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25 - Uncanny X-Men 125-128, Annual #3 - Proteus
62 Plays1 day ago
Not much of an intro this week. We've really gotta start doing more X-Men related stuff, I guess. But then we get into a rip-roaring, intense few issues where we finally meet the elusive MUTANT X (remember? from the door?)! Also, just fair warning, there’s some pretty rough stuff in this one (CW: descriptions and discussion of sexual assault and rape)
Topics Include:
Angus MacWhirter?? Jean and Moira are serving looks on Muir Island. Just who the hell is this Jason Wynnegarde guy?? We don’t trust him. Subtly cucked in space. What a beautiful Scott and Hank reunion. A less-than-beautiful Scott and Jean reunion. Claremont HATES Jamie Madrox. The Trenchcoat. Oh no, Ferdie Duncan! Jean hunts a human. Wolverine’s skeleton is metal?? We don’t have to call him Mutant X anymore. Scott never forgets a slight. “That’s not what you said when the Leprechauns were here.” Has Moira MacTaggert lost her damn mind?! Sparring in the hot cocoa grove. A sharp sweater on a horrible man. Dai Thomas! This stuff is pretty fucking dark. Does Proteus make sense? Do these bees have souls? The horror of being enclosed in the earth. “OWW!” Now let’s do a silly one. Danger Room antics. Arkon the half-nude cave viking. The Imperion! Colossus on a dragon!! Storm’s great sacrifice – or Scott’s? The difference between Claremont and Thomas.
Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com
Instagram: @mutantmenacepod
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Transcript
Live Report: Mutant Menace in Westchester
00:00:01
Speaker
I'm Trish Tobey with W.A.R.C. reporting to you live from Westchester, New York, where there appears to be some sort of mutant menace on the loose.
Welcome to 'Mutant Menace'
00:00:35
Speaker
Hey, everybody. I'm Matt Aucamp. And I'm Pat Reber. And stay with us, Pete. Welcome welcome to you to menace men to Mutant Menace.
00:00:49
Speaker
I think
Matt's Personal Struggles
00:00:50
Speaker
that's fine. Yeah, that sounded great. Welcome welcome to Mutant Menace. are you doing, Pat? Matt, I'm doing pretty good. Having a good week. Feeling productive. How are you? I'm doing good. i actually have something really important to tell you.
00:01:05
Speaker
Things in my life haven't... I said think I'm good, but things in my life haven't really been so great. Lately,
Email Corner: Defenders for a Day
00:01:11
Speaker
I've been... um dealing with oh well hold on i've been dealing with let's table this okay all right it seems like it's all right it seems like it's time for pat's email corner but i hope everything's going fine matt uh today we actually only have one email it's from a regular email michael email michael hey i Subject line episode 22 response. So this is pertaining to the Defenders for a Day story arc, or as it's commonly known, the Dollar Bill's Defenders disaster arc.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, people kind commonly people talk when people talk about this in the commons. That's what they say. Email Michael says, Hey, Pat, tell Matt to tell you that this time in episode 22, think the only question directly asked was which of the heroes in the Defenders for a Day story arc we had heard of and which we had read.
00:02:08
Speaker
As a reminder, the heroes you listed were in order. Miss Marvel, Son of Satan, Jack of Hearts, Stingray, Black Goliath, Hercules, Iron Fist, Nova, Marvel Man, Falcon, Prowler, Torpedo, Paladin, Capitra, White Tiger, Havoc, Hilaris, and K'gok.
00:02:23
Speaker
God. Of the 18 heroes above, I myself have heard of 10 of them before this episode and read comics featuring far fewer. It would be a waste of your time and mind to give a more detailed answer than that.
00:02:34
Speaker
Email her for a day. Email Michael. But email Michael. Pat loves to hear about how you've heard of these guys. Okay. Let's guess. ah He's heard of Miss Marvel.
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah. Black Goliath, Hercules, Iron Fist. Nova, Falcon. White Tiger, Havoc, Polaris. Havoc, Polaris. Who's our wild card? Who's wild card? Strange one.
00:03:00
Speaker
I think it's Captain Ultra. Or Paladin, maybe.
Lighthearted Banter and Theme Song
00:03:04
Speaker
i think it's I think it's Son of Satan. email michael you know what to do right so man is pod at gmail.com that's the only email in pat's email corner today uh yeah that's it and you email michael please don't clarify just tell us if we were right or incorrect and then email us about whatever else we talk about in this episode yeah so uh wow that's early it I don't know if the theme song has gotten itself ready yet.
00:03:34
Speaker
Queued up for a little later. Oh, boy.
Interrupted Revelations
00:03:38
Speaker
Well, Matt, what was the ah what was the thing you wanted to tell me earlier? Oh, okay. Yeah. So, um you know how I started out last week with two feet.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, I remember that. Well, okay, so i was walking down the street the other day, and there was a... did Oh, well, come on.
00:04:00
Speaker
I was just about to... Look, Matt, the rules are the rules. We gotta move on. Damn it. Again, we'll table it. If it's not too late when we're done here, we can we can talk through we can talk about your feet or
Weekly Activities: X-Men Related?
00:04:15
Speaker
whatever.
00:04:15
Speaker
All right. Matt did...
00:04:21
Speaker
You do anything X-Men related this week? Did I do anything X-Men related this week? Let me think. ah I went to food festival. I went to some shows. I read some books.
00:04:35
Speaker
Watched couple movies. is Read some X-Men. And hung out with some friends. Hung out with a girlfriend. and um No, I don't think so. How about you? Oh.
00:04:46
Speaker
I...
00:04:49
Speaker
No.
00:04:54
Speaker
how but We gotta to pick it up, man. Man, this is, whoa. I guess, yeah, this is gonna be kind of, I guess, our shortest intro. It's good. There goes a half hour of the show.
00:05:11
Speaker
Well, I guess there's nothing much else to do except for, Pat, do you want me to tell you about Uncanny X-Men number
Uncanny X-Men #125 Discussion
00:05:19
Speaker
125? There's something awful on Muir Island!
00:05:23
Speaker
Yes, oh my Okay. stinks. will? I Released on June 19th, 1979, cover date September 1979, we begin!
Phoenix's Power and Concerns
00:05:28
Speaker
Okay, Pat, actually, just before we ok pat actually just before we go any further Yes.
00:05:40
Speaker
This is going to be... i don't know how rare these will be. I was going to say very rare, but I actually don't know. I don't know what we're going to come across in the X-Men. ah We want to issue a trigger warning to listeners.
00:05:54
Speaker
There's some really serious stuff in this episode. It's not touched on a lot, but we are going to have to discuss it critically. There are instances of sexual assault...
00:06:09
Speaker
In this story. Including rape. rapes Yeah, specifically. So if that is something that makes you really uncomfortable to listen to, we will issue the trigger warning ah right before the issue in which that occurs.
00:06:25
Speaker
But for now, just know that it's coming and you might want to, you know, turn it off, come back next episode. Yeah, yeah. Otherwise...
00:06:37
Speaker
I'm going to continue on with There's Something Awful on Muir Island.
00:06:45
Speaker
Written by Chris Claremont. Penciled by John Byrne. They're not listed as co-creators this time, Pat. Ooh. wonder what happened. Terry Austin inked this.
00:06:56
Speaker
Orzakowski lettered it. That's no first name, so it literally could be any Orzakowski in the world. Think of an Orzakowski, you know? Could have been them. Glynnis Ween colored it, Roger Stern edited it, and the editor-in-chief at this time was Jim Shooter.
00:07:14
Speaker
Release date, June 19th, 1979, cover date September 1979. We begin on Muir Island, where Moira McTaggart is running tests on Phoenix and passively, aggressively expressing her anxiety about just how powerful Jean Grey has become. Yeah.
00:07:33
Speaker
All the while, the two women are watched by the ghoulish animated corpse of Angus McWhirter. Angus! The man who wouldn't loan the X-Men his boat or whatever.
00:07:46
Speaker
Jean reflects on her life since she seemingly died and brought herself back to life in the shuttle crash. With her fellow X-Men dead, or so she thinks, and Professor X abandoning her due to his grief, Jean felt alone for the first time in her life, only to become empowered over the past few months during her travels alone in her interactions with many kind strangers.
00:08:09
Speaker
this will be important before we leave mirror island i want to point out two things number one moira mctaggart is sporting a look
00:08:24
Speaker
she's got it's a weird combination between like a science and superhero outfit it's like a uh It looks like the Black Widow's costume, but in white and maybe not quite as tight.
00:08:35
Speaker
And then she's also wearing a lab coat over it. Maybe kind of like the lady from the the ah the Avengers, the TV series. nineteen sixty s tv series Oh, yeah, sure.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah. But she's also got like a Velma haircut and glasses and it's working. She's a she's serving. And she lifts those glasses up dramatically when Jean Grey is would Jean Grey takes off her Phoenix costume and is entirely nude. There's a, there's one of those.
00:09:07
Speaker
Woo. Like exactly they were fogging up. I, the other thing I want to point out is that Glynis ween on colors here is doing some,
00:09:19
Speaker
crazy thing. There's like a she's always been great with coloring the X-Men and just making them really pop. But her depiction of Muir Island uses like this kind of dull minimalist color palette. There's only a few, there's like a lot of bright orange on dark orange. There's a lot of like gray blue. There's a lot of shadow, which we might credit to Orzakowski, but still it just gives the whole thing a really kind of like bleak, sterile feel.
00:09:49
Speaker
Right. It's almost as if the lights are consistently off in Muir Island and people are only lit up by the glow of computer monitors.
00:10:01
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
X-Men's Training Challenges
00:10:04
Speaker
So back in Westchester, the X-Men train in the danger room. Split between trying to work as a team and as individuals, they completely fuck up and Cyclops calls them pathetic. Yeah.
00:10:17
Speaker
ah Wolverine storms away, and Cyclops worries that the X-Men's luck can't last forever. i That can't be foreshadowing anything, can it? It's just...
00:10:28
Speaker
It's just a comment. Their luck can literally last forever. It's still going. It's 2025 and it's still going. Before we head back to Muir Island, we get two brief
Magneto's Reflections
00:10:40
Speaker
interludes. First, Magneto is recovering from his last fight with the X-Men and his base aboard asteroid M and pondering how best to conquer the world. ah He's briefly distracted by an image on his computer of a woman named Magda.
00:10:56
Speaker
And he mourns how she once ran away from him. hu Huh. You know what he's watching before this woman pops up? Oh yeah, Memory Tape 17. Memory tape 17. So with Magda is memory tape 7.
00:11:11
Speaker
Memory tape 17 is his first battle with the
Jason Weingard's Manipulations
00:11:15
Speaker
X-Men. Now, are we supposed to assume that these like somebody has been following him around taping this stuff, are we to assume this is his memories that he has used technology to transfer to tape? Extract to a tape. Yeah, that's what I assumed. Yeah.
00:11:32
Speaker
So second, our second interlude, in a fancy inn in the Outer Hebrides, Jason Weingard sits menacingly by a fireplace, ruminating on the past few months as he's followed Jean Grey in various disguises, getting to know her as deeply as he could. And by disguises, we mean, like become a completely different person. It appears yeah power related or magical in some way.
00:12:00
Speaker
He portrays, this is
Phoenix's Control Issues
00:12:02
Speaker
his description, a roly-poly priest.
00:12:07
Speaker
and then he's And then the next thing, he's like a hunk. And Jean Grey is smoking cigarettes! Because she's not smoking in the thing, but she she's chilling on the beach as this hunk walks up to her, and she's got a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on the on her beach blanket.
00:12:25
Speaker
It's so cool. Smoking cigarettes is so cool.
00:12:31
Speaker
He forms an image of her in midair and transforms that image from Jean Grey to Marvel Girl to Phoenix and finally to fierce woman in a cape, spiked collar and corset.
00:12:44
Speaker
A woman he calls the Black Queen, whom he intends to manipulate Jean to becoming for a group called the Hellfire Club.
00:12:55
Speaker
cool who Who is this Jason Weingard character? do you have any idea? ah No, I really don't. I only knew the Hellfire Club from later. I don't think he's a part of it.
00:13:10
Speaker
That's true. So on Mirror Island, Jean muses to Lorna Dane about how her powers prevent her from having a normal life, while Moira concludes that the power of the Phoenix must have been inside Jean all the time, held back by a mental block.
00:13:25
Speaker
She worries that now that this block has been cleared, Jean will have access to godlike powers she will be unable to control. Yikes. Xavier, a universe away, wonders the same thing as he reviews footage of Phoenix holding the entire universe together when the X-Men were in space.
00:13:42
Speaker
I don't know if that was... quick look at him hanging out in space. And just getting, it's just subtly cucked.
Mutant X Escapes
00:13:51
Speaker
Uh... They talk about how he is he keeps trying to involve himself in Shi'ar politics and getting, quote, gently rebuffed.
