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60 - New Mutants #26-28 - LEGION
120 Plays11 days ago
Tune in this week, folks; the New Mutants are fun again! Join us as the gang tackles a severe psychic threat, Xavier reckons just a little with his past, and Bill Sienkiewicz cements his legendary status. Plus, a couple of goofy adventures with Spider-Man!
Issues: New Mutants #26-28; Marvel Team-Up #149 & #150
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
Matt won’t be home. Random number generator. Ti West’s X-Men trilogy. Wawa pizza. A reckoning for Xavier…sort of. We’re getting farther from Johnny Carson. ALARM! Jack Wayne is here!! If you die in here, you die in real life. Memory crystals. Gormless. Children are so dumb. Sales tax. Incandescent Man, Fluorescent Man, and LED Man. She doesn’t even get a name. Mrs. Muggins is here!! The Shakespearean tragedy of Juggernaut and Black Tom. Why not just wear the smaller helmet? A little goblin alien man. He is unsettling.
TIMESTAMPS:
05:54 - Pat’s Email Corner
16:00 - X-Men-related things
23:17 - New Mutants #26: Legion
49:00 - New Mutants #27: Into the Abyss
1:12:05 - New Mutants #28: Soulwar
1:34:32 - BONUS Pat’s Steals n Deals
1:37:26 - Marvel Team-Up #149: The Incandescent Man
1:53:07 - Marvel Team-Up #150: ‘Tis Better to Give!
2:12:16 - Regular Pat’s Deals n Steals
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Write into Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/fPv7hRgTeV
Instagram: @mutantmenacepod (https://www.instagram.com/mutantmenacepod)
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Transcript
Live Report from Westchester, NY
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.
Introduction to Mutant Menace Podcast
00:00:39
Speaker
Hey, I'm Pat Reber. And I'm Matt Alkamp. And say it with us, Pete. welcome Welcome to Mutant Menace.
00:00:50
Speaker
Matt! Patrick. Welcome to Mutant Menace. Thank you. How are you doing today? I'm doing alright. I forgot to turn my little light on. Yeah, you seem distracted. Above my... Yeah, i was turning my little light on. And I was finishing my bite of...
00:01:06
Speaker
Candy bar. Candy bar. Yeah. How about you? And i was thinking about the new mutants. And i don't know what you're talking about. And I'm going on my vacation tomorrow. Is that what you want me to say? Very excited for tomorrow. my ah Tomorrow afternoon after work.
00:01:26
Speaker
That's right. When you folks hear this, I might be in a car. Or I might be not in a car. But he almost definitely won't be back home unless you listen more than a week later. Yeah, so I might be back home. So i might so when you listen to this, I might be back home. I might be in a car.
00:01:44
Speaker
I might be ah not in a car, but are away from somewhere away from home. I also might be
Discussion on New Mutants
00:01:50
Speaker
dead. Yeah. If you listen to this, like 700 years.
00:01:56
Speaker
He will have already left. Yes, that key the go point we can tell you for sure. um pat I've been thinking about the new mutants.
00:02:07
Speaker
You've been thinking about... I was just going to say that was one of the things on your lists of things to be distracted by. The thing that I've been thinking about the new mutants is Hey, where did we leave these guys?
00:02:19
Speaker
You know... I don't remember. Okay. We just saw them in a few X-Men issues, right? Did we?
00:02:32
Speaker
Yeah, we saw them. Oh, yeah. They were in the in the fucked up Kulan goth universe. Yeah. Yeah. They were also gathered around the campfire for Illyana's fairy tale.
00:02:43
Speaker
Weird fairy tale. um But we last saw them like two episodes ago, I think three episodes ago where they had an encounter with Cloak and Dagger. That's right.
00:02:55
Speaker
There was a Marvel team up annual year and
Listener Emails and Feedback
00:03:00
Speaker
a half ago at this point, I think. Where the people who kidnapped Cloak and Dagger, they kidnapped Rain and Bobby, injected them with a drug. The drug slowly gave them Cloak and Dagger's powers.
00:03:13
Speaker
Cloak and Dagger didn't have their powers anymore. Anyway, they switched back. Yeah, yeah. But... Yeah, what else is going on? I mean, Warlock and Doug Ramsey Cypher are part of the team. Have been added to the team. Yeah, Doug Ramsey can understand any language and Warlock is sort of a wacky guy.
00:03:34
Speaker
He's like a fucked up little freak. He's like an alien techno organic Shapeshifter. Living Scribble. Yeah, yeah. um He's great.
00:03:45
Speaker
And he he's also like a vampire. He kind of like, he turns other shit into techno-organic material and then sucks the life out of them. And then eats it. Yeah, yeah. But he's really innocent and really sweet.
00:03:57
Speaker
And we'll see that really soon in this upcoming series of issues. Yeah, he's a good boy. Danny Moonstar just kind of recovered from an injury.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, sure, it's sustained during the Demon Bear Saga. And Ilyana Rasputin, a.k.a. Magic, is a demon sorceress now. She has finally revealed her mutant power to everybody, and she is all fully uncontrollable. hey you Yeah, yeah.
00:04:32
Speaker
They keep being like, Ileana, we need you to teleport us here. And then she does something absolutely crazy. Yeah. She takes initiative, I would say. Yeah. And yeah, she she's she's just a little she's a holy terror is what we might call her. um She's also she's been pretty heavily featured in some
Recap of New Mutants Adventures
00:04:50
Speaker
X-Men stories recently. Yeah, she's a very convenient teleporter, I think.
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And magic problem solver. Yeah. Right. And Chris Claremont seems really interested in writing magical stories right now. Yeah.
00:05:07
Speaker
Also, keeps every time she gets injured, This weird mystical armor keeps forming on her body. and Right. It's it's it it it's growing.
00:05:20
Speaker
And then it disappears a short while after the injury. but yeah But each time it comes back, it's covering a little more of her. Up to like 80% at this point, right? Right. Though I think in this story...
00:05:33
Speaker
And I think in the last story, it was just covering her arm again. So I don't don't know. Maybe they even they were like, we moved this story too fast. And then had to pull it back.
00:05:45
Speaker
But yeah, that's where the new mutants have been. And I'm excited to see where they're going. So why don't we jump right in
00:06:06
Speaker
Right into Pat's email corner, Matt. minute i agree. Let's start. ah Let's start with an email this week, Matt. Now, we're recording back to back emails. So these are ones that are coming. The timelines here might be a little dishonest, but.
00:06:29
Speaker
Our first one here is going to be Ink Master. He is replying to us about our bonus episode, Revenge of the Living Monolith. Ooh. says, hey, Pat, t me tell Matt that my conclusion from this episode is that the living pharaoh slash monolith is a delusional narcissist who has selectively edited his own memories so that he is always the victim and
X-Men Activities and Movie Discussion
00:06:50
Speaker
never at fault for his own misfortunes, when in reality, he's the sole cause of all his own problems and tragedies.
00:06:56
Speaker
Sounds like an ex-girlfriend I used to have. No, I hard agree, Ink Master. Totally. I think that's exactly it. he's He makes up his... I mean, again...
00:07:12
Speaker
From the time he was a little baby boy, he was like, I am an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. And then eventually was like, I scientifically proved it. I am an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Come on, man. Really? No, you No, you didn't. Let me see those papers. No, no, no, no, no. I wrote them in it's a language I made up that only I understand. What? just pharao oh Pharaoh language. Yeah, you have to be a pharaoh to read it. And ah no one else can.
00:07:43
Speaker
Inc. includes a little PS here. He says, i was actually i was actually the one that corrected you guys on the pronunciation of Cheops
Introduction to New Mutants Issue 26
00:07:51
Speaker
back in that older episode. I caught that you were joking, but wanted to take the opportunity to share some information anyway.
00:07:58
Speaker
Cheops. We're still going with Cheops, Inc. I'm sorry. Cheops. I got to eat some crunchy Cheops, some potato Cheops. i Up next, we have Daniel. Matt, do you remember Daniel? Daniel.
00:08:10
Speaker
Oh, we got to get that guy a nickname. We do. And I'll tell you the last time I'm not kidding. The last time we came up with one that was so good that we considered. Dropping all bits and leaving you with that nickname. I sincerely cannot remember what that was. So no, no. We're starting over from square one. I'm going to think really hard about because I'm sure.
00:08:36
Speaker
i'm sure we can figure this out. We're going to have to remember. Nobody tell us. yeah we're going to remember,
00:08:45
Speaker
but hopefully some of the information he provides here will help us recall.
Xavier and Gabrielle Haller's Relationship
00:08:51
Speaker
I'm just going to, uh, he's, he's caught up to the days of future past episode, the episode that he originally started listening on. So he hopes to catch up with real time soon. Although that is episode 29.
00:09:05
Speaker
So keep working at it, Daniel. He does tune in for Pat's email corners to see if we read his email, though. So he's got a few comments on Pat's email corner to share. Number one, I loved it when you called Weapon Jason a fucking square for saying Punk Storm was scary.
00:09:24
Speaker
ah
00:09:27
Speaker
Number two, I loved it less when you called me a fed and said I was spreading propaganda I don't even agree with.
00:09:37
Speaker
I don't remember the context, but... Me neither, but perfect perfect sentence. Number three, I just passed the banana walkie-talkies episode. I'm so glad you got that for him. Next, you have to get him a Gregory bat.
00:09:51
Speaker
Dude, I wanted to They're like $300. Yeah, yeah, they are... ah They are a rarity. Yeah. Four, I heard the way your guys' smug faces curved curved into a smile as you said, yeah, we'll get you that nickname Daniel, I promise. You bastards. I don't know what you mean, man. We we all i came up with one. We've been trying so hard. we've been dr so We have calls during the week ah between episodes to be like, God, we have to think of a name for Daniel. And we're trying so hard.
00:10:25
Speaker
That's right. We talk about you guys when you're not here. Nickname Daniel. Nickname Daniel.
00:10:34
Speaker
What if we take his name away too? What he's just nickname boy? just Nickname boy Daniel. Sup nickname. Nickname boy email.
00:10:47
Speaker
Nickname the boy emailer.
00:10:54
Speaker
Oh, boy. All right. Let's keep moving. We have one more to cover here. 47 points here. Pat, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go to Google. I'm going to roll a random number generator, and we're going to take two out of his 47 points and talk about them.
00:11:09
Speaker
That's what we're with Daniel's emails from now on. um Random number generator. between 1 and 47 sure okay we got 27 point number 27 point number he actually not on purpose that's so wild he literally skipped 27 okay we'll do one more incredible This is more incredible. 28 came All right. 28. All right. Number 28. I feel like Wolverine's character works as a savage berserker because he's a loyal one.
00:11:45
Speaker
He'll protect who he loves at any cost. That's really true. Yeah. I i fucking love Wolverine. So we've covered this before. Daniel sends us. 30 to 50 notes at a time as he's catching up on old issues. And granted, we get an email from him every four to five episodes. So he has told us we don't need to address these on air. He just wants to make sure
Lee Forrester and Magneto Dynamics
00:12:10
Speaker
we're sounding board for his thoughts as he listens and reads through, which we very much appreciate. But I cannot believe what happened with number 27. Holy shit. I know. That was unbelievable.
00:12:24
Speaker
All right, let's keep moving that we got one more email. This one's going to come from his name was dusk. His name was dusk. What's his name now?
00:12:35
Speaker
Uh, let's find out. He says, Hey Pat, can you leave the room for a minute and hand this email to Matt? Now that goes against our formatting rules. Hey Matt, can you tell Matt? But I mean, he's a listener.
00:12:49
Speaker
What are you going to do? diso Disobey our listeners? and No, we still got to read through here. But i'm I'm immediately confused by this next part. Hey Matt, can you tell Matt? what Is that a typo you think?
00:13:01
Speaker
Yeah, well... Did we have a Matt on as a guest sometime? Like, did we have a Matt on as a guest and he wants me to tell that guest? I'll search through our guests emails. OK, you search as well. I read through this email. You try to see if there's a man. I'm going to figure out what he's talking about. Hey, Matt, can you tell Matt that I said I really liked Matt's deals and steals on episode 55? And I think you should host more of the deals and steal segments.
00:13:27
Speaker
What's he talking about?
00:13:31
Speaker
I don't. Okay. He'd like if I host more of the deals and I don't know, Pat. I think you don't listen to these episodes after we post them, do you?
00:13:43
Speaker
No, you're not hosting steals and deals. No, of course not. Blackouts every episode. Are you? Of course not. So ah why don't we just keep reading? He must have. It must be a typo. He must be talking about a guest and he must be it. You know, whatever. He keeps going. He says, i like when Pat does them too.
00:13:58
Speaker
okay thanks his name was dusk but in fact i generally just love it if this deals and steal segment was longer it's quickly becoming my favorite part of the show okay good talk you can tell pat to come back in great job lately the sign off singularity was maybe my favorite moment on the podcast so far i can't believe that happened either and then he signs off dusk i guess his name still is dusk that's then why would he say Oh, Pat, I have an email here.
00:14:26
Speaker
What? I went into our spam folder and I found an email called Curious About
New Mutants Storyline Challenges
00:14:30
Speaker
Mutant Menace. It says, what's up? I just took a look at Mutant Menace and honestly, this caught my attention.
00:14:38
Speaker
This person sounds sincere, don't they? Okay, yeah. I'm not saying this was me surrounded to spam. Yeah. Here's the truth. Oh, man. Okay. Every episode dives into something new. That's true. True.
00:14:50
Speaker
True. But YouTube has very little to work with. Well, we're we're not like primarily a YouTube podcast. When someone searches for precisely what you talked about, YouTube can't connect the dots. Fuck.
