WELCOME NEW LISTENERS! You're just in time for the return (?) of a beloved character who we were POSITIVE died last issue! Matt watched New Mutants (2020), Pat visited a bunch of comic book stores, and we take a trip through to the end of Chris Claremont's second year on The X-Men, as a bunch of weird stuff happens and it might be connected?

Topics Include:

Furry Nightcrawler. The Month of 100 Editors. Jean Grey, who did NOT die… Everyone wants to kill Nightcrawler. The X-Men are going to Ireland! Wolverine hates vacation. Cassidy Senechal Eamon O’Donnell. A real Canadian Tuxedo. Black Tom and Juggernaut; true friends. The ol’ “bad Irish road maintenance” trope. An X-Polycule. Nightcrawler is so damn cool. Storm’s (maybe too many) origins! "You ungrateful, unspeakable cur!" MISTY KNIGHT! Stop answering our rhetorical questions, Chris Claremont! Literal Leprechauns. The Suez War (bad). The Arm That Looks Like Spider-Woman? LOGAN!!! Neuronic Tangler Glove. Sword/axe/castle/thunder! "YOU KILLED MY FRIEND NOOOO!" Dungeons & Dragons. Apologies to Andy Yanchus. ANGUS MACWHIRTER! Eric the damn Red again. Banshee has the most metal power. A "form-fitting coffin." Alien bug... lady? The Furies. THE STARJAMMERS!! Why is Firelord here? Ohhh The Arm That Looks Like Spider-Woman! The X-Men sitting around drinking coffee. Phoenix is uhhhh pretty powerful. How many Dave Cockrums are there?

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

19 - X-Men #101-105 - The Phoenix

Matt and Pat cover the entire first year of the legendary CHRIS CLAREMONT run on the X-Men. From Moira MacTaggert to the fate of Thunderbird to Steven Lang to Polaris’s new name to the return of the Sentinels to the fate of Jean Grey. It’s a wild ride as the comic book gets truly, utterly good.

Topics include:

The issue number is a LIE. NAAD. Joe Harris’ button thing. “I love a man named Gort.” Thunderbird punches a jet. A very respectful death. The narrator taunts Cyclops. Why is there a cairn there? Getting to KNOW Moira MacTaggert. “Hey man, this is crazy.” They blew up Keirrok’s cookie jar. Why is Eric the Red back? Is Wolverine’s hair shaped for his hat or his hat shaped for his hair? Peter Corbeau’s harrowing, pointless, off-panel journey. “Oh my god.” Nightcrawler can’t stop making friends. Matt’s Grand Theory of Mutancy. The Q*Bert Kids. Jean Grey becomes a character, finally. 100 IS A FRAUD. The First Fastball Special. Skin-Beast. “You little—!” FREE BOOK!

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

18 - X-Men #94-100 - The Chris Claremont Era

Before Matt and Pat took on one of the most important X-Men issues of ALL TIME, we needed to bring in a heavy hitter. Alex Goldman, from the podcast Hyperfixed, joins us to tackle the introduction of some of the most beloved characters in comic book history and a big island that’s also a mutant.

Topics include:

Sleeping in the Superman movie. Flying around in a cloud. Cat eyes. The X-Men arcade game. A bunch of Aztec gods stomping around. "Lorna Dale?" Recruiting X-Men by race-baiting. Another torch-wielding mob. Wolverine the business-man. Cut your boss's tie. Storm can only grant one wish. Sephiroth Posting. Cyclops is NOT a baby. Bobby Drake experimenting with Groucho eyebrows.  A Force that Assaults. “Please don’t call me ‘Thunderbird’.” The Ringo of the group. The murder of Captain Planet.

Listen to Hyperfixed: https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

17 - Giant Size X-Men #1 w/ Alex Goldman

In this SPECIAL BONUS RECAP EPISODE, lucky listener Sine Wave Seán joins Matt and Pat (who are actually the lucky ones!) to bring listeners up to speed on all we’ve been through so far in the first 66 issues of the X-Men and the first 16 episodes of Mutant Menace!