00:14:00
Speaker
yeah Do you think that the footage he's reviewing is from Joff's mind tapes? this is his memory tape
00:14:15
Speaker
moira decides she's gonna go reveal her suspicions to gene when she happens across a gold tooth sitting on the floor in front of that ominous door marked mutant x anxious she opens the sealed door only to be gripped by shock and fear Outside, Jamie Madrox and Alex Summers worry about Jean showing her powers off as she saunters by.
00:14:39
Speaker
She picks up their thoughts as she walks to the lab and thinks indignantly that she ought not to be ashamed of flaunting her powers when she's interrupted by Moira's panicked thoughts.
00:14:50
Speaker
Rushing to her aid, she finds herself dressed in a Rococo-style frilly dress in an Elizabethan mansion? What? Yeah, people, you didn't just like skip forward in the podcast. That's that just suddenly happens.
00:15:05
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Confused, she uses her powers to pull herself back into reality only to be tackled by what appears to be some kind of shambling corpse. It's a pretty good.
00:15:17
Speaker
It's a pretty good tackle, too. ah it's like a It's a straight on like football tackle. Like around the middle, like a sacking the quarterback. Quarterback is what I meant to say.
00:15:27
Speaker
Very good, Matt.
00:15:30
Speaker
Cut to Westchester where Beast is walking into a dark X-Mansion he believes to be abandoned. when he's suddenly attacked by Nightcrawler. As a lightning bolt illuminates Beast's face, Kurt believes he's seen a ghost and teleports to the danger room to alert the other X-Men.
00:15:49
Speaker
Running to confront the intruder, the X-Men are treated to a joyous reunion with their good friend Hank McCoy, whom they thought dead and vice versa. oh my god, it's such a sweet there's it's such a sweet moment. There's yeah the frame...
00:16:03
Speaker
Where Hank is lifting Scott up in the air, like dirty dancing style. yeah They're both saying, you're alive. yeah i want to i want to frame that panel and put it up on a wall. It is.
00:16:18
Speaker
It is. It is a joyous, joyous panel. they And Scott is, for the rest of this issue, Scott is smiling in a way that we don't normally see. Yeah, yeah.
00:16:29
Speaker
So Hank catches Scott and the gang up on everything that happened while they were away, including that Gene is alive. ah They prep the Blackbird to fly to Muir Island, and Scott phones ahead to let them know.
00:16:42
Speaker
While Havoc and Multiple Man are about to search the lab to investigate Gene's terrified scream, Lorna hears the phone and runs into the house to answer it. They have a... hurried and brief catch up about both of their situations when a ghoulish voice creeps up on Lorna and the phone line goes dead to be continued.
00:17:02
Speaker
Lorna Dane's entire role in the Marvel Universe yeah for the past, what, two years has just been to answer the phone and tell people about an emergency. About something terrible that happened. This is the third time it's happened. it's all It happens so frequently that yeah Alex and James Madrox are both like, okay, let's split up and search the island and make sure our friends aren't dead.
00:17:27
Speaker
And Lorna's saying, but the phone's ringing. Yeah.
00:17:34
Speaker
It's become Pavlovian. She's just like, yeah she goes into slight terror every time the phone is ringing. and Yeah. Sort of an interim issue, right?
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's like a wind down from their previous adventures and a setup for their next adventures. it's But it resolves some things. Finally, all the X-Men know each other are alive, which is a good.
00:18:01
Speaker
Which is a good. Yeah, we get to see them happy for a little while, happy and like at peace for a little while, which is so nice. And it's not for lack of action. There's danger room hijinks.
00:18:14
Speaker
There's a neat new feature when Wolverine gets too rambunctious in the danger room. They just hose him down.
00:18:24
Speaker
gets shot across the room with water and then Cyclops is like, well, you're dead. yeah If this was real life, you'd be dead. it's real life That would have been lava.
00:18:37
Speaker
ah lava cannon. Yeah, it's ah it's it's cute. it's it's a It's an issue that makes you intrigued to read more X-Men.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yes. And it's effectively creepy
X-Men's Next Adventure
00:18:51
Speaker
too. And that's going to be, I think that's going to continue through the next couple of issues as well, but just, it does a good job of saying like, on one side, the X-Men are back home.
00:19:01
Speaker
They're settling into things. They're getting ready for their next adventure. yeah On the other side, a horror movie is unfolding on Muir Island. Yes. And I think we'll talk about this more towards the end of the episode, but yeah,
00:19:16
Speaker
This subtle changing of Jean is fascinating. Yeah, she's got an attitude. Yeah, yeah, right. And like people just noting these little things about her, you know, ah yeah sometimes we talk about a lesser comic, right?
00:19:35
Speaker
And I feel like a lesser writer would have had... her smashing plates or something right like yeah screaming at people but chris claremont just has her showing off in a way she didn't used to and right she's changing clothes with her mind and walking through the cold without the appropriate covering right and rather than while she's musing for a while, but rather than musing, like rather than being very explicit about, and I learned how to be independent from all the people that I used to depend on though I did meet a bunch of strangers who helped me to become more like, she doesn't say that. She just kind of says what happens and you are left to say, Oh, Jean's getting, i guess more just like comfortable in the world but without Scott, without Xavier.
00:20:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Very independent. There's still plenty of words. That's true. That is true. it's just It's just they're dedicated to Claremont being Claremont rather than over explaining the emotions of it. There's also a very interesting teapot that shows back up later and that I hate.
00:20:50
Speaker
me We'll get to it. We'll get to it. Last thought. So they're trying to... i What do you call it when you... kind of make something more palatable they're trying to rebrand muir island as ah mutant lab this is a prison for mutants who have acted out of line yes we understand that because they do have mutant x locked away moira
00:21:23
Speaker
moira Goes to unseal the chamber. you As far as she knows, that same chamber is just always sealed. She has no idea how long Mutant X has been missing from this chamber because she put him in a prison and just never opened the door again.
00:21:42
Speaker
She's been back for months and hasn't noticed yeah that it's been empty. Yeah, yeah. So, Matt, I know you could probably talk about Muir Island for an hour. Yeah, yeah.
00:21:55
Speaker
but it's my turn talk about Muir Island. Okay. In Uncanny X-Men number 126, How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth.
00:22:08
Speaker
ah
00:22:15
Speaker
Chris Claremont, author, John Byrne, penciler, Terry Austin, inker, Tom Orzachowski, letterer, Glynisween, colorist, Roger Stern, and editor, Jim Shooter, editor, and chief. You think he got his nephew to letter it last time and that's why didn't put his name?
00:22:29
Speaker
Don't tell anybody. Just sign in Orzakowski. Orzakowski. Release date July 17th, 1979. Cover date October 1979. The X-Men screech into Muir Island fast and hard, dropping Colossus from the plane through the ceiling of the lab as Storm sweeps the air, dropping Wolverine by the entrance and Nightcrawler teleports into the house.
00:22:53
Speaker
Cyclops drops the Blackbird down on the landing pad and rushes to the house where they find Lorna unconscious with the mummified body of Angus McWhirter lying inert on top of her. Banshee stays behind as Nightcrawler ports to the lab.
00:23:07
Speaker
Storm has swept the island and seen no one, so she and Cyclops head to the lab as well. Inside, Nightcrawler is crawling through the dark when he runs into havoc, carrying a wounded multiple man.
00:23:19
Speaker
Alex tries to blast Kurt, accusing him of being an imposter, when Colossus grabs him from behind. Remember, he thinks they're all dead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. When Peter resists his cosmic blasts, Alex finally realizes that these are the real deal and the X-Men are alive. Yay!
00:23:37
Speaker
Well, you already knew that, Matt. Oh, yeah. Elsewhere, Cyclops and Storm have a similar run-in with Moira McTaggart. She tells them that Mutant X has escaped.
00:23:48
Speaker
Scott suggests everyone meet up at the house while he runs off alone to find Jean. He finds her on the floor, in shock, and tries to rouse her, but she wakes to see the face of Jason Wingard.
00:23:59
Speaker
Jason, I knew it was you, she says, as the face morphs into that of Cyclops, who exclaims, Jason?! Fuck, imagine you haven't seen, you thought your girlfriend was dead for months and you finally see her.
00:24:16
Speaker
and she's like, you find out she's alive. You go to rescue her. And the first thing she says is Jason. Jason. I'm so glad it's you over anybody else who it possibly could be. It's pretty fucked up.
00:24:33
Speaker
Unless your name's Jason. Oh, yeah, and then he wouldn't have even known. Oh, like how, um you know, the actor Jason Marsden played him in the X-Men movies.
00:24:48
Speaker
What? Wait.
00:24:53
Speaker
that is Is that his name? No, it's James. Um... ah Later, the gang have scoured the island and gathered in Moira's kitchen to discuss things over tea. Madrox explains that while searching the island, one of his duplicates heard Lorna scream.
00:25:09
Speaker
He tackled McWhorter and suddenly the dupe was disconnected from Jamie. He says it's like a this is like a part of his soul got ripped out. Yeah, yeah. it seems intense. And I can't imagine that. Like the...
00:25:24
Speaker
Someday when we get more into Jamie Madrox, we will have to talk about how that all works. Which we won't while Chris Claremont's around because Chris Claremont hates this guy. Why even bring him around if you don't want him to you to be there?
00:25:40
Speaker
There's a point in the next, like coming up where so it's some they leave Jamie behind and then later Cyclops is like, oh man, I guess I should have left this other guy behind.
00:25:51
Speaker
why You left somebody behind. You could have left that person instead of Jamie. It's just Chris Claremont fucking hates Jamie Madrox. Wolverine wants to go after Mutant X immediately, but Scott demands that they gather some info first.
00:26:07
Speaker
Moira reluctantly reveals that Mutant X is her son. What the fuck? Wolverine is so mad that they're not going after mutant X that he takes his claws to Moira's dining room table. He just cuts three big gashes in it. I've never paid attention to whether or not in the future of Muir Island if there's those three cuts in the table. Moira must have been like, come on, man.
00:26:38
Speaker
First my son goes missing and now you're fucking up my furniture? Cut to the Hebrides across the water from your island. Mutant X, in the body of one of multiple man's dupes, now wearing his eventual signature trench coat, prowls the alleyways for a new body to possess.
00:26:56
Speaker
Do you think this is, do you think it's like... remember when Iceman tried out hair because was it Magneto? Magneto made him form hair, made him form hair. And then later he tried hair on his own. do you think this is something similar? It's like, Oh damn, I look good in a trench coat.
00:27:16
Speaker
Right. Where he sees his dead dupe in the ground on the ground in a trench coat. He's like, fuck. Oh, what if that's the trench coat he wears from now on? Mutant X, in multiple man's body, sees Jason Wingard walk past and is held back by the powerful psychic powers emanating from him.
00:27:34
Speaker
So he decides to find another prey. He finds it in some random guy named Ferdy Duncan. Wait, Fred Duncan? No, not Fred Duncan. Ferdy Duncan.
00:27:45
Speaker
His brother. His probably cousin. His Scottish cousin. The next morning, all the X-Men except Madrox, who stayed behind to watch the lab. Yeah, what? Come on.
00:27:58
Speaker
Head to the Scottish mainland and try to plan on how to find Mutant X. He won't register on Cerebro, and they don't know how much of a head start he's got or what his current body looks like.
00:28:10
Speaker
So they split into teams, each heading to a major Scottish city in their own army cars. They've all got little jeeps. Yeah, they've all got little, like, open top jeeps.
00:28:21
Speaker
Jalopies. Yeah. Where did they? Why did Moira buy four army cars? Scott teamed up with Moira, finds out the following.
00:28:31
Speaker
Number one, Moira hates Mutant X's father. Number two, she spent years trying to find a cure for him. Number three, he's weak to metal. Oh. You just got to stab him.
00:28:44
Speaker
Convenient. yeah yeah Or just shoot him with a gun or hit him with a frying pan. Phoenix, on her own, flies through the air, ruminating on how different and mature Scott seems to be, but worried about his feelings for her when she suddenly finds herself in 18th century riding clothes atop a horse named Satan.
00:29:03
Speaker
Jesus Christ. Jason Wingard, who in real life is watching her with binoculars, is riding on a horse next to her as they seem to be on some sort of hunting expedition. I don't like this guy.
00:29:16
Speaker
She, Lady Jean Grey, is the first to find the prey and call Sir Jason to her. He whips the dogs out of the way and offers a knife to Jean. Don't like this guy.
00:29:27
Speaker
To administer the coup de grace, congratulating her on a great idea of substituting a stag hunt for hunting a human instead. As she stands over the wounded man, he transforms into the desiccated corpse of Ferdy Duncan.
