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23 - Uncanny X-Men #114-119 - The Savage Land
82 Plays11 days ago
The last we saw the X-Men, they were in dire straits! Most of the team was about to be buried under a flood of lava in an underground laboratory in the middle of the Antarctic, while Beast and Phoenix had collapsed in the frozen wastes, after barely escaping with their lives. Is this just 5 issues of everyone being dead? Let's dig in and find out!
Topics Discussed:
Vacation Scott. The X-Men have sex. Wolverine's torn picture. A menacing nude man. The crew from the Thing fails to learn a lesson. Pat Reber: Hero to Bisexuals. Ka-Zar is glad to see the X-Men go. A love affair with Nereel. The Wolverine Sweet Spot. Garokk the Petrified Man aka Garokk the Sun-God. Ka-Zar is cancelled. A whiney Charles Xavier. AMAHL FAROUK and his little sunglasses. Xavier's arch-nemesis collection. In this bad a blow? YOU DON'T KNOW HIS FIRST NAME! Sunfire's back! Moses Magnum, Master of the Magnum Force. MARIKO YASHIDA! Plan Gemini for "Syncopation". Angus McWhorter is back! Remember, Banshee is always screaming. Misty Knight is the world's worst friend.
Write in to Pat's Email Corner: mutantmenacepod@gmail.com
Instagram: @mutantmenacepod
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Transcript
Introduction and Listener Emails
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.
00:00:34
Speaker
Hey, I'm Pat Reber. And I'm Matt Aukamp. And say it with me, Pete.
00:00:46
Speaker
Fucking... That was rough. Anyway, Pat, how are you doing? I'm doing good, Matt. Hang on. I'll at least answer your question. Okay, you can, but it's going to get...
00:01:02
Speaker
It's just getting worse. Okay, okay.
00:01:08
Speaker
I'm doing well, Matt. Thanks. How are you? but Okay, all right. ah But let's get into it. why We have a few emails today, all from Friends of the Podcast. First...
00:01:24
Speaker
Uh, Mr. Signwave Sean writes in, he says, Hey, Pat, tell Matt that having read all 15 appearances of Wood God, I think he's pretty cool, actually, at least when he's not being written by Bill Mantlo, which he usually is. how you You would have to go out of your way to read all 15 appearances of Wood God, right? Like you wouldn't yeah naturally stumble across them. and And i can't imagine it's somebody's favorite character.
00:01:48
Speaker
I can't imagine sine wave. Sean is just like, I love wood. God, give me all the wood. God, you got. I imagine he was like. You know, it'd be funny I find every appearance of wood.
00:02:01
Speaker
God. and read it to spite this podcast all right well we'll just go ahead and ah watch a matt damon movie you haven't seen yet for for people who don't know sideway sean hosts a podcast where he will eli it watches all the matt damon movies uh up next email michael writes in he's got some interesting things here okay Hey, Pat, tell Matt that I didn't notice any specific calls to action in
Marvel Comics Analysis
00:02:30
Speaker
this episode, but he suggested a new format at the end for an email in which I could send in questions, observations, or spin my wheels.
00:02:37
Speaker
So I'll try that.
00:02:41
Speaker
But he actually does all three. oh all right. He's aware that we don't need all three, but he's putting them all in here. Question. According to the Marvel fandom wiki, Joff and Mott were named after the early 1900s comic strip Mutt and Jeff.
00:02:55
Speaker
Have either you ever read Mutt and Jeff? And what are your feelings about references like those making their way into Marvel Comics? I have seen Mutt and Jeff. I don't know if I've read Mutt and Jeff. How about you?
00:03:08
Speaker
No, I've definitely never read but and Jeff. i've I've definitely heard of it, but my knowledge of comics definitely doesn't extend back to... I can picture both Mutt and Jeff, but I don't know anything about what they do or why.
00:03:25
Speaker
Email Michael, though, says personally he thinks it's always fascinating when these references outlive their source material. Observation that same wiki says that Mutt can lift over 100,000 tons.
00:03:39
Speaker
Since Maude is a thousand times stronger than Joff, it suggests that Joff's baby arms can lift 100 tons. yeah Email Michael goes on to observe that he could maybe lift 0.1 tons, which is about 200 pounds on a good day, meaning that he, joff is stronger than him.
00:03:58
Speaker
He says he doesn't have a point, but this does suggest that he might be guardian that the X-Men just blew by. guard First guardian of the Ruby Gem of Ciderac.
00:04:10
Speaker
No, this is the M. Cran crystal. Sorry, not that. Yeah. And then spinning my wheels, he babbles with the best of us here. He says, as a kid, I got into comics because they weren't just cool action stories, but because I felt inspired by the heroes and how they always did what was right, even when it was difficult.
00:04:26
Speaker
They were morality tales that made me think it was worth it to be a better person. I can absolutely relate to that. That's the same thing that got me into comic books, right? right A lot of the X-Men comics from the 60s and 70s feel like they haven't gotten there yet and are focused more on spectacle and surreal action than on trying to do good or even be good.
00:04:45
Speaker
I'm curious for your thoughts on this because I'm worried I'm applying modern standards or something and that stories where the blob keeps getting beaten up by people who want him to work for them or a Professor ex Xavier is attracted to teenage girls are in fact inspirational and good.
00:04:59
Speaker
I just lack the context because I wasn't alive then and don't understand that culture enough.
00:05:06
Speaker
What are your thoughts on this? That is a
Heroism and Masculinity in Comics
00:05:08
Speaker
really interesting point. I think when we look at things through the lens of history, we still have to say like, okay, but Professor X was still proclaiming his love for a 15 year old girl.
00:05:21
Speaker
That's yeah history or not. There are people back then that knew that that was inappropriate.
00:05:29
Speaker
Right. It's like it's like when people talk about racism in the US s and they're like, oh, it's a different time. And you can point out how many anti-racist movements there were in the US at the same time. It's like, OK, yeah, but yeah, yeah.
00:05:45
Speaker
I do think these were supposed to be tales of heroism. And I just think that there is.
00:05:54
Speaker
Flawed morality running through. There are things that the writers haven't reckoned with. Right? Yeah. Like the writers hadn't reckoned with the idea that it is inappropriate for an adult to date a... Right.
00:06:07
Speaker
Or to be in love with a 15-year-old girl. And... And there is a, we can, this masculinity at the time is kind of defined by, there's a moment here. Okay, so this is something that I think is nuts and ties in. But there's a moment that we'll talk about here where Cyclops is plummeting to his death and accepts his death. He's like, okay, this is it. It's been a good run.
00:06:29
Speaker
This is at least the third time we've seen this since we've started this podcast. And it's... The idea, why would you react that way? Why as you're falling to the ground, would you say, okay I guess that's it. i've I've had a good run. This is a noble death. Let's go.
00:06:47
Speaker
Instead of just trying to continue to get yourself out of that situation. And the answer is because masculinity, especially in the 70s, was defined by being like a stoic man in the face of danger.
00:07:02
Speaker
And the ultimate point to that is in the face of death, you are able to accept it and you don't feel like a panic for your life. Right. And heroism at this time was still defined in the mythological sense. Yeah. Right. So when, you know, yeah they are still drawing upon old cultures, right?
00:07:24
Speaker
And their definitions of, you know, what made Perseus a hero, what made Gilgamesh a hero, what made Beowulf a hero is is still what they're drawing upon to make Cyclops a hero. So the notion of what is heroic, I think, has changed.
00:07:40
Speaker
But nevertheless, I think these were supposed to be heroic tales and these were supposed to be heroes that you could look up to and want to emulate. And the beating up the blob because he wouldn't join their team thing.
00:07:52
Speaker
i think they're unfortunately, I think at the time. in Not enough people were questioning the idea that there are good... There are a thing in the world called good guys, and there's a thing in the world called bad guys. Right.
00:08:09
Speaker
It's just... And Blob was a bad guy, and so it's okay. Well, it's also... It's also the masculine heroic take at that time would be if somebody is mouthing off to you, and especially if they're mouthing off to a woman in your presence, you should slap them.
00:08:24
Speaker
You should who beat them up. That makes you the man. And that's again. That's what Beowulf would do, right? Like that this is this is their reference for heroes. They hadn't come up with a whole new type of a version of heroism yet. All right.
00:08:40
Speaker
We wanted to spin wheels and we've referenced Beowulf.
00:08:45
Speaker
i Yeah, I mean. Thank you, Email Michael, for it's following the instructions to the letter. If you want me to spin my wheels, get me talking about mythos and legends. Like I will.
00:09:00
Speaker
We could be on three episodes from now and Pat will have just muted me and talked about all the X-Men while I'm still talking about why Gilgamesh is so cool. Yeah, please believe that
Podcast Community Engagement
00:09:10
Speaker
ah no matter how long Matt's speech on heroism was, I've edited some of it out.
00:09:19
Speaker
ah We have one last email again from a regular friend of the podcast. His name is Weapon Jason. Weapon Jason. hasnt Also, I just want to interrupt for a second. We love you guys. We love SignwaveSean, we love Email Michael, we love Weapon Jason, we'd love to add a new member to our Rogues Gallery, so if you're listening and you're thinking, i well, I don't know, they like it's like a club that I'm, I don't know if I'm invited to. You are! No, if you're listening, right in you should be writing in to us. it's It's a little... offensive that you haven't well i weapon Jason writes in email subject the info dump you didn't ask for
00:10:04
Speaker
Oh, no, Pat, you did specifically say, Weapon Jason, do not write in about this. And now I'm worried that this is exactly what going wrote in about some of the things that we ah specifically asked for, it and he just expounded on it. So... I love it. and This is what I love about these Oh, Canada, we stand on guard for thee is the line that likely inspired the Guardian name.
00:10:29
Speaker
Also... Yes! but so I said that, Weapon Jason! Wait, Matt... Take a deep breath. Remember that he's telling us this because we asked him to confirm that for us.
00:10:43
Speaker
Fine. Thank you, Weapon Jason. he says also like I'm mad at you. Pat is happy about this. I could data dump on you more than I'm about to, but Progressive Conservative was a political party here in Canada, both federally and provincially. Remember that John Byrne referred himself as a progressive conservative.
00:11:00
Speaker
Byrne, having grown up in Canada during the late 50s and into the early 70s, would have been exposed to John Diefenbaker federally and Peter Lougheed provincially, which likely influenced his political views.
00:11:14
Speaker
Hit up Wikipedia for more, but basically the PCs were a centrist party that leaned right for economic issues. i it's Thank you. That's interesting. yeah Yeah, it sounds like these are active figures in Canadian political history.
00:11:26
Speaker
Also, the current the current Canadian federal government in 1978 is the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau, senior, ah who is hated by Albertans at this time. I've sometimes suspected this is why Canada comes off as a rather underhanded, secretive and controlling force in the Marvel Universe. Burr and I suspect had opinions.
00:11:48
Speaker
It is so funny that we've it's that's never been the cultural association you the US has had about Canada. We've always thought of them as sort of like the friendly younger brother. And in the Marvel Universe, they are the most evil, and underhanded, shadowy government.
00:12:06
Speaker
Like, that's so but like ah but second only to the Marvel Russians. Yeah. He goes on to tell us what the Avengers and Fantastic Four have been up to. It's tangentially related to future X-Men stuff. We get a early Henry Gyrick appearance. And also we get a little bit of beast story story.
00:12:28
Speaker
Uh, goes on to compliment us, your commentary about the scope of the stories and how they feel small and such is spot on. I do feel like I have to remind you again, though, that in 1978, we're picking these issues up off a newsstand or spinner rack at a department store, and there is no guarantee we're going to be able to get the next issue.
00:12:46
Speaker
This is why even major epics like the Korvac saga, Kree Skrull War, or the upcoming saga are all dealt with in a short What's that? right Not sure. Probably an Avengers thing. He seems to read a lot of them. i He shouts out i Island Fantasy, his first comic book shop where he was able to fill out his collection of back issues.
00:13:09
Speaker
He ah just says we nailed all the other points. He has reached the end of the the very worst podcast. What's that? ah That's a podcast that I did a few years back.
00:13:22
Speaker
where it sounds stupid me and some jackass
00:13:28
Speaker
and our friend ashley and our friend ashley made me watch all the pokemon movies i think we actually we ended that early but there was only like one or two movies to go when we ended it I think, well, I think the only movie left to go was a movie that came out while we were doing the podcast.
00:13:47
Speaker
And it was it was in theaters, and I tried to get you guys to go see it in theaters with me, and you wouldn't. I know. we We were so sick of I will say, if for probably the three fans, we know Sinewave Sean, we know Now Weapon Jason,
00:14:03
Speaker
ah There's probably a third person out there that is picked this podcast up from the very worst. It was all my fault. Matt has insisted over and over again that we get back to it and finish out the series. And I refuse. I will never watch another Pokemon.
00:14:21
Speaker
I just think it would be have been so funny to have watched them all a second time. I can't wait till we start this all over again from issue one.
00:14:34
Speaker
we're 72 yeah i weird i haven't heard the music cue yet but there's no more emails left to read read so i'm not sure how do we handle this matt i guess we just wait you think another email might come in let me refresh our inbox here oh oh phew oh my gosh that was getting okay That was rough. Thank goodness. Because I tell you, Matt, there's something I've been meaning to ask you.