We tell you all about the X-men so far, including:

 * The Beast aka Hank McCoy, cool hippy stoner
 * Iceman aka Bobby Drake, performative about everything except friendship and ice cream
 * Angel aka Warren Worthington III, the happy-go-lucky rich kid who loses fights
 * Cyclops aka Scott “Slim” Summers, an anxious romantic leader-type who gets hit in the head a lot
 * Marvel Girl aka Jean Grey, a woman who has done almost nothing yet
 * Professor X aka Professor Charles Xavier, the weird creep who used to be cool but got full of his own ego and started a paramilitary cult
 * Lorna Dane aka Lorna Dane, green-haired woman who does the X-Men’s laundry
 * Havok aka Alex Summers, the sweetheart younger brother of Cyclops who has reluctantly joined the team
 * Also the Mimic

We also go over all of the X-Men’s villains, big and small and the definitive Loser League!

Check out the Sine Wave podcast: https://shows.acast.com/sine-waves

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

BONUS - The Story So Far (1-16) w/ Sine Wave Seán

Issues: Defenders #15-16, Hulk #180-182, Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4

What’s that we see? Some light shining in the distance of this dark, dark void? Well first, we have to wade through baby villains, a scrappy new Canadian anti-hero, an obscure Fantastic Four antagonist, and so so much Hulk stuff. But two new writers enter our world, a guy named Len Wein and a kid named Chris Claremont. Wonder if they can save us?

Topics Include:

Our Steve Englehart mea culpa. Pat was right about Frank Miller. LEN WEIN! Flying from New York to New Mexico with a jetpack. Toad or Lorelei. “How to Grow the Ultimate Mutant in a Tube.” Kyle Richmond, Boy Tycoon! Jetpack physics. Doctor Strange has an exclamation quota. A bunch of babies. Hulk stuff. The Wendigo. Introducing… The Wolverine! Multiple Georges. Hammer and Anvil and their powerful chain. The Fantastic Four are assholes. Madrox the Multiple Man. “Someone knock the original baby unconscious.”

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

16 - The Dark Era: Enter, the Wolverine!

Issues: Marvel Team-Up #4, Avengers #103-104 & #110-111, Captain America #172-175

The X-Men are STILL CANCELLED so Matt and Pat continue to scrape the bottom of that barrel, looking for X-Men appearances in other Marvel comics. We manage to find some, but with far less X-Men and far more… other guys.

Topics Include:

Matching X-Men and Pokemon. Gerry Conway! Dr. Hans Jrgromsahn. Morbius is NOT A VAMPIRE. What do Spider-Man’s webs smell like? Spider-Man assaults Jean Grey. Angel is feelin’ himself. Hawkeye’s worst costume. Blob erasure. Why is there no MCU Rick Jones? More dinosaur abuse. Big sexy T-Rex legs. Magneto doesn’t wanna carry the X-Men. “Dance sexy, daughter!” Moonstone is a person. “Cheez! Double Cheez!” Captain America’s very good plan. Captain America’s very bad plan. Did Richard Nixon kill himself?

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

15 - The Dark Era: Secret Empire

Issues: Hulk #150, Amazing Adventures #11-17, Hulk #161, Hulk #172

The X-Men are cancelled and we're swimming in a dark, tideless sea of 1970's Marvel comics, grasping around for any mutant life-rafts we can find. This one has a weird energy, folks. With no main series to guide them, Matt and Pat have to generate their own momentum and they certainly try their best.