00:29:41
Speaker
Fred Duncan? No, Matt. Ferdy Duncan. Oh, okay. His cousin. Probably his brother. Nightcrawler receives the call about the body and shouts through a thick fog to his partner Wolverine, who is sure he's on the trail of one of Mutant X's bodies.
00:29:57
Speaker
Suddenly, a cop car and a policeman appear from out of the fog, surprising Wolverine when he realizes that this must be Mutant X. Mutant X tries to possess him, but recoils because of Wolverine's metal skeleton.
00:30:12
Speaker
Did we know this before, Matt, that he's got an entirely... We knew he had claws. Did we know his entire skeleton was metal already? Well, maybe not He's mentioned how his bones are hard to break.
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But I don't know that he's mentioned that his whole skeleton is metal. Interesting stuff. as He also puts a value on it. It's $3 million dollars worth of adding. Good to know.
00:30:37
Speaker
For $3 million, dollars you can make your own Wolverine. As Nightcrawler arrives, Mutant X declares that his name is now Proteus, the mutant who masters reality. And the X-Men's bodies begin warping into impossible shapes and landscapes. It's fucked up. After a few psychedelic panels of reality warping, Storm flies into the scene, zapping Proteus and reality snaps back to normal.
00:31:00
Speaker
Refusing to kill him, though, she blows up his car to prevent his escape, and he lashes out in anger, slamming the ground into her with his reality-warping powers.
00:31:11
Speaker
rough He threatens to take possession of her body, and he calls and she calls up a gale of wind to slow him down. Wolverine and Nightcrawler watch helplessly as Proteus slowly advances on a grounded storm.
00:31:25
Speaker
To be continued. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.
00:31:31
Speaker
Again, just he has to send Madrox away the most at the drop of a hat. It's like an editor is saying, remember, multiple man is on Muir Island. And he's like, ah fine, find something for him to do.
00:31:47
Speaker
Right, is he, like, contractually obligated to put him into things? I don't know. Couldn't he just say, like, oh, he's off researching something for me if you don't want him to be there?
00:31:58
Speaker
And that's what he does half the time. And then the other half, Madrox shows up for three panels and then is gone. I don't know, maybe the artists don't like drawing. it's Drawing him, it's so hard to...
00:32:12
Speaker
I'm just, you know what? i am just so glad we don't have to say mutant X anymore. Yes. Proteus. Now tell me, this is Moira's son.
00:32:23
Speaker
Did she name him Proteus? Proteus McTaggart? No, Pat. She named him mutant X McTaggart. And he changed his name in that moment to Proteus.
00:32:35
Speaker
i i don't i I don't know what it is about superheroes and supervillains that they just occasionally, if they get a new costume or something big happens in their life or they have new powers, they change their name and announce it to everybody around them. like well Stub their toe and then like, I am now the Forsworn, you can call me, Avenger of this broken toe.
00:33:06
Speaker
Very funny to be stuck in a cell by yourself with nothing but your mind for 20 years. And
00:33:16
Speaker
the name that you choose is Proteus.
00:33:21
Speaker
I've thought about this for decades. Yeah, yeah. here's There's so many good moments in this one, Matt. It starts with Claremont being real fucking Claremont.
00:33:34
Speaker
Oh my God. In some parts of the world, the dawn comes in like thunder. it Just say a boat, a jet is flying past a boat. That's all you have to say. He's like, and the, and the dock workers who are on their trawler have never seen a dawn like this one. Just stop it.
00:33:55
Speaker
We don't, we didn't even need narration here. There's, well, I, I'm going to challenge this even further, Matt. Okay. Where that you know of, does the dawn come up like thunder?
00:34:11
Speaker
Well, Pat, in some parts of the world, it must, they must. There's with the, eye the advent of technology to help the hearing impaired. There's an interesting story I heard about,
00:34:25
Speaker
deaf people who were able to hear for the first time, not realizing that the sun doesn't make any noise. I thought that was so interesting. Like you just would assume if you don't have any reference for sound, but you have plenty of reference for sight that, yeah, that big ball of fire in the sky, that's too dangerous to directly look at.
00:34:47
Speaker
There has to be some sound coming off of it. Then, then they leave beast behind yeah what the hell thought i thought that we were gonna get just like a beast x-men team up i thought i thought it would be just cool why not add another character in there but instead i i do like to imagine scott telling beast that they'll wait for him because that conversation does happen but yeah he's like oh we'll wait for you under his breath going there's no time for that now no
00:35:26
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, buddy. We'll wait for you. there's no time for that now. There's another really good Scott moment where ah he finds out that it was the body of Angus McWhirter that was that Mutant X possessed first. And he goes, Angus McWhirter, that skin Flint hated the X-Men's guts.
00:35:46
Speaker
ah Scott remembers everyone that's ever slighted him. and and Yeah, he wasn't. He just he refused to rent a hover boat to.
00:36:01
Speaker
A bunch of people were costume strangers who didn't place the reservation. I'm on here on behalf of the person that did place the reservation.
00:36:12
Speaker
I'm wearing a mask.
00:36:16
Speaker
as Skin Flint. There's some really cool and really bad art here. I mean, burn is just getting better and better issue. issue He's probably already good before this, but he's just getting better at drawing the X-Men, maybe.
00:36:31
Speaker
But there's a great panel where Nightcrawler is teleporting from the jet to the living room. And it is half the panel is the jet. And the middle is Kurt and his little bamf poof.
00:36:46
Speaker
And then the other half of the panel is the living room. Very cool. Oh, it's so neat. And then that fucking teapot comes back. And it looks like it's the worst looking teapot. It's like, I guess it's supposed to be textured.
00:37:04
Speaker
But it looks like when the Flintstones have like a hunk of woolly mammoth.
00:37:13
Speaker
It's like got a bone jutting out from it. I think he's trying to draw a lumpy tea cozy over it, but... Oh, is that it?
00:37:24
Speaker
It does not look like that. It does look like a hairy piece of skin with a bunch of bones forming a strange structure. i had to, like, s flip back and forth. Like, like oh, okay, that's the teapot.
00:37:37
Speaker
And I didn't realize until you were recapping and I was following along that... That teapot, it's its second appearance in the Marvel Universe.
00:37:50
Speaker
God, I hate Jason Wingard. ah Yeah, what a charmer, but in a very yeah unethical way. Well, I mean, he's he tries to kill a man.
00:38:04
Speaker
I guess that's that's the imaginary Jason Wingard. But in real life, he's watching people with binoculars. Yes.
00:38:16
Speaker
I mean, that's probably the least creepy part of what he's doing. And he's got a... He's got powerful psychic powers, we found out. Yeah, and he's we know he's manipulating Jean's emotions to make her think that she's always loved him.
00:38:33
Speaker
Right. It seems like that's what's going on. Like, hey, you have this other side of you that's connected to this 18th century royalty. and That person loved a person who is exactly, was exactly like you and loved a person who is exactly like me.
00:38:51
Speaker
He's a real, he's a real creep. He's like, uh,
00:38:56
Speaker
Probably a jerk. um I probably don't. I think he's not going to do any good, good things. When we see him again, bet it'll be trouble.
00:39:08
Speaker
ah We find out Banshee is still powerless from when he lost his voice shouting at a mountain. Yeah, it's been a while, too. They mentioned specifically, like, is he ever going to get better?
00:39:20
Speaker
Yeah. ah Yeah. Still bringing him along everywhere, though. It's still more important to have him come along for the hunt for the ultra powerful escaped mutant than multiple man who can make millions of himself if he wants to.
00:39:41
Speaker
oh and night i a kurt report o Nightcrawler is now only near invisible in shadows. It's no longer completely invisible.
00:39:53
Speaker
it's I'm surprised how long that's lasting. i In my memory, that only happened like two times. I know. It was like five, maybe? I think they're trying to walk it back a little bit, is making it seem a little more like he's just really good at blending into shadows. But but that's not what you said when the leprechauns were here.
00:40:16
Speaker
No, no. Wow. Yeah, I mean... Gosh, that's a sentence. yeah All right, Pat.
00:40:27
Speaker
What else do you have to tell me about 126 before I tell you about? don't Don't even say it. I do have one more thing. I'm okay with it this time. You know what? I'm okay with it this time. I'm okay waiting and having you tell me about something. I'm absolutely okay with it.
00:40:44
Speaker
Good. It's a good point. i Proteus. Yeah. Warps reality around Kurt and Logan and their heads start stretching out. It looks like a ah pretty, a fairly typical like 70s psychedelia yeah experience drawn out by a cartoonist.
00:41:06
Speaker
But Chris Claremont is writing things like Wolverine, whose being is grounded in a physical structure that no longer exists. And Wolverine perceives his words as drops of orange rain.
00:41:21
Speaker
This, as somebody who spent some time with psychedelics, this is clearly Chris Claremont drawing from his own experience on acid. Like, those are not phrases that you just think somebody on acid might say. This is comes from experience for sure.
00:41:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and this this is psychedelic comics for 100% sure. Though, would believe that John Byrne has never done a drug.
00:41:52
Speaker
yes yeah he's uh like a he's like a ronald reagan type although you know who never did a single drug uh steve robert creator of the defenders and howard the duck Never did a drug. So he claims. Well, why would you? You you wouldn't have to claim. that you could like You could admit it.
00:42:16
Speaker
He was in that bullpen with Englehart and Len Wein and Marv Wolfman and Roy Thomas, the Jerry Conway. Those guys were openly tripping in the Marvel offices. And Steve Gerber was like, that's cool. But my imagination is taking me much further.
00:42:37
Speaker
What a bizarre guy he might have been he must have been to know. yeah I don't know, Matt. We're not following Steve Gerber. All right. So here's where we have to re-up our trigger warning.
00:42:53
Speaker
The following two issues we will have to discuss. Rape? We will have to discuss and some other kind of gross stuff like Oedipal stuff.
00:43:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. in in In a very uncomfortable way. So, again, if that fucks you up, I totally get it. Next episode, we'll give a brief recap of what happened in these two issues.
00:43:20
Speaker
But, all right. I'm going to move on to Uncanny X-Men number 127, The Quality of Hatred. Written, plotted, and penciled.
00:43:35
Speaker
By Chris Claremont and John Byrne. They're back together. Yeah. Inked by Terry Austin. Lettered by Tom Orzakowski. Not his child labor son. Colored by Glynis Ween. Edited by Roger Stern. And the editor-in-chief is Jim Shooter.
00:43:53
Speaker
Release date, August 21st, 1979. Cover date, November We open in a wind squall. ah Hurricane strength winds and pouring rain can only protect Storm for so long from Proteus.
00:44:07
Speaker
He's closing in on her despite the strong gusts. Wolverine and Nightcrawler can only watch off to the side, barely anchoring themselves so they don't blow away into the night. Storm, risking further injury, tries to fly away only for Proteus to warp reality around her again. and Up becomes down and Storm goes crashing into the ground,
00:44:28
Speaker
unconscious but just as proteus reaches her limp body and prepares to jump into it a bullet whizzes by and hits the ground in front of him even with aurora unconscious the storm rages on and proteus can't see his attacker we can though It's Moira McTaggart up on a hill firing to lead her son away from Storm's body.
00:44:53
Speaker
This looks so cool. Just the the whole battle in the rain and the like it's whipping around them again, the colors, the inks, the art itself. There's such a creepy shot of Proteus in this police officer's body, like realizing he's being shot at and being filled with rage about it. It's.
00:45:13
Speaker
Just so cool. Byrne's sort of attention to detail on his characters is really is really great. Yeah, like the rain dripping down their faces is very visceral.
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And a especially like even like Wolverine shouting in anguish because he can't move his body again as as rain drips off his face. It's just really...
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah accenting just absolutely everything that's happening. Yeah. Moira prepares herself for the kill shot when Scott stops her and tries to wrestle the rifle away.
00:45:51
Speaker
He's aghast that she's bucking mission parameters and trying to kill her son, not capture him. This gives Proteus the cover he needs to steal Curt and Logan's Jeep and slip away.
00:46:04
Speaker
The X-Men all gather in a nearby grove where Sean is making everyone hot cocoa on a portable hot plate. They're all briefing each other on the situation when Scott notices that Wolverine is unusually shaken up by this encounter.
00:46:17
Speaker
And if he doesn't snap out of it, he might not be effective. To snap him out of it, ah Scott starts insulting Logan to his face, calling him a coward and dumping his cup of cocoa on his head. Despite Kurt's attempts to intervene, this does the trick and we get a sparring scene between Cyclops and Wolverine.
00:46:37
Speaker
oh yeah. Everyone is annoyed at this and Cyclops decides that this is actually a great time to test everyone and make sure Mutant X hasn't taken them over. He brings Kurt and Aurora into the fight on Wolverine's side and takes them out based on their fight patterns.