00:15:04
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah, please. Go ahead. what What have you done this week that's X-Men related? Okay, I did do something X-Men related. I went to in the...
00:15:16
Speaker
The area of Pennsylvania I live, eastern eastern Pennsylvania, but west of Philadelphia. Yes. Back when when you get out into the suburbs. But before you hit Amish country, that is the sweet spot. yeah That is where Pennsylvania is the best.
00:15:29
Speaker
The civilized part of Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. and In Pittsburgh. there There's this thing that happens in that area that's been going on for 96 years straight called the Old Fiddler's Picnic.
00:15:46
Speaker
And it happens in a place called Hibernia Park. And they have a stage where they have some featured like folk music bands. And...
00:15:58
Speaker
It's all acoustic, right? So they have some featured folk music bands on the stage, but you can also sign up. So it's almost like an open mic also. Okay. And it is a it's a, it's a concert that goes for several hours and then there's vendors and there's food and stuff.
00:16:16
Speaker
And then out in the woods, there's, musicians just sit down and start playing traditional music and other musicians gather around them in a circle and also start playing traditional music.
00:16:27
Speaker
And so you could just walk through from circle to circle, just listening to people play different traditional music. And again, because it's traditional music, Either people already know it or they can pick it up really quick, like on the fly. And so people playing banjos and harmonicas and violins and ah guitars and ukuleles. And it fucking rules. It's one of my favorite things that happens every year at Hibernia Park. And ah hey, we'll the host a meetup next year.
00:16:57
Speaker
A mutant menace meetup at old Fiddler's. Are you just saying that to make this X-Men related? yeah You know, actually Save Your Game, we said that next year we would host a Save Your Game meetup at the Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square. um Near where we live, near where I live and where Pat grew up is a ah town called Kennett Square that is the largest producer of mushrooms in the world. Fucking world.
00:17:26
Speaker
and they have everybody else's ass and they have a yearly mushroom festival where there's just like a bunch of food trucks and vendors and stuff that sell mushrooms it's mostly white button mushrooms that's what they grow and me and uh me and uh pushing up roses are going to host a meet up there we will do double duty pat will you come Yeah, I'll absolutely be there. I love the Mushroom Festival.
00:17:52
Speaker
Our 2026, look up the Kennet Square Mushroom Festival. We will have a both Mutant Menace and Save Your Game joint meetup. Oh, amazing. All right. So that's what I did. ah Well, if we're stretching, I i went stretching. what do you mean?
00:18:13
Speaker
I went to a show last night. ah There's a podcast called Stradio Lab. And we're also a podcast and we talk about the X-Men, which is how this is X-Men related. But. Sam Taggart, George Severus, just two really funny standup comedians did sort of a joint standup tour. They came through. It was so good.
00:18:32
Speaker
Yeah. And speaking of comedy, I also watched the Las Culturistas Culture Awards hosted by the Las Culturistas podcast. ah This year, they made it onto streaming on Peacock, which is amazing.
00:18:47
Speaker
ah Hosted, of course, by yeah matt Rogers and bow ya Bone Yang. Bone Yang,
00:18:53
Speaker
rumored to be playing Wolverine in an upcoming movie deep rumors yeah deep deep rumor uh well that's awesome All these things, very X-Men related. The other thing, ah last thing I'll say, there's a three-part.
00:19:10
Speaker
he He talked about it on the show, Alex Goldman's podcast. Oh, yeah. Hyperfixed. He did a three-part story. And this is why it's X-Men related, because Alex Goldman was on the podcast Mutant Menace, which is about the X-Men.
00:19:24
Speaker
He did a
Uncanny X-Men #114 Recap
00:19:25
Speaker
three-part story on the illicit cat... drug black market my god and it is fucking incredible the third part just released today as of recording and holy shit you as soon as this podcast is over in two hours go listen to it yeah yeah that's awesome i had no idea It's great.
00:19:51
Speaker
Anyway, ah the last thing I did is that I read a comic called Uncanny X-Men number 14 Desolation. Pat, can I tell you all about it? Well, now, how is that X-Men related, Matt?
00:20:04
Speaker
So here's an interesting thing. Pat, they changed the ding dang name of the dang comic. What? What? Used to be called the X-Men.
00:20:16
Speaker
are just X-Men. Now it's called Uncanny X-Men. The Uncanny X-Men. I've heard of this. It is written, plotted, and penciled by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, inked by Terry Austin, lettered by Artie Simak. No.
00:20:32
Speaker
Gene Simak. Lettered by Gene Simak, colored by Glynnis Ween, edited by Roger Stern, editor-in-chief is Jim Shooter, who we don't talk about. no thanks. we're Release date, July 18th, 1978.
00:20:46
Speaker
Cover date, October 1978. Beast, icicles hanging from his fur, trudges through the Antarctic wastes, carrying an unconscious phoenix in his arms.
00:20:58
Speaker
When he sees a helicopter through the snowstorm, Needing some kind of flair, he wakes up Jean and she transforms from weak and freezing with a torn up costume to alive and intact, a giant flaming bird rising above her.
00:21:14
Speaker
Jean is desperate to free the rest of the X-Men from underneath the ground, but Hank grabs her and convinces her that no one could have survived the flood of lava, just as the helicopter closes in on them.
00:21:27
Speaker
Cut the X-Men alive! And tunneling through a mountain of rock into this Savage Land. Right, we're in Antarctica.
00:21:41
Speaker
We find out that Storm created an ice storm to slow the lava, allowing Cyclops and Colossus to tunnel them out of harm's way. And that's why they're all still alive. Makes perfect sense, Pat. Hell yeah. This is a ah perfect combination of the classic X-Men, Scott tunneling with his laser beams and the new X-Men, Scott and Colossus punching and blasting through walls together.
00:22:08
Speaker
And storm creating an absolutely impossible weather condition. Like, what where is she getting the moisture? How is she finding... right she just drained all of the moisture out of the air.
00:22:23
Speaker
Right, and how is she finding cool weather currents to create snow? But it's fine, she did it. Now, Banshee, attempting to free Storm from some of the trauma of being buried under the earth.
00:22:36
Speaker
Remember, because she's claustrophobic. Right. In case you don't remember, because they don't mention it every single issue. He suggests they take to the sky, which leads to him being grabbed by a giant Pteranodon.
00:22:50
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Forgot those things are down here. Colossus fastball specials Wolverine up into the air where he kills a rare miracle of the natural world and frees Banshee.
00:23:01
Speaker
So much for him not killing things. Remember he was like, he told Stormy, he's like, oh, when I hunt, I don't kill. yeah i just touch them. Everybody thinks I'm this big savage brute and then he is the happiest he's ever been.
00:23:14
Speaker
Stabbing the shit out of this pterodon as it crashes into the ground. Yeah. The rest of the team catch up to him on the ground, and he and Cyclops bicker before Storm and Banshee lead them all south toward a village they spotted.
00:23:30
Speaker
All the while, a nude man is watching them with both recognition and disbelief, stating that their power is exactly what he needs. Uh-oh.
00:23:43
Speaker
We take a quick cut back to Westchester one week later where Gene and Hank arrive back at the X-Mansion. Hank becomes acquainted with Lalandra. They hadn't met yet. Remember when he gets there when they're they're all in the circus?
00:23:56
Speaker
They're all in Mesmero Circus. And there's a letter from Lalandra and Charles and he's like, who the fuck is Lalandra? Yeah. He looks so fucking sharp. He's wearing jeans and a button up and his full of furry face is out.
00:24:14
Speaker
Wait, he's got a sharp sense of fashion. We knew that from the 60s. But yeah, at this point, we've seen him wearing sharp clothes as a furry beast in the Avengers. But this is the first time we're seeing it in the X-Men.
00:24:27
Speaker
Yeah, he's got he's got gray pants and an orange top with ah those Indiana Jones pockets, the pockets with the triangular cover over them. I think those are jeans and a yellow shirt, Matt.
00:24:42
Speaker
They're, it's a gray pants and an orange shirt in my in my epic collection. In your reprinted version? Yeah.
00:24:54
Speaker
Hank becomes acquainted with the Laundra is my point. Yeah. They know each other as, as Jean heads to see professor x Xavier and they have a nice cry in the dark over the X-Men they assume are dead.
00:25:06
Speaker
yeah Back in the Savage Land, the X-Men are all shirtless. We don't have to argue about that. And they're hanging out with a native tribe. but Kurt is teaching the children German.
00:25:18
Speaker
ah Sean appears to have just had some sex, and is ruminating about Gene and Hank's assumed death. Scott is making plans to ship out, and Ororo is simply enjoying herself in nature, where she can be free and wear very few clothes. Scott is...
00:25:35
Speaker
leaning into vacation mode he is finally had about two weeks uninterrupted on a vacation he's never had a vacation before yeah like this is all gonna have to come to an end soon so let's get some rest and relaxation in and let's remember that let's remember that a little later yeah ah how into vacation he is and how much for weeks he's just been chilling in the sun so scott wanders off To shave in the river and think on his mistakes.
00:26:08
Speaker
And this is actually an interesting dialogue. I don't know what you thought about this, Pat. But he's thinking about how when they fought Magneto, they... things considered. He's like, I've been over this fight a thousand times, but all things considered, we actually did really well.
00:26:24
Speaker
He's like pondering this idea of like... There's a nuance to it, right? Any other writer would have been like, ah, we we should have been working as a team. No matter what happened in the fight, he would they would have been like, ah, we should have been working better as a team. I should have been.
00:26:39
Speaker
And he's, no, he's like, i don't know what went wrong. we We actually fought together really well and somehow we still lost. Yeah. The nuance that Claremont gives that we just haven't seen this comic book ever before.
00:26:52
Speaker
That's not building to some sort of plot point. That's just where Scott's head is at right now and shows the evolution of the team. I'll tell you something else about Scott's head. he's He's thinking on his mistakes when he has a major revelation.
00:27:06
Speaker
a major Summers revelation, if you will.
00:27:11
Speaker
Major Summers. Remember? Major so He's wearing a bandage on his head that looks kind of like a headband. And he shaves down to just his mustache when he catches a look at his dad is reflection in the water. And what's that?
00:27:26
Speaker
He looks kind of like Corsair.
00:27:30
Speaker
ah Not only that. Major Summers is what Corsair goes by That's what Gene calls him because he was a major in the Air Force. Gotcha. Thank you. Not only that, Corsair spoke English. They made a big fucking point to tell us that everyone spoke English.
00:27:48
Speaker
Corsair spoke English with a Nebraska twang, though. That's a fair point. Okay. And he called Cyclops Scott. How did he know his name was Scott? Would you kick out a Nebraska accent?
00:28:01
Speaker
No. What? No.
00:28:05
Speaker
As he ponders this, Aurora interrupts him and he reveals that the grief he expected to feel for Jean just isn't there. She hasn't been the same since the shuttle crash. Now... Yeah.
00:28:17
Speaker
Storm gets a little judgmental here. She says, maybe the problem is that she grew up and you wanted her to stay a girl and now she's a woman.
00:28:28
Speaker
And... And she says bitch. She calls him a bitch. She says bitch as she walks away. I think this is a very real thing that happens to people, but this does not track with now their relationship that we've witnessed.
00:28:44
Speaker
Buddy, none of this tracks. Like, none of this tracks at all. Cyclops hasn't been... He's felt distant from Jean, but he hasn't been, like, not in love with her. And I'll say this. It continues to not track.
00:28:57
Speaker
Because... some of the most poignant love scenes between Scott and Jean are about to happen in the
Character Dynamics in X-Men
00:29:05
Speaker
next 10 issues. yeah And like, This is absolutely absurd. I feel like there's a couple things that i'm going to that we're going to talk about in these few issues that smack of this to me. Is that it feels like Claremont is... Going through something? Grass? Maybe. Yeah, maybe it's a self. it's
00:29:29
Speaker
ah so But also... It feels like Claremont is grasping around for character development with some of these characters. Like he he can't quite figure out what to do with Scott.
00:29:42
Speaker
I feel the same about how he how he handles Colossus. He can't quite figure out how to handle Colossus. Now you're right. but I'm right. Anyway, Storm walks away is my point.
00:29:54
Speaker
Meanwhile, Colossus is about to have a threesome with two of the native women. Just this infinite unicorn, right? it's We are not exaggerating. this year There are two women telling him how handsome he is and saying, please come to our private island.
00:30:10
Speaker
It's not. i The implication is there. Exactly. And fights Wolverine. I'm also not kidding about the Sean Cassidy having sex with one of them either. Not only is he when we first see him, is he walking out of a hut in a loincloth with a woman looking lustfully at him but really soon in like a page?
00:30:29
Speaker
something happens and he is turning around with the woman right in front of him yeah he's they're they're not trying to hide it here no no it is the x-men are fucking like constantly um so scolossus about to have threesome invites wolverine along and so and But Wolverine is busy sewing and looking at picture at his picture of Jean and and grieving for her in the way that Scott wasn't.
00:30:58
Speaker
It's clearly a picture of Jean that she yeah or that he had to tear Cyclops out of. Pat, we watched him do that. do you Do you remember that? Yeah, we watched him tear Scott off that picture. like i think it was it was in the Iron Fist issue.