00:15:02
Speaker
God, is this why? this why we're not more popular? They're right. Because when we talk about like the X-Men and stuff more broadly, anybody can find it. But when we get into like talking pilk or if you can feel the blood in your veins, people are searching YouTube for that. And I don't think they're finding us.
00:15:20
Speaker
They don't. the solution But Pat, the solution is surprisingly fast and can finally unlock consistent discoverability. open to a twenty a quick 20-minute breakdown? Ugh, no. No. 20 minutes. I'm going to stop reading now.
00:15:38
Speaker
I do not have that attention span. Alright, what's our next email?
00:15:48
Speaker
We have none. We're keeping Patsyville-Cordered a solid 10 minutes today. Okay. Okay.
00:16:01
Speaker
Well, Matt, Pat's email corner being over, I gotta ask you this burning a question on my mind. Okay. Have you done anything X-Men related this week?
00:16:13
Speaker
Hmm. You know, I just haven't been able to think of anything X-Men related ah lately. I... okay so remember, was it last episode we told everybody that we appeared on the...
00:16:26
Speaker
ah Two episodes ago now, but that we appeared on the Drunk Banthas podcast, Does It Hold Up? Yeah, so I sought out all the old X-Men movies.
00:16:37
Speaker
Oh my god. And I was like, you know what, I'm to rewatch these. And I haven't, so I guess I haven't done anything. Okay. You did? I collected them, and now I i haven't watched them.
00:16:50
Speaker
You were telling me other day the other day that you did watch a collection of X-Movies though, right? Oh, that is x that's X related because there's men in the movie X. Yeah, I watched the Ty West ah X trilogy.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yes. Now, I couldn't, there was nobody in these movies who was recognizably in the X-Men, but I think it's like that show The Gifted where it's like, it's supposed to be, it's supposed to be kind of like obfuscated. They're like, some of them might represent characters you know, but they're also going to throw in some original ones.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah, and there there's this one character who is clearly a mutant because she was both a young ah porn star and a horny old lady ah who murdered people in the same movie.
00:17:35
Speaker
And it was the same character. It was Mia Goth. the actress so it was the same character and so she just jumped back and forth so that's her mutant power and uh at one point she was laying in bed with herself i don't but think maybe it was symbolic but i watched the x movies they're not good but they're not bad what they're just right they're right down the middle but they are i think they're extremely good for what they are like among cinema i'm sure no not fine.
00:18:05
Speaker
But for like goofy slasher movies or X-Men movies, I think they are top shelf. If you want a goofy slasher movie or an X movie, you can watch X, the prequel Pearl and the sequel Maxine. I think Maxine is probably the, I don't know. Pearl and... It depends on what you're looking for. more story. is more gory. One is more...
00:18:35
Speaker
Give third rhyming word. Susporey. Sporey. Yeah, there's a lot of mushrooms. good it Yeah, it's like a it's like a slash it's like a slasher horror film, like a psychological thriller that turns into a slasher, and then like a suspense movie that turns into just a murder fest. And there, yeah, again, i think if if you really like genre stuff and you're not too concerned about and And if you like cinematography, cinematography is great. But you're not super concerned about um themes or or writing or ah that the the the
00:19:16
Speaker
the dumb smart guy stuff of movies. I think you like it would be they're they're super. I watched all three. I guess I should, like, clearly I watched all three. Yeah, engaged with them. So there was, there's something, they're very entertaining, just not. and you're only, you're only slightly ashamed about it.
00:19:34
Speaker
Exactly. Pat, did you do anything X related in the past week? Or X-Men? I did, in fact. I i have a birthday coming up this Sunday, Pat. The X-Men all have birthdays.
00:19:49
Speaker
Like Kitty Pryde. I think Kitty's the only one we've seen have a birthday. But I Banshee have a birthday. No, that was Christmas. Oh, he had a Christmas Christmas Banshee.
00:20:04
Speaker
But just just today. Yeah, I decided it's my birthday. Now we're recording on a Thursday night. My birthday is Sunday. I started today. I went to the grocery store and bought myself some treats and What'd you get?
00:20:19
Speaker
I got some donut holes. I got, you know, sometimes they sell iced coffee in like a carton. Okay. I love my iced coffee. So i I splurged. I bought myself a carton of sweetened iced coffee. Because you were thinking we're recording tonight and I don't want to shake my little ice cubes into the mic this time.
00:20:37
Speaker
No, I put it over ice. Yeah.
00:20:43
Speaker
I also got ah pizza for dinner. I ordered pizza for dinner. Hooray. yeah I also had pizza for dinner, but mine where your was yours. Good.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, mine was from a real pizza place. Mine wasn't mine was not from a real pizza place. Mine was from. wawa I got the Wawa personal pizza. Whoa.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah. So have you had it before? I have tried. This is their third incarnation. They had pizza. Sure. Then they got rid it. And it sucked so bad. No, actually, the first one they had pizza and it was ah pizza ingredients on focaccia bread. And it was not pizza, but it wasn't bad. Like it was. It's like a like a parm sandwich. Eggplant parm without the eggplant.
00:21:28
Speaker
And then they got rid of that. And then they had, then they tried to have real pizza and that sucked and they got rid of it. And then they brought it back recently and it still sucks. Okay. It's just like, it's just like, you know, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce on like bread. Like it's, it is crust, but it is flavorless definition list crust.
00:21:54
Speaker
Oh no. Yeah. I know they have those weird little ovens too. There's no way they're making good. They're ever making good pizza. And I don't know why they feel like they have to try. no it's not.
00:22:06
Speaker
And I love Wawa. Every people who listen to any any podcast appearance of mine ever heard talk about Wawa. ah Generally, I'm making a joke about it, but only because I go there so often that it's my it's a constant reference point.
00:22:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. People who have to understand that you're constantly praising it too. it's just i'm just throwing money at it i'm just referencing it at all times um speaking of wawa pat i want to do to you what i do to all my friends at the wawa every day until they throw me out which is talk to tell you about a new mutants issue i read recently yes this this podcast and outside of a wawa are the perfect places to do this um
00:22:54
Speaker
ah But i start inside the Wawa and I usually get thrown out. But then you do your proselytizing outside the Wawa. I finally bought myself one of those little guitar amps with a microphone plugged into it. The one you can hook onto your belt? yes Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:18
Speaker
um So this is new mutants number 26, Patrick. It's called Legion. Whoa. And hey, let's start with the cover here.
00:23:30
Speaker
First of all, mixed media. It rules. Second of all, new logo. You're right. I'm reacting with the same surprise I did when you told me this right before we started recording. Because I did not notice.
00:23:48
Speaker
It's great. I mean, and they'll this is going to be their logo forever until they die Yeah, it's pretty iconic. But it's good logo. um So this one, this one, this ah this issue is ah written by Chris Claremont, actually. Of course. And it's drawn by a man named Bill Sienkiewicz. It's colored by a a lady named Glynis Ween. It's a lettered by a man named Tom Orzakowski. It's edited by a woman named Ann Nusenti. And it's editor-in-chief by a monster named Jorf Shumfels.
00:24:20
Speaker
Ooh, sounds scary. Yeah. Release date, December 25th... December 25th, 1984. You liars! Hang on a second. and You didn't! ah Cover date, April 1985.
00:24:37
Speaker
Merry Christmas, Banshee.
00:24:41
Speaker
Merry Christmas, Banshee. Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander are hanging out on Mirror Island where... Tom has discovered he can lift over a thousand pounds.
00:24:53
Speaker
Whoa. It seems like along with everything else, their transformation included some peak human abilities. No time for that now, though, as the astral form of a, quote, Arab boy appears to them screaming.
00:25:08
Speaker
No time for that now, though, as alarms suddenly start going off and the two rush to David's room. They're still complaining about like, oh, our our lives have been changed forever. Yeah.
00:25:19
Speaker
Just cut your hair. Yeah, they're still, they haven't made any, and granted they're on Muir Island, so I don't know if there's like a stylist or someone that they can trust to cut their hair. Yeah. He could still regrow his mustache.
00:25:37
Speaker
That's true. Yeah, it's not like he's devoid of the ability to grow facial hair. At some point, Tom's like, well, you know, it's not as bad as it does. You know, it's not that bad.
00:25:48
Speaker
And Sharon's like, I loved being white. Yeah, that's true. Although they do seem to realize at this point that they're not actually a different race. still They don't have the experiences of a Native American person.
00:26:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But she does say I loved who I was. And when I get like, I don't like looking in the mirror and seeing somebody I don't recognize. And granted, yeah, that would be fucked up. But still, take a step back and realize what you're saying, Sharon, is I loved being a white person, man. I hate not being a white person.
00:26:21
Speaker
arent you more upset that you're stuck on a remote island in a lab off the coast of scotland with no contact with the outside world and you're doing that voluntarily yeah like so glad we're still dealing with tom corsi and sharon friedlander ah So, okay, they get to David Haller's room. They find him. who's normally He's normally catatonic, but now he's levitating a few feet over his bed, screaming for his mama and papa and Uncle
00:26:56
Speaker
Objects are flying around the room violently, herding Tom and Sharon closer and closer to David's bed. Suddenly, David's hands light up in flame and an evil laugh emanates from him in a little girl's voice.
00:27:08
Speaker
From outside the building, we see a massive flame shoot through the wall.
00:27:15
Speaker
Now, this would, this is like a legit scary moment, right? um it Yes. in The art here is extremely chilling.
00:27:29
Speaker
And if you think about the situation, very scary. But Claremont's dialogue fucking ruins it so bad. Like, he can't do it. I know. He's getting bonked on the head and going like, ow!
00:27:42
Speaker
And like, over-explaining, like, he's using his ah telekinetic powers to keep us from reaching the door and forcing us deeper into the- Shut up!
00:27:53
Speaker
You've taken all the scariness out of it, dude. Yeah, yeah. The tension is gone. And they're going like, oh, how come this always happens to us? and Imagine somebody in the middle of a horror movie. Oh, frick.
00:28:07
Speaker
I wish this weren't happening to me. I have the worst luck. And you're like, okay. All right. I'm not scared anymore. ah You're winning in the middle of an exorcist and the mom the mom the giub thing bonks off her head and she goes, whoa. Oh, jeez. Man, why do just have the worst luck with this daughter of mine? It's like fucking Chris, you've you you're looking at these pages and it's like terrifying and you're like, let me let me ruin let me ruin it a little bit. Yeah, let me take this guy down a peg.
00:28:43
Speaker
So the next morning, the Blackbird arrives on Muir Island greeted by Moira McTigart. Moira McTigart. Moira McTigert. Outwalk.
00:28:54
Speaker
That's the Scottish. We don't know how to do anything. Outwalk, Xavier, Rain, Danny, Doug Ramsey, Warlock, and Banshee, Sean Cassidy. Remember him?
00:29:05
Speaker
Yeah. It's his birthday. It's his Christmas, Pat. He and Sean embrace and bra had reference an X-Men issue we haven't read yet. Oops, sorry.
00:29:16
Speaker
We'll get there. Stay tuned. Warlock is great here. He's just like, he can't be normal for even a second. He's just like, everyone's walking off the plane and they're all bunched up against like the cold Scottish ah island wind. and Yeah, yeah. Warlock's just like side like walking sideways. Contorting into different shapes. He's like...
00:29:39
Speaker
It really brings down the solemn mood of the whole thing. exactly ah Rain, who thought she would be the first greeted by Moira, walks off dejected. Until Moira chases her down, of course, and tells her she loves her. She considers Rain a daughter.
00:30:01
Speaker
she pet didn't she technically kidnap Rain? Yeah, but kidnapped her for good. ah From bad guys. from Yeah, kidnapped her from bad guys. She's like, you're my daughter because I because yeah i kidnapped you. ah And it's illegal for me to have you.
00:30:21
Speaker
Now, we don't know much about the relationship before we met Rain, which was her being kidnapped by Moira McTaggart. But... After that, they were only in the same space for like a week, Max. ah They seemed to know each other.
00:30:40
Speaker
Yes, but i I believe this relationship exists. It's just... We haven't really seen any evidence of it. Yeah, it's it's it's like this happens a lot in comics where that the relationship is more implied and you just have to buy it. Even if you literally watched the people meet and seen every moment of their lives since then and then suddenly they tell you they're best friends, you just got to be like, okay, well, yeah some frames got cut out of there of ah the footage, I guess.
00:31:14
Speaker
it's i'm willing to accept it because i think rain needs a win yeah totally but and she is such a sad sack she does just like anytime any two people show effects into each other we get a scene of rain being like oh why isn't anybody hugging me like happens all the time when sam is with uh Lila Chaney, when Moira greets Sean Cassidy, when Professor X is... ah
00:31:45
Speaker
examining warlock or danny's on the phone with her parents it's just yeah yeah every single time because i guess they hate me now
00:31:56
Speaker
so she considers rain a daughter as tears of joy drip down rain's face oh meanwhile warlock is freaking out something about a bird he's just going bird bird birdberry bird bird a third Bird.
00:32:10
Speaker
and He looks great. He's like a little cartoon character in the background. I know. He keeps his face keeps changing shape to all these different like bug out eyes and funny poses. God. And when we find out what this is about.
00:32:25
Speaker
Fuck. Okay. Danny is tasked to calm him down when he runs off. Turns out. He wanted to wish the blackbird well. no and thank him for transporting him to sleep. He's worried that the blackbird's going to be lonely when they all go inside and he can't fit in the house.
00:32:46
Speaker
Very sweet. ah Also, when he's yelling bird, bird, bird, Danny says, there's a pattern to all this chirping. Yay! It's all the word. It's a word bird.
00:32:59
Speaker
yeah i got literal goosebumps, though, when Warlock was... um saying that he'd visit the Blackbird. Wishing the Blackbird well. He's like, you I'll visit you from time to time so you won't be lonely. I'm getting goosebumps now. He's so good. I love him so much.