00:46:52
Speaker
Turns out Cyclops has a plan to take out most of the X-Men if necessary. This is crazy. this I mean, this is something that Batman is famous for, but Cyclops has watched every one of his teammates fight and said, okay, if they try to fight me, I know they make this move, and this is how I counter that.
00:47:14
Speaker
Yeah. It's definitely some badass... badassery on Cyclops' part. But is it smart?
00:47:25
Speaker
I don't... I go back, I'm going back and forth about whether or not this is like smart leadership. Oh, I think the fight is such a weird way to to test when you have a psychic in your midst.
00:47:44
Speaker
It seems as if they just needed to slow down the action. They needed to slow down the plot. Yeah. and they needed some action in the issue. They don't even have like a location for They're just like, I put them in the woods.
00:47:58
Speaker
i'm Just hang out in the grove. For some reason, Sean is there with a propane powered hot plate.
00:48:05
Speaker
And he's not he's i we're not exaggerating. He's making everybody cocoa. Yes. And there's a there's this thing where it's like Gene knows what's happening.
00:48:19
Speaker
But I'm curious. I'm curious about what the conversation between burn and Claremont was here, right? Like, yeah, because Cyclops is fighting Wolverine and and then Jean puts and then Colossus goes to Russian and Jean puts her hand on Colossus's arm.
00:48:40
Speaker
And a lot of this is like a lot of what's going on here is told in Cyclops's thoughts. And I'm wondering if those were what burn intended when he drew the panels.
00:48:52
Speaker
Like in Burns mind, was there an actual fight that broke out between them? Or like, was this Cyclops idea, but only he knew about it.
00:49:03
Speaker
And then like Phoenix stopping Colossus from jumping in was just a part of Phoenix's like slow corruption. And. don't know. Like wanting to see the battle unfold.
00:49:17
Speaker
Yes. Two men that love her are fighting each other. Yes. like i don't I really don't know. But it seems so shoehorned in.
00:49:28
Speaker
that Yeah, that it feels like one of those things. like i I don't know what else it could be. And maybe there were some panels that were redrawn. like Maybe there was some stuff that because of the way Claremont wrote it, Byrne had to redraw. I don't know. like It seems like the sort of moment that is a disagreement between a Marvel-style writer and artist.
00:49:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Which we know is happening at this time, so i don't know. Anyway, in a touching moment, Wolverine is impressed by this and says that he finally respects Scott Summers as a man.
00:50:03
Speaker
This is proof enough to Scott that none of them are actually Mutant X, but where on earth could he be? Mutant X, that is. Only Moira, still separate from the rest of the group, has an idea.
00:50:15
Speaker
She shows up at an elegant townhouse in the center of Edinburgh, the home of Joe McTaggart. What? Remember back when you made a joke about Banshee hitting on Mrs. McTaggart?
00:50:32
Speaker
And I was like, this comes up. Right. She's married. She's married. It's her husband. And it's the father of Proteus. Now a member of parliament with a bright political future. He's handsome, well-dressed, wearing a fucking sharp sweater and welcomes Moira like she's been gone off at a work conference rather than gone for 20 years.
00:50:53
Speaker
This sweater, he's a terrible man, and we're about to get into that, but the sweater he's wearing, just like this sharp, it's like a cardigan, but almost with like like a suit jacket collar to it, and it's got a, yeah it's very fuzzy, but ah it's got a stripe going down the arm that seems to be more of like a knit pattern.
00:51:12
Speaker
it's a good sweater and um it's that kind of said it's on a terrible man it looks like it's uh like it's scottish wool it's got that kind of pattern on it and then other parts of it that look more smooth like maybe they're ah a blend joe opens the conversation by letting moira know he will not be granting her a divorce it's too politically valuable For him to be married to a Nobel Prize winner.
00:51:39
Speaker
She counters by revealing that Joe raped her those 20 years ago. Leaving her pregnant and alone in New York. Jesus Christ. He goes to hit her out of rage. But she's bought a revolver and will have none of that.
00:51:53
Speaker
She warns him that Proteus is here to kill him. And walks out to her car. Now. Alright. This is all very fucked up. Yeah.
00:52:03
Speaker
Yeah. And. i I think let's talk about it a little later when Proteus gets involved because it gets more fucked up and I don't want to have to talk about it all twice. Right.
00:52:16
Speaker
But I do want to say this before we move on. This was initially Proteus's father was supposed to be Charles Xavier. What? Yeah.
00:52:29
Speaker
yeah So. That was that' Chris. Yeah. I saw it. So when I first read that Proteus's father was Moira said it was someone that I loved, someone I still love. Even i was like, that's Charles Xavier.
00:52:46
Speaker
Right, right. And like that was Chris Claremont's original plan. But the Marvel editors at the time told him that like Marvel superheroes cannot have a child out of wedlock.
00:52:58
Speaker
Oh my god. and i don't I don't think this was comic code. I think this was just their perception of what a hero is. So i i don't know what point that changed.
00:53:12
Speaker
Right? Like, it seems like they've been setting up that Charles was a father in several ways. Moira seems to have some sort of guilt over something that she did. And this is something to feel guilty about anyway, locking your kid away for 20 years.
00:53:28
Speaker
But, well, it sounds like he grew up a little bit. Maybe locked him away for 10 years. But it almost seems like it was very recently... in you know in the the the time that this comic was written, that Claremont was informed he was not allowed to make Charles Xavier the father.
00:53:49
Speaker
That's so nuts. I assume it was consensual between Charles Xavier and Moira? I believe that was the case. It was supposed to be a consensual, like like she said. that's So now it's stuck with her saying that she still, quote unquote, loves...
00:54:06
Speaker
This guy. This. the Absolute monster. Yeah. Okay. All right. Anyway.
00:54:15
Speaker
Moira loves her guns. She fucking loves guns, man. This revolver is is a new one. Her very first appearance. She was holding a gun, remember?
00:54:27
Speaker
Right, she comes out of the X-Men's, the the x Xavier Mansion's armory, packing a couple of Uzis. To try to kill a demon. She's taking sniper shots from 100 yards. She's just, yeah, I guess she loves fucking, she fucking loves guns.
00:54:44
Speaker
So, outside, Proteus approaches the same elegant townhouse in his latest body. We see Joe McTaggart trying to reach the police chief superintendent, Di Thomas, Patrick!
00:54:58
Speaker
What? Di Thomas. Who's Di Thomas, Matt? Have you not read ah Blade? What was it in? a Marvel Preview with Blade? Blade's first appearances?
00:55:10
Speaker
No, I have not. That's where Di Thomas came from. he's actually created by Chris Claremont. Yeah, he's the police chief. you of course he's created by Chris Claremont. Because he's mentioned in name only.
00:55:28
Speaker
then... ah then He was a Captain Britain minor character, also a Chris Claremont series. Okay. But well eventually we're eventually going to get really get to know Di Thomas in ah when we eventually read Excalibur.
00:55:44
Speaker
so Okay, sure. Di Thomas. Di Thomas. Keep that man's name in mind. Anyway... Joe McTaggart's trying to reach Dytomas when Proteus' familiar word bubbling pops up. It's like, we didn't talk about it, but it's like this green decayed... yeah it's like a weird swampy greenish with black lettering inside. yeah It's all warped and contorted.
00:56:12
Speaker
He says, Human father, I need you.
00:56:17
Speaker
Back in the grove, the hot chocolate grove, Jean recognizes a psychic scream as Proteus's and the X-Men head toward it as fast as possible. Jean incredibly is able to telekinetically fly Peter, Scott, Sean, Kurt, and Logan all on her own.
00:56:36
Speaker
That's five X-Men. Yes. And one of whom has $3 million dollars worth of adamantium in his body.
00:56:45
Speaker
And telekinetics, they're able. It's not weight. Yeah. That controls how much they're able to lift its price. What? What? i'm great isn
00:56:59
Speaker
So like they can't lift a Fabergé egg, but they can lift a thousand pounds of dead wood. That's pretty good for what's the least valuable thing I can pull out of my mind in an instant's notice. Dead wood.
00:57:15
Speaker
Why would anybody need that?
00:57:19
Speaker
Back outside the McTaggart Manor, before Moira has started her car and left, an immense scream followed by a burst of power comes from the front door. She immediately recognizes that Proteus has overtaken Joe, and Proteus proclaims that he feels better than ever in his father's body.
00:57:38
Speaker
Moira tries to shoot, but her pistol is transformed into a viper in her hand. and Weird. All of reality warps around her and Proteus explains that he's absorbed his father's emotions and memories.
00:57:52
Speaker
God, Jesus Christ. Now, all he wants is her. The X-Men are flying overhead at this very moment and Colossus bombs in in his metallic form.
00:58:05
Speaker
separating Proteus from Moira. The rest of the X-Men drop in, but Proteus's reality warping powers turn the ground under Peter 90 degrees and turn Scott's blasts into... You put toy blocks here. I think it's butterflies.
00:58:21
Speaker
Oh. Butterflies? I just saw... ah i don't I don't know if it's... It breaks apart into little blocks. Either way... yeah fucking Avengers Endgame definitely pulled whether it's butterflies or tiny cubes.
00:58:38
Speaker
This is what Thanos is doing with his reality warping reality stone. That's true. Yeah. So Avengers Endgame. This was it's clear. i'm I'm looking at you sometimes take photos of your vast.
00:58:54
Speaker
collection of X-Men comics and send them to me and you just have to take a photo of this one so I'm looking at it now and it's a lot clearer in the reprint in the epic collection and that it's butterflies that it's butterflies oh okay yeah in my version because they sent you that and was like toy blocks you think toy blocks is the appropriate description and you never answered me yeah well because you just said look at all these cool toy blocks and I didn't know what you were talking about until I read this that's fair You also often send me pictures of toy blocks.
00:59:27
Speaker
Toy blocks. Toy blocks. Or look at these toy blocks or toy blocks question mark. And I've just used to get excited about this sort of stuff.
00:59:38
Speaker
Proteus prepares to strike back when Gene rushes in in full Phoenix glow, challenging him to a one-on-one duel. Proteus, knowing he wouldn't stand a chance against Gene, takes Moira hostage.
00:59:52
Speaker
Sean, just learning that Moira had a husband. Although, yeah. All this going on and he's like, um I'm sorry, did you say Mrs. McTaggart? Yeah.
01:00:03
Speaker
He was introduced to her as Mrs. McTaggart. He just wasn't paid attention. And then he wrote it royal he responded, Miss McTaggart. Right. In his own headcanon, she's not married. don't You can't have headcanon about real people, Sean.
01:00:23
Speaker
This is how the gay lords get all fucked up. All right. He pleads to protect Moira's life.
01:00:34
Speaker
Sean does. But Scott knows that Proteus must be stopped no matter the cost. What will the X-Men do?
01:00:46
Speaker
oh what will the X-Men do? Okay. Do we want to talk about it now or do we want to talk about it next at the end of next issue? We've already kind of started, so it feels like... Yeah, let's let's get into it.
01:01:00
Speaker
um So...
01:01:04
Speaker
I mean, like, this is deeply fucked up, right?
01:01:09
Speaker
Moira is taken hostage by her husband and and rapist, who is possessed by the psyche of her son, who was a product of that rape.
01:01:20
Speaker
Yeah. And he warps reality around them to showcase like the aggression and hatred that was built up in both of them. Cause now he's got both of their memories and their personalities like merged together.
01:01:36
Speaker
So both the child is trying to punish the mother and this horrible abusive husband's trying to punish his wife. And again, like I, Chris Claremont, I think is using this language intentionally. I want you.
01:01:51
Speaker
I think they're like, I think it is a, it is is an intentional, like you are supposed to feel this really uncomfortable, Oedipal anger.
01:02:05
Speaker
Yes, yes. She is, like, for the subject matter that it is, it's handled fairly tastefully as far as, like, just trying to understand the terror that is dealing with sexual assault and rape.
01:02:26
Speaker
But at the same time, like, there's a few really... i It is so rare to find a female character in comic books that isn't motivated by some sort of sexual assault.
01:02:44
Speaker
Yeah. Right? And... And then that's a problem that still persists. That's not like a product of this the time. The time, yeah. It's still an issue.
01:02:55
Speaker
And to then expand that to be like, this kid now has a memory. And like, that's what's, again, he's juxta he's putting these things next to each other for a reason. And he's using the language he's using for a reason.
01:03:07
Speaker
I think he wants us, the reader, to think about how this kid has a memory of his mother's rape in his head now. The two are positioned... It goes, we the rape is revealed, i have my father's memories, and I want you, are all back to back to back.
01:03:26
Speaker
So... Yeah, yeah. He wants you to think, he wants you to make those connections. And we also know this kid who, I guess, they...
01:03:39
Speaker
They and I will talk about this trope in a minute, but they do this thing about he was a he was a product of a violent act. I think it's next issue they say that.