00:31:16
Speaker
It wasn't even in X-Men. right
00:31:22
Speaker
So, Ororo goes swimming in a nearby lake when the nude man sneaks up on her and grabs her by the head, apologizing as he only means to absorb a little energy to feed himself. Oh, no.
00:31:39
Speaker
What, you think you know this guy? Because he's overwhelmed by a massive surge of energy causing a lightning bolt to crash down. This is what interrupts all the X-Men and whatever they're doing, which and's Sean Cassidy and making out or fucking.
00:31:53
Speaker
We don't know at that moment. And who knows? They don't even pan to Colossus because he is off on his own fuck island. We don't see Colossus for a while.
00:32:04
Speaker
The X-Men rush to see what happened, and they see Aurora unconscious on the ground being towered over by the menacing form of Sauron. He's back, baby, to be continued.
00:32:20
Speaker
The opening shot of this comic is incredible. It is oh my god just trudging through what looks like the harshest wind and snow. And he's covered. He doesn't even look blue. He looks white because he's so covered in snow.
00:32:37
Speaker
Caked snow and ice forming around. The space between him and Jean. Snow is piling up on her stomach. As if it's like gathering there from being blown there by the wind. it is.
00:32:52
Speaker
It is unreal. I will say. It really shows you how good John Byrne is. The narration doesn't quite meet the moment. Because the last time we saw beast and Jean, Beast was laying down on the ground preparing to freeze to death.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yes. The narration here says, yes, Beast was about to freeze to death. But then he got up.
00:33:20
Speaker
it does however show the heroic nature of the beast like he will do literally anything for his friends even get up also so right after that chris claremont can't fucking help himself dude Right after that, he has to cut to the inside of a helicopter where they're using all sorts of helicopter slang. It's like, okay, just for once, even when they're in the Savage Land in a later issue, people will describe Terradon, like people riding Terradons in Air Force terms. He cannot help himself. Yeah.
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Also, we learn that this is the U.S. s Air Force piloting a helicopter in Antarctica. Nothing weird about that. What are they doing there?
00:34:16
Speaker
is this is this the crew from The Thing? They just escaped The Thing, and now they're like, oh, there's some people out here. Let's pick them up.
00:34:28
Speaker
They didn't learn their lesson, I guess.
00:34:34
Speaker
Oh, man. um How do you feel about this issue? I thought it was good. I thought so. We really were left on ah the edge of a cliff, right? With the X-Men seemingly dead. i We talked about this at the end of a couple episodes ago, but I didn't see a way out for the X-Men here.
00:34:57
Speaker
Yeah. Forgetting, of course, that they were in Antarctica and if they could escape ah that they would end up in the Savage Land. So it did feel it felt like a legitimate escape for them. It felt believable enough for them to have shown up to have tunneled through enough to show up in a safe place, for lack of a better word.
00:35:21
Speaker
That's one of my favorite parts about this podcast is that you don't know what's coming up. So when we got to the end of that last ah episode... You were legitimately like, I don't know how they're going to get out of this one.
00:35:35
Speaker
That is cool. That is really cool. It was cool. I also just like being back in the Savage Land. i think this is a very cool setting and not overused yet.
00:35:45
Speaker
I don't know if it does become overused at some point, but right now it is just like, oh yeah, there's also this very strange tropical prehistoric paradise that yeah the X-Men end up in once in a while by accident.
00:36:02
Speaker
There's a hilarious moment where right before Banshee gets grabbed by the Pteranodon, he's just flying. He's and just enjoying himself. And he looks down and he's like, oh, looks like everyone's shouting at me. I guess I'll swing closer and see what's the matter. And they're all just shouting like, look behind you. There's a Pteranodon. I wonder what that's all about.
00:36:24
Speaker
um We do have to talk about two things before we move on. that we mentioned already but they just have to be dwelt on a little bit number one cyclops discovers corsairs his dad because he kind of looks like him with a mustache it's not a good mustache either he looks like shit when he shaves down to a mustache and he just looks at the and it's just it's not even a picture of what cyclops looks like with the headband and mustache on it's just a picture of corsair
00:36:56
Speaker
and This is the big emotional moment where he's like, he's my dad. I guess he doesn't fully say it, but he clearly, this is like the kernel of him realizing it. Yeah, yeah.
00:37:11
Speaker
Very funny. The other thing is that Wolverine, bisexual hero, turns down a three, turns down the chance to fuck Colossus and two women immediately.
00:37:26
Speaker
To just sew. Well, he's grieving that. it's It's actually like emotionally he's going through it. He's like, what's wrong with me? Why am I turning down this beautiful foursome? I could be a part of Always wanted to fuck Colossus. And there's two women there.
00:37:48
Speaker
But he's the thing about him. So he's sewing up his costume. So we see him escape the volcano into the Savage Land. And he's got all these holes in his costume that you can imagine were burned in there by lava.
00:38:03
Speaker
And he's showing a lot of chest hair. I think it's awesome. bisexual hero pat reaper and then two weeks pass by reaper's hold on people don't know you yeah pat reaper's a straight man oh yeah i want i don't want that to be okay go ahead but i am a hero to bisexuals
00:38:26
Speaker
all bisexuals say but two weeks pass And now he's sewing up his costume and his costume is what he's wearing. Has he just been wearing his chest hair forward costume for two weeks?
00:38:41
Speaker
I think it's so, it's so funny. Everybody's wearing their undamaged pants and undamaged big ass boots. And no and nert no shirt. And like, that's how we find them.
00:38:54
Speaker
That's how we find them all. And, All, sorry, except for Sean Cassidy, who has just gone full loincloth. Yeah. And Storm, who has also just gone full loincloth. Yeah. And Sean Cassidy's just been fucking and fucking and fucking. And also, hey, I do want to say.
00:39:13
Speaker
Not to spoil, but I'm going to spoil. ah We have. In textual evidence. textual confirmation that Colossus is fucking. It is not just us joking.
00:39:28
Speaker
Banshee, I guess we don't get evidence for it, but it's clear. It's pretty heavily implied, yeah. We have textual evidence eventually that Colossus is fucking. Alright.
00:39:39
Speaker
No spoilers, Matt. Well, I already did. It's too late. I want to mention one thing that I'm extremely tired of, and it's a thing that we just haven't broached in the past because it's come up and it seems like such a I am extremely tired of people referring to storm as that black woman.
00:40:00
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah. There's nothing inherently offensive
Racial Descriptors and Anti-Racist Writing
00:40:05
Speaker
about calling somebody a black woman. Right. And it's not like they're saying, oh, that black woman.
00:40:11
Speaker
They're saying that black. way It's just a description of her. But she's the only person there. Like Sauron sees her walking through and says, oh, that black woman is perfect for my plan. Why do you need to mention her race?
00:40:25
Speaker
People don't even say that blue guy when they're talking about Nightcrawler. Right? Like, yeah. it It seems almost like Chris Claremont is wrestling with that question that sometimes white people in very white societies wrestle with, which is how often do I refer, like, can I use it as a descriptor?
00:40:48
Speaker
And rather than only using it when appropriate, when you're trying to distinguish between two women standing next to each other, who you don't have any other way of distinguishing between them.
00:40:59
Speaker
Like, oh, the woman who just spoke. Or, you know, Janet. That you say, ah oh the black woman, right? he's It's almost like he's wrestling with that cultural question and choosing to...
00:41:16
Speaker
Express it on the page. Yeah. And we'll learn a little more about Chris Claremont's choices in racial language as ah as time goes on. Yeah, he's he's very... um Opinionated.
00:41:31
Speaker
Opinionated. He's very much attempting to be anti-racist, but he is falling short yeah in many ways. Can't wait. i The only way for us to get there, though, Matt, is through Uncanny X-Men number 115, Visions of Death.
00:41:50
Speaker
visions of death Whoa, that sounds sounds like it's going to be a really exciting one. Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Rabelation Raconteurs, Terry Austin, Illuminate and Inker, Rick Parker, Looney Letterer, Francois Mouly, Crafty Colorist, Roger Stern, Edify and Editor, and Jim Shooter, Ernest, Editor-in-Chief.
00:42:11
Speaker
How'd they get these silly credits past Chris Claremont, Matt? Rabelation... Oh, like, okay. Francois Rabelais was a French writer who has been called the first great French prose author.
00:42:26
Speaker
Oh. So they are like Rabelais. Rabelaisian. Guess. Release date, August 15th, 1978. Cover date, November After a brief one-page recap of last issue, we get a two-page spread of Wolverine lashing out at Sauron over Storm's body.
00:42:48
Speaker
this and This heroic moment is underscored first by Scott telling him to stop, and second, the fact that he misses Wolverine. Yeah, it it looks very heroic, but then you stop to think about it for a second and you're like, oh, ah okay.
00:43:03
Speaker
I believe this is our first X-Men two-page spread, though, right? Like two full-page spread. I don't think so, but I can't remember the last one, so I'll just say, yeah, maybe.
00:43:16
Speaker
Yeah, I found the first one. Sauron grabs Wolverine and rises up into the air. He stares into Wolverine's eyes and the X-Man becomes hypnotized, suddenly seeing his teammates as hideous monsters.
00:43:29
Speaker
I forgot. This is the moment I remembered how silly Sauron is. He's the embodiment of evil, who is a pterodactyl that can hypnotize people and is sort of a vampire.
00:43:41
Speaker
Why did they give him hypnotizing powers? Like, that's so strange. it's the It had they had to for it to work for the plot at the time. And now it's just now it's there forever.
00:43:54
Speaker
Wolverine becomes hypnotized, suddenly seeing his teammates as hideous monsters. Cyclops remembers the same thing happening to Angel the last time they met Sauron and instantly knocks Wolverine out with an optic blast. He's clearly been holding on to that one for a little while.
00:44:09
Speaker
And then tells Banshee to avoid eye contact with Sauron. Banshee takes to the air and Sonic screams Sauron out of the sky into the brush. All screams are Sonic. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler attempts to rouse Wolverine, and who's lying face down in the water, only to be treated to a backhand as Logan wakes up, still hallucinating.
00:44:29
Speaker
what Why did they leave Wolverine face down in the water? And we watched Wolverine get hit. by the bolt and he lands on his back yeah it's scott summers picked up his unconscious body dragged it into the water and left it face down and then it was like we've got to keep going
00:44:58
Speaker
ah Still hallucinating, Wolverine attacks Cyclops, who he sees as a monster zapping Sauron, who he sees as Jean. With Cyclops on the ground, Wolverine starts to second guess the situation, remembering that Jean is dead and hesitates just long enough for Cyclops to blast him into the sky.
00:45:16
Speaker
Cyclops. This is like when Joff throws him into space. Yeah, yeah. With that out of the way, Cyclops and Banshee form a pincher attack, slamming Sauron from both sides with their powers.
00:45:27
Speaker
Feeling that he's starting to change back to Carl Lycos, he takes off. Colossus, finally done with his threesome, I guess, finds Storm lying in the lake in his tending tour when Sauron sneaks up on him and starts to sap his energy as well.
00:45:41
Speaker
Scott arrives just in time and commands him to change into armored form, which allows Colossus to throw Sauron off. Unfortunately for Sauron, just as he lands beside Wolverine, he reverts back to Carl Lycos.
00:45:54
Speaker
Seconds before skewering the dude, Wolverine is stopped by Kezar and Zabu. What? Whoa, they're here. My guys. Wolverine offers to kill them, too.
00:46:06
Speaker
But Cyclops and Banshee arrive to stop the fight before it begins. He's generous is the thing about Wolverine. I'll kill you guys. How mad do you think Kesar is to see the X-Men back?
00:46:21
Speaker
Every time they show up, they throw a wrench in his plans. yeah yeah yeah yeah and again he's trying to organize a revolution and the last time he saw them he was like please don't come back yeah we're better they see you later we're better off without you remember not to come back to the savage land and yeah and now here they are he's like fuck Now they're goingnna kill my friend, Carl.
00:46:49
Speaker
A little while later, back at Kesar's camp, the X-Men sit around a fire eating what looked like mozzarella sticks while Kesar and Carl info dump. Carl tells them that the night they chased him to Tierra del Fuego and he threw himself off the clip rather than sap the life from his love, Tanya, he actually only fell a few meters and hid on the side of the cliff.
00:47:14
Speaker
Remember, were like, we've looked and looked for him and we couldn't find him. He was just hiding on a cliff. He's just standing there looking left and right. feet down.
00:47:28
Speaker
He does make his way to the Savage Land, surviving on the life energy of small animals or something. But a few weeks ago, he happened upon some weird shit in the woods.
00:47:39
Speaker
A priestess named Zaladane was praying to a stone relief of someone called Garak.
00:47:48
Speaker
Pat, who's your favorite X-Men villain? I meant to ask you this at the beginning of the podcast. Is it Zaladane or Garak? is it celadine is it garak is it moses magnum who's your favorite guy is it ahmal farouk who is your favorite x-man villain because we got them all today zalidine is a dead ringer for lalandra too it looks like it looks like lalandra with her hair down yeah it looks like alternate take on lalandra's initial design
00:48:22
Speaker
I Zaladin had a man chained to a slab and painted a fiery circle on his chest and he transformed into some guy calling himself the petrified man.
00:48:33
Speaker
Zaladin pointed out some weird city in the middle of the Savage Land and Karak the petrified man zapped it with I-beams and it disappeared. What? Now Kesar takes over the story and tells the X-Men how he was riding a flying shark about to attack the weird city when all of it disappeared. was going to fight the city. Yes. On a shark that flew.