00:33:19
Speaker
It's also... I want to take a moment to acknowledge Doug Ramsey and the just sense of awe and wonder he has about this. He's like, wow, two weeks ago I was at a school and then it turned out to be evil. And then you guys took me to space and now I'm here in Scotland with an alien.
00:33:38
Speaker
and love that little guy. And then right away he watches um multiple man split into two and he's like, whoa.
00:33:48
Speaker
I'm still so bummed out that Madrox is, there's there's these characters that Chris Claremont just doesn't see potential in. And it's always a bummer because there is potential in, like he did it to Iceman, like immediately was like, I hate this guy, he's gone. And we will never see him again.
00:34:09
Speaker
Same with Beast, right? We saw some Beast in Claremont, but he's clearly just like, I don't like that guy. I don't want him here. He doesn't like Beast? They gave him Jamie Madrox.
00:34:22
Speaker
And he's like, yeah, I'll put him on an island and we'll see him every 30 issues. Yeah, yeah. Once every three years or so. And we'll do a gag with him and then nothing else.
00:34:33
Speaker
And we know he has a bright future. Yeah. Jamie Madrox. Though, um when Peter David inherits him, he said in interviews, he was like, I don't want this guy.
00:34:46
Speaker
Huh. And it ended up being Peter David's favorite character. So maybe there's something about like, until you see Jamie in action, be in Jamie. Yeah.
00:34:57
Speaker
Maybe just the idea of a multiple man. You gotta try it to love it. Maybe we just think it's cool because we know what he becomes. But if we didn't, we would also be like, a multiple man. Are you kidding me? No, I can think of like a million cool things to do with that.
00:35:14
Speaker
I know. i know. I was just trying to. Back at the lab, Moira and Jamie Madrox show Xavier what's going on. Tom and Sharon are physically unharmed but completely comatose.
00:35:26
Speaker
They were attacked by another patient. That's been going around these days. ah Another patient whose mother is asking for help. Specifically, Gabrielle Haller.
00:35:42
Speaker
Whoa. Tell ah the listeners about her. ah Yeah. Gabrielle Haller was a Holocaust victim, Holocaust survivor who once rescued was in a catatonic state until x Xavier helped.
00:35:58
Speaker
And Magneto. And Magneto ah rescued her, helped sort of reshape her brain into back into a person who could live a somewhat normal life. Over the course of that, the two of them fell in love. Yeah.
00:36:14
Speaker
circumstances are questionable there because i one, he was fully inside her mind. And two, we were told she had the mind of a child when they started. And he was a doctor and she was her patient.
00:36:29
Speaker
as he was Yes. yeah Yeah. There's all sorts of ethical questions there. And unbeknownst to Charles x Xavier, ah they had a child together.
00:36:41
Speaker
And was, Is the ambassador to, like an ambassador to Israel. She's the ambassador to Israel for the UK. Okay, yes, yeah.
00:36:52
Speaker
Yeah. So she greets Xavier warmly and explains that her son David is the one that did this. Since he was 10, she explains, he's been fully withdrawn from reality and no doctor has been able to figure out why. She didn't want to and involve Xavier due to what she calls, quote, personal considerations.
00:37:12
Speaker
How fucking dense can you be, Xavier? I know. But now he's her last hope. He can sense she's hiding something, but with all he's put her through already, he doesn't dare violate her privacy by reading her thoughts.
00:37:27
Speaker
Up at Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy, Manuel Alfonso Rodrigo de la Rocha, a.k.a. Empath of the Hellions, reports to Emma's office to get a lecture and a small psychic boldest punishment for his deeds in a miniseries we haven't read yet.
00:37:41
Speaker
We'll get there. But this little fucker did need to be shown. Yeah. t so We've met him once before, and you can assume if he behaved the same way in another situation, he would deserve whatever's coming to him. He tries to dodge the punishment by convincing Emma she's actually in love with him, which she easily resists and taps him again for. In retaliation, she psychically removes his empathic abilities until she feels he's learned his lesson.
00:38:07
Speaker
damn good fuck that guy think he is to me the most maybe him and mastermind are the two most evil x the fucking creeps of creeps yeah yeah biggest creeps on earth back in the creep there is cream of the creep why not creep of the crop
00:38:29
Speaker
Back in Scotland, Danny, Rain, Duggan, Warlock check out the nearby town of Dox, only to run into Reverend Craig, also one of the cream of the creeps, demanding she demanding Rain leaves town and never return as a spawn of Satan.
00:38:49
Speaker
Danny's ready to fight, which I fucking wish would happen. yeah But Rain insists they just go. I do hope someday they fight him. Somebody hits him. ah Don't tell me if it happens or not, but I hope that someday there's a confrontation. And it doesn't have to be Rain, but somebody should sock him one.
00:39:07
Speaker
Yeah. Meanwhile, Xavier has entered the astral plane. But runs into a mental brick wall trying to connect with David. A face forms in the wall, that of that same boy that Tom and Sharon saw trying to communicate with him. But suddenly, fire shoots out of the face's eyes and mouth and blasts Xavier right back into his body and then blasts everyone out of the dang room.
00:39:32
Speaker
Whoa. David sits on his bed and cackles. Xavier concludes there's a portion of David's mind that's not actually him controlling him and his powers. couple of things about this. i Number one, we get the rare in issue mixed media art from Bill Sienkiewicz, where he has this brick wall, which Had to have been a pain to ink, but yeah, this was an era before a copy paste.
00:40:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. But then he uses pencil on top of that to show a face forming in the brick. It's really, it's really creative. And from here on out, the representation of psychic activity is all creative. It's something yeah that to this point we haven't seen in comics.
00:40:23
Speaker
Um, have very minor question. Sure. David laughs in a little girl's voice. Yeah. Now that we've heard it later, we, but we won't, we won't meet it an older girl, like a teenage girl.
00:40:40
Speaker
but Yeah. When I say little girl, I'm a 40 year old man. So, well, yeah, but me they say in this, yeah, they say in this comic that it is just the voice of a little girl. I think they just say a girl's voice.
00:40:52
Speaker
ti Do they? i don't know. You might be right. I don't know. yeah I might be embellishing. Either way, it's it's the same person. I remembered it as being a little girl also. but All right, we cut to the Bermuda Triangle yeah where Lee Forrester wakes up because Magneto is also having a power freak out in bed.
00:41:14
Speaker
it's Do you think the parallels here were intentional? i David Haller having a ah power freak out in his room and tossing everything about the room and then Magneto doing the same thing. It has to be right. okay it's It's a little sloppy if it is. Yes, very. Yes, very. The two have absolutely nothing to do with each other besides visually. Yeah.
00:41:39
Speaker
He's asleep screaming and sending all the metal stuff in his room flying around. His bed lifts off the floor and out the window, levitating 1000 feet in the air. 1000 feet. Okay.
00:41:50
Speaker
Worried he'll fall, jumps out the window onto the bed to wake him, which he does successfully, sending them both plummeting to the ground. Magneto's powers protect them and they start making out and eventually get down.
00:42:04
Speaker
Yeah, they do. Yeah. Back to Muir Island where ah Gabby tries to help Xavier relax and the two start reflecting on their lives. Xavier comes clean.
00:42:16
Speaker
you He feels he took advantage of her, intentionally or not, by falling in love with her after healing her mind. He had to deconstruct and reconstruct her mind, and after the process, she fell in love with him.
00:42:28
Speaker
He can change minds on a whim. How does she know he didn't plant that thought in her while he was fixing her? Finally, Xavier reckons with it. Yeah. And feels very good for a second.
00:42:41
Speaker
I think he he go he dives deep here, too. The root of the issue, thank God, is not that she had the mind of a child when they fell in love. This was after he her repaired her back to normal. Yeah, yeah. But at the same time, he was her doctor. She was in his care. And there's like ah there's a power dynamic there. But also...
00:43:07
Speaker
He's saying, i fell in love with you. i wanted you to love me. It's very possible that even if I didn't mean to, i yeah left these seeds in your mind that you love me so that we could move forward with it.
00:43:21
Speaker
And I i want to I want to suggest that that is also the problem with Dr. Patient relationships is sure. Even if you don't have psychic powers, you could do that to a person. Right.
00:43:34
Speaker
You could manipulate them in ways that you don't even realize, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Especially you like therapists and psychologists or psychiatrists. Right. Yeah.
00:43:47
Speaker
But so it feels a little better reading this. And then all of a sudden she retorts, yes, the same thoughts scared her at first, but she has no regrets about their time together. She doesn't know if he psychically manipulated her, but at this point she doesn't care. All she cares about it is her son making sure he's not hurting anyone.
00:44:04
Speaker
So there is a little bit here of Chris Claremont saying, yeah, but don't think about it and don't worry about it. She's she's cool with it. She's cool with it. She's happy about it. It's fine. Don't think about it. He yes, but he at least does give her agency about it. He says it's her decision. Like she's considered all this. She's well aware that it may have been manipulative. If it was at this point, it's been so life altering that there's no point for her to stay mad about it. Like, yeah.
00:44:34
Speaker
And and that's again,
00:44:39
Speaker
it's at the very least it's it's somewhat earned here ah right i just i think just casually tossed out i think there's something harmful about the the the sort of trope of like one person saying hey i abused my power in this my power in this dynamic here and the other person always saying hey i was there too I was, I, and I made that decision just as much as you did. i think there's something harmful about doing that. Yeah, yeah, there's ah there's some of that mixed in here too. Because I think that and then inspires people in the real world to say that. And I'm not saying that that's never the case in the real world.
00:45:20
Speaker
But if if they put that in the mouths of fictional characters and you go through something like that and you are traumatized, you might be thinking, well, I was there too, even if it's not true.
00:45:32
Speaker
Right. if they If the X-Men had a consistent record with... dealing with matters like this responsibly, we might be having a different conversation right now. I guess you're right. Yeah, you're right. This is sort of just par for the course. and we We do have to put it aside at some point because it's all we'll talk about.
00:45:54
Speaker
Meanwhile, Rain can't sleep and sneaks into Moira's lab for some reassurance that she's loved after running into Reverend Craig back on the mainland. But there's no time for that now, as Rain senses they're not alone.
00:46:05
Speaker
Suddenly, the same face appears to them, psychically speaking to them in Arabic. He's begging for help, but they can't understand. And then we see another massive explosion blowing out the wall of the lab to be continued. Whew.
00:46:23
Speaker
Before we roll on to the next issue, I just want to... This is a redo of Proteus, right?
00:46:30
Speaker
This is like... Sort of. i don't think we're as deep into themes of ah sexual assault.
00:46:41
Speaker
But, yes, this is the same concept. But my, my, okay. So I think the sexual assault themes in Proteus though happened because whoever was editor in chief at that time was like, Professor X can't be the dad to an illegitimate child, which it was that, that wasn't something that we imagined, right? That was, we had confirmation on that from an interview, didn't we?
00:47:11
Speaker
I'm pretty sure. Yeah. um So, Quickly, Chris Claremont thought up a different origin for Proteus. And it was like, oh, Moira was sexually assaulted by her husband.
00:47:24
Speaker
Yeah. um And then
00:47:29
Speaker
he does this story, which is like him doing Proteus again the way he originally wanted to. Oh, this is x Xavier's illegitimate child who has ah lost control of his powers. Right? Right.
00:47:44
Speaker
And instead of the sexual stuff, what I can do is toss in racial tension.
00:47:53
Speaker
ah umm Yeah, that's i guess i that's just what I imagined now that there's a different maybe editorial idea circulating at this moment than there was back then. He was like, well, let me try Proteus again and tell it the way I wanted to tell it.
00:48:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. This is definitely like We know for a fact that that was supposed to be the story of Proteus. It's i just an interesting thing. It's just an interesting thing to do.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yeah. And it's not the only time he does this, right? Kind of retells the story, but shifts the characters around a bit. I was giving Cyclops his happy ending with Madeline Pryor instead of with Jean Grey.
00:48:40
Speaker
Oh, right. He wanted to do... Right. That was supposed to be the ending of the Dark Phoenix saga. Yeah, yeah. And then he shifted it to Madeline Pryor and he was like, oh, it's a woman who looks exactly like Jean Grey. Yes. And was also manipulated by Mastermind. and yeah.
00:49:01
Speaker
Weird, wild stuff. Weird, wild stuff. We're getting further from ah from Johnny Carson. um All right. Matt, let's keep moving. I think it's time for us to read New Mutants number 27. Hey, Pat. yeah I'm having fun.
00:49:20
Speaker
Me too. I'm having fun this episode. OK, continue. Into the abyss. Chris Claremont, writer, Bill Sienkiewicz, artist, oars, letterer, Glynis, colorist, and no senti editor and jummy jummy ship ship editor in chief.
00:49:40
Speaker
Release date January 22nd, 1985. Cover date May 1985. Why do you say it like that? Because it's a big month and year Hold I'll look it up in Wikipedia. i'll Yeah, see see what you can find.
00:49:58
Speaker
The gang on Muir Island stand in the slagged ruins of Moira's lab, holding Moira and Rain. Both seem to be unconscious and their minds entirely without thought, similar to what happened to Tom and Sharon last issue.
00:50:11
Speaker
x Xavier determines that this must be the work of a powerful psychic and guesses that the psychic must be the catatonic David Holler. What?
00:50:23
Speaker
We knew that. Yeah, that was a way to catch up, I guess, Xavier. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of Xavier catching up to shit that we absolutely 100% know. Yeah, yeah.
00:50:36
Speaker
Danny also, i think we both went to take a note of this. Danny refers to David as the geek. and he His name is David. But what is that? Is that some sort of like...