01:03:51
Speaker
And that is what made him evil. Yeah, yeah. And again, we'll talk about that trope in a second. But there is a metaphor there of him just like his resentment just dragging him from body to body and rotting those bodies from the inside out.
01:04:11
Speaker
Until he gets to his father, and I think there is some... ah There's a metaphor here that I'm not entirely grasping, but something very powerful and upsetting about the fact that once he then inhabits his father, he switches sides.
01:04:28
Speaker
Right. He becomes the... the same ball of rage that his father is, as well as being the ball of rage that was created by 10 20 years in solitary confinement.
01:04:44
Speaker
Right, as if he... It's as if he's inherited, i think there's something to be said here about inheriting the patterns of anger that come from your father, right? The patterns of, say, patriarchal anger, right? Yeah, yeah. um And the attitudes your parents have towards, your father specifically, both parents, but more often your father has towards women, are the attitudes you're going to have towards women and unless you make an effort to counteract that.
01:05:16
Speaker
Or somebody does on your behalf. But I think there's something to be said here of when he becomes his father, this like Oedipal journey, when he supplants and becomes his father, he now hates his mother the same way his father did.
01:05:36
Speaker
Yeah. And for for a pretty fucked up set of reasons now, too. Yes. um Because he had ah a legitimate reason to be angry at Moira. I don't think he had a reason to hate her. I think she was trying to save him.
01:05:51
Speaker
But as we pointed out, she did not... She went months without checking on him. So he had a reason to be angry. yeah, yeah. But... This is not that reason anymore. there's ah There's a reason that is now kind of nebulous to us, but we think has is some combination of what like blaming her for what happened to her and the anger that his father feels.
01:06:14
Speaker
Okay. I do want to move on to the trope of a child born by rape being evil. Right.
01:06:25
Speaker
Because this is a trope that it dates back to... ancient mythology It's in the Bible. It's in the King Arthur tales in Western literature all the way up to the fucking present day. Right. It's in um it's in ah ah amazing and progressive books like ah Beloved.
01:06:49
Speaker
by Toni Morrison. Yeah. And it's in, ah you know, beloved, but less morally upstanding books like Game of Thrones. Like this is, this is a trope that happens over and over and over again.
01:07:02
Speaker
and it sucks.
01:07:05
Speaker
It sucks. I mean, a child is just a child, right? Yeah. Yeah. and And I think there's something about having, there's, there's something to having stories about allowing your resentment Of your own child.
01:07:20
Speaker
Because of your trauma. Which is you know. ah The theme in Beloved. Writing a cautionary tale. Against that. And saying like you know. You're just going to. You might just repeat patterns.
01:07:34
Speaker
By not showing your children. The same care and love. That you know. Because they they have nothing they're completely unassociated. With what happened to you. Once they're alive. In their own independent human being.
01:07:49
Speaker
But
01:07:52
Speaker
more often than not, that's not what's happening. It's just saying there's something corrupt and rotten inside of you because you were born of this. Yeah, yeah. Like a genetic evil. Yes.
01:08:02
Speaker
Anyway...
01:08:05
Speaker
Pat, do you have anything else to say on the subject? i don't want to go too long, but it needed to be discussed. and No, it it definitely needed to be said, especially just in the context of this story and the way that it works out here. it is ah it's I think, as usual, we have Claremont trying to tackle a controversial subject, and half of it he's doing...
01:08:32
Speaker
With a lot of thought and care, and half of it he's just kind of screwing up. yeah Yes, yes. He seems like a very smart, politically conscious dude, but... I mean, he was like a political sciences major, right? Like, that was his a degree, I think.
01:08:49
Speaker
Okay. And...
01:08:54
Speaker
Also maybe a little behind in the social sciences of the time. ah Yeah, yeah. He's definitely like, again, a lot of this isn't sign of the times. Yeah. Like he knows how to show empathy for a victim of sexual assault, but he doesn't know how to not exploit that sexual assault for plot.
01:09:17
Speaker
Right, right. And we are going to see him rail against this exact kind of thing later. So I do like in a good way and like a, you know, correcting other writers mistakes way. So I, I'm excited to talk about Chris Claremont doing it. Great. He will, he will do it. Great. At some point. um The last thing before we get off it is just, you made a note here and I think we should discuss it now before we get out of the sad part, which is Joe mentioning. He won't let Moira get a divorce. Yeah.
01:09:51
Speaker
Right. She is. And this is this is a product of the time. Right. And I actually don't know the laws in Scotland, but I know in the US it was it was only recently. Yeah. It was relatively recently that women gained the right to choose to divorce their husbands, like to be able to sue for divorce on their own.
01:10:15
Speaker
Yes, it's called no fault divorce. And it is actually currently under attack in the United States.
01:10:26
Speaker
Oh, right. So that is something that if you find it horrifying that a man says to a woman, i won't let you divorce me. then i you have, you really have to keep your eyes on US politics right now.
01:10:45
Speaker
um Because that was one of the quote project 2025 goals. It's because they're all like this fucking guy. They're all like fucking Joe McTaggart. And they're like, Oh, we mistreat our wives so poor, so much that if, Hey, if they can divorce us, they all will. And what do we do then? Right. Can't start treating them like humans. Right.
01:11:07
Speaker
Anyway.
01:11:11
Speaker
There's some fun moments in this issue. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Let's wash our not wash our hands of it. We do don't want to, but let's, uh, whew. All right. Yeah.
01:11:22
Speaker
That's, uh, that's in the past. We've learned. We've grown. What the fuck? It is time for Pat's email corner. I just needed a, ah just needed a something to divide attention to transition us.
01:11:36
Speaker
Thank you. Pat's email corner theme for stepping in to help us with our hour of need. I absolutely love the Colossus bomb.
01:11:47
Speaker
Please keep doing this. You just drop him from a mile in the sky and let him drop into the ground and attack. Remember the first time he tried to do it and Storm was like, no, what?
01:12:00
Speaker
Yeah. He was like, you let me. hey he's waving at her from the ground.
01:12:08
Speaker
One more very cool moment in the fight between Scott and Logan when Wolverine is like, all right, now i'm really mad and pops his claws. His claws come out of the bottom of the panel. Like it overlaps yeah the lines of the panel and just goes out into the white space of the page. It is so cool.
01:12:28
Speaker
It's silly that this was so rare back then. Yeah, yeah. It's such a common thing to do now. yeah Seeing it, I was like, whoa. Okay, I get why i understand why Proteus is vulnerable to inorganic material, like when he's outside of the shell.
01:12:47
Speaker
Right? Like if he doesn't have a body, it immediately what popped into my head when they said he was a vulnerable to inorganic material, it's like, oh because he needs to possess organic material.
01:13:00
Speaker
So if he's surrounded by inorganic material, he can't get to that organic material. He can't survive. Makes sense. Right.
01:13:07
Speaker
Why just being touched with metal? Why that hurt him?
01:13:14
Speaker
I said it earlier. Why don't they just stab him? that Grab a knife and shank him. Or like, has he never used a fork, used a fork, the zipper of his pants, the buttons on his shirt? Like what? There's got to be metal that touches him sometimes.
01:13:34
Speaker
And she did say it's just inorganic material. So that, I mean, fucking ceramic counts. Do you not use a toilet? really yeah yeah I guess like, I guess cotton and wood.
01:13:51
Speaker
he'd be okay with yeah he's fine he's got dirt he can touch dirt he can touch uh leather dirt and dust poop he's got a he's got a leather toilet seat and he's got he's got a wood fork and knife and spoon uh Moira beats Scott's ass in this issue. She just hits him in the temple with the butt of a rifle.
01:14:19
Speaker
she Well, she hits him and no she hits him in the stomach and he falls and hits his head on her rock. Oh, right. And I just kept thinking how fucking funny it would be if Scott was dead.
01:14:30
Speaker
She hits him in the stomach. He falls. he hits his head on a rock. And she's like, oh, fuck. he Scott, I just killed. i killed Scott Summers. I just killed the superhero Cyclops. ah And you just never see Martin R. Taggart again. Yeah. yeah
01:14:50
Speaker
And also, it he says, Claremont writes, Moira utters a rare curse. Come on, man. She doesn't curse.
01:15:02
Speaker
She doesn't curse. You keep trying to convince us she's this tough as nails Scots woman. You're telling me she doesn't curse. She doesn't use curse words. That's so, I think, less of her now.
01:15:14
Speaker
Yeah.
01:15:17
Speaker
All right. i'm I'm frigging done with this issue. We talked about it so much. We've talked quite a bit. Maybe we should just move right on to Uncanny X-Men number 128, The Action of the Tiger.
01:15:36
Speaker
Oh, didn do and did you ever... I've read this issue. You've read this issue. yeah Yeah, Do either of us know why it's called this? Nope. Nope. Unclear.
01:15:47
Speaker
Chris Claremont and John Byrne, author, plotter, and penciler. Terry Austin, inker, Tom Orzichowski, letterer, Glynis Ween, colorist, Roger Stern, editor, Jim Shooter, and in chief.
01:15:58
Speaker
Release date, September 1979. Cover date, December
01:16:05
Speaker
Proteus, possessing the body of Joe McTaggart, is holding Moira beneath his arm while warping the city of Edinburgh into a psychedelic hellscape. The X-Men rush through the warping streets, attempting to save people from falling debris, melting sidewalks, and... Swarms of bees.
01:16:24
Speaker
turning building walls into swarms of bees. And Storm is like, God, I use my wind in a way that I don't hurt these people, but also, i don't want to hurt the bees.
01:16:37
Speaker
oh and Storm, you know that they're a building. You know they're not real bees. You know they're a building. And she's like, I don't want to hurt the bees.
01:16:50
Speaker
This is a question they have in Dungeons and Dragons a lot where like if you summon animal. Okay. Does that animal think exist? Like is that does it have where does it go when it where did it come from? Where does it go when it disappears? Is this does it have a soul? Does it have a soul? Yeah.
01:17:13
Speaker
Do each of these bees have soul? have the same question about bees that were conjured from the wall of a building. Okay. I think in D&D, it's about flavor text, right? Like, if you are, if you're summoning animals, you, the DM, can be like, oh, and they all run out of the woods to save you.
01:17:37
Speaker
Those are real animals. But if you got, like, go glowing magic animals... But then again, so when you conjure a familiar, like sometimes people summon a familiar and it's not like it walks out of the woods. It's like it pops into being ah familiar exists on another plane. That's not exactly what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when they're like when they summon like a a rabbit in the woods. Yeah.
01:18:07
Speaker
I mean, in the woods, I'd say, like, yeah, that's probably just a rabbit. It comes jumping out at him. But you're in desert. And you summon a rabbit. I don't fucking know. Either it's going to be a really tired rabbit and you waited a really long time for the rabbit to get there. Or...
01:18:26
Speaker
i Yeah, I don't, i I, fuck, I don't know, man. I think these bees aren't bees, though. They're not, they're not independent beings. No, but I wouldn't put it past Storm to say, yeah i don't want to hurt these buildings.
01:18:39
Speaker
Yeah, they're still alive right now.
01:18:43
Speaker
In a flashback, we find out that Proteus was released during Magneto's attack on Muir Island and was just waiting for a person to come along so he could possess them when Angus McWhirter happened by His subsequent plan was to possess Phoenix, but when that failed, he simply acted on whims, leading him to the present moment.
01:19:03
Speaker
We also learn that when Proteus possesses a person's body, he also absorbs their memories. He begins twisting and morphing Moira's body while repeating some of the same cruel phrases Joe said to her in the last issue.
01:19:16
Speaker
Oh, God, it's really brutal, you guys. As he does this, the city reverts back to normal, allowing the X-Men to make their way across it. Cyclops quickly puts together a plan, using the knowledge that Proteus burns out his host bodies when he uses his powers, and that he's weak to metal, and has Phoenix mentally transmit that plan to all the other X-Men.
01:19:39
Speaker
ah Pat, that was a pretty big run-on sentence. You could have...
01:19:44
Speaker
Probably could have trimmed that up. Yeah. my god I wrote that. I'm making, I'm making fun of myself. Storm attacks first, blinding him in fog. And he responds by turning her cloak into a block of Amber that encases her Wolverine freeze her, leaving himself open to attack.
01:20:04
Speaker
But Sean Cassidy halts p Proteus by shooting him in the shoulder with a pistol. Hell My one weakness. Yeah. bullets it is for him it is know yeah proteus opens a pit below sean and as he falls closes it up cyclops sets about saving him by blasting a tunnel through the earth and sending nightcrawler down it here is okay i i have a question yeah so okay first of all that's terrifying fall into a pit the pit closes up now you're just encased in the earth yeah
01:20:41
Speaker
But I don't know if blasting down is the way to get you out of it. I think that would like literally just blast you down even further.
01:20:54
Speaker
Yes. I don't know how you blast. It's not it's not like a shovel. yeah don't how you blast around me. that's Look, how many tunnels have you dug with your eyes, Matt? You're right. Yeah, right. Good point.