00:48:55
Speaker
Correct. But then suddenly all of it disappeared and he fell into the trees. Okay. ah The editor lets us know we can learn more about this in Kesar issue number 20. yeah no thank you.
00:49:08
Speaker
think I've learned enough. Carl and a bunch of other characters. Wait. Yeah. What characters? I don't know that. We're not following Kesar. Found Kesar and they attacked some other big city that Garak the Petrified Man built.
00:49:24
Speaker
Huh? Now. Hold on. I want to try and get this straight because this is so weird. Yeah. There was a magical city that appeared in the Savage Land.
00:49:39
Speaker
And Kesar and his friends were fighting them on flying sharks. Yes. And Zaladane woke up Garak to say, hey, this city shouldn't be here. I want you to get rid of it.
00:49:50
Speaker
And Garak zapped it away, which also somehow zapped away the flying sharks. And then he was like, good. Now that that's gone, we're going to make a big city that shouldn't be here.
00:50:03
Speaker
And now Kesar is like, let's fight that city. Yes. Okay. Yeah, you got it. Okay, perfect. All right, cool. We don't need to read KZAR 20. um Which, hold on.
00:50:18
Speaker
Yeah, we learned a little something interesting about KZAR 20, right? KZAR 20 is the last issue of KZAR. So... There's a good chance that Chris Claremont and and this is this is how I feel about this. And we'll talk about that this at the end of next issue. But I feel like somebody said, hey, Chris, this month um you have to finish the Kesar story. Yeah. And he's like, I don't want to.
00:50:43
Speaker
And they're like, no, you have to. Sorry, buddy. Why? do Why don't you finish the damn Kesar story in Kesar? Yeah. so who ah Doug Mench was writing that.
00:50:55
Speaker
Doug Mench of Batman in the, what, 1990s, I think? That's incredible. Yeah. Now. Now.
Savage Land Storyline Challenges
00:51:03
Speaker
Back to the story. Kesar is saying that Garak the Petrified Man is trying to bring all of the Savage Land into his oppressive new regime.
00:51:11
Speaker
And he needs the X-Men's help to stop it. Wolverine and Banshee are down, but Cyclops says no. Even though they've just been laying around for a week, Cyclops says that they must get to the Professor at once in case Magneto is still at large. Dude, you've been just, you just literally said, oh another week of rest and relaxation, Banshee.
00:51:34
Speaker
This is fun. I'm having a good time. Another week. So we know it's at been at least two weeks.
00:51:41
Speaker
I think what happens here is that once he gets out of vacation mode, he's like, all right, back to priorities. But this is like that, that meme that not, it's not even a meme. It's like pre memes was written on coffee cups and stuff. It's like your lack of planning does not.
00:52:04
Speaker
Does not constitute an emergency on my part. Just. Exactly. Yes. That is what's happening. Even though Cyclops is like, I've been laying around for a week, so we have to go now. No.
00:52:16
Speaker
Why didn't we go a week ago, dude? Kesar agrees. And the next morning he's leading the X-Men out of the Savage Land. Colossus says goodbye to a woman named Nareel and they take off.
00:52:30
Speaker
A woman named Nareel, huh? That's interesting. Let's just let's just keep that in mind. Is it interesting? Oh, it's interesting to me. Funky name. No, I think it's interesting that he's saying a a woman. He's saying goodbye to a woman named Nareel and that he may or may not have had a threesome with.
00:52:47
Speaker
As they get to the river, which leads out of the Savage Land, snow starts to fall and they begin to feel cold. They notice that the river is frozen. What? They are in Antarctica.
00:52:58
Speaker
But they're still in the Savage Land. It shouldn't be happening. Storm and Kezar both note that Snowfall shouldn't happen here. And if it continues, the entire Savage Land will die to be continued.
00:53:10
Speaker
What? ah You know... It can be fun visually to be in the Savage Land, but I don't love Savage Land stories.
00:53:22
Speaker
ah find them a little boring. Yeah, especially since it's always the X-Men just like stumbling into the middle of a story and then making that story worse.
00:53:32
Speaker
And it's just Kesar saying, hey, somebody is about to destroy the Savage Land and you guys got to help us. And then like, OK, I guess let's go beat up somebody and then save the Savage Land.
00:53:44
Speaker
Like, no, OK. What I do love is that when Cyclops says we don't have time, there's no time to help the Savage Land people. No time for that now. Kesar must internally be saying, thank God they don't stick around and help.
00:54:01
Speaker
Like, like. ah providence demands that i ask for their help right because if the savage land gets destroyed and i didn't ask for their help i'm gonna feel like a complete shithead and i'm gonna feel like what if they had stuck around but if they say no if they say no fucking yahtzee my my dude i'm so happy about this dude kurt reperk o There's a really great Kurt and Wolverine moment where i like go it's it's so clear that this is
00:54:36
Speaker
ok Not only is it clear that John Byrne is horny for Wolverine. He loves Wolverine. He wants Wolverine to be in everything. Wolverine takes center stage at every moment he can.
00:54:49
Speaker
And he's also softening Wolverine. yeah And I wonder if it's against Claremont's initial designs, but then Claremont falls forward because he's making Wolverine smile and be gentle.
00:55:03
Speaker
And so then Claremont has to write dialogue that matches the image, right? So there's a scene here where Nightcrawler throws a snowball at Wolverine and...
00:55:18
Speaker
in ever In any other new X-Men comic so far, Wolverine would have been like, I'm going to kill you, you little elf. Yeah, yeah. But in this, he smiles and he's like, and he's like you pick your snow drift, I'll pick mine. Loser buys the beer. And he's wiping the snow off his smiling face. And it's like, oh, these guys are friends. And Wolverine is is learning to soften up and be like...
00:55:42
Speaker
a member of the team and not only a member of the team, sorry, a member of the family. Yeah. Calling Cyclops boss man a lot more and just listening more. It's really interesting. I think this is what makes, this is where Wolverine goes. There's this sweet spot from about here To about, I don't know, 1980... 87, 89. Where Wolverine is at his apex. He is so such a great character.
00:56:13
Speaker
And then there's maybe 10 years where he is absolute garbage. But... this is This is the beginning of that Wolverine sweet spot where he becomes may literally one of my favorite X-Men characters. It's so – because of how much he was part of that gritty, badass, 90s – Oh, yeah. Everything. Comic book
00:56:39
Speaker
Yes, exactly. Because he was such a big part of that. It's embarrassing to tell people that Wolverine is one of your favorite X-Men characters. But this is why Wolverine is one of my favorite X-Men characters. Because of the next decade of X-Men comics. Where he's this guy who has this capacity inside him to just go fucking nuts.
00:57:01
Speaker
But generally, he's this jovial, thoughtful guy full of experience and wisdom. and He spends all his time and effort just trying to control that savage part of himself and learn to love people.
00:57:19
Speaker
I guess he really did need that vacation.
00:57:27
Speaker
Pat, now I want to tell you. Yeah, please. For once. About Uncanny X-Men number 116 to save the Savage Land. Yes. I've been trying to tell you about this for years.
00:57:40
Speaker
Finally. By Chris Claremont and John Byrne with Terry Austin on inks, Tom Orszakowski on letters, Glynnis Ween on colors, Roger Stern editing, and Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief.
00:57:54
Speaker
Pat, who's Jim Shooter? I'm not sure. Release date, September 19th, 1978. Cover date, December nineteen seventy eight several days After the last issue, the Savage Land is covered in snow and ice, and the X-Men have finished a hike to Garak the Petrified Man's, aka Garak the Sun God's, new futuristic-looking dome city.
00:58:20
Speaker
He and Zaladane, in an attempt to bring peace to the Savage Land, created an oppressive new metropolis, and somehow... have thrown off the ecological balance of the reach. I guess we do figure that out by the end of the issue, but by now we don't, we're just told it happened.
00:58:38
Speaker
Kind of just like we're told, Oh yeah, this is an impressive thing and they got to get rid of it. Yeah. Let's hope they're right. Some of Garak the Petrified Man, a.k.a. Garak the Sun God's men, swoop down on pterosaurs and, after a really clumsy fight, capture Colossus, Banshee, Cyclops, and Kesar, leaving Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Zabu behind to rescue them.
00:59:04
Speaker
Huh. Bad plan. Wolverine even says he's like, well, he'll be back. This is just all they could carry. He'll be back to get the rest of us. But...
00:59:16
Speaker
You're just leaving other superpowered people there to rescue the guys you just like. Yeah, yeah. You got to take them all out in one swoop if you're going to beat the X. This is a stupid, stupid idea.
00:59:28
Speaker
All right. So Wolverine quickly tames Zabu. And sends him back to Tonga's tribe for reinforcements. And then leads the other two down the cliff to the doors of the city.
00:59:40
Speaker
It's so cool. Wolverine making friends with Zabu, the saber-toothed tiger. Yes. He just instantly, like, he instantly shows a kinship with...
00:59:51
Speaker
this savage beast yeah yeah and then it's extra cool that then he just takes on the leader role immediately like all right i know what to do very yeah good wolverine we we might need a logan report ogen no a a logan wait uh logan's log logan's log
01:00:18
Speaker
now that logan's gonna do cool things every issue so he kills the door guard and they sneak in what to what appear to be like sewers or garbage or something like this is this whole city this is one of my biggest problems with this issue this whole city is completely ah ridiculous yeah yeah it's it i can't imagine this functioning like an actual city they never mostly garbage shoots yeah They never encounter another person.
01:00:42
Speaker
The weird corridors that they're walking through lead them right to the exact place they need to find the secret the secret location they need to find. And there are dinosaurs in it.
01:00:57
Speaker
So they fight several sewer dinosaurs or whatever along the way. super weird so they eventually come to a big ritual space where all the x-men are tied to poles on a big dais and garak the petrified man aka garak the sun god and zaladane are trying to burn colossus in the center of it this guy's supposed to be a god they've got other x-men there that are very flammable No, we want to burn the metal man first. and excuse
01:01:29
Speaker
It's kind of cool. He's glowing red with the heat. And later he punches people. And like, imagine getting punched in the face by a glowing hot metal fist.
01:01:42
Speaker
I know it's so it's a very cool concept. So Nightcrawler teleports farther than he ever has before. And pulls the cover off of Cyclops' eyes.
01:01:55
Speaker
Because, of course, that's how they neutralize Cyclops. Who blasts the pillar Colossus is tied to. Who, literally glowing red from the heat, breaks his bonds and charges forward.
01:02:09
Speaker
Cyclops blasts the cover from Banshee's mouth. Which, of course, that's how they neutralize him. And Storm swoops into za Cyclops and Kesar's bonds. We don't see Kesar being freed on pay and all.
01:02:20
Speaker
We just see Cyclops complain. yeah we see Cyclops going like, i think you guys forgot to free me after I freed all of you. and kazar he's like hey uh also can you free gazar as patented x-men chaos erupts garok the petrified man aka garok the sun god takes off a running only cyclops notices this and begins to follow him through the corridors of this weird city which again somehow then just like lead up to the ceiling like the roof of the city yeah i don't understand top of the dome
01:02:56
Speaker
Garak the Petrified Man, Garak the Sun God, thinks to himself that he expended too much energy making the city, and he's now no more powerful than a human. And he's attempting to make it to the city's power grid to re-energize.
01:03:11
Speaker
Cyclops, meanwhile, tells us that the reason for the cooling of the Savage Land is that the geothermal heat sink in the center of the region is being covered by the city and used as a power source.
01:03:24
Speaker
Thanks, Cyclops. That makes sense. Yeah, sure. The two men match blasts, finding themselves almost entirely equal as we cut back to the X-Men's big fight.
01:03:38
Speaker
Turns out, as Garak the Petrified Man, a.k.a. Garak the Sun God, is draining the power from the city, the city is starting to fall apart. Soon, the X-Men see both Cyclops and Garak the Petrified Man, a.k.a. Garak the Sun God, tumbling through the seemingly endless thermal shaft.
01:03:56
Speaker
Banshee manages to catch Cyclops, and Storm tries to save Garak the Petrified Man, a.k.a. Garak the Sun God, but misses his hand by inches. As she escapes, the city crumbles and explodes around her.
01:04:08
Speaker
o Storm is sad that she failed to save Garak the Petrified Man, a.k.a. Garak the Sun God's life. Two weeks later. That's called a Fortnite, Matt. Oh, thanks.
01:04:21
Speaker
ah The river has thawed and the X-Men take off on a boat into a massive storm to be continued. What? What? Don't go into a storm.
01:04:34
Speaker
They wanted to. i Why'd you make the X-Men go into a storm? They wanted to. Sorry. Quick Kurt Rupert. He teleports up into the sky to fight a bird rider. It's fucking cool. It's cool.
01:04:48
Speaker
Yeah. Another Wolverine centric issue. Oh, yeah. Yeah. There is a moment, though, where Wolverine gets his arm bit by ah ah it looks like a velociraptor.
01:05:03
Speaker
Although I think that's a creation of Jurassic Park, right? Some sort of. tiny carnivorous dinosaur yeah uh just straight bites his arm from the fist down and of course wolverine extends his claws through the back of his head and kills this little dinosaur but storm is like he loves doing it he loves killing little dinosaurs your arm is pretty fucked up. Like, should you stay back while we continue the mission? And he says, no, I heal real fast.
