics
• The one thing X-Men: The Last Stand does right
• The Xavier Index of Cinematic Continuity
• The difference between Canis lupus and Gulo gulo
• A Days of Future Past cinematic cram course
• Fix-it fic
• Blink, Bishop, and dark-future mash-ups
• The enduring appeal of Earth-811
• The significantly less enduring appeal of Earth-242
• The Nazi Excalibur of Earth-597

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Next week: Greg Rucka, Cyclops, and Starjammers!

With guest Greg Rucka!

In which death is a revolving door, we really liked Days of Future Past, space pirates are the best pirates, Vulcan is (still) the worst, Miles has a Corsair costume, Lilandra has lovely plumage, no one knows how to pronounce “M’Kraan,” we studiously avoid discussing the Phoenix force, Saurids speak Hebrew, Raza Longknife’s name is a bit on the nose, Rachel is the worst at hugs, Greg has a ‘ship, and we all kind of identify with Cyclops.

X-Plained:

• The Starjammers (and how to pronounce their names)
• The Shi’ar
• The Neremani Dynasty
• Plumage
• Apostrophe abuse
• Corsair
• The secret origins of the Starjammers
• Why Hepzibah talks like that
• The Rule of Cool
• Visor iterations
• Summerstaches
• Cyclops’s dubious deductive skills
• Hugs
• The All-New, All-the-Same X-Men
• Teenagers, again
• Cyclops #1
• Cyclops vs. Scott
• Space-parenting
• Rachel’s convention sketchbook
• Greg’s Kitty Pryde feelings
• An exceptionally vivid threat
• Intergalactic fashion
• Corsair’s pecs
• Key parties in space
• The greatest romance of the Marvel Universe

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Next week: Welcome to the Claremont era, listeners—hope you survive the experience!

In which Chris Claremont defines the X-Universe; Sunfire quits the team (again); Nightcrawler is the best; the narrator is nobody’s friend; Colossus is a good kid; Cyclops has a long series of bad days; everyone is a bondage Viking; Rachel is a space pedant, we meet the Phoenix, and Wolverine is the Batman of Marvel.

X-Plained:

• Polaris’s kinda-powers
• Our first crossover event
• How much we love you
• Chris Claremont, and why he’s the definitive X-writer
• Comics In Focus: Chris Claremont’s X-Men
• Why Nightcrawler is the best point-of-view character
• The long game
• Tom Orzechowski’s dimension-folding lettering skills
• Claremontisms
• The malicious narrator
• Count Nefaria
• Sliding-scale ransom
• The life, death, and occasional reanimation of Thunderbird
• Friendship
• The care and feeding of cairns
• Erik the Red
• Quiet moments
• Sentinels and X-Sentinels
• Steven Lang
• The (first) death and return of Jean Grey
• Accents

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Next week: Leprechauns!