01:21:08
Speaker
Only like two or three. As Nightcrawler in the pit grabs Sean, Proteus closes up the earth again, forcing Kurt to teleport them upwards and blind, where Polaris catches both of them midair and lowers them to the ground. I guess she is just telekinetic via magnets now.
01:21:26
Speaker
i yeah I guess that's her power. i don't know. The X-Men regroup even as Phoenix rushes ahead to catch Proteus. She stops him at the foot of Edinburgh Castle, and they engage in a battle of wills with Proteus coming out on top when Wolverine leaps from the bushes and tears into him with his claws.
01:21:46
Speaker
Wolverine grabs Moira and begins climbing Castle Rock with her hanging from his shoulders while Cyclops and Havok pummel Proteus from either side. He regathers his senses and changes form, soaring high into the air and snatching Moira from Wolverine.
01:22:02
Speaker
He also dissolves the rock Wolverine is holding onto, causing him to fall, though he's saved by Cyclops, bouncing him on pulsing optic blasts like a game of keepy-yppy.
01:22:17
Speaker
Wolverine's dialogue is here is, ow!
01:22:24
Speaker
ah
01:22:26
Speaker
Oh, wow. It's really good. It's about the best Wolverine's ever been. Up on the castle battlements, Proteus advances on Moira, taunting her. He tells her that since an act of violence created him, he was doomed to be evil and destroy humanity.
01:22:42
Speaker
When Colossus arrives and throws him into a wall, he says, you will destroy nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This disintegrates Joe McTaggart's dumb body, leaving Proteus in his true energy form, a white hole in three dimensional space.
01:23:00
Speaker
It's fucking cool looking. Peter, who for some reason is in human form right now, finds himself suddenly bursting into flame and cringing in pain as he thinks back to the day his brother, Mikhail, died on a Russian astronautical landing pad.
01:23:16
Speaker
I think that would be cosmonautical, right? What's the difference between a cosmonaut and an astronaut? i One is Russian, the other is American. okay Filled with anger and determination, Colossus shifts to metal form and thrusts both fists into the void that is Proteus.
01:23:33
Speaker
The resulting explosion lights up the sky, and when it fades, Proteus is gone. The X-Men fly to the castle battlements, where Sean and Moira finally reunite in earnest, and the X-Men share a needed, happy-ish ending.
01:23:50
Speaker
The end. Fucking, that was an intense, intense story. My God. Jesus Christ.
01:24:01
Speaker
Ugh. pays off on the, like, if we take out the this stuff that we trigger warned about, right? Yeah. It really... it really pays off at the end. Like it feels really recently. I've been feeling like they come into a lot of like, Oh, but the villain accidentally pulls this lever instead, or they like they're knocked off balance and somebody is able to hit them.
01:24:27
Speaker
This feels like a in earned ending where, they've planted this metal thing or inorganic material weakness throughout the story yeah colossus plunges his metal fists into the heart of the energy form and just like it's it makes sense it tracks it feels like the appropriate threat level was dealt with by the appropriate threat right de-escalator A couple other things about this issue that I thought were neat moments. Number one, Alex internally expresses his resentment for Wolverine just because Wolverine is always giving his brother shit. Like it's just a good little brother moment of like, man, that guy should stop talking so much shit to my brother
Marvel's Best Little Brother?
01:25:16
Speaker
someday. Yeah.
01:25:18
Speaker
Yeah, ah he remains best little brother in the Marvel Universe. That's right. And also, I don't think we've mentioned this as one of the common Claremontisms, but it's quickly becoming my favorite, which is that would have killed a normal person. I love that.
Need for Lighter Content?
01:25:41
Speaker
yeah ah love that This whole arc, how fucking intense was that? Just so intense, man. Jesus Christ. that was a That was a wild one. It's almost like, I feel like we're going to need something a little lighter.
01:25:56
Speaker
It's sort of, ways bring back to me yeah just before we lighten up here, it gave me the same almost like internal tension, that like slight sense of dread that you get when you're reading a good story. oh right. Yeah. um That the Amal Farouk story gave me of like, yes there's some creeping, intense power here. It's being drawn and narrated in a way that really makes it feel kind of like this heart pounding. Right.
01:26:25
Speaker
psychological thriller. It almost feels like this is a without getting too much into what's coming.
01:26:38
Speaker
It's I mean, with the Sokka is coming. I mean, we but there's no reason to be coy about it. I'm going to beep it out.
01:26:46
Speaker
It feels like this is a like a primer for that.
Narrative Primer for Upcoming Saga
01:26:52
Speaker
You know what I mean? Is it pronounced primer? Somebody I've heard before is pronounced Primer.
01:26:57
Speaker
Seems wrong. I like to say Primer, ah but mostly because you're the one that told me it's pronounced Primer once once upon a time. But it almost feels like a ah Primer for the Saga, right? like Like this really big and emotional, drawn out, seeded through other stories.
01:27:25
Speaker
thing is coming and here's here's here's like a smaller version of it to prepare you right like a like a really good appetizer yes yes yes exactly yeah and I I don't know Parodias so far I think is maybe the most mature not just because it has really fucking adult themes but the most mature mature storytelling we've seen in the X-Men so far Yeah, yeah.
01:27:55
Speaker
And as a character, as a villain, he's ah he's got more motivation, I think, than most of the ones that we've seen. Although I don't know what he was going to eventually, like, I don't know what he was going to do.
01:28:07
Speaker
He mentioned something about taking over humanity or whatever, but I don't really know was... That's just the, that's, that's the albatross that all, that all comic book writers have to bear over around their necks is, ah sometimes somebody's motivated by taking over the whole world and we just gotta live with it. Yeah.
01:28:25
Speaker
If you can't think of anything else, they want to take over the world. All
Introduction to X-Men Annual #3
01:28:31
Speaker
right. let's look Let's lighten things up, Matt. little sillier. Let's get a little sillier with um X-Men Annual number three, A Fire in the Sky.
01:28:42
Speaker
that doesn't sound very funny. It's written by Chris Claremont. Well, that doesn't sound very funny. yeah It's drawn by George Perez and Terry Austin. George Perez, Pat.
01:28:58
Speaker
Interesting. Matt, tell me about George Perez. He's, i mean, he's mostly... legendary for being a DC artist, right? He did Crisis on Infinite Earths.
01:29:10
Speaker
Right. Which is, you know, one of the biggest comic books of its time. It's a it's a big deal.
01:29:20
Speaker
It's pretty well drawn. He also did, i think he did Infinity Gauntlets. Like he did a lot of Avengers stuff. He did a lot of, he did the Teen Titans that ah with Marv Wolfman.
01:29:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah yeah, Wasn't that them? He's cool. He's cool. He's a really good artist. Anyway, ah Tom Orrs, whoever that is, is our letterer. G. Ween, whoever that is, is our colorist.
01:29:44
Speaker
R. Stern is our editor, whoever... Rebel Stern? Roy Stern? I don't know. Jay Shooter, editor-in-chief? I don't know who that is, but...
01:29:55
Speaker
Jump. Release date, November 1979. Cover August 1979. Isadora, what's How sense? Excuse me? Why is the August 79 the release date three months later?
01:30:06
Speaker
iidorra what's up how does that make sense excuse me why was it why is the cover date august seventy nine and the release date is three months later Yeah, let's look this up.
01:30:19
Speaker
yeah
01:30:24
Speaker
Alright. I can tell you...
01:30:30
Speaker
doesn't say a date on the cover.
01:30:33
Speaker
i That was according to the marvel wiki which Marvel fan wiki, which is usually very well kept up. Never wrong.
01:30:45
Speaker
But... I don't fucking know. Anyway, Isadora and Irigarda Uman. Isadora and Irigarda Uman.
Archon's Arrival in New York
01:30:58
Speaker
They're up before dawn preparing their New York City newsstand for a typical weekday when a lightning bolt strikes directly in front of them.
01:31:08
Speaker
It's Archon. oh A man dressed in fur underwear and a spiky helmet and nothing else. He carries a shield and a quiver of lightning bolts of different colors.
01:31:22
Speaker
I immediately hate him. Like, the moment he appears, I'm just like, I fucking hate this guy. you know Yeah, yeah. Here comes Blastar again. ah Exactly. Archon only, ah he, up till this point, he's only appeared in a handful of Avengers issues and one Fantastic Four story He has 31 appearances in the Marvel universe at all.
01:31:46
Speaker
Through time. Yeah, through time. And we will see him two more times ever. Incredible. That's one in 12, Matt.
01:31:59
Speaker
All right. This guy, this fucking dork, he immediately heads for Avengers Mansion, suggesting that he's not here to fight, but rather to beg for help. He starts doing this by assaulting Jarvis.
01:32:10
Speaker
Yeah. Tony Stark and the Avengers loyal butler demanding to know where Thor is. Jarvis doesn't know. off doing his own thing right now. What's Thor doing at this point?
01:32:22
Speaker
I don't know, Matt. We're not following Thor. Why is this guy being a dick to Jarvis? Leave Jarvis alone. That poor man suffers all the worst fates. And he's just being like grilled like on Thor's whereabouts and Iron Man.
01:32:37
Speaker
It seems like, do you think he just keeps a notebook with just meticulous notes on where every superhero in the Marvel universe is at any time? Because he knows with if if it hasn't happened this week, it'll happen next week. Some dipshit's going to show up at my door, grab me by the throat and say, where is Tigra.
01:32:58
Speaker
And he's going to have to be like, okay, she's in the Bahamas. She's, I have permission to tell villains where superheroes are. If I know. oh they're all, they'll kill me.
01:33:12
Speaker
Oh man. So, all right. Archon. Wally's beating up Jarvis receives a telepathic message from a grand vizier.
01:33:24
Speaker
letting him know there is another on Earth with the power they need. Archon senses this and heads in the direction of that power. Cut! To the danger room! The X-Men are practicing as Sean watches and smokes his pipe, observing that Scott is testing them by giving advice rather than his usual commands and seeing how they react.
Danger Room Chaos
01:33:46
Speaker
Things go haywire, of course, and the danger room of tries to kill everyone. They all make it out, stressed and tired, except Wolverine, who is having a blast. Pat. Now, yeah, this is an extended sequence to help fill out the pages of an annual.
01:34:03
Speaker
Yeah. It seems like the default setting to the danger room, if things start going wrong, is kill everyone inside. Exactly. If you ever, if the computers for the danger room ever get damaged, it's use everything you have.
01:34:20
Speaker
them with everything and don't be able to turn off. This like the the emergency lighting in a hospital when when the power goes out. Yeah.
01:34:31
Speaker
Imagine if you're everything on and kill like your oven was like this. Like if the dial breaks, it just turns up to the hottest power and it doesn't turn off.
01:34:43
Speaker
It turns on all the burners, too. And there's one button, one single button in the back of the oven. ah You have to reach your hand through the hottest the oven's ever been to press that button.
01:34:55
Speaker
ah There is exactly one button that deactivates everything in the danger room. Yeah, yeah. and Cyclops, I think, presses it with like an I-beam. Yep.
01:35:06
Speaker
Yeah, cool. Cool stuff. Storm is stressed enough, because she but thinks it's her fault, to need some time alone. But Scott catches up to her before she walks off, and they have a meaningful conversation about the purpose of being an X-Man.
01:35:18
Speaker
And if it's really worth sacrificing their entire lives for... Storm was happy in Kenya, and Scott knows this sacrifice all too well. Yeah. They don't come to any resolution, but they find trust in that bond with each other.
01:35:33
Speaker
Back in her room, trying to relax, Storm is attacked! Archon has somehow snuck in, but he's clearly unaware of her powers. She creates a hurricane on the spot, sending him flying across the room.
01:35:47
Speaker
Downstairs, Scott is mourning Jean. Roger Stern very aggressively reminds us that he already told us this takes place before the events of X-Men number 125. Dipshit.
01:36:00
Speaker
di shit It's a huge editor's note.
Battle with Archon
01:36:04
Speaker
she Like, listen, nerds, I already said stop bothering me.
01:36:12
Speaker
Banshee's keeping him company. Sean notices that the sounds of Aurora's storm are louder than usual. When Archon falls right through the floor into their lap, Scott immediately recognizes him as a B-Avengers villain and blasts him straight outside into the pool where Peter is trying to relax.
01:36:34
Speaker
but's see the Scott's like, that's an Avengers villain. I saw him on the news. And he continues to say shit like that. He's like, I saw that when he uses his bolts, this happens. And the people that it happened to was this was their ultimate fate.
01:36:51
Speaker
Anyway, at Scott's command, Peter slaps the fuck out of this guy, knocking him to the woods off the main property. He starts throwing red lightning bolts at everyone, but he's no match for the X-Men hand to hand. Even though he's strong enough to withstand their attacks, he can't keep up with their combo of speed and power.