01:05:34
Speaker
and And he says, a beast ain't been born that can break my bones. So we know. There it is, though. Healing factor. Yeah. yeah And he's like, he is unaffected by yeah yeah this dinosaur bite.
01:05:47
Speaker
It's finally. We've got the Wolverine. Yeah. we also He also talks about using his senses to track down the X-Men.
01:05:58
Speaker
A lot, yeah. He's fully Wolverine now. There's a really... Kurt Rupert, there's a really cool moment where he where Wolverine asks him to teleport that huge distance.
01:06:10
Speaker
And he thinks to himself... There's this awesome like dichotomy where he thinks to himself... He's like, i haven't I've never tried this. This could go really badly. and But he says, watch me.
01:06:24
Speaker
Watch me. It's so cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Scott's eyes get covered by a visor here. ah Visor on top of his normal visor, which of course yes is the expected plan. But did he not try slamming his head against a brick wall repeatedly?
01:06:46
Speaker
He's tied to a vibranium pole. Did he forget how well that works? Just turn around, smash your face on a vibranium pole a few dozen times. Maybe last time he did it he hit his head so hard that he forgot that it's a viable solution.
01:07:04
Speaker
Maybe that's why they didn't free him. They're like, oh, he'll just he'll just slam his head against his bonds a couple times and they'll break. Very cool fight on top of that dome.
01:07:14
Speaker
I really appreciate Chris Claremont's taste for cool battle backgrounds. Right. The two of them on top of a giant dome city.
01:07:29
Speaker
And these like mountains in Firing glasses at each other. yeah Lighting up the sky. It's very cool. And I really only have one more thing about this. Garok, the petrified man, aka Garok, the sun god.
01:07:42
Speaker
I wish we could have called him something else. Like, this that recap would have been so much shorter. We're told that he is taking people from the Savage Land into his city, and if they don't, he's ah killing them.
01:07:57
Speaker
Yeah. They destroy the city. They take the... They crash the sky down onto the city. Did they kill thousands of Savage Landers?
01:08:09
Speaker
It's so... Okay, this is why I'm saying Garak's plan is so dumb, so poorly thought out. oh Oh, my God. Who was that? Yeah, what that's weird that that came out of that. Garak, the petrified man, a.k.a. Garak, the sun god.
01:08:24
Speaker
His plan is so dumb. He's so poorly defined. It's resolved so easily without any detail about the city, about how they navigate it, about, like, there's no complications here. It's just we get there, we free them, we win.
01:08:45
Speaker
Like, feels like Chris Claremont was told by some editor, Jim Shooter, whoever that is, hey, we just ended...
01:08:57
Speaker
Kesar and since the X-Men have met Kesar before you have to do this story there Or maybe Chris Claremont meant them like he had the X-Men in Antarctica. Maybe he was sending them to the Savage Land anyway, assuming they would just have like a little tie in with Kesar whatever crossover or not even a crossover. Just like, oh, and whatever's happening in Kesar will reference it. But they'll just have a cute little adventure with Kesar. Maybe they'll go fight.
01:09:25
Speaker
They'll fight Sauron and then they'll go home. But Jim Shooter's like, oh, sorry, we just ended Kesar. So if you put the X-Men in the Savage Land, you have to wrap up the Garok story.
01:09:37
Speaker
Right. It's kind of a how could you come to the Savage Land without ah addressing this thing that we left hanging when we canceled Kesar? And he's like, I don't want to. I find this stupid.
01:09:50
Speaker
I find this boring and they're like, sorry, man, you gotta, you put them in the savage land. Can't go back on it now. Because again, it's just so absolutely nothing. Right.
01:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, somebody had to say, like, look, you got to finish Doug's story. He's a real mensch. Ah, you idiot. You idiot.
01:10:14
Speaker
Matt told me I wasn't allowed to tell that joke. Right, right into Pat's email corner and said, hey Pat, tell Matt that ah Pat's an idiot.
01:10:26
Speaker
I, yeah, I think, again, it's all so ill-defined. It's so, it's so poorly, It's so poorly conceived, poorly executed. There's interesting character moments and there's interesting action moments here. Like there's there's good X-Men shit in here.
01:10:43
Speaker
But the plot here is as bad as any Roy Thomas original X-Men plot. They do a great job of building up the mystery and then there's just no satisfying reveal to it. It just kind of ends.
01:10:57
Speaker
Yeah. and Yeah. Anyway. That's all right. I'm glad we're done with it. We're moving past it. X-Men number 117. Psywar. Oh, man, I can't wait. Oh, my God. Or PSI War.
01:11:13
Speaker
I don't know if they're referring to... like the tire pressure here oh okay chris claremont and john burns script co plots and pencils terry austin inks clem robbins letters glennis ween colors roger stern editor jim shooter editor in chief release date october 17 1978 cover date january
01:11:35
Speaker
We find the X-Men right where we left them in Drake Pass of Cape Horn the midst of the terrifying storm. oh
Professor Xavier's Past and Relationships
01:11:43
Speaker
the Drake Pass of Cape Horn. ah It's a real place, Matt. It is yeah below South America. It's how you get if you're sailing down around the bottom of South America before they built the Panama Canal.
01:11:56
Speaker
I just think it is and named after Sir Francis Drake, Drake Pass. I think it's just funny how how specific Chris Claremont always is about everything. You know, like you can't just say like, can'tish oh, they're caught in a storm. He's like, they're caught in the Drake Pass of Cape Horn. And the storm was actually a part of the El Nino weather pattern. ah The storm is so great that even Aurora can only provide a slight cover by trying to calm it.
01:12:24
Speaker
Luckily, ah Japanese Navy ship is passing by. And despite being on a sensitive government mission, the crew feels obligated to rescue the X-Men. They inform Scott that because of the sensitive nature of their mission, they'll all have to stay on board the ship until it reaches its destination. The X-Men are going to Japan.
01:12:43
Speaker
the exact opposite direction. They are in South America, and now they need to be taken all the way to Asia. Cut to x Xavier Mansion, where Jean is saying her goodbyes to Lalandra, suitcase in hand.
01:12:58
Speaker
They couldn't drop them off in Chile and they could catch a plane up north. Like, they couldn't just stop for a fucking second. Well, it's it seems like they've they're on some sort of top-secret mission and they're hoping to rescue stranded people at sea, but they they can't, like, divert from their mission anymore.
01:13:19
Speaker
Right. They don't want anyone to know they're in... The Drake Pass by Tier Del Fuego of ah around Cape Horn. ah Probably. Yeah. Yeah.
01:13:30
Speaker
They couldn't have stopped at South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
01:13:36
Speaker
I'm looking at Google Maps right now. They couldn't have stopped at Hangaroa in the Pacific Ocean. Oh, I am feeling a little Hangaroa. Let me stop by the Sandwich Islands. Yeah.
01:13:50
Speaker
i'm Sure, that is a little insensitive, but i don't but it's very good. because We're leaving it in. Yeah, if you are um if you are a resident of Hangaroa on the Isla de Pascua or the Sandwich Islands and you're offended, write into Pat's email corner.
01:14:08
Speaker
MutantMedicePod at gmail.com. Cut to x Xavier Mansion, where Jean is saying her goodbyes to Lalandra, suitcase in hand. It's time for her to move on, and there are too many memories in this house that are now painful.
01:14:20
Speaker
Remember, she believes the X-Men are dead. Yeah. Yeah. Lalandra, worrying about Charles mourning over the X-Men, makes him a very nice breakfast of coffee and bagels and lox, but he refuses to eat it.
01:14:34
Speaker
This made me mad. He says, no, I'm not hungry. He's being like granted. He has every reason to be upset. Yeah. Yeah. But he's being such a big baby.
01:14:46
Speaker
No, I don't want any. And also she got bagels, cream cheese, lox. She made him coffee. She was like, i don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to try. It's a very sweet gesture. He's like, want pancakes.
01:14:58
Speaker
And it sounds like a delicious breakfast. But Xavier has taken on the burden of the X-Men's deaths, having formed and led the team himself. And he's not entirely wrong for feeling that way. Yeah. He stares into the distance, telling constantly getting X-Men killed like this is not every single time. He's like, oh, I can't believe I got the X-Men killed. And then he does the exact same thing. yeah it turns out they didn't die. And he's like, oh, thank God. all right. i have another insanely dangerous mission for you to go on.
01:15:28
Speaker
Oh, no, they got killed. I'll never do this again. guess you will. You will tomorrow. I guarantee it. Not this time, Matt.
01:15:40
Speaker
This time he stares into the distance, telling us that he just keeps going back to the beginning. Flashback to Xavier's postgrad, where he and Moira McTaggart were in love and set to be married before he was drafted into the Korean War.
01:15:56
Speaker
despite promising to wait for him to return during the war. bet now it's like the Iraq war though, right? ha Or maybe even now it's like scaled up. It would be ah if it's 1978, the Korean war was like the mid fifties. So yeah, it would have been So if if we go 20 years around the year early aughts, the quote unquote war on terror.
01:16:22
Speaker
ah Which is where they would have found the ah Cave of Sidorak. so So, so wild. And, you know, like all the ah soldiers in the War on Terror, he would have turned into an alt-right guy who's really obsessed with World of Warcraft.
01:16:40
Speaker
And that would have been a very different Professor X. Despite promising to wait for him to return, during the war, Charles received a letter from Moira, breaking things off and asking him not to follow her.
01:16:52
Speaker
Right after his stepbrothers died, too. Bad year for Charlie x Xavier. Yeah, sure. Heartbroken, he bums around the Mediterranean for a few years before moving on to Cairo and dressing like a crocodile Dundee villain. He's pickpocketed by Aurora in her childhood thief days, but this isn't relevant to the story at all. It's just an incredible coincidence. Yeah, let's not pass over this. He gets pickpocketed by a little girl. Turns out it's Storm.
01:17:23
Speaker
But in chasing her down the street to get his wallet back, he senses a dark, powerful presence firing psychic warning shots at him and follows that feeling into a sketchy, tense lounge.
01:17:36
Speaker
He takes a seat, declines any table service, and waits quietly. It's actually pretty badass, man. It's pretty cool. This scene actually rolls. And i do think...
01:17:47
Speaker
This just struck me. I do think that him running into Aurora is plot relevant. And I'll explain why later. All right. I don't believe you.
01:17:57
Speaker
But OK. Out walks an Egyptian man looking like Wilson Fisk in a fez and extremely cool tiny sunglasses. If Wilson Fisk was legitimately very fat.
01:18:10
Speaker
Right, like they've gone out of their way to say, he's actually not fat. He's actually got a just weird musculature. Right, except for Spider-Man who... Calls him fat all the time. Yeah. Continues to call him fat. But this guy's got like rolls of fat like yeah yeah dripping off of his collar.
01:18:28
Speaker
But it's packed into a very nice suit and he's got a big, bald, shiny head. He looks a lot like Wilson Fisk, just with a fez on. And again, can't express enough how cool these tiny sunglasses look like. They're so little.
01:18:42
Speaker
ah The psychic conversation begins immediately. The large man introduces himself as Amal Farouk, acknowledges Xavier's immense psychic power, and offers him riches and pleasure if Charles will come work for his crime syndicate.
01:18:56
Speaker
Xavier stands on his principles, and the two prepare for psychic battle.
01:19:01
Speaker
The battle unfolds like this. Both men present their astral forms, Farouk's being much larger and more muscular than his physical form. Immediately, Farouk twists reality around them and they find themselves battling on a golden platform against a cosmic backdrop.
01:19:17
Speaker
Nude. Charles notes that they are fairly nude. Charles, their astral forms are nude. Charles notes that Farouk must be powerful to bring up this illusion while preparing for psychic battle and feels a fear he hasn't felt since his first patrol in Korea.
01:19:34
Speaker
Farouk sees this hesitation and takes the opportunity to transform into a warrior form and strike. Charles is able to pull up psychic armor to protect himself, but he's on the defensive and knows he's outmatched here.
01:19:47
Speaker
Farouk transforms into a beefy demon who can blast beams from his hand and gets a clean shot at Xavier's back. Back in the lounge, the two men sit silent, but a seer appears on the back of Charles' shirt where the blast hit him.
01:20:02
Speaker
When Farouk transforms into a massive cosmic beast, though, like Xavier realizes he's been fighting in Farouk's terms. Farouk is a very skilled with illusion, but ultimately, it's raw power that wins psychic battles.
01:20:15
Speaker
He focuses all his mental energy, allows Farouk to pull him close, where he, and I'll quote him here, focused my mutant power into a beam of incredible strength and shot it into Farouk's brain like a laser.
01:20:28
Speaker
m Back in the diner, we see three panoramic panels. One, the two men sit still and silent in the lounge. Two, as x Xavier rises from his table, Farouk's head drops with a powerful thud onto his own table.
01:20:43
Speaker
And three, Farouk's servants rush to check on him as x Xavier puts his hat on and leaves. With the char still on his back, too. Yeah, yeah.
01:20:53
Speaker
The next panel, he, like, reaches around and he's in pain. He's like, like, they don't ignore it, which is, I think, cool. A cool little, um... John Byrne. Yeah. yeah Back to the present, ah Xavier reflects on how this kicked his life's purpose into action, leading him to eventually found the X-Men and in his mind, eventually get them all killed.
