4 – American History X-Men

In which Rachel finally gets to say “WHAT?!,” we examine three variations on the Silver Age, Twin Peaks is reality TV, we can’t believe you hired Hitler, Angel is not Batman, even the most sympathetic Xavier is still pretty creepy, Cyclops has a good day, Marvel Girl is not going to throw a dinosaur for you, Iceman is the Troy Barnes of the X-Men, and we say a fond farewell to the Silver Age.

X-Plained:

• The X-Axis
• X-Men: Children of the Atom
• Hard-sell noir
• How to party like it’s sometime between 1986 and 1991, as filtered through 1999
• The perils of over-referencing
• Why Marvel is in the Tommy Westphall Universe
• The worst guidance counselor ever
• Villain speeches
• X-Men: First Class (but not that one)
• Fun, and several places to find it
• Angst-free X-Men
• Gender politics of superheroism
• X-Men: Season One
• Teenagers
• The solution to the Silver-Age-Jean Grey problem
• Why Iceman matters
• The Silver Age cram book

You can find a visual companion to the episode – and links to recommended reading – on our blog.

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