01:37:09
Speaker
He gets his ass... so beat he's just getting knocked around yeah yeah he's getting just like is punched in the face like he gets knocked through the floor then blasted out the window and then punched across a pool and then his shield gets cut in half and he's like how is that even possible and wolverine's like i'm gonna kill you next and cyclops is like beat up this clown literally calls him a clown a clown oh it's great so good like i hated this guy so much it's so like just looking at him it's so good to see him get his ass beat so hard um yeah recognizing that he's beaten archon throws a yellow lightning bolt not a red one at storm and she disappears
01:38:00
Speaker
The X-Men, fearing she's been murdered, get ready to kill him. Colossus pulls a fucking tree out of the ground and slams him with it. So cool. It's an old tree. But Cyclops gives him one chance to tell them where Storm is.
01:38:15
Speaker
He notes that Archon only used yellow lightning bolts on Storm and that in his battle with the Avengers, those were the teleporting bolts that didn't actually do any damage.
01:38:27
Speaker
wolverine here is threatening to kill him and i just kept thinking how fucking funny it would be if wolverine would have just cut his head off the and driven to scott was like hang on a second and wolverine just went oh yeah well there's there's another moment where i think it'd be even funnier but we'll get to that in a second scott takes all the yellow lightning bolts out of air archon's quiver and hoping this works tosses them all to the ground Suddenly, they find themselves in the middle of the royal court of the Imperion, Archon's Medal Viking people, and announce themselves as the captors of Archon.
01:39:05
Speaker
They're willing to trade his life for storms, and everyone can leave happy. Archon doesn't care. He's willing to give his life to save his people. yeah This is where it would be the funniest if Wolverine is like, okay, and cuts his head off in front front of everybody.
01:39:26
Speaker
Oh, God. And like then they just had to go the rest of the issue and Archon's just dead. A battle breaks out in in this issue, not in my scenario.
01:39:38
Speaker
The X-Men versus a hundred weird alien humanoids in metal Viking costumes. Even the Imperion are forced to admit that the X-Men are holding their own against their army.
01:39:49
Speaker
We also see the Vizier figure we saw earlier sneaking off to avoid the battle. a pair of familiar eyes and blue tail hide in the shadows, not far behind him, following his every step.
01:40:03
Speaker
Kurt Rupert. Kurt Rupert. While the X-Men are locked in a seemingly endless battle, Kurt follows the vizier all the way to a secret temple where he finds Storm dressed in a regal gemmed bathing suit, of course, talking of willingly giving her life for the Imperion.
01:40:20
Speaker
She must be under some influence, but how can Kurt warn the rest of the team before Storm sacrifices herself?
Rescue Mission for Storm
01:40:26
Speaker
He springs into action, teleporting in and wrapping Storm's cape around her head, knowing that the ambush and her claustrophobia are enough to create a big, sudden bolt.
01:40:37
Speaker
Kurt is flung to the side, but the rest of the X-Men receive the message. Back in the fight, Colossus rides in on a fucking dragon. Shit.
01:40:49
Speaker
Jesus. This is so cool. Yeah, it's cool. Dragons exist in this world. Whatever. This is the coolest fucking thing he's ever done. Yeah. Wolverine's like, oh, things are getting tough. We got to get out of here. And Colossus from off panels like I got you, man. And then you next see him reaching down from a fucking dragon.
01:41:12
Speaker
It's so cool. he's like Yeah, I found it. Yeah.
01:41:18
Speaker
Really? That's like how he's. Yeah. He picks the X-Men up out of the battle and flies them all towards the bolt of lightning they just saw. They arrive up on the mountain temple, but Storm doesn't want to come with them.
01:41:30
Speaker
She's not under any sort of influence. She's willing to sacrifice herself to save Archon's people. Wow. See, Archon explains. The last time he came to Earth to try to steal power from the Avengers, they ended up building him a machine that was powered by Thor's lightning and would keep the light energy that powers their planet alive, which they all need to live.
Archon's Energy Crisis
01:41:52
Speaker
This is actually kind of cool sci-fi concept. It's like, rather than a sun, they have like like ah like a glowing... Like a field of light energy that surrounds their planet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:42:04
Speaker
It's pretty fucking rad. But this device needs to be recharged every once in a while. It's also... Okay, backing up. It's a cool idea, but...
01:42:14
Speaker
so's like idea but The thing is, the sun is like a nearly unlimited source of energy. Right. And it's the energy coming from the sun that allows us to live.
01:42:26
Speaker
Yeah. So if all you have is a little wispy ring around your planet, you're not going to live for very long. yeah I don't care how many times you recharge this thing. You're not living for very long.
01:42:38
Speaker
It also seems like... so the last time it was recharged, when it was initially created, was Avengers 75, which took place in 1970. We're now in and it's already...
01:42:52
Speaker
re to the point where his people are about to die yeah yeah this isn't i yeah they need it lasts a little longer than that it almost is like it almost might be a mercy to just be like sorry guys you're on your own o yeah so once i help you you're kind of out of options back on earth right keeping Storm there to just zap them, zap everything every 10 seconds.
01:43:21
Speaker
yeah like like That is like the level of sustainability they have here. Okay. It was powered by Thor's lightning, but that would keep the light energy and energy that powers the planet alive, which they all need to live. But this device needs to be recharged every once in a while, which is why Archon returned to Earth to get new batteries, ah which is a woman.
01:43:42
Speaker
Storm, knowing that she likely won't survive the process, is willing to charge this device for them.
Cyclops' Leadership and Plan
01:43:49
Speaker
Cyclops understands, but says he won't allow her to sacrifice herself.
01:43:53
Speaker
Instead, he asks Wolverine and Nightcrawler to rewire this complicated device that Tony Stark built to receive optic blasts instead of lightning.
01:44:09
Speaker
Oh, it's a lightning receiver. You just have to switch it over to optic blast receiver. Can you, you know, optic blast energy? you know the You know that that form? Yeah, I think you just have to change a few wires and then it'll get optic blast energy instead of lightning energy.
01:44:25
Speaker
Whatever we call that. This is the difference, I guess, between Chris Claremont and Roy Thomas, where re Thomas would have just said, can you just rewire it to accept optic blasts instead of lightning? And whoever he was barking commands at would have been like, sure, boss, it's done. Yeah. whereas claremont has to have ah wolverine and kurt argue with him saying that's not possible man there's like i yeah this is built by tony stark i'm not sure that optic blast is an actual form of energy wolverine's like can still do it wolverine's like i don't know i can fix a car i don't know yeah
01:45:07
Speaker
I can fix a nightcrawler. It's like, I don't. Yeah. Fucking Banshee's taught me a little bit about computers. I don't know how to do this, but I do love this. Like Wolverine and nightcrawler gaining this like technological skills. Like it keeps, so it'll keep coming back in the Claremont run is like, they're now the tech whizzes.
01:45:26
Speaker
ah Hacker Wolverine. yeah exactly wait Oh man. So Cyclops, he's just going to, he's going to do it himself is the thing instead of storm.
01:45:38
Speaker
All right. At Scott's command, Storm blasts him with the most powerful lightning blast she can conjure. He metabolizes it into optic energy, though it's pointed out that it runs a little rough since his optic blasts work on solar energy.
01:45:56
Speaker
But it does the trick. Pat. Hang on. What? What? Is it just that they're doing this fucking thing again? Everybody shoot me so I can shoot at another thing and the whole world will be saved?
01:46:10
Speaker
It's not just that. This is an annual, so we can expect that it's going to be a little goofy. They're going to have some... What's blowing my mind here is we know yes, that Scott's optic blasts work on solar power.
01:46:26
Speaker
We know that because we read the butt issues of these old original X-Men comics that told the origin story of Cyclops.
01:46:37
Speaker
This is not the first time that Chris Claremont has referenced that directly either. Yeah. There is Chris Claremont knows the story. And I think, yeah.
01:46:50
Speaker
Yeah. I'm pretty sure you mentioned on an earlier episode that Chris Claremont once was like, hey, you I have a great idea for Cyclops' origin story. And...
01:47:04
Speaker
john bern was like he's already got an origin story dude you should probably read up on these comics and it seems like he did
Mission Success and Reflection
01:47:12
Speaker
and just as a sort of malicious compliance references it every three issues
01:47:22
Speaker
yeah i mean i assume it's just not like index cards in the office but like i really like your version of the story is so much better fucking okay so they're doing this they trick they all shoot scott cyclops and then he shoots the machine and the mountain explodes as energy is restored to the planet and everyone's saved some of the imperion arrive on the scene sure that everyone involved is dead luckily though the explosion created a vortex that protected the temple and everyone in it and placing it perfectly on the ground below while the mountain under them exploded everyone's just lying on their backs across the mountain perfectly fine
01:48:02
Speaker
This will be great. They surely think we're dead. Everyone's okay. The X-Men go home. The end. They also go home stupid costumes. They're all wearing like dumb. They're all wearing like dumb, like not even Viking costumes. I don't even know what to call these things.
01:48:21
Speaker
Picture someone doesn't know the difference between a Viking and a caveman. Yeah. and Yeah, it's it's Masters of the Universe costumes. That's exactly it Yeah, there you go.
01:48:33
Speaker
And they're all wearing them. fuck it They look like such big dorks. It's also, okay... So again, Claremont does this thing. Everybody shoot me and I'll shoot.
01:48:45
Speaker
And then he does a Claremontism. He's like, if eyes are the windows to the soul, then what be one lives in the soul of Scott Summers? For his eyes create the powerful. Come on, man.
01:49:01
Speaker
Stop it. That is such a, i I can't believe, referring to Cyclops with the eyes or the windows to the soul feels so familiar that Claremont has either used this before or we have said it in an impression of Chris
01:49:23
Speaker
Fingers are usually used to love and caress, but when they're extended from the forearms and made out of adamantium, they are used to For deadlier purposes. Fucking Claremont.
01:49:37
Speaker
But Scott. And whatre we're going to talk about this, I think, a little bit more in our final thoughts. But Scott's really decisive in this issue. Right? Like. Yeah. People look to him for decisions and he just speaks very decisively. It's like really cool character development. And like at some when Banshee's like, oh, I really wish I could be going with you because but my it but me voice is all fucked up. He's like, yeah, he's like, so do I. Let's go.
01:50:07
Speaker
Like it's so fucking Colossus is like. things are going on on top of that mountain. There's all this energy. What should we do? And the Cyclops is just like lay land land. It's like, I don't know. Something about that is so fucking good.
01:50:21
Speaker
Like, I think it's Claremont reining himself in to speak it to write in Cyclops's voice, which I think is what I love so much about it. Yeah, it also it speaks to his growing confidence as a character, too. Like, he's just... He's no longer the interim leader.
01:50:38
Speaker
is the owner of the X-Men. Right, right. He's the He's got to keep them together. He's got to keep them alive. he's got to so he's got to protect the world from evil mutants. and he's got to carry on Xavier's dream.
01:50:55
Speaker
And yeah, it's finally, like, taking that maybe seriously. Also...
01:51:01
Speaker
Fucking George Perez's art is so good. It's...
01:51:08
Speaker
You're not loving it? i think it's good. i think it's really good in certain... places is but i also think that like the big battle scenes seem almost unintelligible
George Perez's Artistic Legacy
01:51:23
Speaker
it's like that really that that thing that gets really prevalent in the 90s where it's just like let's draw as many lines on these characters as we can let's stuff as many people into a small space as we can and just make everything explode all over the place like it it gets hard to tell whose arm belongs to who because there's so many lands reaching out and punching.
01:51:48
Speaker
Okay, I can agree with that. like There's a lot of people packed into the packed into the panels. I don't think I had that trouble, but like it's just he has such attention to detail, though. If you do look closely, it's like Colossus is punching while he's like smashing a dude's face with his other hand and the guy's going in like, ah, there's a hand in my face. And like falling over. And like you can track. It's like there's like a two page spread where you can track Cyclops's beams from one side all the way to the other.
01:52:25
Speaker
yeah. yeah And Nightcrawler bamfs away in the middle of that fight. You can see a little bamf. And you don't see him again until he pops up following the vizier.
01:52:37
Speaker
Also, he does a thing that I think a lot of artists fail at, which is makes he makes Colossus flexible. Yes.
01:52:48
Speaker
Like Chris Claremont. Has to remind us fucking three times an issue has to have somebody say, oh, he's actually faster than he seems.
01:52:58
Speaker
He looks. He's surprisingly agile. He's surprisingly fast. Oh, I always forget how much faster Petey is than he looks. and But like you can see that in this issue.
01:53:12
Speaker
In George Perez's art. Yeah. Yeah. I shouldn't say I dislike the art that George Perez does. I think he gets the emotion exactly right.