01:21:14
Speaker
Llandra makes an intriguing offer. It's time for her to return to her empire to rule it. And Charles can join her. I guess the paperwork is done. I guess. With nothing left for him here on Earth, he agrees to join her.
01:21:28
Speaker
In an
Jean Grey's Introspection
01:21:29
Speaker
epilogue, we see Jean at the airport ready to return home when she runs into Misty Knight. Misty's on her way to Japan to help Colleen wing on a job. Jean waves goodbye and realizes that she's alone.
01:21:42
Speaker
Yeah, for the first time in her life. Yeah, yeah. Even when she was in college, she had fucking dipshit Ted Roberts. She is going back to her parents' place.
01:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. But for the duration of this flight, she's alone. Or actually,
Amal Farouk and His Role in X-Men
01:22:00
Speaker
maybe she is. I guess we don't know where she's going. And the next time we see her, we do know where she's going. Eventually, we find out. Yeah. Next time we see her, we find out where she was.
01:22:09
Speaker
Matt, now I have never seen this man in comics before, Amal Farouk. Really? i do him as one of the driving villainous forces Legion.
01:22:22
Speaker
legion Did he look like this in Legion? Or was his just name is Amal Farouk? His name is Amal Farouk, and he does not look like this, but his, like, weird psychic form kind of looks like this man if he melted. Okay.
01:22:40
Speaker
Anyway, i i recognized this name, and I said, holy shit, because I know from the three out of four seasons of Legion that I watched that this guy's fucking...
01:22:53
Speaker
Maniac. This guy. Yes. This guy ends up being a pretty big deal. oh we will see him next in the new mutants.
01:23:06
Speaker
Nice. And then we will see him much later in the X-Men where he will be. It's really disappointing. He will be part of a major Chris Claremont storyline.
01:23:21
Speaker
That. fizzles out when when the editorial direction ah changes okay but then he will be a big part of x-men forever onward so we will see so yeah we'll'll we'll get we'll get plenty of em all farouk I can't wait. He is legitimately terrifying in that show, and I ah would love to see the inspiration for that.
01:23:49
Speaker
Unless I misunderstand... There's something I might be misunderstanding, but he might live in Psylocke's eye for a little while. Okay. I believe you. um I thought this whole thing was fucking cool. I think the... Yes.
01:24:07
Speaker
The beginning where the X-Men are navigating a storm is a little silly, but this is... but This is the first time i saw a psychic battle and felt the stakes of it. And like the way that they keep flashing back and forth between reality and the battle in their minds.
01:24:22
Speaker
This scene in the diner and Farouk collapsing on a table is so sort of iconic and repeated so many times through X-Men history. I kind of, i had to look it up. I thought we had already encountered this man.
01:24:40
Speaker
yeah. We hadn't. yeah No, no, no, no. This is his first appearance, but it was. Yeah, I mean, i scene this scene is so cool. A heavily referenced. Yes. Three panel series.
01:24:51
Speaker
Yes. And it rules like it just sticks in your head forever. You never want to read this. These three panels, you never forget them. Yeah, yeah. So cool. We'll have to post them on Instagram.
01:25:03
Speaker
It's so funny that this era of Professor X's life, he's just walking around the world collecting arch nemeses like friendship bracelets at a fucking Taylor Swift concert. He's like wandering around.
01:25:16
Speaker
He's like, oh, ah Magneto. Oh, me and Magneto, we were best friends, but then something happened and now he's my archenemy. Oh, and me and Ahma Farouk.
01:25:27
Speaker
ah You know, met once in Egypt. Well, now we're the biggest. Now we're absolute arch-nemeses. Oh, this one time i was freeing a small South African nation from an oppressive government. Nah, me and Lucifer are arch-nemeses. Oh, yeah. And then me and my stepbrother, we were fighting in the Korean War together. And I left him in a temple. And ooh, now we're arch-nemeses forever. Just like...
01:25:54
Speaker
non-stop in this era and this is what the x-men are constantly struggling against this the fact that for 10 years a depressed charles x xavier wandered around the world making enemies and now they have to put up with it forever forever He even at the end of the flashback, he's like, and then I went on to fight Lucifer and lost the use of my legs. And then I formed the X-Men.
01:26:23
Speaker
And that's why I'm sad. Exactly. And again, it's just half of the people the X-Men have fought have just been people that almost as if he formed a team of superhumans to protect him from all of his mortal enemies in life.
01:26:39
Speaker
Man, one of my favorite lines earlier, in this is when they're in the storm you know in drake passage on cape horn yeah yeah they're in the storm and banshee goes me sonic scream is near useless in this bad a blow and this bad a blow pat in this bad a bad a blow in this bad a blow his sonic scream is near you In this battle blow.
Cultural Notes and X-Men Adventures in Japan
01:27:08
Speaker
In most blows, his sonic scream works, but in this battle blow, his sonic scream is useless. That must be one bad blow. Before we move on to the next issue, I did a little Googling. Oh, boy.
01:27:25
Speaker
Island of Pascua is also called Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. So a little embarrassing that we pretended like it was something really obscure.
01:27:39
Speaker
No one knew about it. That's fair. we We're ready we've come full circle, though. You're embarrassed. My last bit is they speak French a little bit in this issue. And I looked that up, too, because I was I i was interested. Why? Because they're in Egypt.
01:27:56
Speaker
And apparently for about 100 years from the early from like early eighteen hundreds to the early french was a major language in Egypt, especially the major cities and because of British influence.
01:28:14
Speaker
British influence like colonization or. well the world opening up a bit when the British were colonizing all over the place.
01:28:26
Speaker
high-class English people would often learn French as like a status symbol. And so it sort of became the way that Britain communicated with its colonies.
01:28:41
Speaker
And so a lot of colonial spaces, like the way that British would speak with foreigners was through French. And so that's why...
01:28:53
Speaker
Professor X orders his coffee in French in this little Cairo coffee shop. but Uncanny X-Men number 118. Wait, wait, I want to I want to comment on one thing. Okay. i As they are navigating the Drake Pass, Wolverine, somebody is like, well, couldn't Storm just control the storm with her powers? And Wolverine's like, I don't think you understand.
01:29:17
Speaker
He lists off a bunch of facts about what you have to do to navigate the Drake Pass. The fuck do you know about this? Yeah.
01:29:28
Speaker
He's one of those guys. He's one those guys, like one of your friends who just cut like a has to know everything about everything. And he's like, oh, in the Drake, in this battle blow, Storm can't do anything.
01:29:43
Speaker
keep
01:29:46
Speaker
uncanny x-men number 118 the submergence of japan ah by chris claremont and john byrne with rick villamonte as the guest inker tom orzakowski as the letterer glennis ween is the colorist roger stern is our editor and some guy named jim shooter is the editor-in-chief dork release date november 14th 1978 cover date february 1979 after an enjoyable six-week journey on the japanese navy ship the x-men another six weeks matt so much time is passing yeah i now we're at what two three months since the expba yeah the x-men are finally arriving in aragashima honshu japan
01:30:38
Speaker
But it's not a pleasant scene. oh The city is aflame after an earthquake. The X-Men rush to shore to help and try to find a way to contact Professor X. Quick Kurt report here, Matt.
01:30:52
Speaker
Yeah. Kurt is able to teleport to the docks ahead of the rest of the gang, noting that after Scott's training on the ship over the last six weeks, he can teleport further than ever before without even getting tired.
01:31:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's more powerful. Wolverine finds a newspaper and to everyone's surprise, he can read Japanese. This is great. This is the second time this scene has happened. Remember when he and Banshee and Gene were in Stephen Lang's base and Banshee said, you never told us those claws came right out of your arms.
01:31:29
Speaker
And he's like, you never asked. Yeah, yeah. and now it is. hey you never told us you read Japanese. ah ah You never asked.
01:31:40
Speaker
It's very good. He's got a slight little smile on his face about it. Here's a funny thing, though. Cyclops says, well, next time ah I'll make sure I know better. And yet still, nobody asks him about his fucking name. Nobody says, but by the way, what's your name?
01:31:58
Speaker
By the way, we don't know your name. ah He explains that there was a full evacuation of the city because the government had advanced knowledge that an earthquake was coming.
01:32:13
Speaker
I don't know. Seems unbelievable, but hey, Wolverine's just reading the news. Can't blame him. We make a quick trip to space where we see Llander's ship leaving Earth's orbit while she and x Xavier make out on board.
01:32:30
Speaker
Back in Japan, the X-Men have gotten into costume and snuck up to the Yoshida Ancestral Manor, hoping to find Sunfire and get his help. And instead of just, you know, walking up to the door.
01:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, he probably remembers us. it's They've been spending too much time with Peter Corbeau. They're like climbing over the wall. They're getting nude. So they're there to get Sunfire's help, but the compound is on lockdown.
01:32:51
Speaker
And while they can sneak by the military guard, Sunfire spots them and confronts them. He knows the X-Men, but clearly things are tense around here and he doesn't like that they were sneaking into his home.
01:33:03
Speaker
Luckily, Misty freaking Night is here. Yes. And pulls rank on behalf of the Prime Minister on Sunfire. The X-Men are pulled in to help.
01:33:15
Speaker
Cut. To the alley behind this compound where a sinister truck is driven by sinister characters starts activating a sinister assault force.
01:33:27
Speaker
There's one alley they forgot to set up a military patrol on. and They strike at midnight. Sunfire and Colleen Wing argue about how to handle a threat ah with some high up Japanese officials. They're arguing in Japanese though so Cyclops doesn't...
01:33:43
Speaker
He can't understand it. He just wanders away. here yeah Exactly. just walks out. He just wanders away. and Colleen Wing is like, oh that guy's hot. Like that's there's no point in any of these panels.
01:33:58
Speaker
We learn that the earthquake was indeed planned and the government had been given the exact date and time it would occur. Sunfire feels he can handle the threat on his own, but no one else agrees with him. seems like He's the only one that feels this way. It seems like a big part of Sunfire's life, right?
01:34:14
Speaker
Yeah. ah Misty calls home and we find out that she and Ironfist are back together. We wouldn't know. We're not following Iron Fist. Once she's done on the phone, she hands it to Scott to call Xavier, but the number has been disconnected.
01:34:32
Speaker
Back outside, we see the same sinister actors unloading battle suits that can, quote, pulverize any mutant scum. Back in the compound, Wolverine meets Sunfire's sister, Mariko, has a pleasant conversation with her in Japanese, and notes how beautiful she is. Huh.
01:34:50
Speaker
Seems like he's moving on. But before he can do anything about it. What did you mean by that, Pat? From Jean? No. When you wrote, but before he can do anything about it.
01:35:03
Speaker
About how beautiful she is. What would he do about it? Mention it to her. Come on to her. Okay. Okay. What he seems like what do you... Tell me what you were thinking it.
01:35:15
Speaker
No, it just seems like you were suggesting some sort of action. Like he would do that would be in action. OK, all right. What kind of action are you thinking about that? No, if that's all you meant it popped into your head. If that's all you and met heard. No, if that's all a beautiful woman and wanted to take action.
01:35:32
Speaker
That's if that's all you meant, noting how beautiful she is. But before he can do anything about it, if that's all you meant, then that's fine. Anyway, another earthquake strikes is the point.
01:35:44
Speaker
As the compound collapses around them, in walks the Mandroids! Alright. Funniest name in comics. They also look out. It's a Mandroid. They also just look so stupid.
01:36:01
Speaker
They're like big cylinders with arms.
01:36:07
Speaker
They've been sent by their boss to bring back. it It'd be like if you wore a balloon. You would look like a Mandroid.
01:36:16
Speaker
ah They've been sent by their boss to bring back the government officials, dead or alive. and They immediately take out Sunfire, but seem entirely... Turns he couldn't handle them alone.
01:36:29
Speaker
ah But seem entirely unprepared for the X-Men as they get fucked up in short order. The X-Men help Sunfire and co. start cleaning up the damage when a hologram starts broadcasting from one of the defunct Mandroid costumes.
01:36:44
Speaker
A man in a space suit with a goatee, afro, and receding hairline appears, calling himself Moses Magnum, Master of the Magnum Force. He demands to be named Ruler of Japan or he'll sink the entire country to be continued. He'll sink the entire country of Japan. Look, Moses Magnum of the Magnum Force is going to sink the country of Japan.
01:37:11
Speaker
The Magnum Force is a new one. Yeah. you why Are you familiar with Moses Magnum? and This is the only place in which I've become familiar with Moses Magnum.
01:37:23
Speaker
I have seen him once before in Power Man Annual Number One. Okay. you ah He comes from in this next issue we're about to read. This is his next appearance after that. ah It's not great.
01:37:39
Speaker
He's not... He's not interested. I constantly, in my memory, confused him with Count Nefaria for a long time. is I just was like, oh, it's that guy who I guess they fought. I think it's that guy they fought way back when they were, when it was the original five.
01:37:56
Speaker
And I just assumed Moses Magnum and Count Nefaria were the same guy. Yeah, yeah, kind of interchangeable. Yeah, they're just a nobody thing. They're like, okay, oh, crime guy who has a plan.