00:50:48
Speaker
What did geek mean in 1985? Oh, he's a geek.
00:50:56
Speaker
I think it's just like a high school insult because she's she's a little bit of a bully. Yeah, as I'm looking it up, yeah, it's just, it is just like nerd. It's just kind of like socially. Way go dork.
00:51:08
Speaker
Yeah. Hey, hey, hey, Xavier, get a load of this dork. And she points to a catatonic man. no
00:51:19
Speaker
I Xavier wants to go back into David's psyche. And since rain is still in her transitional werewolf form, Danny offers to help using their psychic bond when yelling at David doesn't work.
00:51:33
Speaker
That is her first attempt. Wake up. She's like, I got an idea. Look, it Xavier back up. I'll handle this. Wake up, geek! yeah And then she says, well, that didn't work. I love Danny. I love these new mutants. Yeah. ah When that doesn't work, the two ascend to the astral plane where a fake wolfsbane attacks them, bursting into flames. huh In the real world, Doug Ramsey, Warlock, and Gabriel Haller see Danny and Xavier burst into flames, but their bodies don't seem to be damaged.
00:52:08
Speaker
The flame spreads to Doug and Gabby and x Xavier catches their astral forms as they are also pulled into David's mind. While Xavier pounds against David's psychic walls, he seems to discover some strange things.
00:52:23
Speaker
First, David seemed to undergo some severe pain and trauma as a child. Two, David is Charles's son. wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait wait wait wait wait You're telling me the woman i used to sleep with had a baby less than a year later.
00:52:50
Speaker
And then she hid that baby from me for his whole life. And he looks exactly like me. As other people keep pointing out. yeah isgra I don't see the resemblance. And his middle name is Charles. Charles.
00:53:06
Speaker
And he's a powerful psychic. And you're telling me this kid is my son?
00:53:14
Speaker
It rocks him a little bit. So weird. yeah God, what a... He's the geek. ah And then fight Professor x Xavier is a geek.
00:53:30
Speaker
Shirts available from... And then finally, three, David's mind is inhabited by three other personalities who together call themselves Legion. ghost of Christmas past. The ghost of Christmas present. No. We'll meet those personalities. When Doug, Gabby, and Danny all catch fire in front of Warlock, Warlock goes, Alarm! It's so good when magical or psychic stuff happen around him, and he's just like, What's happening? How could this be happening? This is crazy.
00:54:12
Speaker
Jamie, immediately Jamie Badrocks runs in and goes, we're like, what happened? The poor guy's like, I don't know, man. They caught fire. They were on fire now. They're all asleep. I didn't do this.
00:54:31
Speaker
um Another fun thing of ah that ah section is when they transport into the astral plane, yeah Danny, ever horny, which is one of the things i love about Danny. She's like, what? They transform there and they're totally naked and they're their psychic forms. And she's like, whoa, Xavier, you look f freaking hot. yeah and she and And she looks down at herself and she's like, well, I'm freaking hot. I look hot. Xavier's like,
00:55:02
Speaker
these are our astral projections these are our ideal these are the idealized forms of how we want to see ourselves it's like Xavier imagines himself to be super hot all the time yeah yeah it's it becomes funny that everybody is there's nobody here with low self-esteem everybody's like when I look in the mirror I'm fucking I'm so fucking hot good for them yeah yeah I got enough going on laughing The astral gang end up falling into a giant mishmash city of Paris and Beirut, warped and ruined with a giant black dome in the center.
00:55:40
Speaker
The place seems to be in the middle of some kind of war. Professor X psychically locates Danny, Gabby, and Doug holed up in a bunker in the middle of a battlefield while he finds Rain and Moira fleeing through a city being chased by a sentient robotic tank.
00:55:55
Speaker
We got psychic robots, Matt. Psychic robo tanks. Yes. Yes. So good. This is all. This is his mind. This is his brain. Some real good Sienkiewicz art here, too. God damn. It's so smart and cool.
00:56:11
Speaker
this is This is peak. This is maybe, yeah, some of the the best, artisanally, some of the best comics we've read. Yeah, yeah. He's having a blast. These characters are incredible. This story, even even if some of the subtext is a little fucked up, this story is great, and this art is unbelievable. Yeah, yeah.
00:56:34
Speaker
Rain outmaneuvers the tank, causing a wall to collapse on it. Xavier can't find Tom and Sharon and worries about what he should do next when Danny assures them that her team should be able to find Moira and Rain.
00:56:47
Speaker
x Xavier should locate Tom and Sharon and try to help David. just I just want to make it clear for everybody, just just so we all are, because this is a little hard to follow because it's all psychic stuff and ah in the psychically in the mind of a person who is...
00:57:04
Speaker
Lost all touch with reality. They are they are in David's mind. David's mind is this fractured hellscape divided by the experiences or imagined experiences of all these personalities that we have yet to meet.
00:57:20
Speaker
So it's these we it is literally two cities that have crashed into each other end a war rages all throughout. And there's like imagined people running through the streets away from these terrible robots and tanks and stuff. Right. And we know one of the things in his head is that Middle Eastern boy that they keep calling the Arab. Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:46
Speaker
I refer to him as Middle Eastern throughout this um recap, ah but the comic consistently refers to him as Arab. but Yeah, but generally he's a Southwest Asian boy. Yes.
00:57:58
Speaker
Yeah. Xavier reluctantly agrees. He doesn't want the teams to split up, but what choice does he have? Right, right. And they they he mostly agrees because Dany still has her psychic bond with Rainn.
00:58:14
Speaker
Right. And soon finds himself chasing one of David's internal personalities, a young Middle Eastern boy running from an attacking helicopter. The plane catches Xavier in the shoulder with a bullet.
00:58:27
Speaker
Yeah. And he wonders if the hostile personality in David's psyche might be the boy. No time for that now, though, as a wall of debris begins to fall, almost crushing x Xavier before it stops in midair. hu He turns to see an affable Tom Selleck-esque adventurer waving to him and surrounded in telekinetic energy.
00:58:46
Speaker
Howdy, Prof, he says. I'm Jack Wayne. Jack Wayne is here! Do you like my voice for him? Howdy, Prof. Howdy, Prof. Howdy, Prof. He's the look at dna so the DNA strand in ah Jurassic Park.
00:59:00
Speaker
Well, howdy, Prof. I'm Jack Wayne. ah Jack uses his telekinesis to ground the chopper in a way that the crew won't be hurt. And he helps x Xavier to his feet. The crew is imaginary. What is yeah like Xavier is an absolute fucking idiot in these issues. Like, oh my God, this is the most transparent way to be like, hey there, partner. I'm the good guy. um
00:59:31
Speaker
I immediately didn't trust him because as soon as they meet, they're like, x Xavier sees this man and forgets about all his worries. And the reasoning for that is like, he just learned that this boy is his son. And then he sees like a roguish adventurer, which is the man he always wanted to be.
00:59:52
Speaker
ah But this one has hair. And yeah, And now he sees that his son or he he sees this the image of the man he wanted to be in his son's head. And he's like, oh, my God, my son, even though I didn't know him, aspires to the same things like I wish I could have been in his life. He's doing all this because starts rushing into his head.
01:00:15
Speaker
That's a really good point. And also, um this is the sort of thing that our listeners often email us about. And they're like, you have to understand at the time.
01:00:26
Speaker
and When I was a kid, I didn't see that Jack Wayne was a bad guy. I also believed it. This was before the every this is textual. Every other character in this story looks at Jack Wayne and says, i don't like this guy.
01:00:38
Speaker
Xavier is the only person who meets Jack Wayne and trusts him. So like this is it's this is this is Not only obvious to us as readers, but this in the next issue and a half becomes textual.
01:00:52
Speaker
Yeah. and And immediately what's textual right now is that he trusts him implicitly without the usual a scan that he would do. Right, right.
01:01:03
Speaker
Jack tells Xavier that all this war is the result of the Middle Eastern boy and the big black dome is a prison in which the boy is keeping David's true personality defended by all the robots and guns and tanks and stuff.
01:01:19
Speaker
The boy is a psychic and uses his powers to manipulate David, causing him to bring his nightmare ideas to life. Jack convinces Xavier to help in the fight to free David's true personality, even though it'll ultimately mean Jack's death.
01:01:34
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I'm so I'm so selfless. I'm going to sacrifice myself to save you. Can you believe it? why Can you believe it, a Xavier? Let me get you into a savior today.
01:01:49
Speaker
Elsewhere, Danny and Gabby and Doug flee from gunfire until they spot the Middle Eastern boy in the distance. He waves and per Doug's translation tells them he comes in peace.
01:01:59
Speaker
But Gabby lashes out. She recognizes the boy. He was a terrorist who murdered David's godfather and tried to kill David. Damn it. No time for that now, though, as more gunfire separates from them from the boy.
01:02:13
Speaker
Gabby. Yeah, she is ready to ready to kill this child. I do. I do want to say so at this point, we know we shouldn't trust.
01:02:26
Speaker
Jack, but we don't know that we can trust the boy. Exactly. This is the first time he said anything. Well, this is the first time he said anything that suggests like.
01:02:38
Speaker
No, that's not true because last issue he was asking for help. It's just nobody understood he was asking for help. The only reason they know that David is the source of all this stuff is because the boy forced his way out into reality to warn them all.
01:02:54
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, yeah. The other neat thing here is Doug is finally dropping his sense of awe and wonder because his life is in real danger. and And he keeps getting down on himself. He's like, why am I even here? Like, my power is stupid. And then it's what allows this boy to to communicate with them because he just naturally understands the Arabic.
01:03:21
Speaker
And Danny's like, oh, so you're so your power's stupid, huh? Aw. Danny's great. It's cute. She's great. I love our new mutants episodes because it's just me and you back and forth being like sunspot's great. Danny's great. Cannonball's great. four looks straight Adorable.
01:03:47
Speaker
Cut to Moira and rain running in a crowd of folks all being slaughtered by the warplanes. Moira notes that the that the parents are trying to shield themselves with their children, but the bullets keep hitting the parents instead. This real weird.
01:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, what's the... I don't know what the commentary is supposed to mean here. This is just fine to a girl they find sitting in front of them, eating an apple and wearing a big red headband. She says her name is Cindy, and they soon find out that she's one of David's three extra personalities with the power to make things explode or catch fire.
01:04:23
Speaker
yeah which she does moments later to help Danny and Doug who are trapped in the Eiffel tower being chased by weird goons made of barbed wire. Once they've exploded, the two groups reunite and begin to share information.
01:04:37
Speaker
They, uh, this is very smart. They form a choke point in the Eiffel tower so that they can just like take on these weird barbed wire monsters one at a time. Right. Right.
01:04:49
Speaker
Also, I think this is just an artistic choice, but all of the all of the barbed wire monsters are wearing like World War One style German helmets. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Helmets with like the spikes coming out the top.
01:05:03
Speaker
Right. Wild. Danny and Doug, they're fighting by throwing I-beams at them. Like not Cyclops I-beams, but like steel, steel beams.
01:05:15
Speaker
Apparently, years ago, Gabby and David were in Paris when David was caught in a terrorist attack. David was the only survivor, and Moira suggests that, as a powerful psychic, David may have absorbed the leader, a young Middle Eastern boy's psyche, as he died.
01:05:32
Speaker
In addition, his trauma created two additional personalities, Cindy and Jack, and if they free David, those two may disappear forever. Cindy tells them that Jack has been trying forever to breach the dome and that he and the Middle Eastern boy hate each other deeply.
01:05:49
Speaker
See another clue, right? It's just we have a third party come in and immediately she's like, oh, yeah, those two really hate each other. Not like this is a bad guy and Jack is always trying to help. It's like these two. Yeah, yeah.
01:06:02
Speaker
Yeah. And she's like, I don't like either of them. Right. Yeah. Though she doesn't avail herself of our trust very easily either. She's like, yeah, I want everyone to die. ah Cut to Jack and Xavier. Jack tells him that this is a fight between people with David's best interests at heart and the Middle Eastern boy who loves this world and wants it to stay exactly as it is, violent and war torn with David imprisoned and under his control.
01:06:33
Speaker
In the terrorist attack in Paris, the boy shot down David's godfather, Dan Shamron, a friend of x Xavier's. With all this and some more cajoling, Xavier agrees to join the fight and kill the Middle Eastern boy, taking a knife as a symbol of the decision.
01:06:50
Speaker
It is a crazy that's the end. It's the crazy last panel of Xavier, like half in silhouette, holding a knife, being like, I'm going to fucking kill this kid.
01:07:00
Speaker
Xavier. Damn it. So there's I think there's this is our most problematic and i i don't issue of the run. And I don't want to make it seem like it's unenjoyable because they're doing some extremely cool things here. But like you said before, they they keep referring to this boy as the Arab, which the referring to someone as Arab is... ah
01:07:31
Speaker
a classification that's not a slur, but if you can't refer to them as a person, if you're only referring to them by their race, it is racist.
01:07:44
Speaker
Like just objectively, that's, that's a dehumanizing thing to do. They, uh, They all do it. They pick it up from Jack, who, yeah, we know that he's not a trustworthy guy. And yes yeah, very much he's he is the one leading the charge. But they all pick it up. They all use this term to refer to him. Nobody's like the Arab boy, which would make it a modicum better, you know? Right, right. And then and nobody asks his name. Not one person is like, okay, so sorry, what's this kid's name? Exactly. Yeah.
01:08:20
Speaker
And then even over the course of the like at this point, you could also say, okay so it's the new mutants are a little racist. It's the 80s and not everybody has very positive feelings towards this part of the world. Right. i But then.
01:08:40
Speaker
They make this boy a terrorist. Yeah, he is. yeah To my recollection, the only like Southwest Asian, North African person we've seen outside of Storm, who's from Egypt.