Topics:

Will we ever get the intro right? The X-Men do their jobs. Are my pants ruined? Is everything ruined?? Is the Hulk ever good? Dr. Alan Grant. Concentric circles. Metabolic time sense? Surely that’s all we’ll ever hear from the Maddickses. Mike Plug. Harvey Fierstein as Bernard the Poet. Iron Man DEAD! Buzz Baxter & Patsy Walker! Mastermind’s bad plan. The diamond underworld is a small world. "Like soap through a fist!" Blob and Unus got a good thing goin' on. Fine, no more curses! Sherlock Holmes’ stupid apartment. Linda Donaldson's a bad wingman. Quasimodo again?? Hank can’t kiss his girlfriend. SECRET EMPIRE! An old flame returns. Halloween in Rutland, VT! Juggernaut and his pink hole in the sky. Tom Fagan’s Halloween Party. Full suit, furry face. JIM STARLIN! He is BLUE. No respect for Mounties. Ugh, the Mimic. CANADA! No, the Hulk is never good. Batman.

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

14 - The Dark Era: Beast Transformed

It’s the end of an era. The X-Men go out like a… well, you’ll hear the metaphor. Neal Adams and Roy Thomas both say goodbye, but not together as the X-Men get cancelled! And Matt and Pat are, unexpectedly, super bummed about it.

Other Topics:

Has Pat been punched in the face? Magneto is back, bitch! Warren gets beat up. The X-Men fight wolves. Savage Land Mutates. Buster Crabbe/Tarzan Inception. Ben Casey: Revizzzited. SUNFIRE! Angel loses a fight with a plane. Matt’s embarrassing mistake. ANTS! Havok’s very bad no good speech. The original international X-Men. Neal Adams leaves ☹ Guess who’s still alive? What happened to Changeling? Godzilla with Humphrey Bogart’s face. The Hulk shows up…. “What a Rebe.” NOBODY LOVES THE HULK.

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

13 - X-Men #63-66 - The X-Men Are Cancelled!

FULL SWING into the legendary NEAL ADAMS/ROY THOMAS run and Matt and Pat are finally absolutely loving the X-Men. We finally meet Havok in earnest and a vampiric pterodactyl named Sauron.

Other topics: 

Always in our hearts: @canadawolverine. Danger AKA Havok. Pompeii jerk-off guy, Pompeii jerk-off city. More Sentinel bureaucracy. "TRASK'S TREACHERY TRASK'S TREACHERY." Fight the Sun! Mr. Anderson. Bobby's girl                 friend. “Observe the Monitron!” A rip-off fantasticar. What IS the sound of evil? Don't google Ben Casey. Warren is suck a dick. Beware the icy grip of death. What is 333x worse than a vampire pterodactyl? KA ZAR IS BACK. Equilibrius aka Mark joins the Loser League. Cyclops is a terrible dentist. "What’s wrong, are we keeping your dinosaurs awake?”

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

12 - X-Men #58-62 - Havok and Sauron

Hosts of Escape the Mojoverse, Allison and Matt Parent, join Matt and Pat to tackle the Butt Pages (#buttissues) of the last several issues of the X-Men. We talk about their podcast and the confounding origins of Angel and the Beast!

Check out Escape The Mojoverse: https://shows.acast.com/escape-the-mojoverse

Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com

Instagram: @mutantmenacepod [https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod/]

We talk about:

How do we make our podcasts? MATTamathically or MathaMATTically? White Guy Pharaoh. Kitty Pryde’s favorite word. Batman in our esophagi. Bring Esophagus Man To Life! The most well-attended high school football game in history. The 2025 Matt and Pat Marble Peach Basket Competition. Hank is incredible at football, but is he good at jumping? An electric triple-sword. Taking over the world with three solar panels. Smelling your own gas. Check out this guy’s shoulder blades! Most men can wear shoeboxes. UNCLE BOB. How to be the world’s worst roommate: Piss, Piccolo, and Porn.

BONUS – The Origins of Beast & Angel w/ Escape the Mojoverse!

Comedians Matt Aukamp (Save Your Game, The Very Worst) and Pat Reber (The Very Worst) read the X-Men in chronological order and talk about all the weird, funny, ridiculous, insightful, and interesting things within.

Matt Aukamp

Shows