The Comics Canon

For our last full-size episode of 2025, we wrap up our All My Xs miniseries on Marvel Comics' X-Men franchise with one of the big crossover events of the Jonathan Hickman era – The Hellfire Gala!

All My Xs, our decade-by-decade exploration of the X-Men, crashes the first gay wedding of a Marvel Comics superhero in 2012's Astonishing X-Men #51, by Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins!

But first, we take a detour 1992 as Northstar becomes the first Marvel character to come out as gay in Alpha Flight #106, by Scott Lobdell and Mark Pacella! (And even better, we're introduced to that most valuable piece of IP, Major Mapleleaf!)

Can a well-intentioned Very Special Issue of Alpha Flight survive a collision with the "extreme" art and storytelling trend of the 1990s? And can everyone's favorite mutant Olympian turned Canadian superhero survive a run-in with that Big Fat Geek Wedding known as … The Comics Canon?

Recommended in This Episode:

· Batman: Dark Victory

· Death by Lightning

· Wynd Vol. 1: The Flight of the Prince

· Damage Control Vol. 1

Join us in two weeks as All My Xs finally reaches the 2020s with a look at the event of the season … the Hellfire Gala!

All My Xs, our miniseries on Marvel Comics' X-Men, takes a little detour to introduce the Canadian superteam Alpha Flight in 1979's Uncanny X-Men #120-#121 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and 1983's Alpha Flight #1 by John Byrne!

First, the Canadian government wants Wolverine back – and if his friends in the X-Men get in the way, well, too bad for them!

Next, Alpha Flight gets their own ongoing title, just in time to lose their government funding! And to make matters worse, they still have to deal with the gargantuan menace of Tundra!

Can the X-Men stop a group of government agents from forcibly detaining one of their own citizens? Can Curt and Kevin keep from saying "eh" every other sentence? And can Canada's premier team of heroes take off to that Great White North known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· Curt makes a correction – and recounts a dream

· Why Alpha Flight are better than the Avengers

Halloween is right around the corner, so we're temporarily hitting pause on All My Xs (again) to revive our horror series Tomb of the Crypt and discuss The Closet, by James Tynion IV, Gavin Fullerton and Chris O'Halloran, published by Image Comics!

Things aren't going particularly well for Thom. He and his wife Maggie are packing for a cross-country, and his son Jamie keeps talking about a monster in his bedroom closet. If only the kid would give this monster thing a rest – they're going to be in Portland in a week, and that closet will be a continent away! Problem solved, right? … Right?

Can Maggie cut him some slack for not throwing out a box of souvenirs from the woman he cheated on her with? Can Jamie really leave his closet monster behind? And can this three-issue story make it intact to that cabin in the woods known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

Superstar writer Grant Morrison updates the X-Men for the 21st century as All My Xs, our decade-by-decade miniseries on Marvel's mega-popular mutant franchise, continues with a discussion of E Is for Extinction – specifically, New X-Men issues #114-117 and #121 – by Morrison, Frank Quitely and Ethan Van Sciver, published by Marvel Comics!

It's not a shock that the writer behind Vertigo's The Invisibles would remake the X-Men into a cooler-than-thou team of leather-jacketed badasses. But what might come as a surprise is just how over-the-top dark and edgy this book gets – and that's before an intriguing new villain slaughters an island nation of several million mutants!

What is the terrible secret linking Cassandra Nova to Professor X? Does E really stand for "edgelord"? And can the coolest-looking teachers at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning break into that invitation-only faculty lounge known as … The Comics Canon?

In This Episode:

· Curt wonders what "lost in the sauce" means