01:08:55
Speaker
Yeah. has She's also from every single yeah place in the world that black people are from. So why the the first appearance of somebody specifically like an Arab person and...
01:09:10
Speaker
They were terrorists. Yes. It's fucked up. And then we're working. Sorry, I'll i'll end my rant in a second. No, please. We're working towards, obviously...
01:09:22
Speaker
this boy being revealed as not as harmful as everybody thinks. Right. But this point. But what Dan are you doing in the meantime? Right. Yeah. is If you read this issue, if you pick up just this issue, you're walking away from it saying like, geez, I guess we don't like ah Middle Eastern people in this comic. Right. Right. Right. It's really troublesome. Right, if you were a person from the Middle East reading, if a kid from the Middle East reading this comic, you would feel unwelcome.
01:09:55
Speaker
Right. And they repair some of the damage in this next issue, but it's still like, we can do better than this. it's very much like, the way that it is handled is a lot like... and It's funny that this comparison is jumping into my head because of what another issue that we'll cover later in the thing. But it's very much like the Metroid reveal where it's like, and guess what?
01:10:18
Speaker
She it was a girl the whole time. Like as if you wouldn't expect a woman to be the hero. That's kind of what's being leaned into here with, you know, like.
01:10:32
Speaker
And guess what? The Arab wasn't actually bad. like yeah. yeah okay Okay, so you're playing on the fact that I should have assumed. Right, exactly. exactly Yes.
01:10:45
Speaker
ah So, anyway. One other thing, please. So we set up ah matrix rules here, right? Anything that happens to you inside of David's mind will also happen to you in real life.
01:11:01
Speaker
Okay. ah It's said a hundred times through these issues. Like if he kills you in here, you die in real life. I, and this is just personal, hate that so much. I hate it in the Matrix. hate it here. If you were in simulation of real life, why would the human brain is so powerful that if you get shot in somebody's psychic realm, it will generate a bullet. Your real body will have a bullet hole in it. insane. Yeah, it's really dumb. I'm going stop talking about it, but I have to throw it out there. If they just said you will go into shock and it is possible you will go into a coma or have cardiac arrest. Yeah, that might work. But the fact that it's like, yeah, oh, my leg broke because I think my leg is broken is the most insane thing in the world.
01:12:04
Speaker
All right. Okay. New Mutants number 28, Patrick. It's called Soul War. Back to these... Soul War. That's one word. Back to these one word. Compound word bullshit titles again. Chris Claremont is the writer, obviously. Bill Sienkiewicz is the artist. Glynis Oliver is the colorist. Tom Morsekowski is the letterer. Ann Nusenti is the editor.
01:12:28
Speaker
and Jork Shorkles is the editor-in-chief. Release date, February 26th, 1985. Cover date, June 1985. All right.
01:12:41
Speaker
Strap in. You strapped in? For the conclusion? For the exciting conclusion? I'm strapped. Xavier and Jack Wayne scale the vertical face of the mountain, reminding us that if they fall, they will die in real life. The higher they go, the further the dome appears to be as they get closer and closer to the Arab's power.
01:13:03
Speaker
Yeah, so again, they just keep calling him the Arab... ah Again, not a slur, but me and Pat both decided to represent it in different ways.
01:13:15
Speaker
ah Pat used the words in the comic, which is the Arab. used the word Middle Eastern because i just I know middle Arab's not a slur, but I remember the fucking post 9-11 era.
01:13:26
Speaker
where everyone would sing like Arab with like a like Arab. Exactly. With like a yeah fucking tone in their voice. But it's just a boy from the Middle East.
01:13:37
Speaker
Yeah. in you So we're in this recap that Matt's reading, Anytime we refer to him as the Arab, it is in extremely heavy quotes Yes, yes, yes, yes. All right. So they're getting closer to the Arabs power. Hope isn't lost, though, as the new mutants arrive with Moira, Gabby and Cindy in tow.
01:14:00
Speaker
Cindy doesn't seem to like Jack and reminds him that the Arab has a name. Thank you, Cindy. Jesus Christ. Somebody finally says it. Cindy's our woke queen.
01:14:13
Speaker
Cindy's the other personality. Yes. The fire, the fiery one that makes that's fire. The fire, the fire girl, fire girl, fire star. Our fire star. Our fire star. He couldn't get the rights to fire star.
01:14:27
Speaker
He had him and Cindy. All right. Anyway, the journey up the mountain is tough. They keep coming under attack by robot jets and elemental forces.
01:14:39
Speaker
Cindy gets annoyed with everyone but Doug. We'll talk about this. ah Danny and Rain start to notice little things about Jack they don't like, like an increasing brashness or a rancid psychic smell.
01:14:51
Speaker
Good yes instincts, guys! Guess who noticed the smell?
01:15:00
Speaker
I love rain so much. And she's just like, I did not trust him. i did not. Yeah. Smell. Every fucking kid is like, Hey, ah Jack's a bad guy. And Xavier's like, this guy kind of sucks. and Xavier's like, I'll help you kill a child.
01:15:20
Speaker
um And fucking Jack calls Danny. Hi, a lot. Yeah. Oh, is that a is that like an obscure racial insult? No, it is a... He's that kind of racist. It is a ah an Onondaga chief, a leader of the Onondaga people, um the Mohawk people, or both.
01:15:44
Speaker
um He was ah the co-founder of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. This is a pre-colonial Native American leader.
01:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Okay. but um i But not a leader of any tribe that Dany comes from. Not even close, no. um ah From like the 14th century.
01:16:09
Speaker
No, he's pretty obscure. 12th century. I don't know. I've known the name Hiawatha most of my life, but I don't know where I learned it. So it could be could be obscure, could be not. I don't either. I stumbled on something obscure as a kid or you missed something in a class. used to yeah Right. One of the two. Who knows?
01:16:31
Speaker
We check back in on the mysterious island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle where Lee is wondering if she has made a mistake having sex with Magneto. Michael's had sex with world-renowned supervillain and the enemy of the only man I've ever loved. They tried to kill the only man i ah the only other man I've ever loved his entire childhood.
01:16:57
Speaker
um just was this a mistake? He actually hates humans and probably hates her. And they're stuck on this island together and she should have just let him drown. And a table with a cute little breakfast spread and a single rose lowers itself down in front of her.
01:17:15
Speaker
Followed by Magneto with some charming words. We know he's a charmer. He, yeah, he did it to Wasp. The man's got the juice. Yeah. Yeah. But Lee, spiraling out, begs him to stay away. she sees He sees the fear in her eyes and recalls seeing the same fear in Magda, Magda, his former wife, after he used his powers to save her life.
01:17:38
Speaker
He fled then, but he doesn't want to now, begging Lee to stay and help him become a better man. She does not take his hand. Which is a little fair. I mean, he she tries to get away from him and he freezes her in midair.
01:17:53
Speaker
And she's like, hey, you know, the way you just stopped me from leaving. How do I know you didn't cause me to do other things that I didn't want to do?
01:18:05
Speaker
And yeah, and he's like, uh, my word. Yeah. He doesn't say like, oh, I, oh, sorry. I can't control people's minds. He just, he's like, he's like, uh, trust me.
01:18:17
Speaker
Yeah. I'd hope you would trust me. i I totally, yes, that's justified, but I think he's justified in being like, here's a nice breakfast. Right.
01:18:28
Speaker
Just a couple of confused lovebirds on Lovecraftian island in the Bermuda Triangle.
01:18:40
Speaker
Back on the Mind Mountain, the elements are becoming too much to bear, so Xavier and Danny take action. Also, ah does does it bug you that Leigh Forrester is just kind of like... Her role in the Marvel Universe is just...
01:18:55
Speaker
Hot girl who exists to fix broken men. broken Broken X-Men. ah Yeah, it's it it sure does. With her powerful with her powerful healing vagina.
01:19:10
Speaker
All right. Anyway, back in the brain, using their combined psychic powers, they find Jamel Karami. Fucking finally a name. That's the boy. Yeah.
01:19:21
Speaker
They find Jamail Karami at the top of the mountain and zap him real good. he screams out in pain and suddenly the mountain starts shaking violently. The gang is thrown off but find that the mountain has shrunk back down and they only actually fell a few feet.
01:19:36
Speaker
The dome is at ground level now. Xavier walks in without hesitation. because Doug Ramsey being a fucking nerd. he's like He's like, hey, I remember a Star Trek episode where everyone was getting shot at by guns or everyone was shooting their guns and they were like, why aren't our guns working? But it turns out that there were there were telepaths making them think their guns weren't working, but their guns were actually working the whole time. And Xavier's like, huh. And then walks into the dome. And just, yeah. While Jack is like, the fuck are you talking about, kid? Xavier's like, no, he's got a point.
Psychic Escape Adventure
01:20:13
Speaker
He's got a point. I saw that same episode. We're both, look, Jack, we're both big nerds.
01:20:19
Speaker
We're both big Trekkies.
01:20:23
Speaker
Also, a really neat trick here, because we're in a psychic escape, they've been climbing a mountain for hours at great effort. But as soon as they shake Jamel's psychic power. Okay.
01:20:37
Speaker
The mountain's just gone. Like, they start falling, but then they were actually only a few feet up in the air because it's all conceptual. And the dome is just back on the ground now. Just a really neat, like, there's no way toway to draw that cleanly. it's a very cool explanation that we get for...
01:20:54
Speaker
for the whole thing yeah absolutely uh he finds himself in a blank space surrounded by floating crystal tiles xavier does each one representing a thought or a memory that chain together to form emotions and logic but this mind has far fewer crystals and chains than the average mind many of the tiles are broken and what's more it looks like some of them have been repaired Jack insists the damage is the work of the quote the Arab but x Xavier wonders why he would also go to the trouble of repairing them Xavier you're so fucking how close do we have to lead you oh my god you dumb bastard also Cindy continues to hit on Doug Ramsey she really and listen
01:21:42
Speaker
She's laying it on thick here. This is Doug Ramsey's idealized version of himself, which is also super jacked. And does this mean funny to see a super strong Doug Ramsey? This also implies, right, that David is a little into Doug Ramsey.
01:22:03
Speaker
I think so. Yeah. Yeah. At least the his psychic energy. Suddenly, a swirl of crystals comes hurtling at them all with Jamail at the center. Everyone is hurt save Jack who creates a force field just for himself, but especially Cindy who's never felt pain before.
01:22:22
Speaker
ah What? What is this? Doug runs to help her despite suffering some deep wounds himself. Gabby, meanwhile, is face to face with a memory she's only imagined in grief before terrorists entering David's apartment when he was a child and gunning down his godfather, Daniel, before David's latent power surfaced and killed all the attackers.
01:22:46
Speaker
In that moment, just before killing them, we learn that he had actually entered each of their minds and felt their deaths as they happened, the last being Jamal, who was a sweet boy, forced into this violence.
01:22:58
Speaker
He preserved Jamail's consciousness in his own out of sympathy, breaking David's mind.
01:23:06
Speaker
Huh? Pretty intense. Yeah. Gabby, enraged by this, tackles Jamail and starts beating him to death, calling him an animal.
01:23:18
Speaker
While Jack cheers her on. Charles stops her though. Nobody kills, nobody dies. A wave of crystals strike him in the back though, leaving no one between Jack and Jamail. Jack, brandishing his knife, approaches Jamail's beaten body.
01:23:32
Speaker
ah One more interlude. ah We see Manuel Alfonso Rodrigo de la Roca enter the doors of the Hellfire Club looking for revenge against Sunspot, Magma, and Emma, and Xavier, too, I guess. he knows they He knows that this person in the Hellfire Club represents the gladiators and thought they'd make solid potential combatants.
01:23:52
Speaker
They'll consider it. Hmm. Fucking anyway. Back in David Holler's mind, meanwhile, Jack Wayne prepares to bring his knife down on Jamal, but he's tackled by Doug freaking Ramsey. Go Doug. Jack sends Doug flying with a psychic blast, but Danny's been waiting for this moment and brings Jack's fears to life.
01:24:10
Speaker
The image of Xavier helping a child-aged Daniel. Jack. He's not on the side of the good guys at all. The side of this sends him crying off into the shadows.
01:24:26
Speaker
day Right before she reveals the image to him goes surprise white eyes. Nice. Let's get him to start using that. But problem not solved. They're also trapped here in David's mind and that Xavier is unconscious.
01:24:42
Speaker
Danny has a plan. She's not powerful enough to teleport them back to real life. Jamail just might be. She connects with him psychically and they chat. Thanks to Doug's consciousness in here, he can now speak English.
01:24:56
Speaker
Again, Doug Ramsey. Fucking Doug, MVP. Making it happen. Jamail, it turns out, was reborn when David absorbed him and was forced to rewatch memories of himself committing violent acts. Unable to forgive himself, he felt the best he could do was start trying to repair the fragments of David's broken mind. but some of the fragments have formed their own consciousnesses like Jack and Cindy, and some of them have been particularly hostile to being returned to a single consciousness like Jack and Cindy.
01:25:28
Speaker
Danny returns to the team with a proposition. Since Jack and Jamel hate each other so much, they can work together to send everyone else back to the real world, distrusting each other enough not to do anything to screw the other over.
01:25:41
Speaker
I don't, follow it but whatever sure it's it's one of those like oh if you guys both hate each other it's like a mutually assured destruction thing which Danny assumes will work yeah I mean Jack could just turn around and kill jim like I just don't understand why it works it's like he could I think it's ah honestly I think this is Danny's naivety because of the the way that this ends up playing out
01:26:12
Speaker
And we all we also have to remember, these are on the mind of ah of a basically a child. So, yeah you know, they are immature as well. They probably also don't. they They probably assume that if Danny says this makes sense, they're like, I guess it makes sense. I guess I can't.