01:53:22
Speaker
I think that the issue is with the Shi'ar saga, stop threatening me, with the Shi'ar saga, we saw Dave Cockrum and John Byrne draw these huge action-packed full on war battle scenes with the X-Men and it looked precise. It looked so clean and a story unfolded as your eyes went across the page. And it feels like this just doesn't live up to that. and Maybe I'm, maybe it's unfair to compare to the, the Shi'ar saga, but.
01:53:58
Speaker
You know, i I again wonder if this is a difference between this and the reprints. Yeah, it does seem like they fucked up the printing on this one in some places. So it could be.
01:54:11
Speaker
Anyway, i it's it's for such a shitty character, Archon, and such kind of like a dorky premise. It's great. It's good, right?
01:54:23
Speaker
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. i really yeah I went into it expecting a whole bunch of, like, the crap. The first thing you see is Archon, and whether or not you know he's i shitty one-time Avengers villain, he...
01:54:44
Speaker
looks ridiculous you you can uninspiring this having read all the issues of x-men up to this and say this is going to be a dumb boring story and those kind of is those first like five pages of him just walking around doing shit are kind of dumb and boring yeah it feels very like early roy thomas uh it feels aimless yeah and then and this is this is the difference because i think this is just meant to be like a a one-off sort of fun issue.
01:55:17
Speaker
The difference is that what Roy Thomas wouldn't do is take the time to insert a conversation between Cyclops and storm about the, the impact and the sacrifice that they have to make in order to be X-Men and whether or not it's actually, it's actually worth it.
01:55:36
Speaker
Roy Thomas would have crammed something like that into four lines of dialogue Or like nine lines of dialogue in two panels. Yeah, yeah. But I think this issue really starts coming alive when they start beating the fuck out of Archon.
01:55:53
Speaker
And then from there, it's just magic. It's just electric. Yeah, yeah. It really picks up in the... I think the story is a little silly, but you can yeah ignore that and just enjoy the rest of it. And it's just as good.
01:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, the characterizations are great. Also, the other cool thing I'll say about George Perez, he does backgrounds. It is really elaborate and impressive backgrounds at a time when most of these backgrounds that we're reading in these comics, even by great artists like Dave Cockrum and John Byrne, are just colors or like lines or. yeah words Or it's half drawn.
01:56:30
Speaker
Yes. or the eye doesn't get drawn to it. Or circuitry. like Just random circuitry just to say that, oh, we're in a lab or whatever. um Yeah, but George Perez puts us in a world that has lost its son. Yeah. And you can believe it.
01:56:48
Speaker
Yeah. It's exciting. Even walking around New York looked really cool. Like, I was i was impressed from the very beginning. Also, i should say, and case people are confused, this is annual number three. X-Men annuals one and two were during the reprint, the dark era, and they were both reprints.
01:57:09
Speaker
Right. Which is i I don't know if we're, yeah, go ahead. Actually, they weren't during the Dark Era, they but they were reprints nonetheless. Another interesting and somewhat related fact is that during the Dark Era, Marvel was only printing reprints of the X-Men.
01:57:29
Speaker
But they continued the issue number order. So there were 26 issues that took the X-Men from, was it, 64 90? And then we picked back up the actual X-Men.
01:57:44
Speaker
It was in 69 to Yeah, you're right. There's 26 issues that were numbered, but are actually just reprinted stories. We just hit issue with number 126, which means we're finally actually at X-Men issue number 100.
01:58:04
Speaker
ah We've read 100 issues of this bullshit. No, it's not bullshit anymore. It's good. Plus a lot of other comics. Speaking of other comics. No, we'll talk about that later.
01:58:16
Speaker
No, let's talk about it now. but Yeah. We are taking a break from the X-Men for the next two episodes.
01:58:27
Speaker
Sort of. We are. We are. Look, we're going to take a break from the X-Men. And when we come back, it's likely going to be a fucking supersized episode.
01:58:41
Speaker
Yeah. yeah As we address the most. famous There's no way to break this up, right? This is going to be the, this is the most famous X-Men story of all time.
01:58:54
Speaker
It's the like saga. Don't beat me, Pat. Don't beep it out. I will. I'm going to, we have done it consistently to this point. So it's, it's going to be a long episode. That'll be two episodes from now.
01:59:09
Speaker
Episode. What was it? Fucking 20, 28, think 28. Yeah. twenty eight twenty eight In the meantime, so yeah get get ready for that. In the meantime, we are going to see what Angel and Iceman have been up to off on their own having silly little adventures in The Champions. The Champions by Bill Mantlo. With Hercules and Black Widow and Ghost Rider in Los Angeles, California.
01:59:39
Speaker
What could they possibly be doing together?
01:59:44
Speaker
I can't wait to find out. So those next. Yeah. The appearance of Ghost Rider team always cracks me up because he's doing the Lord's righteous work and destroying sinners while everybody else is fighting actual crime.
02:00:02
Speaker
Oh man. I, I love, I, I, I love this. I'm so excited for it. We'll probably do like micro recaps of each issue. Cause we've got,
02:00:14
Speaker
Nine issues per episode for the next three episodes. Yeah, please, please listen. Please listen anyway. Please. and and And, you know, we'll we'll give we'll do the call to action at the end. But, you know, share this with people.
02:00:29
Speaker
We don't want to be doing this for fucking nothing. um And we think the next two issues, next two episodes are going to be super fun. And then we're going to fucking talk about the like saga. Holy shit.
02:00:40
Speaker
Beep. I'm beeping you there.
02:00:44
Speaker
All right, so back to our format.
02:00:51
Speaker
He's got an eye out, stuff that you could buy out. If you had a time machine that you would like to try out. He has a deal, deal.
02:01:03
Speaker
That's right, folks. It's time for Pat's Steals and Deals. Matt, I have a very exciting advertisement to tell you about oh today. Oh, great. Yeah. Here's how it opens. How we saved the universe with our banana talkies and got back to tell about it with our banana compasses.
02:01:26
Speaker
Okay, here's the main copy. We were on patrol when the spaceship landed. My partner and I split up to get a closer look. But before I knew it, I was captured by hostile aliens. I have just one request before you disintegrate me, I said.
02:01:40
Speaker
Can I finish my lunch? I calmly pulled out my banana talkie. It's a real walkie talkie, but it looks like a Chiquita banana. Secretly, i beeped out our coordinates on the hidden Morse code button.
02:01:53
Speaker
Meanwhile, my partner used the banana compass to send help in our direction.
02:02:00
Speaker
North. It's north.
02:02:05
Speaker
Thanks to Chiquita bananas and some quick thinking, the invasion was stopped and the universe is once again safe from evil. So they're like, okay. So they like aliens kidnapped this kid.
02:02:20
Speaker
And he was like, can I please eat my lunch first? And they're like, yeah, that's fine. ah Take however long you want to poke at that giant banana. ahac heing This guy's just poking at a giant banana and he's been doing it for five minutes. He keeps referencing he keeps referencing some piece of paper in his pocket.
02:02:43
Speaker
It's got an antenna for some reason, the banana. Like a really long one because this is 1970.
02:02:53
Speaker
So a pair of solid state 11 inch walkie talkies with voice volume control, telescopic antenna, Morse code chart, secret beep button and belt clip.
02:03:05
Speaker
You can carry this banana around on your belt. I want the belt clip for sure. Like I wonder if you could still find it. Only $13.95 and three stickers from Chiquita Banana.
02:03:18
Speaker
This is during the time period, am I right? Where Chiquita Banana is actively overthrowing governments and like genociding people. making walkie-talkies.
02:03:32
Speaker
you could Okay, so the walkie-talkie set is $13.95. The banana compass, a five and three quarter inch long plastic banana, it's that holds a liquid filled compass capsule. Inside is a rotating dial that always remains upright so it can be read easily. Only $2.50 and three stickers from Chiquita Bananas.
02:03:55
Speaker
Now let's do a little math here.
02:04:00
Speaker
So again, if you have been keeping up, we're in 1979, the US dollar, although it seems like there are a lot of fluctuations in our near future, but right now the US dollar is...
02:04:15
Speaker
worth about $4.45 of purchasing power in Meaning that our
02:04:28
Speaker
walkiee-talkie set comes to about sixty two dollars and seventy eight cents prepare walktalkies but look like bananas bananas with antennas and speakers pat you're You're understanding it on purpose.
02:04:48
Speaker
It also comes with a banana compass and banana belt clip. Oh, I'm sorry, Matt. The banana compass is going to cost you about $11.25 in today's money.
02:04:59
Speaker
No! Separately! belt clip is just for the walkie-talkie, to attach the banana walkie-talkie to belt. Fuck. That... had I'm gonna buy it.
02:05:14
Speaker
But I'm ah still upset. set, so... seventy five dollars you can get the whole set so That's not bad. Compass walkie talkies.
02:05:26
Speaker
If you're lost in the woods. That is a really just superlative steal and deal. Thank you. Got an eye out. Stuff that could buy out. If you had time machine that you would like to try out. You can steal.
02:05:42
Speaker
Steal.
02:05:46
Speaker
Oh, boy. All right. um Let's talk about the X-Men for if just for another second. ah What are your final thoughts on this little... This little shit.
02:05:58
Speaker
I think you're right that the Proteus arc really felt like it's trying to prime us for some larger but just as dark story arcs.
02:06:11
Speaker
Right. it' the It was chilling to read through that story. i didn't know anything about this coming in. So, like, the way they unravel his mutant power, the way that they...
02:06:24
Speaker
show him using it and how terrifying it really can be. Really, ah while still like working in the stories that we need to about the X-Men, closing some gaps, sort of shutting some doors that were left open, and then full-on whiplash for X-Men Annual number three, where we get into a lighthearted romp with a bunch of naked Vikings. I know. To be fair, that's how we ordered it. The Viking romp was actually right before this.
02:07:00
Speaker
But yeah, man, it's it's a really wild, really intense story. i I love there's some growth there.
02:07:12
Speaker
happening here the x-men are behaving both more like a team and yes more like a family scott yeah and like an elite squad right they are no longer a bunch of bumbling teenagers or oh yeah a bunch of misfits that can't get along together they are operating with precision and tact just like get in and fuck them up yeah right um Yeah, the way that they beat the hell out of Archon is a good example of them doing it on the fly. And the way that they break into Muir Island.
02:07:46
Speaker
Muir Island is them doing it at having planned. Yeah, yeah. Scott really coming into his own as a leader. Like this is Scott at his best.
02:07:59
Speaker
This Scott, the best Scott as leader ever. Yeah, that there has been. Yeah, in charge and he's up to the task. And he's also just being smart and sensitive, right? Like he's just operating as a leader on all fronts.
02:08:16
Speaker
And I love it. We also get this starts out subtle and becomes maybe more overt as it goes along. This growth of Phoenix's power levels and the fracturing of her psyche, letting us know that something, something is coming and it's not going to be good.
02:08:36
Speaker
Yeah, it's incredible to watch. Like, have being very familiar with the movie, as I think a lot of people are, the events leading up to it. I'll liken it to reading the Spider-Man black suit saga, where okay you know what happens once he gets the black suit. You may even know what happens, like, how he gets the black suit.
02:08:55
Speaker
But there are... what a year or two of comics in between him getting the suit and really getting corrupted like it's just a
Comic Growth and Phoenix's Power
02:09:04
Speaker
slow roll right while he just does his spider-man stuff and we're getting the same thing here getting the same thing here a couple of years earlier with phoenix yeah yeah wild so yeah i mean as we're as we're heading into nineteen eighty In this series.
02:09:22
Speaker
Which is also nuts. We started at 1963. I know. We're about to hit the 80s Matt. Wow. that as we had a me generation. As we into the 1980s. The comic has never been better. So yeah. I mean this is.
02:09:40
Speaker
This is some good fucking comics man. Whew. Alright everybody. Thank you for listening. You can find us.
02:09:51
Speaker
wherever you get podcasts and share us and like us and all that stuff. You can email us. If you want to be part of Pat's email corner at mutant menace pot at gmail.com. If you want to be part of our street team, send us an email with subject line street team and your address and favorite X-Man.
02:10:08
Speaker
And we'll send you some flyers and a hand drawn picture, hand drawn picture of that X-Men.
02:10:17
Speaker
I'm going to use a real piece of paper for mine. Big thanks as always to Krils Wilson for most of our music and to Julia Selle for providing the voice of Trish Tilby in our intro.
02:10:29
Speaker
I saw her recently. She's doing very well. She's great. Tell her I said hi. Back then. Okay. Back then. here You guys find on Instagram, Mutant Menace Pod. Please. All right, everybody. That leaves us only one thing left to do.
02:10:46
Speaker
which is to say the catchphrase that we say at the end of every episode. And that is, I'd have a better chance survival jogging through a minefield. That's right, folks. As always, oh no, he transformed my gun into a snake.