01:38:08
Speaker
Crime guy. mariko yoshida is here mariko yoshida that's a name i recognize yeah i she's gonna be a big big part of wolverine's story forever mariko it's in the eye the animated series he's always he's always longing for mariko there's another sequence of colossus we didn't really talk about it yet did we There's this subplot.
01:38:42
Speaker
i guess I guess he talks about it a little more in the next issue. But there's this subplot where Colossus is like, oh, I'm so useless. Oh, all right. He's like, oh, i keep I keep getting into fights and getting knocked out right away. i The X-Men could really get along without me.
01:38:59
Speaker
In this one, though, he gets... Like blasted in the air and lands on the street in like a little a little hole.
01:39:11
Speaker
And while the bad guys are getting away, there's this super fucking cool panel of their truck driving over the hole that Colossus landed in And silent panel of just his fucking hand sticking out of the ground.
01:39:25
Speaker
And then the next panel is he's ripped out the entire suspension from the car, the truck, and it just goes crashing to the ground. So cool. It is, Matt, I don't think you're given the it's not a subplot. It is a character moment where- I don't fucking buy it.
01:39:44
Speaker
Colossus is just, he's got imposter syndrome about being an X-Man. Like everybody thinks he's the most powerful X-Man. Every time he gets defeated, he questions if that's really the case. I think that's extremely relatable.
01:39:59
Speaker
And again, probably something that Chris Claremont is going through at the time. Yeah. I, my feeling about it is like Colossus is fine.
01:40:12
Speaker
Just being a chill ah Zen kind of guy who misses home a little bit, loves his friends and doesn't think too deeply about stuff.
01:40:23
Speaker
But it feels like Chris Claremont's like, well, we have to, everybody has to have these little arcs. Every character has to have these bits of conflict that they're really struggling with.
01:40:34
Speaker
And what's Colossus's? Maybe he's like, Oh, I'm not helping the team enough. I don't know. Sure. yeah Sure. That works.
01:40:46
Speaker
I guess I just like characters with depth, but that's me. This is not depth. This is so. out of talk We got to talk about the Banshee Cyclops plan that apparently they thought of before this, but where Cyclops is, I guess, blinking his eyes to send out a syncopated blast.
01:41:10
Speaker
Banshee from the other side of this mandroid. Plan S. Syncopation. Screaming. Well, with now that Scott's naming the plans, it's probably Plan Gemini.
01:41:25
Speaker
Banshee from the other side of the mandroid screams in a frequency that matches the syncopation of Cyclops's blasts. Yeah. Which causes so much molecular distress. They say molecular distress and on the costume that it just shatters into bits.
01:41:43
Speaker
i I don't. I don't. and Yeah. i's So number one, I don't understand why they broke this. I think I'm on the same page with you as i don't. But.
01:41:54
Speaker
where did they even get this idea like in case we're ever fighting a thing called a mandroid have the best idea and let's practice it well a few hundred times yes but i also mean where did chris claremont oh oh john burn that you can just i get that there are frequencies that can create some sort of you enough tension and vibration that it can cause a piece of glass to break. Right. Yeah.
01:42:26
Speaker
But that's not what they're doing here. ah No, ah you know, the way I, I feel like it is still Chris Claremont saying,
01:42:37
Speaker
In what way, and I think he does it more successfully next issue, but he's still doing the same thing he was doing way back at the beginning of his run, and where he's just trying to go, in what ways can I combine all the X-Men's powers to have them pull off some feat that they couldn't do on their own?
01:42:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It is... it's, it is a great way to have them work together for
Festive Conclusion and Character Reflections
01:43:05
Speaker
sure. It's just, it's, but he, he, he never, he hasn't quite nailed it yet. Like, you're like you're saying, like, it's just, he has to come up with some nonsense. ah It is better than all of us shoot one of us.
01:43:19
Speaker
And that makes that supercharges that guy. And then he blasts this, the air, he blasts up into the sky and then we got it. Someday it'll make sense.
01:43:30
Speaker
Yeah.
01:43:33
Speaker
um Once again, we can't get to it making sense without getting through Uncanny X-Men number 119. Was the night before Christmas. I love a good Christmas episode.
01:43:47
Speaker
Chris Claremont. That's what this is going to be, right? ye The night before Christmas, Matt. Oh, okay. Sorry. Chris Claremont, John Byrne, author, co-plotters, and penciler, respectively.
01:43:58
Speaker
Terry Austin, inker, Costanza, letters, G. Ween, colors, R. Stern, editor, J. Shooter, Ed in chief. Release date, December 12th, 1978. Cover date, March 1979.
01:44:10
Speaker
We open on storm carrying Nightcrawler through the sky. They've got a plan so crazy it just might work.
01:44:19
Speaker
Is dropped from the sky over a remote island complex and teleports his way onto the roof, slips inside, and takes out a guard. Fuck yeah. He reflects on how he ended up here.
01:44:31
Speaker
Flashback to a few hours ago where a Japanese military man is explaining to the X-Men that they're Japan's last hope to stop Moses Magnum before he sinks Japan into the ocean.
01:44:42
Speaker
He also explains that this is scientifically possible. Yeah. Oh, okay. Just in case you had doubts. Back to the present. Kurt gives the signal to Misty Knight that he's in and the X-Men mount their attack.
01:44:55
Speaker
Banshee wreaks havoc on the complex's radar with a sonic scream. All screams are sonic. Kurt sneaks by the guards into the basement to get to the next step of the plan. Storm brings a hailstorm through the halls to clear out security.
01:45:08
Speaker
Banshee reflects on the sound of their sonic cannon back to its operators. rain All cannons are sonic. No, that's not true. yeah Cyclops, Sunfire, Colossus, and Wolverine are all tunneling into the complex in scuba gear, having entered through the sea.
01:45:24
Speaker
This is classic X-Men, but they're doing it and underwater this time. And and this is this is finally exactly what what I was just talking about. Everybody's using their powers in these unique ways, and it like works. Okay, sorry, keep going. Nightcrawler, in the control center, sets off a homing device, allowing Cyclops to pinpoint that control center and tunnel blast his way in.
01:45:48
Speaker
yes, yes, yes. beam shoots through the floor, and out pops up the head of Colossus. Yes! But... Where is Nightcrawler? Colossus asks, just as he's punched in the back of the head by Moses Magnum. Fucking.
01:46:03
Speaker
He saw the X-Men. What a dipshit. He saw the X-Men coming, has already incapacitated Kurt, and is ready to take out the rest of the X-Men. Yeah. Colossus goes flying, having to stop himself from falling off the island altogether, and does reflect on how frequently he's lost fights recently.
01:46:21
Speaker
He's supposed to be the strongest X-Man. Yeah, sure. Inside, everyone's trying to blast each other, and Moses Magnum displays his power by knocking out Wolverine with one cold backhand.
01:46:32
Speaker
Cyclops sends Sunfire to blast his way out the roof and bring in Banshee and Storm. But at that very moment, Magnum brings out his Mark II mandroids to face Scott alone. Not the Mark IIs!
01:46:45
Speaker
But Scott's not actually alone. Colossus walks back in through the hole in the wall he was punched through and makes fools of the mandroids. Sensing defeat, Magnum runs out of the room to follow up on his ultimatum.
01:46:58
Speaker
Japan must be destroyed. As he runs, he reminisces about how he acquired this new power to create earthquakes at will, I think.
01:47:11
Speaker
It happened when his laser beam, his exotic combat suit, and the elemental force of an earthquake combined to imbue him with more power instead of killing him.
01:47:22
Speaker
It's really not important. So, yeah, I mean, that's that's basically what they're saying, right? Is don't think too hard about this. He has power now. But somebody will eventually...
01:47:36
Speaker
say to themselves oh that didn't make any sense did it and come up with a new explanation it's it's in this classic it's in the classic x-men that this gets reprinted in and they'll come up with a new explanation for how moses magnum has this power and it's it's almost stupider it's almost stupider than this well i don't know that we're not following classic x-men
01:48:07
Speaker
ah With Magnum locked into his earthquake chamber, Banshee comes up with a plan. He tells Scott to get the whole team off the island and flies outside to try to match Magnum's earthquake energy beam with the energy of his own screams.
01:48:21
Speaker
An intense power battle ensues, resulting in an energy feedback that blows up the entire island. Damn. Misty Knight shows up to rescue the X-Men, and we see that Banshee is in bad shape after all that screaming.
01:48:36
Speaker
Ten days later, we see Sean leaving the hospital a bit disappointed that no one visited him the whole time in a hospital in a foreign country.
01:48:48
Speaker
Not one X-Man. He does say you just say they apparently were there the whole time that he was unconscious. But since he's woken up, nobody's – he hasn't seen anybody.
01:49:00
Speaker
i He reflects on how he might be too old for this X-Men business anyway and yearns for Moira when he's surprised when he enters his room by an X-Men Christmas party.
01:49:11
Speaker
Whoa. They do love him after all. Or they were just already having a Christmas party and they were like – and the hospital called and they were like, oh, well your friend woke up. And they were god quick, quick, somebody paint – Merry Christmas, Sean on a banner. Yeah.
01:49:27
Speaker
It isn't a welcome back Banshee party. It is a Christmas party with a Christmas tree on Christmas. And ah anyway, we do. We get a a nice couple of party pages.
01:49:39
Speaker
ah Scott and Sunfire give Sean a warm welcome. Wolverine goes to make his move on Mariko. Storm reflects on how this feels like a family now. What do you mean by make his move?
01:49:51
Speaker
He's going to talk to her and try – what do you think I mean? No, I just – I didn't know what you meant. You said he was make his move. What would you when you go to make your move? You said he was going to go make his move like he was going to go perform some sort of action. So I thought maybe you were talking something. He perform an action. He's probably going to chat with her and flirt with her a little bit. Oh, okay. All right. No, that's fine.
01:50:09
Speaker
Is that what you would do that situation? if that's exactly what you meant, that's exactly what I meant. Okay. Storm reflects on how this feels like a family now and expresses her love for Kurt with a kiss on the cheek before going out and chatting with Peter on the balcony.
01:50:22
Speaker
Peter expresses that he loves the X-Men like his family, but unlike most of the X-Men, he does have a real family as well and he misses them very much. That's an organic character conflict. That is organically part of his story. Oh, yeah. I miss my family. It's hard to be sinking into a new family and spending so much time far away from my home. Like, that is where Colossus's inner tension exists. Not... I thought I little forced...
01:50:50
Speaker
fuck No, I'm kidding. It's a very sweet and tender moment. It's also very sweet when Storm kisses Kurt on the cheek and he gets just the most delighted look on his face. He's got this jolliness in his eye. It's really... It's ah it's all very cute. they're Very cute. They're happy. They're enjoying a party together. It's really... And this is the end of the story, so we know that yeah they just get to be happy for a little while and party together at Christmas.
01:51:22
Speaker
Cut to... Edinburgh, Scotland, where Jean gets another epilogue. She hops off a train and is welcomed by Moira, Alex, Lorna, and even Jamie Madrox.
01:51:35
Speaker
It's still Christmas. we And we know where they've been. Yeah. they yeah They went. They tried to join the Defenders. for they yeah Well, they fought the Living Monolith.
01:51:46
Speaker
Then they tried to join the Defenders for a little bit. And now they are meeting Jean. i Yeah, it seems like they've just been hanging out on Muir Island, t which is you so glad that we mutant can get a job.
01:52:00
Speaker
So glad that we know what they were up to during this time. It's still Christmas and they'll all celebrate the holidays together in Scotland before they head off to Muir Island. It seems like this is Jean's new future as well.
01:52:14
Speaker
Then we cut to Muir Island, dark and desolate with a salty old fisherman creeping around the grounds.
Creative Tensions and Cartoon Memories
01:52:21
Speaker
It's Angus McWherter, Matt. You remember Angus McWherter? Angus McWherter is back!
01:52:26
Speaker
This is the man that the X-Men stole a hovercraft from and then destroyed. Angus McWherter, innocent. He is feeling cheated by the X-Men still. His solution, blow up the Muir Island facility and anyone inside.
01:52:45
Speaker
But... All right, maybe not so innocent. But as soon as he gains access and creeps past the mutant X door, we saw several issues and two Magneto battles ago. catches sight of ah something awful screeching at him. Human, I need you.
01:53:08
Speaker
The narrator lets us know that Angus doesn't even have time to scream as he meets his fate.
01:53:15
Speaker
The end.
01:53:18
Speaker
Yeah, that's an X-Men issue. um
01:53:23
Speaker
It's a nice X-Men issue. They get a little fight in and then they do a lot of socializing and then there's somebody gets murdered at the end. How do you love um how do you like ah Moses Magnum?
01:53:36
Speaker
i At the first sign of any attack, Pat, he's going to trigger his magnum force. which he His name was already Moses Magnum, but this is a new power for him.
01:53:52
Speaker
Hey, don't make me trigger my magnum force. What do you mean by that? What do you mean? He would trigger the power that he has that he calls the magnum force.
01:54:03
Speaker
Okay.
01:54:07
Speaker
There's some really powerful art by John Byrne here showing Banshee exerting his powers, like pushing himself to his absolute limit. There's a really good head head panel where Moses Malone is his and is on one side.