01:26:29
Speaker
i guess i'm I guess I'm stuck. I can't do anything. Jack agrees to this a little too happily. Yeah, he's like, sure thing. Sure thing.
01:26:42
Speaker
Everyone wakes back up in the real world. The last one being Charles, who is apparently out for nearly two weeks. Save the one time he woke up screaming uncontrollably in the middle of the night. Wonder what that's about. Huh?
01:26:55
Speaker
Probably something cool. Moira explains how they got out and Xavier gives a sincere his sincere gratitude and admiration to Danny. Danny has just been fucking kicking ass lately. Yeah, she's crushing it.
01:27:08
Speaker
The good news keeps coming as Xavier enters David's room to discover he can talk again. The conversation starts out awkwardly as Gabby introduces Charles to David as his father.
01:27:20
Speaker
But it soon turns uncomfortable for everyone when he starts speaking in Jack Wayne's voice. No. He then starts speaking in Cindy's voice. And then he starts speaking in Jamail's voice. All three personalities are still alive inside David. Jamail was not able to eradicate Jack or Cindy's personalities.
01:27:43
Speaker
Because... It's unclear to me whether they followed Danny's plan exactly or not, but it's it's either Jack betrayed Jamail or Jack knew that... Jack saw a hole in Danny's plan and knew that if we do this, me and Cindy are perfectly fine. The three of them would still... yeah. Yeah, and Jamail can't do anything to stop me. Anyway, David finally takes back over, and he and Charles share a warm embrace.
01:28:14
Speaker
No. Xavier's like, I won't ever leave you. and out You have my word. I'll never leave you again. Do you think? No, he's going back to Westchester that night. Yeah. Oh, and I bet he'll never go out, ah taken off into space with his space girlfriend ever again and leave ah David all alone.
01:28:30
Speaker
Well, sure. I doubt that'll happen. Yeah, that wouldn't make sense, right? he He just promised he wouldn't then abandon David and not see him again for fucking 100 issues or something. That would never happen. No.
01:28:44
Speaker
Anyway, epilogue. Xavier walks along the beach with Gabby, noting that David seems much better, but will still need a lot of help, and Xavier will continue to try. Secretly, though, he's filled with dread about the reason he woke up screaming in the middle of the night during his coma.
Portrayal of Middle Eastern Characters
01:29:00
Speaker
Secret Wars 2 is coming. Secret Wars 2 is coming. The end. The end. God, how seeing the name The Beyonder, how how much of a fucking bummer is that?
01:29:16
Speaker
I was mad. I was mad at you, Matt, for not warning me it was coming this soon. It's all in our spreadsheet. No, it's not. You specifically marked issues where Secret Wars 2 comes up and you did not mark this one. Oh, yeah. I didn't remember. So this is warning us about Secret Wars 2 coming up. There's, man, it sucks.
01:29:44
Speaker
We've got two fun ones from fun fucking weird issues for you next. But this was the Legion arc. How do you feel? It was really good. Yeah.
01:29:58
Speaker
Obviously some racial insensitivities here, but I think ultimately what chris claremont was trying to do was like calm some of the heat people in the southwest asia north africa region and israel because she puts an araboy in here and says like hey This guy was a terrorist, but it was just the circumstances of his birth. Like, this is actually a sweet man who, once realizing the errors of his ways, is working diligently to repair things. Right. It's not... It's still Mr. Right. There are plenty of people...
01:30:48
Speaker
you aid in the middle east that just aren't terrorists and again it doesn't have to be the first yeah west asian man to show up in x-men is automatically a terrorist but at the same time he's taking an israeli ambassador and holocaust survivor and saying like hey ye i know you don't like this guy but he's not an animal he's a real person and we should treat him with some respect it's a little It's a little gormless, right, as far as a comment on the Middle East, but it's still like...
01:31:26
Speaker
it's It's Claremont, right? He's trying. He's not... He yeah he doesn't... For a yeah guy with a political sciences degree, he really has a very... I'm just going to say it again, gormless grasp on fucking international relations and politics it's yeah in general. But... But... Gormless is such a good word.
Bill Sienkiewicz's Art Style
01:31:49
Speaker
No, he's he is trying to say something here. clunkily for sure but he's its it is a time where like and we've talked about this before maybe people do need a clunky smack you over the head message at a time like this where people were just kind of dismissing the Middle East as a bunch of savages always fighting each other And if you think of this, this is the the comic with the kids in it. So this might be being read by kids. so you know, maybe there is this idea of like, oh, that little boy could be me. And maybe that's impactful.
01:32:26
Speaker
Yeah. To a frigging idiot. No.
01:32:31
Speaker
Just kidding. A child, you mean? Children are so dumb. do you ever notice this? Can't even drive a car.
01:32:44
Speaker
Also, cannot say enough about Bill Sienkiewicz's art. Oh, right. this is it it This is its peak. Yeah, really transcendent stuff. And he is so good at bouncing between real and abstract, being able to like...
01:33:06
Speaker
see the reality of the world and have these crazy abstract concepts taking place at the same time, sort of bending reality. Being able to put him in a mindscape is such a smart way to let him just go absolutely nuts. And he delivers here.
01:33:26
Speaker
Also, i know I've been saying this a lot, but his depiction of the human body is brilliant like this almost minimalistic effort in drawing muscles you feel like it's something that he does in 10 seconds like it's it's it's one of those things where like you see picasso's early work right and it was flawless he was drawing like photorealistic things and then said i've had enough of this i'm moving like to be an abstract artist you have to understand
01:34:01
Speaker
more grounded art first. And the more you master it, the better, ah a the better your abstract art will be. And that is singing here.
01:34:12
Speaker
Yeah. um It's a shame. We are, we're coming close to the end of his run. no. No. no
01:34:25
Speaker
Matt, I don't. I can't. Don't. Matt, don't. right yeah I
01:34:43
Speaker
What the fuck? The episode is not... Are we at the end of episode? No, we aren't. It seems like our editor, Terrell... terol thought that we maybe just needed a little palate cleanser here.
01:34:56
Speaker
Yeah. She must've noted how intense the first half of this was and said, why don't we even though you're two hours into recording already, we've still got half an episode left. Why don't we put a little palate cleanser in here? Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Terrell.
01:35:14
Speaker
Okay.
Spider-Man and Cannonball's New York Adventure
01:35:15
Speaker
So Matt, I'll tell you what, I'll bring you a bonus Pat Steals and Deals in the middle of this episode. Okay. For Texas rattlesnake eggs. wow Wait until you see them hatch. You won't believe your eyes. Guaranteed to frighten anyone.
01:35:33
Speaker
way. Great scaring your friends, teachers, and et cetera. Okay, so they're not real. They're not real. I found another ad for the same company that that was much more clear about these being prank rattlesnake eggs. Okay.
01:35:49
Speaker
But $2. two dollars $2 to make someone think there were rattlesnake eggs hatching on their living room table or whatever. are they like and Are they that thing where you just put them in water and a foam thing comes out?
01:36:04
Speaker
No photo, but I imagine, yes. It's like a growing sponge sort of situation. So $2, how much is that in today's money? $2 in today's money would come out to about...
01:36:17
Speaker
I would say 650, 630 to 650. All right. And can you promise me that if I pull this prank on my best friends, they will all think that these are real rattlesnakes?
01:36:28
Speaker
Yeah, Matt. Guaranteed to frighten anyone, it says. ah So, okay. So if I'm like being mugged, If I'm walking around the streets and a guy pulls a gun on me and he's like, hey, give me all your money. And I'm like, I don't have money, but I have these. And I'm like, snake eggs. He's like, ah he runs away. and sees them start out. You got to drip some water on him. Hold on.
01:36:56
Speaker
All right. i Sold. i'm ready. I'm ready to buy these things and move on to the next part of the episode. Got an eye out, stuff that could buy out If you had time machine that you would like to try out It can feel, feel All right, folks, thank you so much for listening today. Nope, nope, nope, nope, we have two issues left. Thanks. This was a palate cleanser. This is just a palate cleanser. Pat.
01:37:25
Speaker
Yeah. I want you to read me a to a story. A story about some sort of incandescent man Oh, Matt, I've got the perfect one right here. It's Marvel team up number 149, The Incandescent Man. Okay, yes.
01:37:43
Speaker
Written, Matt, by Louise Simonson. Oh, yes, she's here. Longtime New Mutants editor is now writing.
01:37:57
Speaker
who Who gave her the right? i'm Yeah, I'm so glad she is, dude. This is so much fun. This is so good. I i don't i think these next two issues, these two Marvel team-ups, they sign a check.
01:38:11
Speaker
with Louise Simonson's name that she's not quite going to cash in her new run, but fucking man, they're so good. These are good. I'm excited. These are great. This seems to be the perfect place for her to, uh, just to start her writing career.
01:38:28
Speaker
Well, I think she was doing power pack by this point, but like also, but like, yeah just like, let her do something silly and have fun. This rule. Exactly. Give her no continuity. Take all the continuity away from her and just let her play.
01:38:44
Speaker
So Louise Simonson writer, Brett Blevins penciler, Mike Esposito, anchor Janice Chiang, letterer, George Roussos, colorist, Danny Fingeroth editor.
01:38:55
Speaker
He was um he he is, I guess, fresh off of Dazzler. Right. I think Peter David might be writing Dazzler now and he is. Oh, yeah. OK, I believe you.
01:39:09
Speaker
i And then Gummy Guter, editor in chief. Released date October 16th, 1984. Cover date January 1985. As the Staten Island ferry pulls into Manhattan, the passengers notice a body floating face down in the river in front them.
01:39:26
Speaker
Couple of things already. Number one, the couple is clearly Louise and Walt Simonson. Yeah, yeah, it looks exactly like them.
01:39:37
Speaker
Which is just cute, because Louise is writing this, and the artist was like, I'm going to put your face in here. What can you do about it? And she's like, well, no, that's Sue and Steve.
01:39:50
Speaker
But then they're on a Staten Island ferry date, which, look, If you're living in New York and you can't really afford the lifestyle, you still deserve to date. And yeah, you can ride the Staten Island Ferry. You get to see the skyline. It's very pretty. But it's also just funny to be on a cheap. This guy's not even from New York. He doesn't even live here. He's like, I could live here one day.
01:40:15
Speaker
i think it's start my career as an illustrator. Staten Island Ferry date is going to get you where you want to go. And not by which I don't mean Manhattan. Oh, Staten Island. Yeah, i mean, Staten Island.
01:40:32
Speaker
Okay. When the crew pulls the jet black featureless body aboard, it lights up in an electric glow. The crew is instantly vaporized and all the electricity from the dock begins flowing into the man, blacking out the dock as his evil glowing face smiles.
01:40:49
Speaker
ah What? What? Meanwhile, Sam Guthrie is trying to pick out a nice hat for his mom at Saks on Fifth Avenue. He spends all his money, but he figures it's worth it.
01:41:00
Speaker
he He says, ma'am, this hat was supposed to be $49.99. And the cashier says, yeah, but then there's $5 of sales tax. And after he pays the extra $5 of sales tax, he's like,
01:41:14
Speaker
There goes my budget for the week. I i can relate to that. Poor guy. That extra $5 throwing all of your finances off. Also, remember being a kid and just like not just being completely unable to wrap your brain around sales tax and every single time it being a surprise. like Fuck. Yeah. Yeah.
01:41:36
Speaker
He's feeling Sam's feeling down about himself for failing to provide for her and doing so poorly at ex Xavier's school, learning to master his powers. His spirits perk up momentarily, though, as he sees Spider-Man flip and imagines that Spider-Man never has to deal with mundane life stuff.
01:41:54
Speaker
It's very funny for him to be like, I'll bet Spider-Man never has to worry about money. is Number one. so He's poorer than you are. Yeah. Spider-Man just kind of flips on by and he's like, dang it.
01:42:07
Speaker
I wish my life was as good as that, guys. This is also Sam is living my life stream here, Matt. You've been to New York City with me. i am constantly looking up, hoping for a chance to see Spider-Man swinging around the skyline.
01:42:22
Speaker
Um, I also, he thinks about the new mutants here and he pictures sunspot as Michael Jackson. Huh? Brett Blevins just draws Michael Jackson. Just draws Michael Jackson. Yeah. Yeah.
01:42:33
Speaker
So Sam imagines that Spider-Man never has to deal with mundane life stuff. Cut to Spider-Man worrying about mundane life stuff as he whips off his costume and heads into the daily bugle with a roll of film.
01:42:45
Speaker
His boss, Robbie Robertson, however, is not happy with the pictures. Why doesn't Peter Parker take pictures of something other than Spider-Man for once? The public is bored with that guy. so Spidey heads out into the city again, dejected.
01:43:01
Speaker
Meanwhile, in Chelsea, this incandescent man is sucking up the electricity from all the streetlights and getting bigger and bigger. That's scary.
01:43:12
Speaker
That's scary, Pat. Yeah, I hate when things get bigger and bigger. Like those growing sponges. Yeah, I always think they're rattlesnakes.
01:43:23
Speaker
In the Catskill Mountains, a gloved hand presses the biggest button I've ever seen, letting us know that they are familiar with whatever this incandescent man is, and they plan to track it and capture it.
01:43:37
Speaker
We sort see this person flying over Manhattan, following the blackouts all the way down Broadway toward Times Square, where they mean to capture it and make Project Pegasus regret creating it in the first place.
01:43:50
Speaker
Project Pegasus, Matt. Project Pegasus is here. Getting into incandescent men. Men. I guess. We also earlier, like right around here, we get like a full page Spider-Man flipping around the city and it just referencing what's happening in every Spider-Man title with an editor's note towards it. It's like the black cat ah has been also taking pictures and Mary Jane has been and Aunt May has been Aunt made at me and also the black suit is gone and also...
