Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

In which it still sucks to be a Rasputin; John Romita Jr. has a solid, if muscular, grasp of anatomy; Jay and Miles are better exes than Forge and anyone; and Cannonball’s many younger siblings have almost prepared him for running X-Force.

X-PLAINED:

Peters ParkerThe Merry X-Men Holiday SpecialComic book release schedules vs. J&MXPtXMUncanny X-Men #301-302Trevor F**king Fitzroy, possibly the worst UpstartComics Code Authority closeting versus real-life closeting21st Century Torture DevicesRisky mood fontsRobert’s Rules of Upstart Order (this week)Gamesmaster vs. the IsolationistShinobi Shaw: Good At SexRussian tragedy (more, again)Charles Xavier and his poor decisionsShi’ar tech supportPants and villainyRacist jerks vs. rhetorical questionsTIME PARADOXWeirdly specific contingenciesPiotr Rasputin and his justified furyX-Force #24Meaningless (but fun!) timestampsThe Friends of Humanity (who are not our friends)Rusty and Skids’ latest arrestDisappointed Dad Sam GuthrieAction vs. public perceptionVinz ClorthoDomino’s continuing quest to figure out what exactly an X-Force isThe dramatic return of… well, you knowSpacesuit logisticsNumerical universe designationsPlastic Warlock

NEXT EPISODE: Our Fifth Annual Giant-Size Winter Special!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!

Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!

Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)