Summary: This week, Karen and Kennedy go in-depth into the genesis of one of the most successfull comic franchises ever. The Admiral just kibitzes from the background. Show notes: Snap on your yellow spandex, seal the doors to the SR-71 Blackbird, and strap in, listeners! It's time to dive in to the wild, wonderful world of our favorite band of mutants, the X-Men! In preparation for the release of X-Men: First Class, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/) the Admiral sits back with a raktajino and listens as Kennedy and Ro roll out their knowledge of Marvel Comics' Mutant Hero Royalty. First, however, Ro gets her brag-on with the mention of a superhero-sized deal she found online at the U.S. Amazon.com: $5.99 for a four-disc special edition of Superman: The Movie! [Price Update, June 20, 2011: While the super-low price that Ro found for her special edition of Superman is no longer available, Amazon.com's U.S. store is currently selling the set for $7.82. (http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Four-Disc-Special-Christopher-Reeve/dp/B000IJ79UW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308580656&sr=8-1) Get in, listeners!] While Ro squees in anticipation of her impending Superman Supermarathon, Kennedy laments the fact that The Greatest American Hero...well, isn't really all that great anymore. This television show has not aged well, and not even his kids want anything to do with the complete series set he recently purchased. The crew then touch upon one of their more popular "heavy rotation" topics, Wonder Woman, with mention of recent picture postings to the Amazon princess's ongoing Simply Syndicated forum thread (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=104) and briefly mention the impending DC Comics tabula rasa moment coming for all their superheroes. Then it's on to the Mutant Masquerade! Kennedy and Ro delve into the origins, characters, and some of the most popular (and not so popular) storylines to come from the nearly 50 years of the reign of the X-Men, with mention of the famous Byrne/Claremont years, the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix saga, the shockingly awful The Pryde of the X-Men (http://youtu.be/JAKEImjGzu8) cartoon (and the shittiest Aussie accent this side of anywhere!) and the redemptive powers of the superior 90s Saturday morning cartoon... Wait. Let us all pause to listen to the "metal" version of that cartoon's theme, shall we? What went wrong with the comics that almost led to the death of Marvel itself in the 90s? What went wrong with the movies? Can X-Men: First Class undo the damage done by the atrocious Singer-less third X-Men movie? Will our fearless crew discuss your favorite Merry Mutant? And will Ro ever get her wish to see Angela Bassett as Storm?