01:44:27
Speaker
i I still don't have any money. Yeah. It's just like, and every single, it's just like, it's give it is There are four Spider-Man titles at this time. They, they do need to do this in every yeah across every title. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They'll do it next issue too. It's just, it's, it's very funny.
01:44:45
Speaker
I know you're reading team up and amazing Spider-Man, but are you reading Peter Parker, the spectacular Spider-Man? It's important. Yeah. ah On the street, Cannonball gets swept up in a panicked crowd running past him. And when he hears that it's a monster they're running from, blasts in its direction.
01:45:03
Speaker
The man's like, hot it's probably one of them mutant menaces I've been reading about in the papers. Mutant menace. Cannonball blasts off. He says, thanks, sir. Nice talking to you.
01:45:15
Speaker
He's the best. In Times Square, he finds this incandescent man being shot at by cops still unable to turn effectively Sam tries to save one but accidentally careens into a fire hydrant it sprays water on the the incandescent man shrinking him slightly innocentcent man i think but Sam's revelry is interrupted when he sees a dog grabbing his mom's brand new hat oh not the hat oh
01:45:48
Speaker
it's ah It's an adorable dog just like tearing into the hat. What do you want that, man? Spider-Man being kind of an asshole is just hanging out in an alleyway, taking pictures as the kind of incandescent man. It's like kind of an incandescent a man, I think. And Spider-Man goes, oh, when Robbie sees this, he's going to plot. He's going to poop his pants. I wish I knew what is that what plots means. I've never been quite sure. That's an assumption of mine, but I'm pretty sure that's what it means.
01:46:23
Speaker
ah So this this man chases Sam, trying to kill him. At the last moment, though, Spider-Man decides to step in and web up the the ah incandescent man. Yeah, it looks like some kind of incandescent like man.
01:46:38
Speaker
And grabs Sam as he does. Sam, thankfully, also manages to grab the hat and the two heroes regroup on top of a nearby building. two two There's two objectives that our heroes have.
01:46:54
Speaker
but Sam can't believe that Spider-Man remembers him and apologizes for fucking up. But Spidey's like, nah, dude, you did great. Because now we know the water weakens this ah was incandescent Yeah, Pat, I think it's like an incandescent ah like an incandescent man.
01:47:12
Speaker
But then it sucks up all the electricity in Times Square and grows bigger than ever. Pause. Yes. They are in front of the New York City Water Supply Building.
01:47:27
Speaker
Okay. Which they explain is keeping Incandescent Man weak because the water has so many minal minerals in it. It acts as a conductor, so he's not able to pull that power in. Okay. Okay.
01:47:39
Speaker
Then he makes his way yeah and recovers in Times Square. OK. New York City Water Supply is at West 34th and 6th Avenue in New York. Times Square is at West 45th, 45th and 7th.
01:47:54
Speaker
They let this guy walk more than 10 blocks in his weakened state. To get to Times Square and re-strengthen himself. Man, Pat, I'm always amazed by your encyclopedic knowledge of distances and streets in New York City.
01:48:12
Speaker
Yeah, I just knew that. The human map, we call him. He's some kind of human map.
01:48:23
Speaker
Just then... A helicopter lowers from the sky, blowing Sam's mom's hat away, but also dropping a big net on this ah this guy. It seems like an innocent man to me. But as the chopper flies away, the net tears.
01:48:40
Speaker
Grabbing the hat, Cannonball uses all its strength and manages to turn in midair before hitting a building. oh Cannonball. Good job. It's the Nightcrawler maneuver. He does the Nightcrawler maneuver. He tosses the hat to Spider-Man, who tells him to blast this incandescent man i meancandescent man i think all the way to the Hudson and drop him there.
01:49:01
Speaker
In the meantime, Spidey will just take some pictures. Fucking Spider-Man sucks at this issue.
01:49:10
Speaker
The impact causes the helicopter to spin out of control, and Spider-Man is so busy taking pictures, he almost forgot to save the pilot. While Cannonball clumsily tackles this...
01:49:22
Speaker
Incandescent man. don't know. man no Maybe an incandescent man. Through buildings and billboards, Spider-Man leaps onto the chopper and rips the pilot out. Cannonball drops this incandescent man indescent in the water and then executes Nightcrawler's 180 degree cut, flip, and blast maneuver perfectly.
01:49:41
Speaker
perfectly Yes! Best boy! He's so full of pride, he accidentally rockets himself right into the river. I love him! It's okay.
01:49:52
Speaker
He already did it. love him much. He already but experienced growth. he can He can fall to the ground now. He's like our little brother. Meanwhile, Spider-Man saves the pilot from splatting on the ground and crashes the helicopter safely where no civilians will be hurt.
01:50:09
Speaker
But Sam's mom's hat goes hurtling towards the blaze it creates. Thankfully, the pilot, who is a lady. Oh, she was a lady the whole time. Holy shit.
01:50:20
Speaker
Grabs the hat just before it hits the flames. ah You knew they were building to that like for reveal too, right? From the moment you saw the glove, it's like, that's a lady. They play it like a reveal. But the whole time it's like, okay, that's.
01:50:34
Speaker
All right, we get it. We get it. Yeah, yeah. And this isn't actually a bad guy, even though the first frame we saw them in made them look like a villain. Yeah, yeah. The two Spider-Man and this lady go find Cannonball, who's diving around in the river trying to find the man who was formerly incandescent.
01:50:52
Speaker
But the lady tells him it's no use. The man was part of an experiment by Project Pegasus to make an incandescent man called the Incandescent Man. Oh, if only we knew that was his name this whole time. i know.
01:51:08
Speaker
Incandescent man. He's good. I heard he's better than the fluorescent man, but not quite as efficient as the LED man.
01:51:18
Speaker
Turns out this lady is the incandescent man's twin sister, and she's determined to destroy Project Pegasus for what they did to her brother. As far as I know, neither of them ever appear again. Yeah, I don't think they ever show up again. This is where their story ends. It feels like they're setting up these major characters and they never appear again. She doesn't even get a name.
01:51:43
Speaker
She's just the incandescent man's sister. Exactly. Anyway, Sam and Spidey sit on the pier for a while talking the life stuff. So good. Cannonball has been feeling bad about himself, but Spidey says that he's a real hero and would work with him anytime.
01:52:00
Speaker
Besides, he bet some photographers got pictures of Sam saving the city and he'll be the talk of New York tomorrow.
Juggernaut's Misadventures and Chaos
01:52:07
Speaker
Sam hopes not. He'll be recognized and that'll cause huge problems for Xavier's school.
01:52:13
Speaker
When he leaves, Spidey thinks for a moment and then tosses his roll of film into the Hudson. The end. Spidey's not such a bad guy after all. Yeah, very noble. He's like, he's like you know what?
01:52:26
Speaker
I could get Aunt May a nice hat. But instead, i think I have a better present. And it's me being a real human being. And he tosses the film and it's like...
01:52:38
Speaker
Hey Aunt May, I got you being a human being your birthday. Hey Aunt May, happy birthday. No, for me, not for you. Hey Aunt May, happy birthday. I'm a human being for you.
01:52:52
Speaker
Also, please just note that as he's helping Sam, he does look at the hat he's buying for Aunt May and is like, oh, I should get Aunt May a gift. That's true. Let's remember that.
01:53:07
Speaker
All right, Pat. That was so much fucking fun. i want to keep on having fun. How about you? Yeah, me too, for sure. So I want to tell you about the next and last issue of Marvel Team Up.
01:53:19
Speaker
The final Marvel Team Up, Volume 1. It's called Marvel Team Up Number 150, Tis Better to Give. It is. Louise Simonson is the writer.
01:53:31
Speaker
Greg LaRocque is the penciler, and he kicks ass. Yeah, like what he does here. Why have not read more of this guy's stuff? I know. Mike Esposito is the inker. Janice Chang is the letterer. Bob Sharon is the colorist. Danny Fingeroth is the editor, and Flam Flunders is the editor-in-chief. Who?
01:53:50
Speaker
Flam Flunders? Release date, November 1984. Cover date, February
01:53:58
Speaker
Spidey returns home, presumably from hanging out with Sam. Yeah, this is where we last saw him. And immediately has to try to dodge his landlord, Mrs. Muggins, looking for rent money. Mrs. Muggins is here. Mrs. Muggins is here.
01:54:15
Speaker
He can't sneak out of the the skylight because they're so because suddenly there are a trio of young aspiring models sunbathing on the roof. Wait. babe city pat it's babe city in this comic it sure is we got candy rambi and bambi candy randy bambi candy randy bambi what if they joined the real aspiring model names he faces mrs muggins and buys himself some time but he needs to find some cash
01:54:47
Speaker
Meanwhile, Juggernaut launches himself out of a plane into a live war game site in Korea, smashing the army out of his way to get to the Temple of Cedarac.
01:54:59
Speaker
A real change of tone from Peter Parker dodging rent to a Juggernaut destroying a Korean military unit. i he's eager to and he's explaining all this out loud as he slams through the korean army he's eager to get black tama worthy birthday present since failing to capture madam web for him okay we come right back right back to the original tone The Ruby of Ciderac will be the gift.
01:55:31
Speaker
And he's like, it's all Spider-Man's fault that I could get. army is probably just like, what the fuck is he talking about? What just happened?
01:55:44
Speaker
Rogue and Colossus practice in the danger room back at the X-Mansion while Kurt monitors from the control room. Rachel calls them all to dinner. She says soup's on. This isn't your soup.
01:56:01
Speaker
They can't, they gotta to stop writing the word soup in these X-Men comics. Where they catch a news report about Juggie smashing up Korea and leaving with a big gem, which they immediately recognize. It's time for some action.
01:56:16
Speaker
They locate, yeah. Sorry, the news reporter says he smashed into Korea, stole the gem, and then just walked into the sea. Yeah. Can he do that?
01:56:29
Speaker
Pat, isn't Zorak supposed to stop exactly this? Yeah, where the hell is Zorak? ah um They locate Black Tom using Cerebro. They fed his mental patterns in.
01:56:45
Speaker
right right, right, right. They had him written down somewhere. It's triangle, square, square, triangle, triangle, R1, R1, square, triangle, select. So, yeah, they they they they head out for Manhattan, but Rachel...
01:57:00
Speaker
Seems distracted. Huh. um This is a cool little subplot, this Rachel thing. Yeah, yeah. Peter Parker, meanwhile, explaining all of the things happening in all of his comic books, catches the same news reports and suits up, thinking about why the photos, why his photos have been so shitty recently. He heads over to see how Juggernaut escaped the place that he last saw him, encased in concrete under a new building. What?
01:57:27
Speaker
Okay, we didn't read the, I think it's a team up that a Juggernaut appears in with and Spider-Man. I'm not following Marvel. Fights him. They encased him in concrete and then built a building on top of him? Quick, everybody, build this building!
01:57:46
Speaker
This is how they got rid of Jimmy Hoffa's body. Ah! and He also ah meets the aspiring models who like him because he's a photographer.
01:57:57
Speaker
They offer him food yeah and ask him if he can get their photos in the Daily Bugle. Oh, man. Freaking check out these babes, Pat. It's also he's more he's more attracted to the food that they offer him. Yeah, because they work at restaurants. So they're like, we bring home chocolate cake a lot.
01:58:17
Speaker
they He says they can't come. Sorry. Black cat. Yeah. What does he say? I have a lot of thoughts here. He says he's been just eating peanut butter. Can't do that. Which which is a food intended to solve hunger. Yeah.
01:58:31
Speaker
But. But it's also like incredibly expensive. Isn't that fucked up that peanut butter was invented to help address world hunger? And now it's it's prohibitively expensive sometimes. Yeah. When my ah my friend ex-girlfriend was pregnant with my son That was on our wick checks. We got we had wick checks and peanut butter is on our wick checks. So we ate so much fucking peanut. And so we got a jar of peanut butter every week.
01:59:06
Speaker
And we ended up with just like a pantry just fucking chock full of peanut butter. It does sound awesome. Yeah, it's great. loved I loved being poor.
01:59:18
Speaker
One more quick note. Spider-Man heads out to find Juggernaut and he says, oh I could swing by Saks Fifth Avenue on the way and pick up that hat for Aunt May. He's just going back and buying the same hat. Yeah.
01:59:33
Speaker
um ah Across town, Juggernaut arrives at Black Tom's birthday party, gift in hand. all Black Tom opens it up, and upon handling the gem, starts to grow to the point that his shirt rips wide open.
01:59:49
Speaker
He shouts in horror, not understanding what's happening to him at all. He demands Kane transform him back, but he says he can't, so Tom punches him through the window. This is tragic.
02:00:01
Speaker
know He's like, hey, you hit me. I thought you were my friend. I'll climb up there and hit you back. And then he does that. it does point so He So he falls several stories to the ground. And surprisingly, he can actually feel the pain from the impact. And then he climbs in a rage back up the side of the building, promising to punch Tom back. He does exactly that. He punches Black Tom out the window.
02:00:32
Speaker
Now, I want to pause here. whats It's so sad. So so ah Juggernaut is in the Temple of Sidorak reflecting on how he has to get a good birthday present for Black Tom because he failed to capture Madam Web.
02:00:49
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Okay. And he keeps going like Black Tom says it's fine, but I know it's not. I need to get him something good. He's getting the assurance from Black Tom that he's fine. Black Tom still loves him. We love each other. he's your friend but he's like, no, no, no. I know that he resents me for this. I'm going to make it up to him. So there's tragedy. Number one, fucking Cain Marco doesn't know how to accept love.
