Long Running Comics Podcast ‘Jay & Miles X-Plain The X-Men’ Announces Conclusion
by Tony Thornley
After twelve years, one of the most influential comics podcasts has announced an upcoming end date.
In 2014, Jay Edidin and Miles Stokes launched a podcast explaining the most convoluted, complicated and far-reaching franchises in comics. Now, twelve years and over 500 episodes later, Jay & Miles X-Plain The X-Men are coming to an end.
As announced yesterday morning on their website, the duo will conclude the long-running show over the next few months with coverage of Grant Morrison’s seminal New X-Men. Though the pair didn’t give a firm end date, they estimate it would roughly be about five months, meaning the show’s finale would land sometime this summer.
Over the last decade plus, Jay and Miles have done exactly what they set out to do. They’ve explained some of the most complex and complicated series in American comics, often with humor and always bringing it down to earth. X-Men and its associated spin-offs are a massive web of alternate futures, weird family trees and lots of clones and alternate reality duplicates that could be incredibly intimidating to a casual reader but with Jay and Miles, it never feels that way.
But beyond that, they’ve helped reshape the fandom surrounding X-Men. Through their own journeys and through the community they built, they have shown that X-Men isn’t a story about a bunch of spandex-clad superheroes punching each other. It’s a story about found family. It’s an allegory for marginalized communities, particularly the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a place that many can feel safe.
Though I fell off as a regular listener a few years ago, the show absolutely helped reshape me in multiple ways. As a critic, their approach showed me how to be more insightful into deeper themes and meaning, particularly towards subtext. As a fan, my time in the community around the show helped me forge close friendships that I cherish today. I’m also proud to call Jay himself a friend, even if he and I don’t interact as often or regularly as we used to.
Jay & Miles X-Plain The X-Men is available on all podcasting platforms, and via their website.
