Podcast Review: Rachel & Miles X-plain the X-men

I was a big comic book nerd growing up (well, okay, I still am, even though just a couple years ago I chose to sell all my graphic novels in order to fund more creative endeavors), and in the 80s, the X-men were the standard bearer of quality when it came to superhero books.  Personally, I was a bigger fan of the New Mutants, but they were part of the overall X-men family, which grew exponentially as the 80s went on.  By the time I went to college in the early 90s, I had given up comics because they had become a far too expensive addiction for me, considering my goal had been to collect every Marvel book, and I had even expanded to some DC comics once John Byrne defected.  But it wasn't just money; the truth is that everything started getting too big for me-- all the crossovers and special events were leaving me a bit confused, and every time I stopped at the comic book store in the next decade, it all seemed convoluted... especially the X-books.

So thank god for Rachel and Miles.  Their weekly podcast seeks to makes heads or tails of the glorious mess that is the X-universe, and they've done an excellent job so far.  Each episode starts with a cold opening highlighting one of the more ridiculous characters or narratives, but the bulk of the episodes focus more-or-less on the chronological progression of the comic book, ending with mailbag-style question-and-answer sessions.

Unlike many fan-produced podcasts, Rachel & Miles is a very tight program, rarely going longer than 30 minutes, and with very few unfocused moments-- almost everything in the podcast is informative or humorous.  Rachel and Miles both work in the comic book industry, and are able to use that status to bring in some big names (such as Greg Rucka or Kurt Busiek) for in depth interviews.

They've only been around for about half a year, but they've really taken off, building up a website with weekly comic book reviews, photo highlights of the podcasts, and lots of fan interaction.  If you enjoy comic books, you'll love this podcast.  You can find all their episodes and all the extras at their website http://www.rachelandmiles.com/xmen/