02:01:15
Speaker
Yeah. Number two. He thinks he finds the perfect gift. He brings it to his friend's party. He's the center of the party's attention for this moment because he brought this huge fucking gem.
02:01:27
Speaker
Black Tom grabs it and is suddenly like, what the fuck is this? Turn me back right now. This is such a shitty gift. And Juggernaut is like in tears. You can see it in his face. He's like...
02:01:43
Speaker
I thought you would love to look like me now. Isn't that great? We can be best friends. And Black Thomas like, no, and punches him out the room the room. This poor guy. And what else does he know to do in in response to being hurt so deeply other than just climb back up the wall and punch the punch the man that punched him out the window out the same window. Yeah.
02:02:15
Speaker
Oh, fuck. I love it. It's Shakespearean. Down the ground. Which Shakespeare? Jeff Shakespeare, my friend from... Down on this ground, Tom's completely fine, but pretty mad. They start fighting as Juggernaut explains what the Crystal of Ciderac does, blowing up a gas truck along the way.
02:02:35
Speaker
He says, he's like, what was that? And Juggernaut's like, exploding gas tank? It happens to me all the time. He's such a child.
02:02:48
Speaker
This is what gets Spidey's attention, who sees some guy fighting Juggernaut and figures he can sit back and get a few nice, well-composed pictures of the fight. Spider-Man, stop doing this! Stop! Interfere!
02:03:02
Speaker
Black Tom, meanwhile, seems to have figured out what's going on and is trying to calm Juggernaut down. Tom's stronger than ever, but not near as strong as Juggernaut was. Well, Juggernaut is at about half his strength.
02:03:15
Speaker
Touching the crystal must have split the power of the juggernaut between the two of them. Before they can settle it, though, they notice the sound of Spider-Man's camera and set out to kill him. Their juggernaut is still, like, Black Tom is, like, hey dude calm down okay you got me a gift i i think i understand what's going on here i just kind of flipped out but it seems like maybe you're not at your optimal power level right now and juggernaut's just like shut up we were friends and now we're not he's just so ah he's trying so hard and he's so emotionally stunted
02:03:55
Speaker
which I'll let me do this once more through the issue. but spiderman leaps out of reach tom and kain work things out and don't even notice that spiderman has created a web wall all around them joke not just laughs having broken through one of his stupid web walls the last time they met he charges forward stretching the wall pretty far but he can't seem to break through Spider-Man swipes the manhole cover, Juggie standing on out from under him, removing his leverage as the wall sends him flying back at Tom like a slingshot.
02:04:27
Speaker
This is pretty good. Pretty good. Doesn't this imply that if ah we just took the crimson gem of Ciderac and brought it around yeah and have everyone in the world touch it, it would just...
02:04:39
Speaker
We would all just be one eight billionth of a fraction strong closer to being the juggernaut. Exactly. All of us would just be like, yeah, tiny, but we'd be able to open a jar a little easier. And the Crimson Gem of Ciderac would no longer be a problem for anybody.
02:04:55
Speaker
Yeah. Good solution. You don't just smash it up and put it in the water supply. Yeah. um So none of this matters because they both get back up and smack the shit out of Spider-Man. He's only spared when rogue Colossus ah Kurt and Rachel burst in and demand they stop right now.
02:05:17
Speaker
Rachel stands back, though, torn on whether to fight Tom, a man who she knows is a hero in the future. What? So this is interesting. It really is. she's like She's like, in my future, we did the same thing. We had Juggernaut go get the crystal, the gem of Ciderac, and bring it back to power us up.
02:05:37
Speaker
But Tom asked him to do it so we could all fight the Sentinels together. Yeah, she doesn't know anything about his past. She's like, I don't know if this is what he was up to before I met him, but when I met him, he was a fucking hero. And he was doing this. He was doing the same thing. The same thing happened in my future.
02:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Or my past, this time's... The future, you know what I mean. It's just cool to think about just like Rachel has these experiences that are so different than the experiences she's having now in this yeah yeah different timeline. It's really cool.
02:06:15
Speaker
ah When the battle gets hot, though, she gets over it and uses her telekinesis to protect civilians when cars and buildings start flying all over the place. Reluctantly to save Nightcrawler, Rogue removes a glove and zaps Black Tom, growing big and strong and conflicted while Tom shrinks back to his normal size.
02:06:34
Speaker
whoa This drives Juggernaut into another rage. And the two, that was my gift to him. And the two fight. He gets the upper hand when the Juggernaut's power starts to wear off of Rogue. Although Black Tom remains the same size.
02:06:51
Speaker
Okay. There's a moment here. it's It's actually right when the X-Men enter, but Black Tom forgives Juggernaut. Black Tom... Like the X-Men show up and they just fought Spider-Man. And as they're sort of in battle, Black Tom is like, Juggernaut, we can crush these guys. It's no problem. We're both Juggernaut now. And Juggernaut's like, does this mean you're not mad at me? Yeah.
02:07:15
Speaker
but Black Tom's like, I was never mad at you. Hey, you got me a really good gift. I am so sorry that it all turned out like this. I just got confused. But this was this was such a good idea, dude.
02:07:31
Speaker
so sweet good little bromance so colossus rush colossus rushes in and tears the helmet right off of kane's head but guess man fucking what he's got a second smaller helmet that serves the same purpose two he's got two helmets pat why not just wear the smaller helmet Again, reluctantly to save herself, Rogue removes a glove and touches him, absorbing all the powers and memories of the juggernaut as he shrinks down to regular person size. whoa
02:08:06
Speaker
Confused and angry, she doesn't know who to attack and smashes through some walls and runs off. ah They find her a few minutes later shook up from all Cain Marco's awful feelings.
02:08:19
Speaker
In all the commotions, a man-sized Marco grabs the crystal of Ciderac again, having figured it out. The powers all went back into the gem. And he has to touch it again for everything to go back to normal.
02:08:30
Speaker
It grows huge again, hucks the gem into orbit. That's where it is now. It disappears through a hole in the ground, not wanting to destroy the New York City sewer system. And the threat being over for now, the heroes opt not to follow.
02:08:47
Speaker
Underground, Tomashur's juggernaut, they're still friends. And that he really appreciates the sentiment behind the gift. They decide it's probably best to leave New York City for now.
02:08:58
Speaker
This is, in case you think I've been reading into this, Juggernaut is underground saying, really Black Tom, you really liked the gift. You're not just saying that. And he makes Black Tom be like, no, listen, you are my friend.
02:09:15
Speaker
And the fact that you got me a gift means everything. The fact that it's something I would have loved. Cherry on top. But what's important is that we're friends. We should we should get out of New York, though. Right. And chuckgger not at Juggernaut's like that starts bragging about the fight. Yeah.
02:09:33
Speaker
He's yeah, he does say and we have to talk about this. Did you see Colossus's face when I ripped the street out from under him?
Spider-Man's Integrity and the X-Men
02:09:41
Speaker
What? ah And then there's a lip sees there. He trails off.
02:09:45
Speaker
What was he about to say? I think Juggernaut and Black Tom are dumb enough that they think when they beat up a guy, that means that guy is stupid. So he was going to say dumbass? Yeah. What a dumbass. What a dumbass. I think, yeah, I think there's a type of guy in the world who thinks that if they can, if they're stronger than you, you're stupid.
02:10:06
Speaker
You're stupid. You're smarter than you. You're dumb because I beat you up. Back above ground, Spidey finds that all of his pictures are still shitty because his camera got web gunk in it during the battle.
02:10:18
Speaker
Oh, you shouldn't have been fucking sitting around taking pictures. That wouldn't happened. Just fucking fight crime like you're fucking supposed to do. The only ones that came out good were the pictures he took of those was aspiring models, which the bugle will never go for.
02:10:32
Speaker
Or will they? Oh. Just then, it turns out the negatives for the newspaper swimsuit spread were destroyed and Robbie buys up Peter's picks right there. Problem solved.
02:10:44
Speaker
o Finn. The end. Man. ah Do we have wrap-up thoughts here? It was just so fun.
02:10:54
Speaker
These were so fucking fun. What a what
Podcast Promotion and Community Engagement
02:10:57
Speaker
a way to... I know we've only read a handful of the 150 Marvel team-ups, but what a way to go out to mutant stories with Spider-Man. You have... The last one isn't even a... cut Like...
02:11:10
Speaker
Nobody did anything wrong in the last one except for the fact that Juggernaut and Black Tom ah destroyed some cars in New York City. And in Korea.
02:11:21
Speaker
But, like... That was an accident. That was a result of just this sort of little domestic dispute they were having. Yeah. Really, this is just a story about a couple of guys being friends and Spider-Man and the X-Men getting involved.
02:11:38
Speaker
I love it. I loved it. I loved it. It makes me want to like yeah it makes me want to go back and read more Marvel team ups. Nope. You know that you shouldn't. I'm going to read all the Avengers. I'm going to read all the Marvel team. I'm going to read all of KZAR once my torrent starts get finishes downloading. It's been at 52.22%. I think six weeks now.
02:12:05
Speaker
Jeez. They must be pretty big files. I just think there's nobody out there that's sharing these. Oh, God. Well...
02:12:16
Speaker
He's got an eye out of stuff that you could buy out. If you had time machine that you'd like to try out. It's Pat Steals and Deals. For real this time.
02:12:28
Speaker
Oh, wow. Remix, wow. When did he do that? but I don't know. You'll have to ask Grills. But that's right, Matt. It is the second Pat Steals and Deals this episode.
02:12:40
Speaker
His name was Dusk is going to plot. Ha!
02:12:47
Speaker
Dusk, go clean yourself up and come back because this is going to be a doozy. I could feel it in my little tiny bone. i only have one today. this you tear This week, folks, we got a great one for you. This is a classic ad. I'm going reveal the product right up top. It's Reese's Pieces. Okay.
02:13:09
Speaker
Here's the the copy. Etagram Full of Bets. Etagram Full of Bets. No, I'm sorry. Etagram alphabets. Etagram alphabets.
02:13:22
Speaker
Etagram alphabets. And it's translated for us right below. The taste that's out of this world. And then they've got a little goblin alien man. He is unsettling.
02:13:35
Speaker
Yeah. And he's eating Reese's pieces. He's really enjoying them. He's sort of. Yeah, sort of like. Per the ad, he's really enjoying them. His face looks like it's.
02:13:46
Speaker
He's up to tolerating them. He looks like he's up to something to me. It's pretty disturbing. He says Reese's pieces are the only words he knows in our language, but he's working on great peanut butter taste.
02:13:59
Speaker
What a fucking weird ad. It's so bizarre. And I love Reese's Pieces, but this guy um won't stop looking at me. And now every time you eat Reese's Pieces, you're going to think of this fucking guy's face.
02:14:15
Speaker
I'm going to see him in my nightmares. You're going rip open that but that bag and you're going pour him into your hand you're just going to it'll grab off of it. It'll grab off of it. Fuck. And you have to dump him in the trash.
02:14:30
Speaker
your Your wife looks over at you at the movie theater and you're like sweating and you're like, I got honey. I got to go. And she's like, yeah mom nothing. If this guy tries to give you any Reese's pieces, do not accept them.
02:14:47
Speaker
He's just so he's blue. He looks like a goblin that somebody was like, no, I said we need an alien. And so the graphic artist just threw a space vest and a couple antennae on him His face is is like a troll's doll.
02:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Like that kind of like wrinkly, big but like a troll doll was sick and twisted like a sick twist. Fucked up. Yeah. ah Like Deadpool designed the troll dolls.
02:15:17
Speaker
Is that Reese's Pieces? You in that? No, I'm not big Reese's Pieces fan. not not What? Not peanut buttery enough. kind of like its own weird flavor that's not that's neither chocolate or peanut butter. It's like its own thing.
02:15:34
Speaker
I don't understand you sometimes. He's got an eye out.
02:15:45
Speaker
It's a deal. All right, folks. That's the end of our show. Thank you so much as always for listening. Please.
02:15:56
Speaker
ah Comment on some stuff that we put out there. Rate us. If you can read us anywhere, it makes a huge difference. and Like, subscribe, all that crap. But most of all, tell somebody. Just talk to somebody about the podcast. Word of mouth is real big for us right now. Yeah, what if you just what if you just this week...
02:16:14
Speaker
Talk to one friend. Text him. Talk to him at a party. Talk to him at the bar. talk to him on Talk to a stranger in the street. Just talk to one friend and just be like, hey, I don't know if you're going to like this or not, but i I listen to this podcast. I think it's pretty funny.
02:16:30
Speaker
It's called Mutant Menace. I'll send you a link. Check it out if you get if you get some time. And then the week after that, tell two. Week after that, tell four. By the end of the year, you'll have thousands of friends. Yeah, that's how. Yeah.
02:16:47
Speaker
um Big thank you to Krils Wilson and Julia Selle. Krils Wilson did our music. Julia Selle was the voice of Trish Tilby. Yes. um You can find us on Instagram, Mutant Menace Pod. You can email Pat's email corner at mutantmenacepod at gmail.com.
02:17:03
Speaker
You can subscribe to us on Patreon where for free you get our reading list. ah And for for money, get whole lot more. any Any number of money. Any number of money. look Look at and a list of numbers.
02:17:18
Speaker
You could do any of those in money. And for any of them, you get all of our other stuff. All that stuff that we didn't mention. That we didn't mention. There's stuff. There's stuff. Trust us. Yeah.
02:17:31
Speaker
And I guess there's nothing left, Matt, except for our famous catchphrase that we say at the end of every episode. All right. Lay it on me, buddy. Yeah. As always, folks, please remember, I'm a hero, not an entertainer.
02:17:46
Speaker
And as always, he's throwing a poltergeist tantrum.