01:54:24
Speaker
Moses Magnum. Moses Moses Magnum is on one side it's a close-up of him like clearly exerting all his energy you can see it in his face and then the other side is Banshee doing the same thing exerting all his energy you can see it in his face and then it becomes so fucking funny when you remember that he is also screaming at the top of his lungs
01:54:49
Speaker
Yeah, he's like, as he's, flat you just keep having to remember when he's flying around, everyone's just hearing. ah see He looks like he's lifting 500 pounds, right? Like an adrenaline struck man doing everything within his physical limits.
01:55:08
Speaker
ah But also at the same time, he's going, hey.
01:55:14
Speaker
You can already kind of see in that sequence, though, the cracks forming between John Byrne and Chris Claremont. Because Byrne draws all the X-Men covering their ears, right?
01:55:28
Speaker
Yes. And he does a very funny Colossus plugging his ears with one finger each. And they're they're like straining because they're they're covering their their ears, but it's not really keeping the sound out. And they're tortured. And then Chris Claremont writes, oh, the sound's so high-pitched, no one can hear it.
01:55:43
Speaker
yeah What the fuck, man? John Byrne had to be reading it and then threw the fucking comic across the room. yeah I just drew seven panels of people covering their ears.
01:55:59
Speaker
i Kurt Rupert, we see the return of his secondary power ah twice. He turns invisible in the shadows.
01:56:10
Speaker
Yeah. I've been thinking about this. Might be the last time he ever does it. Because, yeah, it's not going to come back. And why on earth did they give him this power? And I realized it's because they named him Nightcrawler and then said,
01:56:27
Speaker
What is it that he does that's nightcrawly?
01:56:32
Speaker
So instead, they just gave him the power of being able to crawl around in the dark. In the night. He's not a worm.
01:56:45
Speaker
It's a very unworm like I would actually say. What else can what else nightcrawly?
01:56:52
Speaker
i got I have one more note about this issue and I think I should get a no prize for it. OK. The title of this issue is Twas the Night Before Christmas. But we actually skip straight from December 15th to Christmas Day.
01:57:10
Speaker
We never actually see the night before Christmas.
01:57:14
Speaker
ah You know, email us, mutantmenicepod at gmail.com, and give Pat his no prize. Thank you. Well, Pat. Wait.
01:57:26
Speaker
Are you excited about Angus McWherter and Mutant X? Well, Angus McWherter is dead, I assume. Yeah, maybe. That's the end of him.
01:57:38
Speaker
Maybe. i And it might be Mutant X. He walks by the Mutant X door, but... This Muir Island. There could be any number of threats. There could be a ton of mutants. But yeah, they could be mutants. Mutants for a reason. There could be mutants A through y No.
01:57:56
Speaker
Yeah, you fucked that one up. One last thought on this issue.
01:58:06
Speaker
Have Scott and Misty... not chatted about the fact that yes he thank you saw gene at the airport this drives me fucking crazy because so okay you can suspend your disbelief a little bit like okay she sees misty knight sees gene and says hey hope scott's okay and gene not wanting to get into it says like oh thanks right And then she runs into the X-Men in the heat of battle, right? There's a lot going on. So she has no reason to assume that Scott would think that Jean is dead. Yes. She's not making small talk, so probably doesn't come up.
01:58:44
Speaker
And she doesn't know that Jean thinks that Scott is dead, right? like Right. Sure, fine. But at some point. They've been there for week. Misty Knight has had to be like, hey, so how's Jean? I just saw her.
01:59:00
Speaker
And he's got to be like, what? Yeah. It's there's just no reality. Right. That this would occur. Yeah. and like has to go up with something Unless she's fucking doing it on purpose.
01:59:15
Speaker
Right. like Like you think she's she knows and she's like, oh, let me play a little yeah mind game. Yeah. Unless she's fucking with them because she hates them all. Like that's the only possible explanation.
01:59:27
Speaker
Yeah. Matt, that's the end of our X-Men issues this episode, but I do have a Pat Steele and Deal. He's got an eye out, stuff that you had time machine that you would out, it's Pat Steele Deal.
01:59:46
Speaker
That's right, folks. We got a song now for Pat Steele and Deal. that's so good. It's going to be stuck in all of our heads for the next week. Huge thanks to Krils Wilson for ah for that one as well.
01:59:59
Speaker
Our steal and deal this week, Matt, isn't actually something you can purchase. It's something that you can sit back and enjoy. It is Saturday morning fever. It's on the rise on NBC.
02:00:12
Speaker
Okay. The new Fantastic Four, 1030 Eastern Time. Janna of the Jungle in the Godzilla Power Hour, 930 Eastern Time. Huh. Yogi's Space Race, 8 o'clock Eastern Time. NBC's new Saturday morning show starts September 9th. Check your local TV listings for time and channel.
02:00:30
Speaker
yo Okay, all right, wait. You win backwards, but Yogi's Space Race... Starts at 8 a.m. Lasts for an hour and a half. Right. And what we have here is a picture of Yogi Bear piloting a spacecraft with several Hanna-Barbera characters hanging on. ah The only one I recognize is Huckleberry Hound. Then there's like a porcupine and a weird duck with a helmet on.
02:00:56
Speaker
yeah. I'm sure there we have friends that will be very disappointed in us not recognizing these others. And then Jaina of the jungle in the Godzilla power hour. So I guess, so I guess it's Jaina of the jungle is a half hour and then Godzilla and son, which is what it looks like. This cartoon is because it's Godzilla talking to a smaller or like, like wrestling with a smaller Godzilla. Yeah.
02:01:22
Speaker
yeah And then, and then you get the new fantastic four, The new Fantastic Four. Which is I don't know, I guess there was an old Fantastic Four.
02:01:34
Speaker
I guess. Yeah. here's Here's why this is interesting, Matt. There's two reasons, I should say. Number one, NBC, during the Saturday morning cartoon revolution, is advertising directly in Marvel Comics.
02:01:46
Speaker
This is a big deal. This is, I mentioned it, I think, a few episodes back, but we're getting corporate sponsors. We're getting national advertisements in these comic books.
02:01:58
Speaker
Comics are a legitimate place at this point to start advertising in as a as a national brand, which is just cool. It means so much for the comic industry in the late 70s and what allows some of the really wild stuff that we're about to get into.
02:02:13
Speaker
Yeah. The other thing that's interesting here is that, yes, this is the new Fantastic Four because it's not the original four that we know the Fantastic Four to be. This one is soes Storm.
02:02:26
Speaker
Okay. Reed Richards. Yeah. Ben Grimm is the thing. Yes. And Herbie the robot. Looks like Herbie the robot in the picture. So what happened to the Human Torch is dead?
02:02:38
Speaker
No, the Human Torch's television rights are held by CBS at this time because they had planned to make him own Human Torch show.
02:02:51
Speaker
NBC managed to buy the rights to the Fantastic Four but couldn't use Johnny Storm. So they replaced him with Herbie the Robot. Unbelievable. Somehow makes his way into comics canon. Is it even worth making ah Fantastic Four cartoon if you don't have ah Human Torch?
02:03:11
Speaker
Right? My God. Good stuff. That's deals and deals, folks. i Also, I miss Saturday morning cartoons. that on a kids don't ah Kids don't have that. They just give they have the their screens these days. These kids these kids with their screens. They're just watching Roblox all day.
02:03:31
Speaker
Not like us. We watch Saturday morning cartoons. All day. Built character. i You know what I used to do? I used to... Upstairs, I would watch Fox Saturday morning cartoons.
02:03:48
Speaker
Downstairs, I would tape the WB Saturday morning cartoons. e And so then when Fox was over. Time to watch Freakazoid. Yeah, time to watch the cat.
02:04:00
Speaker
Exactly. Those are the two good ones. Eek the Cat might have been Fox, actually, now that I think about it. But Freakazoid was at WB, right? Freakazoid was w b that That was basically the one that I wanted to watch the most, too.
02:04:14
Speaker
Yeah, that show ruled. too So, Pat, what is your what are your overall feelings
Character Development and Storytelling Evolution
02:04:21
Speaker
here? What what are your what are your final thoughts on this this little clutch of issues?
02:04:26
Speaker
i There's a few things I noticed. Number one, we kind of mentioned this, but there is a ton of Wolverine and Colossus characterization. I think in the past we were looking at Storm, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler a lot, and they're kind of...
02:04:40
Speaker
We still get to see their characters, but get a lot of Cyclops, I'd say, but not. We're not exploring as much as we're just kind of seeing their current personalities on display, whereas Wolverine and Colossus are now the ones that are evolving, that we're getting deeper backgrounds for whether Matt thinks it's valid or not. i Despite that.
02:05:02
Speaker
Kurt Nightcrawler is still so fucking cool. He's still got it. He's not the focus anymore, but every time he pops up, he is still written with the same care and love and empathy.
02:05:14
Speaker
Yeah. And then the big thing I noticed about this run is the switch to internal monologues. A thing that kind of bugged me in the past, but ah didn't bug me enough to mention was that These characters were just constantly talking out loud, constantly saying to themselves or to whoever else is in the room how they feel.
02:05:35
Speaker
It's finally been moved into thought bubbles. And I think that's just a sign of like some more thoughtful writing. Of course, he wouldn't be saying this out loud. This is something he should be saying to himself in his head. Just adds a little more realism to the whole thing.
02:05:50
Speaker
i I still believe is... is Better, like, you can, you don't need to have them saying, even in their own head, you don't need to have them saying all this stuff, right? You can you can show this through the narrative.
02:06:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But... There's a lot of thoughts. But for this era, you're right, this is in a really interesting development because this is an era where they really haven't figured that show don't tell thing out yet.
02:06:20
Speaker
um yeah So if you're going to tell not show you might ah like the best thing you probably can do. Is thought balloons instead of... Yeah, like you're saying, speaking... that in dialogue balloons. Speaking it out loud, yeah.
02:06:35
Speaker
I think my overall feelings on this little group of issues is is in the plot, right? Up till now, Chris Claremont has been really good about...
02:06:50
Speaker
his plot is building and each story is building on the previous one. And they all feel like they're going somewhere um where these two feel more like classic X-Men, right? Like this feels like these feel like two plots that Roy Thomas could have come up with.
02:07:05
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. We definitely a little more cogent than, well, definitely Thomas would have put together, but yeah, this could be Roy Thomas and Neil Adams run just scripted by Claremont.
02:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
02:07:21
Speaker
But it's still not bad. It's just i know't i don't know that I'm ever going to think about...
02:07:30
Speaker
Garak the ah the sun god Garak the AK Garak the petrified man i don't know if I'm gonna think about him ever again and I don't know that I'm ever gonna think about Moses Magnum right like they meant nothing to me in the same way that the locust meant nothing to me Even just sort of the locales or the... It's doing that thing that Roy Thomas did love to do, which was call back to other things that he wrote about.
02:08:01
Speaker
So, like, they're revisiting the Savage Land. They're re-meeting Khazar and interacting with him and his people. They are... going to Japan to reacquaint themselves with Sunfire. It's a lot of just like, hey, remember when this happened in the X-Men, which right yeah he's of is a hell we were trapped in for the first 50 issues for sure.
02:08:24
Speaker
Anyway, I still do think this is These are really good issues. It's just... Yeah, yeah. You know. Just very self-contained. It's not quite... Not going quite as deep as we've come to expect.
02:08:37
Speaker
And I think we are still building... quietly like in the background to something really interesting. It was just clear. He needed the X-Men to be away for a while.
02:08:48
Speaker
The X, he needed to separate the X-Men from professor X and Jean. It is interesting how much time passes here. And we kind of made light of it, but it is like a solid quarter of a year that they are presumed dead. And it is long enough to reasonably say like, yeah, professor X would probably give up and yeah try to move on with his life. Yeah.
02:09:09
Speaker
And same with Jean. Like, it's long enough for her to... ah You could reasonably assume that maybe she's starting to put it in her... Like, she's probably going to be sad about it for a long time.
02:09:21
Speaker
But at four months, three to four months, she's probably starting to think about putting it in the past. Yeah. It's a rational timeline here, which, yeah again, is a thing we wouldn't have gotten in past X-Men.
02:09:36
Speaker
Right. Well... Pat. Yeah. I think that's an episode of mutant menace. What do you think? I think so. I think we got a few thank yous to give out.
02:09:49
Speaker
Like who? ah like Creel's Wilson for most of the music. Julia Selly for providing the voice of Trish Tilby. Gmail for allowing people to reach us at mutant menace pod at gmail.com.
02:10:03
Speaker
And again, as you heard at the beginning of this episode, if you want to be part of our street team, reach out, let us know, email us, mutantmenacepod at gmail.com. Just send us your address.
02:10:14
Speaker
And we will not read your email out over the air. on We won't read your address. Absolutely promise. So you can find us on Instagram at mutant menace pod. You can find us anywhere that podcasts are. And please please please please please please please, please, please, please share the show and rate it and comment on it and do all the things that allow other people to find it because otherwise people aren't going to fucking find it.
02:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to keep doing. We'll be here for 30 years doing this shit. So yeah. so Please make it not be in vain. And yeah, with that, Matt, I think there's just one thing left to do.
02:10:56
Speaker
ah Oh, yeah, that's we should say our catchphrase that we say at the end of every episode. That's right. Always remember, folks, my nose ain't worth diddly in this muck.
02:11:08
Speaker
And as always, the flying shark beneath me faded away.